A Psychology Of Rumor By Robert H. Knapp

According to Robert H. Knapp, author of “A Psychology of Rumor”, defines rumors as, “a proposition for belief of topical reference disseminated without official verification” (Behrens). Rumors are current stories passing rapidly from person to person with unverified truth. Rumors hold some amount of connection to the people it reaches because they are usually circulated around recent or current events. Rumors are commonly believable stories because some people may not know the real truth and are willing to believe anything. Knapp categorizes rumors into three classifications. There are pipe-dream rumors which are defined as wishful thinking or rumors to get one’s hopes up. The bogie rumor is intended to have the opposite effect of the pipe-dream

This theory also seems to fit some logical reasoning. President Kennedy’s brother Robert was the U.S. Attorney General at the time and was working on bringing down the mafia and so as a way to get back at Robert Kennedy they assassinated the president. Charles N. Shaffer Jr. is a former Justice Department prosecutor and served on the Warren Commission. Shaffer believes that the mafia is behind the assassination after reading the memoir of mob lawyer Frank Ragano. Ragano wrote in his memoirs that Tampa, Florida’s crime boss Santo Trafficante confessed to him that he and New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello were responsible for the death of President Kennedy. Trafficante apparently confessed that they had “messed up” and that they should not have killed John Kennedy but rather his brother Robert instead (Shenon). It makes a lot of sense for the mafia to want Robert Kennedy dead. And that is where the rumor falters. There is no correlation between the mob and the president’s assassination. There is no evidence that mafia would have any intentions of killing the “wrong” Kennedy. This rumor can also be classified as a bogie rumor because it does insight fear among the general public. If the mafia is powerful enough to assassinate the president and get away with it then people would begin fearing the mob even

Johnson had him killed also arose. Several versions of the rumor appeared, such as Johnson’s desire to become president or to cover up any scandals he may been involved in and did not want Kennedy getting rid of him if any were to be exposed (Who). This is one of the more looser theories. It does not hold up well and can be fairly easily debunked. However, this rumor is more of a wedge-driving aggression rumor. It almost seems as if the rumors were meant to turn people against the newly sworn in President Johnson. It does not seem to appear as though many Americans really believed this particular