Is history far from fiction?

The big question we discussed in class today regarding how much of history is actually based solely on truth and facts, for me, took some time for me to think over. While I was in class, I kept thinking to myself how there is plenty of archaeological evidence to prove that certain events in history have actually occurred. How can you deny that something like the Holocaust didn’t happen if there are actual photos, journals, and survivors of the Holocaust that exist? What about all the live film footage covering wars and massacres throughout the 20th century? How can you deny the truth behind these events if we have solid evidence that they happened?

Probably what made me rethink my initial thoughts on this question was during World Since 1945 when I was thinking of the JFK assassination. Last week, we watched a documentary showing actual recordings of news bulletins covering the JFK assassination from the time of the assassination itself all the way to the 1970s and 1980s when people were debating the possible conspiracy theories behind the assassination. We all know that President Kennedy was assassinated. That is a fact. The true intent behind the assassination is something, I can honestly say, up to fiction to decide. There isn’t any solid archaeological evidence to prove the back story of the Kennedy assassination, and everything from the Mafia to the CIA to President Lyndon B. Johnson himself have been suggested.

I couldn’t help but compare what these conspiracy theorists were doing with what Doctorow did in Ragtime. While both are definitely using real-life people within their own stories, they create an alternate timeline or an alternate world where they play with these people in order to create a convincing story. While the tones of these stories may sound different (Doctorow has a more cynical and satirical tone in Ragtime), the concept of a historical fiction writer to toy with the historical facts and people he knows about is definitely employed. Doctorow especially does this with J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, and Houdini. These conspiracy theorists are practically like historical fiction authors themselves to say the least.

Maybe I may be wrong in using the JFK assassination consipiracy theories as an example. But, there were other examples mentioned in class regarding stories of the Bible and Greek Gods. Even though they may or may not have happened, we conjure up these stories to tell the truths in our world. So is history really far from fiction? They aren’t necessarily synonymous, but not every fact and event in history can be proven with solid evidence. Even in history, people try to fill in the holes with their own truths to make a plausible story.