“Admittedly it was a strange course, but I always say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction,” Specter said.

While there have been plenty of books written and a few memorable movies about the assassination, Specter said in the end no new evidence has surfaced over the last 40-plus years that would lead him to believe anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy.

“If there had been a conspiracy, I think we would know it by now,” Specter said. “Nothing stays secret in this country.”

There’s still speculation about the Abraham Lincoln assassination 141 years after it occurred and Specter said he expects people will still by theorizing about Kennedy’s death 200 or 300 years from now.

“Maybe even until the end of my term in the Senate,” he added with a laugh.