A startling theory contained in a new book by author James Swanson, claims the younger brother of John F Kennedy may have stolen the late president's brain from the National Archives.
The assassinated president was buried on November 25th 1963 at Arlington National Cemetery without his brain, as it had been removed during an autopsy after his shooting on November 22nd.
Swanson writes in "End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy", that during the autopsy the brain was placed in a metal container with a screw top lid.
It was later moved to a footlocker before being taken to the National Archives, where it was "placed in a secure room designated for the use of JFK's devoted former secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, while she organized his presidential papers".
However, according to the author, in October 1966 staff at the National Archives discovered that the brain -- along with tissue slides and other autopsy materials -- went missing.
In the past conspiracy theorists have pointed to the missing brain as evidence of a cover-up, suggesting that the disappearance of the brain and the other items was an attempt to conceal evidence JFK was shot from the front, rather than behind by Lee Harvey Oswald perched in the book depository window.
James Swanson, however, dismisses this theory suggesting instead that Robert Kennedy, who himself was assassinated in June 1968, took the brain. “My conclusion is that Robert Kennedy did take his brother's brain — not to conceal evidence of a conspiracy but perhaps to conceal evidence of the true extent of President Kennedy's illnesses, or perhaps to conceal evidence of the number of medications that President Kennedy was taking,” Swanson writes.