Conspiracy Theories Haunt the Assassination of MLK 55 Years After His Death

Conspiracy Theories Haunt the Assassination of MLK 55 Years After His Death

Doubts about James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King’s lone assassin, arose almost immediately after the civil rights leader was fatally shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. From the start, his aides voiced suspicions that a conspiracy was responsible for their leader’s death. Over time many Americans became convinced the government investigations covered up the truth about the alleged assassin. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder.

However, today’s guest, Mel Ayton, believe the answers to the many intriguing questions about Ray and how conspiracy ideas flourished can now be fully understood. Missing from the wild speculations over the past fifty-two years has been a thorough investigation of the character of King’s assassin. Additionally, the author examines exactly how the conspiracy notions came about and the falsehoods that led to their promulgation.

Mel is the author of The Man Who Killed Martin Luther King, the first full account of the life of James Earl Ray based on scores of interviews provided to government and non-government investigators and from the FBI’s and Scotland Yard’s files, plus the recently released Tennessee Department of Corrections prison record on Ray.


In the short-lived freedom he acquired after escaping from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967, following being sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses, he traveled to Los Angeles and decided to seek notoriety as the one who would stalk and kill Dr. King, who he had come to hate vehemently.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(1075)

Frederick Rutland, Britain’s Most Beloved WW1 Pilot, Became a Spy for Imperial Japan

Frederick Rutland, Britain’s Most Beloved WW1 Pilot, Became a Spy for Imperial Japan

Frederick Rutland was an accomplished aviator, British WWI war hero, and real-life James Bond. He was the first pilot to take off and land a plane on a ship, a decorated warrior for his feats of brave...

29 Helmi 202436min

The Rise and Fall of the Global Age of Piracy (17-19th Centuries)

The Rise and Fall of the Global Age of Piracy (17-19th Centuries)

Piracy didn’t spring into existence in the 18th century Caribbean. It has existed as long as there has been commercial shipping and people to steal the goods. There were medieval pirates. Vikings love...

27 Helmi 202444min

A WW2 Polish Diplomat Forged Thousands of Paraguayan Passports to Save Jews from the Holocaust

A WW2 Polish Diplomat Forged Thousands of Paraguayan Passports to Save Jews from the Holocaust

Between 1940 and 1943, Polish diplomats based in Bern, Switzerland, engaged in a remarkable – and until now, almost completely untold – humanitarian operation. This operation was one of the largest ac...

22 Helmi 202448min

Stories From Captives on The Last Slave Ship to America

Stories From Captives on The Last Slave Ship to America

The Clotilda was the last slave ship to land on American soil, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860—more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of slaves...

20 Helmi 202429min

Was Union Support in the Confederacy Actually Widespread? The Alabamans Who Fought for Sherman Say 'Yes'

Was Union Support in the Confederacy Actually Widespread? The Alabamans Who Fought for Sherman Say 'Yes'

As the popular narrative goes, the Civil War was won when courageous Yankees triumphed over the South. But an aspect of the war that has remained little-known for 160 years is the Alabamian Union sold...

15 Helmi 202449min

The Heroes, Legends, and Liars Who Fought in WW2

The Heroes, Legends, and Liars Who Fought in WW2

Veterans of World War 2 are called the Greatest Generation for their uncommon courage and self-determination. Whether this descriptor is true or part of America’s self-mythologizing during the 20th ce...

13 Helmi 202435min

Turning Okies Into New Dealers: How 1930s Technocrats Pushed Progressivism on Dust Bowl Refugees in Federal Farm Camps

Turning Okies Into New Dealers: How 1930s Technocrats Pushed Progressivism on Dust Bowl Refugees in Federal Farm Camps

In the midst of the Great Depression, punished by crippling drought and deepening poverty, hundreds of thousands of families left the Great Plains and the Southwest to look for work in California’s ri...

8 Helmi 202438min

Whistle-Stop Tours: When Trains Ruled American Presidential Elections

Whistle-Stop Tours: When Trains Ruled American Presidential Elections

For nearly two centuries, the beating heart of electoral politics was on the back of a train. William Jennings Bryan spoke to an estimated 5 million people from a train car in his 1896 presidential ca...

6 Helmi 202436min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
i-dont-like-mondays
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
mamma-mia
kolme-kaannekohtaa
rss-nikotellen
rss-murhan-anatomia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-haudattu
naakkavalta
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
loukussa