Warren Commission
The Warren Commission was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson just a week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the commission's primary objective was to investigate whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted as a lone assassin or if there were other individuals involved in the plot. The commission's findings, published in a comprehensive twenty-six-volume report in September 1964, concluded that Oswald had acted alone and that there was no credible evidence of a conspiracy.
Despite these conclusions, public distrust of the report grew over the years, fueled by perceived shortcomings in the investigation and the emergence of alternative theories. Critics pointed to inconsistencies in the evidence, such as bullet trajectories and eyewitness accounts suggesting shots came from different locations. The Warren Commission's legacy has been marked by skepticism towards official narratives, a sentiment that has been amplified by later historical events, including the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal.
In the decades that followed, various investigations and cultural works, such as the 1991 film "JFK," reignited interest in conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination. While some congressional inquiries and acts aimed to release classified documents related to the case, definitive evidence supporting any conspiracy has remained elusive, continuing to fuel public debate and speculation.
Warren Commission
Identification: Government commission charged with investigating the circumstances of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination
Date: Created November 29, 1963; issued final report September 24, 1964
Criminal justice issues: Government misconduct; investigation
Significance: The Warren Commission is widely regarded as having carried out its investigation poorly, thus leaving the door open for numerous theories as to who might have been involved in the assassination and why.
President John F. Kennedywas assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the assassination, but before he could be brought to trial he was in turn assassinated by Jack Ruby. A week after Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson established a fact-finding commission to investigate the tragedy. He appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to head the commission. Other members included Allen Dulles, Gerald Ford, and Arlen Specter. The commission was to determine whether Oswald had been a lone assassin or whether there were others involved.
The Warren Commission released its twenty-six-volume report in September 1964. The commission concluded that Kennedy had been killed by a single assassin: Oswald had acted alone, and no domestic or foreign conspiracy was involved. Doubts about this conclusion surfaced immediately, and they have increased as the years have gone by. Substantial problems and oversights in the commission’s investigation show that the commission was at best inept and at worst trying to bend the evidence to prove that there was only one man involved. Based on the testimony of 552 people and on physical and photographic evidence, the Warren Report held that there was “no credible evidence” of a conspiracy. Oswald, it said, had shot Kennedy from the Texas Book Depository with a rifle he owned; Oswald’s rifle ballistically matched a bullet found on a stretcher. Among the problems with this theory, however, are unanswered questions about the seemingly improbable angles and pattern of bullet wounds and the fact that a number of witnesses reported hearing a gunshot from a grassy knoll to the front and right of Kennedy.
The primary legacy of the Warren Commission has been to encourage distrust of “truth” as it is presented by government; subsequent events, including the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, added to this distrust. Shortly after the Warren Report, New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison embarked on a personal crusade to uncover a conspiracy, but although he generated interest and publicity, he did not marshal convincing evidence of a plot. A congressional committee created in 1976 concluded that Kennedy was “probably” assassinated as the result of a conspiracy.
During the early 1990s, the 1991 film JFK brought the issue to national prominence again. In 1992, Congress passed the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, declaring that the National Archives would release the files by October 2017. President Bill Clinton appointed a panel to release numerous documents relating to the assassination that Johnson had classified as secret. A number of facts came to light, but again, no concrete evidence of conspiracy emerged. Thousands of articles and books have tried to unravel the mystery. A number of theories have been proposed as to who might have been involved. One idea is that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and/or Cuban leader Fidel Castro conspired with the Soviet Union to kill Kennedy; another is that organized crime planned the assassination. In October 2017, some 2,800 previously classified records were released to the public by the National Archives. Despite initially signalling his support for the release of all classified documents related to the Kennedy assassination, President Donald Trump ultimately delayed the release of thousands of pages of documentation pending a 180-day review period, citing national security concerns.
Bibliography
McKnight, Gerald. Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005.
Remington, Rodger A. The Warren Report: Evidence v. Conclusions. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation, 2003.
Shapira, Ian, Steve Hendrix, and Carol D. Leonnig. “Trump Delays Release of Some JFK Assassination Documents, Bowing to National Security Concerns.” The Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/local/trump-expected-to-release-remaining-jfk-assassination-documents-thursday/2017/10/25/52c8f71a-b9b7-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9‗story.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
Warren Commission. Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 26 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1964. Full report of the Warren Commission; also issued in a one-volume condensation.