Report of the Warren Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy [antikvár]

A PROLOGUE DEATH IN DALLAS by Tom Wicker Dallas, Nov. 22—President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin today. He died of a wound in the brain caused by a rifle bullet that was fired at him as he was riding through downtown Dallas in a motorcade. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who was riding in the third car behind Mr. Kennedy's, was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States 99 minutes after Mr. Kennedy's death. Mr. Johnson is 55 years old; Mr. Kennedy was 46. Shortly after the assassination, Lee H. Oswald, described as a one-time defector to the Soviet Union, active in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, was arrested by the Dallas police. Tonight he was accused of the killing. suspect captured after scuffle Oswald, 24 years old, was also accused of slaying a policeman who had approached him in the street. Oswald was subdued after a scuffle with a second policeman in a nearby theater. The shooting took place at 12:30 P.M., Central standard time (1:30 P.M., New York time). Mr. Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 P.M. and Mr. Johnson was sworn in at 2:39 P.M. Mr. Johnson, who was uninjured in the shooting, took his oath in the Presidential jet plane as it stood on the runway at Love Field. The body of the President was aboard. Immediately after the oath-taking, the plane took off for Washington. Standing beside the new President as Mr. Johnson took the oath of office was Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Her stocking was saturated with her husband's blood. Gov. John B. Connally Jr. of Texas, who was riding in the same car with Mr. Kennedy, was severely wounded in the chest, ribs and arm. His condition was serious, but not critical. The killer fired the rifle from a building just off the motorcade route. Mr. Kennedy, Governor Connally and Mr. Johnson had just received an enthusiastic welcome from a large crowd in downtown Dallas. Mr. Kennedy apparently was hit by the first of what wit- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WARREN COMMISSION REPORT by Harrison E. Salisbury Assistant Managing Editor The New York Times. The quest for truth in the Kennedy assassination has been long and arduous. The Warren Commission spent the better part of a year in exhaustive examination of every particle of evidence it could discover. It questioned hundreds of witnesses, sought expert testimony on each phase of the case where expert testimony was applicable and attempted to evaluate every theory advanced about the killing—no matter how absurd, extreme or flimsy it might seem. The Warren examination has not been the only one. The case has attracted dozens of independent investigators of varying degrees of competence. In the first hours, days and weeks after the President was shot, newsmen and correspondents from all the major news-gathering organizations in the world conducted separate inquiries. Some of the early investigations were notable in scope. With the uses of history in mind. The New York Times set for itself the task of looking into every possible clue and factor which might concern the case. It was this newspaper's investigation, for example, which first ascertained many vital facts concerning the background of Lee Harvey Oswald—information about his childhood, the nature of his life in New Orleans in the summer of 1963, his activities on a trip to Mexico City just before the President's death. The early inquiries, like that of The New York Times, had as their objective the uncovering of the basic information in a confused and bewildering situation. They were not intended to prove or disprove any particular thesis. They were designed to establish if possible what had happened and who was involved. They were aimed at giving the public the necessary information on which to base a judgment. Later on, a host of other inquiries and investigators appeared on the scene. In many instances they were not so much interested in establishing facts as in proving or disproving theories as to how President Kennedy had been killed and who was responsible for the crime. Frequently these theories were self-serving—designed to advance some special political goal or cause. Some have had XV