Warren Commission
The Warren Commission (officially called the the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy) investigated and reported to the public on the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The Commission was chaired by Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The Commission concluded that the assassination of Kennedy and the wounding of Texas Governor John Connally was the work of Lee Harvey Oswald who was acting alone.
President Lyndon Johnson appointed the Commission with the following members:
- Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States (chairman) (1891–1974)
- Richard Russell, Jr. (D-Georgia), U.S. Senator, (1897–1971)
- John Sherman Cooper (R-Kentucky), U.S. Senator (1901–1991)
- Hale Boggs (D-Louisiana), U.S. Representative, House Majority Whip (1914–1972)
- Gerald Ford (R-Michigan), U.S. Representative (later 38th President of the United States), House Minority Leader (1913-2006)
- Allen Welsh Dulles, former Director of Central Intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence Agency (1893–1969)
- John J. McCloy, former President of the World Bank (1895–1989)
The Commission met in private, but the meetings were not secret, and the members and witnesses were free to discuss the testimony outside the Commission hearings.
The "Warren Report" was generally accepted, but had critics advancing alternative theories. In response, in 1978-79 the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) reexamined the Warren Commission evidence with the help of a forensics panel. The HSCA involved Congressional hearings and ultimately concluded that Oswald assassinated Kennedy.