The assassination of President John F. Kennedy a few decades ago is still shrouded in conspiracy theories and mysteries, but one of the strongest involves the fate of his brain. JFK’s brain was removed during the autopsy conducted at Bethesda Naval Hospital on November 22, 1963.
Preserved in formalin, it was placed in a stainless steel container, intended to aid in understanding the bullet trajectories and wounds inflicted during the assassination. The brain, along with other critical evidence such as tissue samples, photographs, and X-rays, was transported to the National Archives; then, in 1966, it vanished, and 61 years later, the question of what happened to it still churns the rumor mill.
John F Kennedy’s brain was removed during his autopsy in 1963 and was later discovered to be missing from the National Archives in the late 1960s The whereabouts of his brain remain unknown pic.twitter.com/kZJlppJeeh
— UberFacts (@UberFacts) March 25, 2023
What’s interesting is that the autopsy itself has been a source of contention, as per USA Today ; critics argued that it was rushed, poorly conducted, and compromised by external pressures. A detailed examination of Kennedy’s brain was critical, not just for historical records but also to validate or dispute the Warren Commission’s controversial ‘single bullet’ theory, which alleged that one bullet struck both Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally. This theory has faced skepticism for decades, with critics asserting that it defies physics. Many believe the pristine condition of the bullet contradicted the severe damage described in Kennedy’s autopsy report.
In 1966, when the National Archives conducted an inventory, they discovered that Kennedy’s brain and other materials were gone. Evelyn Lincoln, JFK’s secretary, initially oversaw the organization of the late president’s personal papers, but the brain’s last known movement came in 1965 when she reportedly handed it to a representative of Robert F. Kennedy, JFK’s brother. As such, one prominent conspiracy theory is that RFK hid it “perhaps to conceal evidence of the true extent of President Kennedy’s illnesses , or perhaps to conceal evidence of the number of medications that President Kennedy was taking, as per The Guardian .
Some speculate that the brain would have revealed evidence of JFK’s health issues or any other serious details the family may have wanted to keep under wraps. For conspiracy theorists, the missing brain fuels suspicions of a cover-up. They argued that forensic analysis of the brain could also prove the president was shot from the front, not the back, challenging the official narrative that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Hence, the disappearance of this prominent piece of evidence only thickens the plot surrounding the assassination.
JFK had Addison’s disease and was on a cocktail of drugs basically the entire time, to the point where several people have openly wondered whether he would have even survived all the way through a second term. https://t.co/QmExf5ybcD
— Lakshya Jain (@lxeagle17) July 2, 2024
What’s more bizarre is that JFK isn’t the only famous person whose organs have gone missing. As per Mirror , Albert Einstein’s brain was removed postmortem and sliced into slides for study, with many pieces now unaccounted for. Similarly, Beethoven, Haydn, and even Napoleon had body parts stolen or misplaced over the years, often for notorious purposes or scientific curiosity. Still, despite decades of investigation, the whereabouts of JFK’s brain remains unknown. Was it destroyed; hidden by the Kennedy family; sold to a private collector? Nobody knows.
