The Conclusions On Nov. 29, 1963, just seven days after he became President of the U.S. because of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11,130, setting up a blue-ribbon commission, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate each and every aspect of the national tragedy. The Warren Commission took ten months before finally submitting its report to the President last week. In the agonizing interim, there were complaints that the Commission was being deliberately desultory—perhaps trying to delay until past the November elections. In its final form, the Commission’s report was amazing in its detail, remarkable in its judicious caution and restraint, yet utterly convincing in its major conclusions. The wonder was not that the Commission took such a long time to complete its report but that it did so much so swiftly. There could be no question that the Commission lived up to the responsibility outlined to it in its instructions from President Johnson: “To satisfy itself that the truth is known as far as it can be discovered.” Backed and bulwarked by an astonishing array of facts, figures, investigative reports, interviews, minute-by-minute timetables, and a vast amount of common sense, the Commission concluded that: >There is “no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign, to assassinate President Kennedy . . . Because of the difficulty of proving negatives to a certainty, the possibility of others being involved with either Oswald or Ruby cannot be established categorically, but if there is any such evidence it has been beyond the reach of all the investigative agencies and resources of the United States and has not come to the attention of this Commission.” > “The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor John Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald . . . The Commission has found no evidence that anyone assisted Oswald in planning or carrying out the assassination . . . The Commission has found no evidence to show that Oswald was employed, persuaded, or encouraged by any foreign government to assassinate Kennedy or that he was an agent of any foreign government.” > “No direct or indirect relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby has been discovered by the Commission, nor has it been able to find any credible evidence that either knew the other . . . The Commission has found no evidence that Jack Ruby acted with any other person in the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald.” > There is “no evidence that the extreme views expressed toward President Kennedy by some right-wing groups centered in Dallas or any other general atmosphere of hate or right-wing extremism which may have existed in the city of Dallas had any connection with Oswald’s actions on Nov. 22.” 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. The
