REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT’S COMMISSION ON THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT
KENNEDY

[Illustration: JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY

35th President of the United States

May 29, 1917-November 22, 1963]




  THE WARREN
  COMMISSION
  REPORT


  Report of President’s Commission on the Assassination
  of President John F. Kennedy


  St. Martin’s Press
  New York





Foreword


PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON, by Executive Order No. 11130 dated
November 29, 1963,[F-1] created this Commission to investigate the
assassination on November 22, 1963, of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the
35th President of the United States. The President directed the
Commission to evaluate all the facts and circumstances surrounding the
assassination and the subsequent killing of the alleged assassin and to
report its findings and conclusions to him.[F-2]

The subject of the Commission’s inquiry was a chain of events which
saddened and shocked the people of the United States and of the world.
The assassination of President Kennedy and the simultaneous wounding
of John B. Connally, Jr., Governor of Texas, had been followed within
an hour by the slaying of Patrolman J. D. Tippit of the Dallas Police
Department. In the United States and abroad, these events evoked
universal demands for an explanation.

Immediately after the assassination, State and local officials in
Dallas devoted their resources to the apprehension of the assassin.
The U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection
of the President, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began an
investigation at the direction of President Johnson. Within 35 minutes
of the killing of Patrolman Tippit, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested
by the Dallas police as a suspect in that crime. Based on evidence
provided by Federal, State, and local agencies, the State of Texas
arraigned Oswald within 12 hours of his arrest, charging him with the
assassination of President Kennedy and the murder of Patrolman Tippit.
On November 24, 1963, less than 48 hours after his arrest, Oswald was
fatally shot in the basement of the Dallas Police Department by Jack
Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. This shooting took place in full view
of a national television audience.

The events of these 2 days were witnessed with shock and disbelief
by a Nation grieving the loss of its young leader. Throughout the
world, reports on these events were disseminated in massive detail.
Theories and speculations mounted regarding the assassination. In many
instances, the intense public demand for facts was met by partial
and frequently conflicting reports from Dallas and elsewhere. After
Oswald’s arrest and his denial of all guilt, public attention focused
both on the extent of the evidence against him and the possibility of
a conspiracy, domestic or foreign. His subsequent death heightened
public interest and stimulated additional suspicions and rumors.


THE COMMISSION AND ITS POWERS

After Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby, it was no longer
possible to arrive at the complete story of the assassination through
normal judicial procedures during a trial of the alleged assassin.
Alternative means for instituting a complete investigation were widely
discussed. Federal and State officials conferred on the possibility of
initiating a court of inquiry before a State magistrate in Texas. An
investigation by the grand jury of Dallas County also was considered.
As speculation about the existence of a foreign or domestic conspiracy
became widespread, committees in both Houses of Congress weighed the
desirability of congressional hearings to discover all the facts
relating to the assassination.

By his order of November 29 establishing the Commission, President
Johnson sought to avoid parallel investigations and to concentrate
factfinding in a body having the broadest national mandate. As Chairman
of the Commission, President Johnson selected Earl Warren, Chief
Justice of the United States, former Governor and attorney general of
the State of California. From the U.S. Senate, he chose Richard B.
Russell, Democratic Senator from Georgia and chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee, former Governor of, and county attorney in,
the State of Georgia, and John Sherman Cooper, Republican Senator
from Kentucky, former county and circuit judge, State of Kentucky,
and U.S. Ambassador to India. Two members of the Commission were
drawn from the U.S. House of Representatives: Hale Boggs, Democratic
U.S. Representative from Louisiana and majority whip, and Gerald R.
Ford, Republican, U.S. Representative from Michigan and chairman of
the House Republican Conference.