Warren Commission


The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy that had taken place on November 22, 1963.
The U.S. Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 137 authorizing the Presidential appointed Commission to report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, mandating the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence. Its 888-page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days later.
It concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Oswald acted entirely alone. It also concluded that Jack Ruby acted alone when he killed Oswald two days later. The Commission's findings have proven controversial and have been both challenged and supported by later studies.
The Commission took its unofficial name—the Warren Commission—from its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren. According to published transcripts of Johnson's presidential phone conversations, some major officials were opposed to forming such a commission and several commission members took part only reluctantly. One of their chief reservations was that a commission would ultimately create more controversy than consensus.

Formation

The creation of the Warren Commission was a direct consequence of the murder of Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963, carried live on national television in the basement of the Dallas police station. The lack of a public process addressing the mistakes of the Dallas Police, who concluded that the case was closed, created doubt in the mind of the public.
The new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, himself from Texas, the state where the two assassinations had taken place, found himself faced with the risk of a weakening of his presidency. Confronted with the results obtained by the Texas authorities, themselves seriously discredited and criticized, he decided after various consultations, including in particular that with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, to create a presidential commission of inquiry by Executive Order 11130 of November 29, 1963. This act made it possible both to avoid an independent investigation led by Congress and to avoid entrusting the case to the Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, deeply affected by the assassination, whose federal jurisdiction would have been applied in the event of withdrawal of the share of the State of Texas for the benefit of the federal authorities in Washington.
Nicholas Katzenbach, Deputy Attorney General, provided advice that led to the creation of the Warren Commission. On November 25 he sent a memo to Johnson's White House aide Bill Moyers recommending the formation of a Presidential Commission to investigate the assassination. To combat speculation of a conspiracy, Katzenbach said that the results of the FBI's investigation should be made public. He wrote: "The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large."
Four days after Katzenbach's memo, Johnson appointed to the commission some of the nation's most prominent figures, including Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States. At first, Warren refused to head of the commission because he stated the principle of law that a member of the judicial power could not be at the service of the executive power. It was only under pressure from President Lyndon Johnson, who spoke of international tensions and the risks of war resulting from the death of his predecessor, that he agreed to chair the commission. The other members of the commission were chosen from among the representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties, in both houses of Congress, and added diplomat John J. McCloy, former president of the World Bank, and former CIA director Allen Dulles.
The national image of the United States was also of concern. McCloy states that a motive of the commission was to "show the world that America is not a banana republic, where a government can be changed by conspiracy". Warren shared this concern, and in part agreed to head the commission after President Johnson made it clear to him that the "nation's prestige" was at stake.

Meetings

The Warren Commission met formally for the first time on December 5, 1963, on the second floor of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, Warren explained the methodology he planned the commission to follow:
Now I think our job here is essentially one for the evaluation of evidence as distinguished from being one of gathering evidence, and I believe that at the outset at least, we can start with the premise that we can rely upon the reports of the various agencies that have been engaged in investigating the matter, the FBI, the Secret Service, and others that I may not know about at the present time.

For this reason, Warren opposed giving the commission the power of subpoena, however with the objection of the other commission members it was decided that the commission would have such powers.
The Commission conducted its business primarily in closed sessions, but these were not "secret" sessions. The witnesses were allowed to report what they said to whomever. Journalist Dorothy Kilgallen obtained a copy of Ruby's testimony to the Warren Commission, which he had given on June 7, 1964. Kilgallen published it in August 1964 in three installments on the front pages of the New York Journal-American, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and other newspapers. In response the Warren Commission condemned what it called the "premature publication" of Ruby's testimony and announced that there would be a federal investigation as to how Kilgallen had received the testimony.
According to a 1963 FBI memo that was released to the public in 2008, Commission member Gerald Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director, Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities.

Members

;Committee
;General counsel
  • J. Lee Rankin
;Assistant counsel
  • Francis W. H. Adams
  • Joseph A. Ball
  • David W. Belin
  • William Thaddeus Coleman Jr.
  • Melvin A. Eisenberg
  • Burt W. Griffin
  • Leon D. Hubert Jr.
  • Albert E. Jenner Jr.
  • Wesley J. Liebeler
  • Norman Redlich
  • W. David Slawson
  • Arlen Specter
  • Samuel A. Stern
  • Howard P. Willens
;Staff
  • Philip Barson
  • Edward A. Conroy
  • John Hart Ely
  • Alfred Goldberg
  • Murray J. Laulicht
  • Arthur K. Marmor
  • Richard M. Mosk
  • John J. O'Brien
  • Stuart R. Pollak
  • Alfredda Scobey
  • Charles N. Shaffer Jr.
  • Lloyd L. Weinreb

    Conclusions of the report

The report concluded that:
  1. The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository.
  2. President Kennedy was first struck by a bullet which entered at the back of his neck and exited through the lower front portion of his neck, causing a wound which would not necessarily have been lethal. The President was struck by a second bullet, which entered the right-rear portion of his head, causing a massive and fatal wound.
  3. Governor Connally was struck by a bullet which entered on the right side of his back and traveled downward through the right side of his chest, exiting below his right nipple. This bullet then passed through his right wrist and entered his left thigh then it caused a superficial wound.
  4. There is no credible evidence that the shots were fired from the Triple Underpass, ahead of the motorcade, or from any other location.
  5. The weight of the evidence indicates that there were three shots fired.
  6. Although it is not necessary to any essential findings of the Commission to determine just which shot hit Governor Connally, there is very persuasive evidence from the experts to indicate that the same bullet which pierced the President's throat also caused Governor Connally's wounds. However, Governor Connally's testimony and certain other factors have given rise to some difference of opinion as to this probability but there is no question in the mind of any member of the Commission that all the shots which caused the President's and Governor Connally's wounds were fired from the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository.
  7. The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.
  8. Oswald killed Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit approximately 45 minutes after the assassination.
  9. Ruby entered the basement of the Dallas Police Department and killed Lee Harvey Oswald and there is no evidence to support the rumor that Ruby may have been assisted by any members of the Dallas Police Department.
  10. The Commission has found no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign, to assassinate President Kennedy.
  11. The Commission has found no evidence of conspiracy, subversion, or disloyalty to the U.S. Government by any Federal, State, or local official.
  12. The Commission could not make any definitive determination of Oswald's motives.
  13. The Commission believes that recommendations for improvements in Presidential protection are compelled by the facts disclosed in this investigation.