The Warren Commission was established in order to give the American public the truth of what happened to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Not only did the commission fail to produce a factual truthful report it also actively perpetuated myths and misinformation in order to cover the true facts of the president’s assassination. Everything thing about the commission from its inception was designed in order to facilitate an ending that the government wanted.
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, or the Warren Commission, was founded by President Johnson on November 29, 1963 to formally investigate the death of John F Kennedy. The 88th U.S. Congressional session passed Senate joint resolution 137, the resolution is charged
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with “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 concerning the infraction occurring in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.” ( TIMES) Suspicion about the commission’s finding began circulating almost instantly after the report was released to the public, “Those findings were meant to put an end to the swirling conspiracy theories about the president’s murder.
Yet the theories persisted. Americans had difficulty accepting that a troubled young man wielding a $21 mail-order rifle could bring down the most powerful man in the world.” (Post)
Since the reports publication, suspicion has only grown. An April 2013 poll by the Associated Press found that 59% of Americans believed there was a conspiracy in Kennedy’s death. (Ap) “The Warren report was an honest report, based on what we knew at the time,” Shaffer said. “But nothing should have been written in stone. There were later developments that convinced me that maybe we missed something “(POST)
Kennedy’s death had a mammoth impact on American history. The Warren Commission has become synonymous with governmental cover-ups and lies. “The assassination of John Kennedy is the single most investigated event in the world in history, with the possible exception of the crucifixion of Christ. And the challenges, the skepticism, and the questions only seem to
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grow.” Its almost 900 page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964 and made public three days later. The commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy was acting alone and that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald two days later. Lyndon Johnson initially resisted the idea of forming a federal commission to investigate Kennedy’s assassination, preferring to allow the state of Texas to review what he called a “local killing.” But after learning that both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives were considering launching their own inquiries, the newly-installed President assembled the Warren Commission in the hope of avoiding multiple and possibly conflicting reports on the shooting. The commission was comprised of seven members; John MCloy, J. Lee Rankin, Richard Russell, Gerald Ford, Earl Warren, Lyndon Johnson, Allen Dulles, John Sherman Cooper, and Hale Boggs. Several of the members seemed to be odd choices due to their complicated relationship with the president. Others seemed to be unqualified to be investigating the death of such an important historical figure. The published is contrary to what many members of the committee have been quoted as saying they truly believe happened. Three of the seven members even said that though don’t believe the single bullet theory, a massive lynch pin in the case’s validity, was completely improbable and nearly impossible. Johnson wanted the Commission to include members from various sectors and branches of the government but many of his initial choices were hesitant to participate. Worried about the possible legal complications of serving, on such a committee Chief Justice Earl Warren turned down the opportunity to chair the commission several times, and only agreed after President Johnson convinced him that an inadequate or faulty report could incite a public panic or even spark a nuclear war. Conservative conservative Senator Richard Russell flatly refused to serve because he disliked Warren’s liberal judicial record. Johnson waived off Russell’s protests and publicly named him to the Commission anyway, saying his participation was necessary “for the good of America.” Russell was an active white supremacist and vehemently opposed Kennedy’s civil rights agenda, making him an odd choice for the president to not only want but to insist that it was his American duty. During the length of the commission Russell only attended 13 committee meetings and spent far more time opposing civil rights legislation in the senate. Despite all of his reluctant behavior and lack of enthusiasm one of the few hearings he actually attended was to listen to Governor Connolly’s testimony. Connolly insisted that the same bullet did not hit him and the president. The governor’s statement drastically impacted Russell’s view on the case when he was explaining his doubts to Johnson he said “ They were trying to prove that the same bullet that hit Kennedy first was the one that hit Connally, went through him and through his hand, his bone, into his leg and everything else. … The commission believes that the same bullet that hit Kennedy hit Connally. Well, I don’t believe it.” (1963) Since his death Russell’s wife and daughter have strongly rebuffed any claims that he ever doubted the validity of the reports claim despite the above quote and others very similar in nature. President Gerald Ford also acted as an inside informant for J.
