The Foreword to this 1964 Report explains, “President Lyndon B. Johnson… created this Commission to investigate the assassination… The President directed the Commission to evaluate all the facts and circumstances … and to report its findings and conclusions to him… After Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby, it was no longer possible to arrive at the complete story of the assassination through normal judicial procedures during a trial of the alleged assassin… From its first meeting… the Commission viewed the Executive order as an unequivocal Presidential mandate to conduct a thorough and independent investigation.” (Pg. ix-x)
It continues, “The Commission recognized, however, that special measures were required whenever the facts or rumors called for an appraisal of the acts of the agencies themselves. The staff reviewed in detail the actions of … the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of State. Initially the Commission requested the agencies to furnish all their reports relating to the assassination and their relationships with Oswald or Ruby. On the basis of these reports, the Commission submitted specific questions to the agency involved… Finally, the responsible officials of these agencies were called to testify under oath.” (Pg. xiii)
The Report explains, “At the scene of the shooting, there was evident confusion at the outset concerning the point of origin of the shots. Witnesses differed in their accounts of the direction from which the shots emanated. Within a few minutes, however, attention centered on the Texas School Book Depository Building as the source of the shots… Several eyewitnesses in front of the building reported that they saw a rifle being fired from the southeast corner window on the sixth floor… One witness, Howard L. Brennan, had been watching … He promptly told a policeman that he had seen a slender man… take deliberate aim from the sixth-floor corner window and fire a rifle in the direction of the President’s car… a Dallas motorcycle patrolman… encountered … the building superintendent… They … dashed up the stairs. Not more than 2 minutes had elapsed since the shooting… Gun in hand, he… saw a man about 20 feet walking toward the other end of the lunchroom… At [the patrolman’s] command, the man turned and approached him… [The patrolman] asked Truly [the superintendent] whether he knew the man. Truly replied that the man worked in the building, whereupon [they] … proceeded… up the stairs. The man they encountered … was Lee Harvey Oswald.” (Pg. 4-6)
A deputy sheriff investigated and “discovered the point from which the shots had been fired. On the floor were three empty cartridge cases… cartons [were] arranged … [so] that a rifle resting on the top carton would be aimed directly hath the motorcade as it moved away… Stuffed between the two rows was a bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight… when disassembled [the rifle] could fit into a handmade paper sack which… was found … within a few feet of the cartridge cases.” (Pg. 8-9)
The morning of the assassination, Oswald “left his wedding ring which he had never done before. His wallet containing $170 was left intact in a dresser drawer. Oswald walked to Frazier’s house … and place a long bulky package … into the rear seat of the care. He told Frazier that the package contained curtain rods.” (Pg. 15) “At about 3 p.m. the police arrived… and asked Marina Oswald whether her husband owned a rifle. She said that he did and then led them into the garage and pointed to the rolled up blanket… a police officer lifted it… The rifle was not there.” (Pg. 15)
The Report summarizes, “The shots which killed President Kennedy… [was] fired from the sixth floor window of the Depository Building, and some witnesses saw a rifle in the window immediately after the shots were fired… The nearly whole bullet found on Governor Connally’s stretcher … were fired from the … rifle found on the sixth floor… The three used cartridge cases … were fired from the same rifle… There is no credible evidence that the shots were fired from the Triple Underpass… or from any other location… The weight of the evidence indicates that there were three shots fired… there is very persuasive evidence… to indicate that the same bullet which pierced the President’s throat also caused Governor Connally’s wounds… The shots … were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald … from [the rifle] … owned by and in the possession of Oswald… a rifleman of Lee Harvey Oswald’s capabilities could have fired the short from the rifle used… within the elapsed time of the shooting… Oswald killed Dallas Police Patrolman J.D. Tippit approximately 45 minutes after the assassination… eyewitnesses saw the Tippit shooting… These ..eyewitnesses positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the man they saw… The cartridge cases found at the scene of the shooting were fired from the revolver in the possession of Oswald at the time of his arrest… Oswald resisted arrest at the theatre by attempting to shoot another Dallas police officer.” (Pg. 18-20)
The Report elaborates, “Some spectators … did see a rifle being fired in the direction of the President’s car… Other witnesses saw a rifle in this window immediately after the assassination. Three employees of the Depository… heard the shots fired from the floor immediately above them. No credible evidence suggests that the shots were fired from the railroad bridge… the nearby railroad years or any place other than the Texas School Book Depository Building… Eyewitnesses testified that they saw a man fire a weapon from the sixth-floor window.” (Pg. 61. 63)
It notes, “[Of the] smaller hole on the back of the President’s head… The dimensions of that wound were consistent with having been caused by a 6.5 millimeter bullet fired from behind and above… [The] Wound Ballistics Pathology Branch of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology… testified: ‘President Kennedy was, in my opinion, shot from the rear… from above and behind.’ … Ballistics experts … showed that the rifle and bullets … were capable of producing the President’s head wound… one skull … was struck at a point closely approximating the wound of entry on President Kennedy’s head. That bullet blew out the right side of the reconstructed skull…” (Pg. 86-87)
