Q: According to the findings of Howard Donahue and Bonar Menninger, there seems to be evidence that President John F. Kennedy died when accidentally shot by Secret Service agent George Hickey. What, if anything, is being done to advance this theory? — Dottie Kurtz, Madison
A: A documentary called "JFK: The Smoking Gun" recently was shown on Reelz, a cable channel. It presents "cold case forensic analysis" by Colin McLaren, an Australian homicide detective, and "updates the research" from "Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK," the book by Donahue and Menninger published in 1992. They concluded that Hickey, a Secret Service agent in a car behind the president's vehicle, accidentally fired his AR-15 assault rifle when his car accelerated. His shot was the third of the sequence of shots and caused the mortal wound to Kennedy's head. McLaren also wrote "JFK: The Smoking Gun," which was published this year. For more info, go to jfkthesmokinggun.com.
Q: Christ wasn't born on Dec. 25, so when did we start celebrating Christmas in December and why? — Donald Varn, Conyers
A: Early church leaders debated whether Christ's birth should be celebrated, since pagan gods often were honored on their birthdays, a 2008 Christianity Today article stated. Several dates were discussed before the early church decided on Dec. 25 because it coincided with other winter festivals. The timing would make it "easier to convince Rome's pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the empire's official religion," History.com states. Christmas was first celebrated around 336, but Epiphany, which marks the arrival of the wise men and is celebrated in early January, and Easter were considered more important holidays for centuries.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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