PSC482G, Spring 2000
Answers to Assignment 5
Warren Commission Report 1
Read:
Warren Commission Report Appendix I (p. 471), Appendix II (472), Appendix III
(473–474), Foreword (ix–xv), and Chapter I (1–27).
Answer
these questions:
1. Give at least three reasons why President Lyndon B. Johnson formed the
Warren Commission. Find and report
all facts, avoid multiple parallel investigations, place broadest possible
public mandate/acceptance on Report, no more possibility of regular trial for
LHO, settle rumors of conspiracy, help LBJ get reelected.
2. What was the main charge to the Warren Commission? Evaluate all evidence on the assassination and report its findings and conclusions to President Johnson.
3. Which other federal agencies provided information to the Commission? What types of information? FBI, Secret Service, Dept. of State, IRS, CIA, other intelligence agencies. They provided information and reports. Major report came from FBI.
4. What powers did the Warren Commission have? Subpoena witnesses/evidence, grant immunity to compel testimony, spend whatever needed to complete the job.
5. What were the professions of the commissioners and the staff of the Warren Commission? How might this distribution of professions have influenced the orientation or the conduct of the Commission’s work? Lawyers (30), historians (2), and financial (2). The preponderance of lawyers made the Commission think and operate like a legal undertaking, even though strictly speaking it wasn’t.
6. Why did President Kennedy travel to Texas in November 1963? Where had he stopped before Dallas? To heal a rift in the Texas Democratic party, to boost his popularity there, and to become more familiar with conditions in Texas. Previous stops at San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth.
7. What did the Warren Commission conclude about the number of shots fired? The weight of the evidence indicated that three shots had been fired.
8. Briefly recap Lee Harvey Oswald’s movements after the shooting. Do these movements point toward his guilt, toward his innocence, or toward neither? See pp. 5–8 of Report. They point toward his guilt but certainly do not prove it.
9. Which law officer was first into the Texas School Book Depository after the shots, and why did he go there? Marrion L. Baker. Heard shots in that general direction and saw pigeons fly from the roof.
10. Very briefly, summarize the major conclusions of the Warren Commission. (1) LHO killed JFK and wounded Connally by firing from the sixth floor of the Depository; (2) weight of evidence indicates that he fired three shots, one of which passed through the bodies of both men; (3) LHO killed Officer Tippit, then resisted arrest in the Texas Theatre; (4) Oswald treated fairly by the Dallas Police; (5) Ruby killed LHO, in part because of laxity by the DPD; (6) no evidence for conspiracy in any of the three killings, but conspiracy cannot be ruled out; (7) Presidential protection needs to be tightened.