It explains, “The bullet that hit President Kennedy in the back and exited through his throat most likely could not have missed both the automobile and its occupants. Since it did not hit the automobile… it probably struck Governor Connally. The relative positions of President Kennedy and Governor Connally at the time when the President was truck in the neck confirm that the same bullet probably passed though both men… The President sat on the extreme right… while the right edge of the jump seat in which the Governor sat is 6 inches from the right door.” (Pg. 105) It acknowledges, “That angle was consistent with the trajectory of a bullet passing through the President’s neck and then striking Governor Connally’s back… The alignment of the points of entry was only indicative and not conclusive that one bullet hit both men. The exact positions of the men could not be re-created: thus, the angle could only be approximated… an artist’s drawing… could not reproduce the exact line of the bullet, since the exit wound was obliterated from the tracheotomy.” (Pg. 106-107)
It states that Klein’s Sporting Goods Co. shipped a rifle to “A. Hidell… the bold printing on the face of the mailorder coupon was in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald and … the face of the envelope was also his… a U.S. postal money order [for the rifle] … were also in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald.” (Pg. 119) Of the lack of fingerprints on the rifle, it states, “the poor quality of the wood and the metal would cause the rifle to absorb moisture from the skin, thereby making a clear print unlikely… the Dallas Police Department … ‘lifted’ a palmprint from the underside of the gun barrel… this palmprint was the right palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald.” (Pg. 123)
It notes, “One Sunday … Oswald asked [his wife] to take a picture of him holding a rifle, a pistol and issues of two newspaper … The Commission concluded that the rifle shown in these pictures is the same rifle which was found on the sixth floor of the Depository Building.” (Pg. 125) It adds, “In deciding whether Oswald carried a rifle to work in a large paper bag on November 22, the Commission gave weight to the act that Oswald gave a false reason for returning home on November 21, and one which provided an excuse for the carrying of a bulky package the following morning.” (Pg. 130)
It recounts, “[Howard J.] Brennan saw the man fire the last shot… Within minutes of the assassination, Brennan described the man to the police. This description most probably led to the radio alert sent to police cars…” (Pg.144) “At least 12 persons saw the man with the revolver in the vicinity of the Tippit crime scene at or immediately the shooting… five of them had identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the man they saw.” (Pg. 166) “From the outset, Oswald denied owning a rifle… [They] confronted Oswald with the evidence that he had purchased a rifle under the fictitious name of ‘Hidell.’ Oswald said this was not true. Oswald denied that he had a rifle wrapped up in a blanket in the Paine garage, Oswald also … said that since leaving the Marine Corps he had fired only a small bore .22 rifle.” (Pg. 180-181)
About tests on firing the rifle, “Having fired this [first] shot the assassin was then required to hit the target one more time within a space of 4.8 to 5.6 seconds… The Commission concluded that Oswald was capable of accomplishing this second his even if there was an intervening shot which missed. The probability of hitting the President a second time would have been markedly increase if, in fact, he had missed either the first or third shots thereby leaving a time span of 4.8 to 5.6 seconds between the two shots which struck the mark.” (Pg. 195)
The Report also states, “The Commission faced substantial difficulties in determining whether anyone conspired with or assisted the person who committed the assassination. Prior to his own death Oswald had neither admitted his own involvement nor implicated any other persons in the assassination. The problem … was compounded because of the possibility of subversive activity by a foreign power… The Commission has investigated each rumor and allegation linking Oswald to a conspiracy which has come to its attention, regardless of the source.” (Pg. 243)
It explains, “From the time of his release from the Marine Corps until the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald dealt in various transactions with several agencies of the U.S. government… These dealings have given rise to numerous rumors and allegations that Oswald may have been a paid informant or some type of undercover agent for … the FBI or the CIA… Oswald’s mother … testified before the Committee that she believes her son went to Russia and returned as an undercover agent for the U.S. government… Through provided the opportunity to present any material she considered pertinent, Mrs. Oswald was not able to give the Commission any reasonable basis for her speculation.” (Pg. 325-326)
The Report explains, “Since Oswald is dead, the Commission is not able to reach any definite conclusions as to whether or not he was ‘sane’ under prevailing legal standards… Indications of Oswald’s motivation may be obtained from a study of the events, relationships, and influences which appear to have been significant in shaping his character and guiding him Perhaps the most outstanding conclusion of such a study is that Oswald was profoundly alienated from the world in which he lived. His life was characterized by isolation, frustration, and failure. He had very few, if any, close relationships… He was never satisfied with anything. ” (Pg. 375-376) Later, they add, “It is apparent, however, that Oswald was moved by an overriding hostility to his environment. He does not appear to have been able to establish meaningful relationships with other people… He expressed his hatred for American society and acted in protest against it.” (Pg. 423)
While the ‘conspiracy’ theorists never tire of criticizing the Report, I think it makes a far more conclusive case than any of the ‘alternative’ theories that have been suggested.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2001
That edition is cheap and readily available online so I would recommend just getting the original publication
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Rick Wraith
Details missing from book. No photographs
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2019dealey
Shorter than your would think!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2015
