9.27.2014

Sunday, September 27, 1964: Warren Commission report


The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was a cruel and shocking act of violence directed against a man, a family, a nation, and against all mankind. A young and vigorous leader whose years of public and private life stretched before him was the victim of the fourth Presidential assassination in the history of a country dedicated to the concepts of reasoned argument and peaceful political change. This Commission was created on November 29, 1963, in recognition of the right of people everywhere to full and truthful knowledge concerning these events. This report endeavors to fulfill that right and to appraise this tragedy by the light of reason and the standard of fairness. It has been prepared with a deep awareness of the Commission's responsibility to present to the American people an objective report of the facts relating to the assassination.  (Introduction to Warren Report)

The assassination of President Kennedy was the work of one man, Lee Harvey Oswald. There was no conspiracy, foreign or domestic. (New York Times)

Lee Harvey Oswald, in a solitary act of violence free of foreign or domestic conspiracy, assassinated President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, the Warren Commission ruled Sunday. (Los Angeles Times)

Why? The great unanswered question in the report of the Warren Commission -- which has just concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy -- is why he did it. (Associated Press)

The Secret Service, the FBI, the Dallas police, the State Department and American news media bear the sharpest stings from the Warren Commission for laxness and poor judgment before and after the assassination of President Kennedy. (Associated Press)

The report contains no sensational revelations or unorthodox conclusions. In its sum and substance, it reaffirms almost everything that was already known and understood by most knowledgeable people. Its great value comes from the thoroughness with which the Commission carried out its investigation, from its laying to rest many malignant rumors and speculations, and from its fascinating wealth of detail by which future historians can abide. (Time magazine)

The major significance of the report is that it lays to rest the lurid rumors and wild speculations that had spread after the assassination. (Life magazine)

-- Photo from Allen W. Dulles Papers, Princeton University (Dulles served on the Warren Commission; scale models were built for the investigation)

* Text of report (National Archives): @
* More information from The John F. Kennedy Assassination Information Center: @
* More information from Mary Ferrell Foundation: @
* More information from History Matters: @
* CBS special report, September 27: @
* NBC special report, September 27: @
* New York Times, September 28: @
* Los Angeles Times, September 28: @
* Miami News, September 28: @
* Sarasota Herald-Tribune, September 28: @
* The Guardian, September 28: @
* Time magazine, October 2: @
* Life magazine, October 2: @ 

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