For many years, some people insisted that a vast conspiracy, not a lone gunman, masterminded the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy near the grassy knoll in Dallas's Dealey Plaza. To these people, the complete absence of evidence proved the conspiracy's sophistication. They were demented. 

Now, it stands to reason that mainstream journalists at the time of the Kennedy assassination would make that type of statement. That was a time when almost everyone placed undaunted faith in the U.S. national-security establishment and any official narrative it issued. This was especially true for conservative columnists, almost all of whom bought into the extreme anti-communist animus that was used to justify the Cold War and the conversion of the U.S. government to a national-security state. Of course, there was also Operation Mockingbird to consider. That was the CIA's successful secret operation to acquire assets within the U.S. mainstream press who could be relied upon to publish articles reflecting the views and narratives of the national-security establishment.