Customer Reviews

The Warren Commission Report: Report Of The President's Commission On The Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Warren Commission Report is required reading for most American political scholars. Overall, I thought that it was dry and very difficult to engage me. I think that over time, more doubts have been expressed about forensic evidence gleaned over by the Warren Commission. Given the political repercussions of the Kennedy assassination and all of the doubtful forensic evidence, I question whether or not an independent investigative group would not be merited. I'm tempted to classify this book as fiction. It is an excellent place to start, but, the reader ought not plan on stopping here. It leaves many stones unturned and the reader must go well beyond this report to obtain other information to tie everything together. In other words, it's not at all comprehensive and seems to be misleading at times. I'd give this a C, even though I think everyone ought to read it.

The Warren Report may very well be the most unfairly maligned document in U.S. History. Way too many people say that they distrust this book, and they haven't even bothered to read it. Yes, I know that we cannot trust everything our government does, and we have to be skeptical fully-informed citizens. But don't let the conspiracy buffs treat you like a bunch of foolish children. They will tell you that you are naive for believing the Warren Report, and then they will shamelessly manipulate documents and distort evidence because they know you will not bother to check their claims against the real facts. The buffs irresponsibly ignore the mountain of evidence which proves that Oswald acted alone, and they will nitpick away at every little anomaly in order to fabricate a ridiculous conspiracy theory. The men who wrote the Warren Report were earnest, fact-finding patriots, determined to uncover the truth. They were not part of a massive conspiracy or a cover-up. The book is 800 pages long, with 26 volumes of supporting evidence! How can that be considered a cover-up? This book is complete, fair, competently researched and written. I admire Posner, Jennings, and Bugliosi for their efforts to reaffirm the truth, but they really shouldn't have had to bother. The Warren Report should have silenced even the most paranoid, over-active imaginations decades ago. Maybe in a hundred years or so, people will look back on our time and wonder, "What the heck was wrong with those buffs and their silly notions?" And they will see the buffs as we see the ignorant and irrational judges who hanged innocent people in Salem.