Edgar Hoover and the FBI while serving on the commission. Several months after his death in 2006, a cache of declassified documents revealed that Ford, then a U.S. congressman, had approached FBI Assistant Director Cartha DeLoach and offered to confidentially keep the Bureau informed on the Commission’s deliberations.
Chief Justice Earl Warren was a close friend of the Kennedy family, and his personal attachment may have interfered with his duties to the Commission. In one of the most infamous episodes of the investigation, Warren denied his fellow Commission members access to Kennedy’s autopsy photos because he deemed them too disturbing. He later refused to allow the Commission to interview certain witnesses whom Lee Harvey Oswald may have known in Mexico, and even tried to block an interview with first lady Jackie Kennedy because he didn’t want to invade her privacy.
Allen Dulles had been fired by President Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs fiasco but was asked by Johnson to serve on the committee anyway. Having a former CIA director with a conflict of interest would make it far easier to keep things quiet and ensure that governmental secrets remained just
that. Thomas Hale Boggs, a democratic senator from Louisiana repeatedly said he believed there was more to the President’s investigation than was being told. Boggs once said "Hoover lied his eyes out on Oswald, on Ruby, on their friends, you name it." Hale Boggs disappeared while on a campaign flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska, on 16th October 1972. No bodies were ever found. The Los Angeles Star, on November 22, 1973, reported that before his death Boggs claimed he had "startling revelations" on Watergate and the assassination of JFK. Boggs was also one of three Warren Commission members to reject the single bullet theory, which is of course the foundation of the Commission's conclusions. The other two members were Richard Russell and John Cooper. According to A Farewell to Justice, by Joan Mellen, Boggs was “deeply unhappy with the WC findings and encouraged Jim Garrison to go forward with his case. Garrison always maintained utter discretion about Boggs clandestine role.” The committee as a whole had trouble coming to an agreement on many issues. The single bullet theory became an integral part of the reports conclusion despite the fact that only a slim majority (4/7) believed that the theory had any validity what so ever. The evidence suggests that those who rose to power after Kennedy’s death had much to lose if the truth were to come out. Based on this evidence the members of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy either intentionally perpetuated myth and fallacy or they were unwilling pawns in larger scheme to keep the truth of what happened to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print. The. Pittman, Benn. The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators. New York, NY: Moore, Wilstach, and Baldwin, 1865.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy led many Americans to distrust their own federal government. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy's death, but the way that they handled it resulted in many American citizens to lose trust in their country. The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy, but the view of the general public was that the killing was a conspiracy. They believed that the Warren Commission withheld important evidence about the event that took place on November 22, 1963. Many also accused the Warren Commission of not fully investigating the crime which caused a large number of American citizens to lose trust in their own government.
In reality, he and his security advisor, Admiral John Poindexter, had lied to Congress, shredded evidence, and refused to inform the President of details in order to guarantee his “plausible deniability”. Ultimately, the Iran-Contra investigation raised more questions than it answered. Reagan held fast to his plea of ignorance, the full role of the CIA director remained murky, and the role of Vice President Bush remained mysterious as well. The Iran-Contra affair revealed how secretive government officials undermine the Constitution and compromise Presidential authority under the facade of patriotism.
An alleged mistress of LBJ implied the conspiracy to kill JFK began in the early 1960’s, this conspiracy included dozens of individuals including leaders of the FBI and the Mafia. It has been stated that Oswald acted alone and there is no evidence to support he was involved in a conspiracy assassination. There was much research done by the Secretary of State, Defense, Treasury, the Attorney General, the FBI, CIA and the Chief Secret Service. All of them independently came up with the same conclusion that Oswald acted alone. With so many theories, we will never know the truth behind the JFK assassination.
