Page 45 - EM 1 Oct Nov 2019_june_july_2009_Neat

The Warren Commission 45

9 Things You May Not want to invade her privacy. though he could not rule out the possibility of a
conspiracy, and he later admitted to having
Know About the Warren 4. The Commission secretly “lingering dissatisfaction” with many of its

Commission interviewed Fidel Castro. conclusions. Congressman Hale Boggs had
similar doubts about the report, in particular the
“single bullet theory”—the argument that one
Many believed that Fidel Castro might have
shot had stuck both President Kennedy and
conspired in Kennedy’s murder, and it turns out
1. Some members of the Commission that the Cuban dictator personally proclaimed Texas Governor John Connally.
were reluctant to serve on it. his innocence in an off-the-record interview Lyndon Johnson remained in lock step
with the Warren Commission. According to with the Warren Commission’s findings for most
of his career, but he privately disagreed with the
Lyndon Johnson initially resisted the idea of journalist Philip Shenon, at one point in the
single bullet theory and reportedly believed that
forming a federal commission to investigate investigation, Commission lawyer William
the Cubans had engineered the assassination.
Kennedy’s assassination, preferring to allow the Coleman met face to face with Castro on a
Likewise, President Kennedy’s brother,
state of Texas to review what he called a “local fishing boat off the coast of Cuba. During a
Attorney General Robert Kennedy, publicly
killing.” But after learning that both the U.S. three-hour exchange, Castro repeatedly denied
commended the Warren Report even though he
Senate and the House of Representatives were having any involvement in the assassination. No
suspected a conspiracy had taken place.
considering launching their own inquiries, the notes were taken during the secret rendezvous,
newly-installed President assembled the Warren and only Earl Warren and one other investigator
Commission in the hope of avoiding multiple were ever made aware of it. 8. Public trust in the report plummeted
and possibly conflicting reports on the shooting. after only a few years.
Johnson wanted the Commission to 5. The FBI and the CIA intentionally
include members from each of the different misled the Commission. When the Warren Report was first released to
branches of government, but many of his the public in September 1964, polls showed that
preferred choices were hesitant to participate. only 56 percent of Americans agreed with its
The FBI and the CIA had monitored Lee Harvey
Wary of the possible legal entanglements of “lone gunman theory.” But within months,
Oswald in the months before the assassination,
serving, Chief Justice Earl Warren turned down critics began to poke holes in its conclusions and
but both agencies later tried to downplay their
the opportunity to chair the commission multiple methodology, and conspiracy theories cropped
knowledge of him to the Warren Commission.
times, and only agreed after Johnson argued that Oswald had once even left a threatening note for up alleging the involvement of everyone from
an inadequate report could incite a public panic an FBI agent at the Bureau’s office in Dallas. the Mafia to Lyndon Johnson himself. By 1966,
and even spark a nuclear war. Meanwhile, a second poll would show that only a meager 36
Fearful of catching blame for not preventing the
conservative Senator Richard Russell flatly percent of people still had confidence in the
assassination, the FBI later destroyed the note
refused to serve because he disliked Warren’s report. Today, studies show that around two-
and even removed the agent’s name from a
liberal judicial record. Johnson waived off thirds of Americans believe in some form of
typewritten transcript of Oswald’s address book
Russell’s protests and publicly named him to the conspiracy surrounding the assassination.
provided to the Warren Commission.
Commission anyway, saying his participation
Congressman Hale Boggs would later say that
was necessary “for the good of America.” 9. A second government investigation
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover “lied his eyes out”
to the Commission’s investigators. came to a different conclusion.
2. Gerald Ford secretly provided Evidence also suggests that the CIA had
information on the Commission to the Oswald under surveillance when he made a trip After the public release of new information
FBI to Mexico in September 1963 and visited the including the Zapruder film—an amateur
Cuban and Soviet embassies, but the agency recording showing the Kennedy assassination in
While serving as a leading member of the repeatedly denied any connection to the alleged shocking detail—the U.S. House of
Warren Commission, future U.S. President shooter. The CIA also neglected to inform the Representatives formed the United States House
Gerald Ford also acted as an inside informant for Commission about its many covert operations in Select Committee on Assassinations and
J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Several months Cuba—including several schemes to assassinate reopened the investigation on the president’s
after his death in 2006, a cache of declassified Fidel Castro—even though those revelations murder. In 1979, the HSCA stated that acoustic
documents revealed that Ford, then a U.S. might have helped shape the investigation. evidence from a Dallas police officer’s radio
congressman, had approached FBI Assistant showed it was likely that two shooters had fired
Director Cartha DeLoach and offered to 6. The Commission offered no clear on Kennedy’s limousine, and it concluded that
confidentially keep the Bureau informed on the explanation of Oswald’s motives. the assassination “probably” involved a
Commission’s deliberations. Among Ford’s conspiracy. Although subsequent investigations
many leaks was the revelation that two unnamed While the 888-page Warren report went into have cast doubt on the radio evidence, the
members of the Commission—most likely great detail outlining how Lee Harvey Oswald HSCA’s report helped fuel public dissatisfaction
Richard Russell and Hale Boggs—remained could have killed Kennedy, it gave little with the efforts of the Warren Commission.
unconvinced by FBI evidence that the kill shot explanation of why he did it. In its findings, the
had been fired from the Texas School Book Commission stated that Oswald’s actions could The President's Commission on the
Depository. not be explained if “judged by the standards of Assassination of President Kennedy, known
unofficially as the Warren Commission, was
reasonable men,” saying only that he was an
3. Earl Warren suppressed key isolated individual plagued by a life of failure established by President Lyndon B. Johnson
evidence from the Commission. and disappointment. The report would later through Executive Order 11130 on November
conclude that, “the Commission does not 29, 1963 to investigate the assassination of
United States President John F. Kennedy that
Chief Justice Earl Warren was a close friend of believe that it can ascribe to him any one motive had taken place on November 22, 1963.
the Kennedy family, and his personal attachment or group of motives.”
may have interfered with his duties to the • Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United
Commission. In one of the most infamous 7. Both Lyndon Johnson and members of the States (chairman)
episodes of the investigation, Warren denied his Kennedy family privately disagreed with the • Richard Russell Jr.
fellow Commission members access to Commission’s report.
• John Sherman Cooper
Kennedy’s autopsy photos because he deemed • Hale Boggs
them too disturbing. He later refused to allow Although they praised the Warren Commission • Gerald Ford
the Commission to interview certain witnesses report in the media, many government leaders • Allen Dulles
whom Lee Harvey Oswald may have known in had serious misgivings about its findings. • John J. McCloy
Mexico, and even tried to block an interview Commission member Richard Russell
with first lady Jackie Kennedy because he didn’t reluctantly signed the Warren Report even