Umbrella Man in Dealey Plaza

In Oliver Stone's JFK, theorizes a conspiratorial role for a bystander with an umbrella in Dealey Plaza on Novermber 22, 1963.

Stone's theory is that an extra man was placed in plain sight in Dealey Plaza, pumping an umbrella open and closed over his head on a sunny afternoon, so he could signal the shooters when to shoot or not shoot, despite the fact that any shooter in an elevated position with a telescopic site would have a far better view of the President than anyone at street level.

For some reason, Oliver Stone does not inform the viewer that the "Umbrella Man," as he has become known, was identified in 1978 by the House Select Committee investigating the assassination. His name is Louie Steven Witt.

Excerpts from Witt's testimony before the Committee:

Mr. GENZMAN. Why were you carrying an umbrella that day?

Mr. WITT. Actually, I was going to use this umbrella to heckle the President's motorcade.

Mr. GENZMAN. How had you gotten this idea?

Mr. WITT. In a coffee break conversation someone had mentioned that the umbrella was a sore spot with the Kennedy family. Being a conservative-type fellow, I sort of placed him in the liberal camp and I was just going to kind of do a little heckling.

Mr. FAUNTROY. I wonder if you would care to tell us a little more about your understanding of the significance of the umbrella, and why you felt that it would heckle the president to raise the umbrella?

Mr. WITT. . . . It had something to do with . . . when the senior Mr. Kennedy was Ambassador to England, and the Prime Minister [Neville Chamberlain], some activity they had had in appeasing Hitler. The umbrella that the Prime Minister of England came back with got to be a symbol in some manner with the British people. By association, it got transferred to the Kennedy family, and, as I understood, it was a sore spot with the Kennedy family.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• JFK assassination
• dealey plaza
• Oliver stone
• JFK. conspiracy theories
• Dallas

[makiavelli999]

Anyone checked the background of Louis Witt -The Umbrella Man? The JFK assassination was a turkey shoot. I also saw a suspicious man filming the president with a camera. It looks as if he is aiming with the camera. Could actually be a weapon. He is accompanied by a woman who is NOT looking at the president but clearly checking somewhere else to get a signal. LBJ is a goddamn murderer and he is being fried daily into eternity on a gigantic Weber Grill in hell.Soon to be joined by Henry Kissinger.

[100Burdette]

ha ha funny. Ask him why he felt the need to pump the umbrella (signal) and  then remain relatively calm after the assassination.

[Txsray]

@saspurs1965

Sounds reasonable. The driver was clearly waiting for the headshot to occur.

[Txsray]

@jpeez12345

This was late november in Texas. I was a couple hundred miles away in Austin and I remember the day. It was clear and sunny but cool. There would be no need to shield oneself from the sun or to even carry an umbrella, let alone open it and pump it in the air just at the time of the assassination. The next day a cold front blew through and it got really cold. I remember because I was on a scout campout that weekend.

[Txsray]

Wow now that is solid proof if I ever saw it. Some guy says it was him and even brings the umbrella to prove it wasn't a gun. Did he explain why he opened the umbrella and pumped it in the air just at the time of the assassination or why he even carried it on a clear sunny day? Or why he was unperturbed even when bullets were passing directly over his head and the crowd was running for cover?

[IkilledassholeJFK]

@saspurs1965 too bad there is not a single shred of evidence of that. I will pay you 1000 if you can provide any evidencde of that. The umbrella was an insult to jfk. It referred to NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN who appeased Hitler. Chamberlaoin carried an umbrealla around everyday and so jfk was simply having his balls busted at the last moment of his life. As JFK's father had been an appeaser too.

[mooneepondskid]

The film JFK is set in the 60's..when the identity of the umbrella man was unknown. It makes sense he wasnt referred to by name.

[saspurs1965]

The Umbrella Man and the The Dark Complected man were not signalling the shooters...they were signalling the Secret service men in the front seat of the Kennedy's limo to slow down.The driver kept looking back until JFK fatal head shot then he sped up.

[LoneNutter1]

The conspiracy obsessed have placed 24 different gunmen in Dealey Plaza. Which one(s) was Umbrella Man signaling? I read he fired a poison dart from the umbrella into JFK as he drove by. If he was signaling, why would moving an umbrella up and down, in full view of the hundreds of people in Dealey Plaza be a good choice to send a signal? Wouldn't have been better to send the "assassinate him" signal that was less conspicuous?

[jpeez12345]

Give me a break - an umbrella could also be used to shield a person from the sun. Are we to believe that someone opening an umbrella contradicts historical record and the testimony of eyewitnesses to the murders? These nutty conspiracy theories do not honor the memory of Mr. Kennedy or Mr. Tippitt.