The Warren Commission was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, heard from 552 witnesses and determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination. The commission found no evidence of conspiracy and presented its findings to the president in 1964. The report and related documents are now part of the National Archives.
On November 29, 1963, one week after Kennedy’s death in Dallas, Texas, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the United States Commission to Report on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The commission became informally known as the Warren Commission after its chairman, Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States. During 1964, the commission conducted hearings into the assassination of President Kennedy.
Of the seven members of the commission, two were US Senators, John Sherman Cooper and Richard B. Russell. US Representatives Hale Boggs and Gerald R. Ford also served on the Warren Commission. The last two members were John J. McCloy, former president of the World Bank, and Allen W. Dulles, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Johnson headed the Warren Commission to consider and evaluate issues relating to the assassination and murder of Kennedy’s alleged assassin. The investigation began with the summoning of witnesses and evidence. The commission was empowered to grant immunity to witnesses who testified, although no immunity was granted in the course of the investigation.
The Warren Commission appointed James Lee Rankin as general counsel; he was supported by fourteen paralegals and twelve additional staff members. Other staff, including a historian, lawyers and administrative staff assisted in the investigation.
In the course of the investigation, the Warren Commission heard 552 witnesses. Ten federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of State, the Secret Service, military intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency have reported to the commission. The Texas Attorney General also filed a report.
Most of the hearings were closed to the public. In the course of its investigation, the commission traveled to Dallas to the scene of the assassination and other related locations on several occasions. The commission’s goal was to reconstruct the series of events that emerged around the assassination.
The commission presented its findings to the president on September 24, 1964. The large volume of 26 transcripts of the commission’s hearings was also released. The report is now part of the National Archives. Other files released by the Warren Commission include more than 50,000 pages of documents, memos and other related files. JFK’s family donated other associated documents, including X-rays and autopsy photos, to the National Archives in 1966.
The commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and without accomplices when he killed President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. According to his report, Oswald also wounded Texas Governor John Connally and was believed to have killed the policeman by Dallas JD Tippit. The commission found no evidence of conspiracy in the murder of Oswald, two days after the presidential assassination, by Dallas nightclub owner and businessman Jack Ruby. Furthermore, the commission found no connection between Oswald and Ruby.
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