The investigation was ordered directly after the assassinations of two other major political figures; the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King and the Presidents brother Robert Kennedy, in 1968. Naturally these incidents aroused immense suspicion and the American public started questioning why so many key US figures had been assassinated in the space of just four years, when previously this type of incident had been rare. The HCSA was interested in looking into the possibility that the assassinations were related. At the time there was also an increasing awareness of corruption and scandal within the government. The Watergate Scandal in 1974 involving President Nixon had clearly shown that American government was not entirely free of foul play. As a result of this, people started questioning the behavior of the government, and how much it was holding back from its people. This is most likely why Americans became more receptive and attracted to the idea of a conspiracy behind Kennedy's death.
The Kennedy Administration consists of a series of “what if” moments. What if moments such as what if Kennedy sent troops during the Bay of Pigs or what if Kennedy listened to his advisors during the Cuban Missile Crisis serve as some examples. Coupled with this “what if” perception, the more time passes since the incidents, the more complex the possibilities become. History is based on contingencies, a random catalyst, and the effects of prior actions. Every action is based on, the often random, event before it, and said action goes on to influence events later on in the historical timeline. History is a cycle of cause and effect, action and reaction, where a change in the action changes the later reactions. The Kennedy assassination turns out to be a significant turning point in American History.
Mcclaim, Erin. "JFK Assassination: Many Theories, but No 'real Evidence' of a Conspiracy." NBC News. NBCNEWS.COM, 22 Nov. 2013. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/22/21564131-jfk-assassination-many-theories-but-no-real-evidence-of-a-conspiracy. 30 Nov. 2013.
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that the Warren Commission was the last straw to cover up the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Hoover form this commission and what was it to achieve. What was happening to cause
Gest, Ted, at al. "JFK The Untold Story of the Warren Commission." U.S. News & World Report 17 August 1992: 28-42.
It is human nature to try and find the unseen hand in a crime. When calamity struck on November 22, 1963, the country began to search for the unseen hand in the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The United States was completely taken under shock when news came to them that Kennedy had been shot in Dealey Plaza. 70% of Americans believe Kennedy was assassinated under some type of conspiracy. Few know the facts to what they believe, but most just believe, but most just believe as an escape route to the reality that a small man such as Lee Harvey Oswald can kill a man as big as John F. Kennedy. While people feel Lee Harvey was accompanied in the killing, the fact of the matter is that there is no evidence to prove Lee Harvey Oswald was part of a conspiracy.
Kennedy’s New Frontier Program As the President elect of the United States in 1960, John F. Kennedy aspired, to accomplish much during his presidency. Kennedy confidently called his initiatives “The New Frontier” taking on numerous major challenges. Some of the challenges were boosting the United States economy by ending a recession and promoting growth in the economy, aiding third world countries by establishing the Peace Corps sending men and women overseas to assist developing countries in meeting their own necessities. Additional challenges were too built-up the United States National Defense and furthered the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) programs.
On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 in the afternoon, President John F. Kennedy was shot at and killed while participating in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The most important question that arises from this incident is ‘Who killed President John F. Kennedy?’ This is an issue which has been debated by scholars, The Government, and even common people alike. Many people seem to feel that it was a conspiracy, some large cover-up within a cover-up.
From examining John F. Kennedy’s assassination, many people have come to the conclusion that there was a second party involved in the shooting of the President of the United States. The writers give great theories and facts leading people to believe that the Warren Report was false and later used to cover up the death of John Kennedy. With this great information out to the public it is obvious that the mob was involved with the planning assassination. After, all this evidence it only makes sense that the Warren Report is false, and that the mob was involved the whole time.
the FBI seemed more interested in sweeping this incident under a rug than exploring how Milteer got his information. Adams was supposed to determine where Milteer was during the assassination, but could not conclusively establish his whereabouts during that week. Adams would eventually write a book about his investigation, one that was severely critical of the Warren Commission.