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Governor Jesse Ventura Oral History

Object number2010.001.0059

Date06/30/2010

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Jesse Ventura

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)

Dimensions44 Minutes

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DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Jesse Ventura. Having been at different times a professional wrestler, media personality, and former governor of Minnesota (1999-2003), Ventura is now a political assassinations researcher and co-author, with Dick Russell, of "American Conspiracies" (2010). Twelve years old at the time of the assassination, Ventura went on to serve in the Vietnam War. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on June 30, 2010 by Associate Curator Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-four minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Inspired by an ongoing interest in the Kennedy assassination, Governor Ventura visited Dealey Plaza on the 40th anniversary of the assassination on November 22, 2003. Later, in 2010, he devoted one episode from the second season of his TruTV series, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, to exploring Kennedy assassination theories. - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator

Curatorial Commentary

Governor Ventura and his producer son, Tyrel, asked me to appear in their 2011 TruTV cable channel program, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura: The JFK Conspiracy, to discuss the assassination and the Museum. While specific questions and areas of questioning were not discussed beforehand, I knew exactly what Jesse would ask....and he did. After I explained that The Sixth Floor Museum deals with history, not personal theories, the former pro wrestler and governor of Minnesota asked what I think when I go home at night. I gave him the same answer I tell everyone who asks, that I think there was more to what happened than just Lee Harvey Oswald, but I can't prove it. And so far, no one else has, either. - Gary Mack, Curator