Curtis Berkley

[Curtis Berkley]

I served in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged after 5.5 years of active service. I am an alum of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, earning both a B.S. (double-major of Religious Studied and Business Administration) and M.S. (Mental Health Counseling) degrees, respectively. I own two businesses; one which performs third-party administration, and another that produces software for both mass-use and custom applications, alike. I am a Christian, but possess a personal theology and faith which is eclectic, and often denies easy categorization. My political leanings are more often than not decidedly conservative, but are best described as realism. I carry a general disdain and almost universal disregard for sincere loyalty to either Party.

I have held an undamped and near life-long fascination with JFK. While it's inception was purely assassination-focused, and as a fervent proponent any number of conspiracy theories, it has long-since morphed into my being predominantly focused on everything but the assassination - the man, his ideals, family, friends, administration, the good, the bad, the significant and trivial, alike.

My earliest memory of having anything more than a passing interest of JFK occurred when I was app. 11 years old, when I happened across a thick paperback book entitled, "High Treason". Standing in the middle of a Kmart, flipping through it's pages, I discovered the book to include several and rather disturbing post-mortem photos of the late President. As if I needed further incentive, other pages contained several rather sensational statements of "conspiracy", "murder", "cover-up" and the like. If it was meant to grab the casual reader, young as I was, it succeeded. I was both intrigued and curiously anxious to read the book, so as to answer the simple question of, "What happened?". I do not know how I convinced my mother to purchase the book for me, but she did, and I poured over it as soon as I got home, ultimately, reading it several times throughout those early years, and referencing it often.

Later, I caught a glimpse of Gerald Posner on the Today show one morning, before going off to school, and overheard his discussion about his new book, "Case Closed". I immediately scoffed and dismissed the very existence of any notion that Oswald acted alone, and that no conspiracy existed. Later, I got a copy of his book, read it, and recall having grave and pervasive doubts about my many, and to that point sincerely held, conspiratorial beliefs.

The issue remained in some fluctuation in my mind's eye over the next several years – I wasn't sure what I believed, to be honest, and worse, it could not only change by the last article or book that I had read, but at times, even by the moment. For years, I held off on reading the Warren Commission Report. In my younger years, before we held the internet in our pockets, it was all-too-easy to avoid. In fact, I don't know how I could have gotten a copy of it, even had I wanted to, prior to the internet. Later, and after the internet became a staple of our lives (sometime around 2000-01, maybe?), and it was readily available, I still felt a pang of honest hesitation in reading it. For reasons unknown at the time, but which become clearer with the dual benefit of both age and hindsight, I now know that I put it off for so long, simply because I was afraid of what I might find, and worse, that it would all make sense, and that my own intellectual honesty would force me to sacrifice even the last vestiges of any possibility of my conspiratorial beliefs.

That is precisely what occurred.

I do not now believe that there has not been one scintilla of any credible or empirical evidence of a conspiracy of any kind, in any direction, or which in any way sheds even a faint or whispered doubt on the singular and ultimate truth - that Lee Harvey Oswald acted entirely alone in the planning, execution, and assassination of JFK. Despite my certainty, I remain sincerely open to the possibility of being wrong, and have neither qualms nor trouble in admitting where my own ignorance or mistaken beliefs have lead to an erroneous conclusion, when necessary. In fact, I would not only accept – but welcome - any information which could effectively prove that some element of a conspiracy was involved, even to me, and in my own mind's eye. But I do not believe that it does, and hence, do not hold my breath in waiting for it.

While I have never kept any sort of an account on the number of JFK related books, articles, films, blogs, websites, etc. that I have ingested over the years, I can say that it is safely within the hundreds, and likely best measured in thousands. And yet, I do not consider myself an expert on the matter, on most things, or in any way.

In being a frequent lurker on this site, frankly, I have been exceedingly impressed with the level of knowledge, detailed analysis, and constructive debate by its members – even in opposition to one another, and sometimes hotly contested – and have learned a great deal. And so, I would like to join, to participate, and hopefully contribute in some small way, to what is obviously an already robust, active and educated forum of members, and fellow JFK aficionados.

[Evan Burton]

Hi Curtis,

Welcome to the Forum and an extra welcome from a fellow squid (albeit RAN and not USN).

Hope you enjoy the board.

Cheers!