From the same world;
Following the attempted assassination, Kennedy began to isolate himself further from his own administration. Any and all contact between the President and Lyndon Johnson, his Vice President, was buffeted by Robert Kennedy, the incumbent Attorney General, and his officiaries. Tho never mentioned in writing it is the general consensus of D.C. insiders that Kennedy was succumbing to a noticeable paranoia, possibly exacerbated by his deteriorating physical health as a result of the injuries he sustained in Dallas. It was in this crumbling state of mind that Kennedy decided that LBJ wouldn't be on the ticket for the upcoming reelection campaign. The main concerns of his inner circle were over possible loss of votes in the Bible Belt; however, the critical oversight was how incredulously Johnson would take this dismissal.
In an act of petty vengeance, Johnson, who Kennedy had once claimed "knows every reporter in Washington", began leaking all of Kennedy's various infidelities and vices to the press in a slow trickle. Before he could announce his campaign for reelection, the reporters were besieging him with numerous scandals involving Marilyn Monroe, the Chicago Outfit, Judith Exner, his back brace, Inga Arvad, and the many, many white house interns. RFK tried his best to stem the tide, but public opinion was dropping by the day, and Kennedy thusly became more and more isolated, often refusing to leave the Second Floor of the White House. Congress was on his heels like baying hounds and Camelot was set to collapse at any moment.
The breaking point came on the evening following two seperate bombshells in the press; that members of the 1964 DNC were courting both Senator Hubert Humphrey and Governor George Wallace as alternatives for the nomination, and allegations that First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy had privately discussed seeking a divorce lawyer. Sometime in the early morning, Kennedy exited the White House in his personal vehicle, a 1960 Lincoln Continental. Probing by the Church Committee has given rise to multitudes of conspiracy theories surrounding the proceedings, namely why the Secret Service allowed the President to operate a vehicle without an escort - George Hickey, the Service agent tasked with monitoring the grounds that early morning, noted that he never noticed the car leave the premises, nor claimed any sign that the President left his residence. Several eyewitnesses also report a nondescript black car driving towards Fort Washington in the early hours of the morning, with two seperate accounts claiming the vehicle 'drove slowly and erratically'.
Secret Service Agents found the President was missing from his quarters at 3:22am, less than half an hour later after his supposed departure, and initiated a search of the surrounding area. Officers of the Prince George County Police, responding to a phone call from a night watchman at Fort Washington Park reporting an abandoned vehicle, discovered the 1960 Lincoln Continental in the far corner of the Park's car lot, with the President inside, dead from a gunshot wound to the left temple. Subsequent investigation ruled the injury self-inflicted, owing to the revolver present in Kennedy's hand. His passing was announced later that morning at 10:00am, after his body was removed from the scene and the car impounded; the exact cause was not announced until the investigation began later that month, owing to public sensitivity.
The fact that the President had blown his mind out in a car is still considered one of the most significant events of the twentieth century. As mentioned, the circumstances of the event, as well as the incompetence leading up to it, sparked a multitude of conspiracy theories and subsequent loss of faith in the federal government. These theories differ wildly in scope, tho many agree that it was in all likelihood another assassination like the one attempted months prior (with culprits including LBJ, Jimmy Hoffa, Jacqueline Kennedy, Connie Bremen, James Earl Ray, etc.).
