JFK and the Warren Commission

On 22 November 1963, President John F Kennedy was shot dead as he took part in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas. Soon afterwards a man named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and accused of having shot Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas school Depository building . Even though Oswald refused to co-operate and denied all knowledge of the assassination, he was formerly charged the next day, on the 23 November. However, he never stood trial as just two days later Oswald himself was shot dead by Jack Ruby, a Dallas night club owner, as he was being taken from police headquarters to court. As Jack Ruby went to prison and the police had no longer a suspect to question, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, set up a committee led by chief justice Earl Warren, to conduct an official investigation into Kennedy's murder. They were under immense pressure by the public to come up with a conclusion. On 24 September 1964, the Warren Commission finally issued a report of their findings. They concluded that President Kennedy was murdered by a single gunmen, Lee Harvey Oswald.

There were numerous reasons why the Warren Commission came to this conclusion, varying from Oswalds background and most predominantly the hard evidence there was against him. In fact, there was a substantial amount of evidence that linked Oswald to the murder weapon and the crime scene which, undoubtedly helped a great deal in his conviction. The main evidence against Oswald was a unique Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, which was recovered on the sixth floor of the school depository building and had allegedly been used for the shooting. Witnesses claimed that three shots had been fired. Three spent cartridges were found alongside the rifle. Ballistics proved that the fragments from two bullets that were recovered from the Presidents limousine and from the wounds of Kennedy and Governor Connally, came from the same unusual type of rifle, made in Italy during the Second World War. Forsenic evidence also linked Oswald to the weapon. Fibres found on the rifles stock matched those on a shirt Oswald was wearing when he was arrested. Oswalds palm prints were also found on the underside of the gun barrel. His prints were found on a part of the rifle that was exposed only when it was taken to pieces. In an attempt to conceal the weapon, Oswald may have brought it to the building in pieces and then assembled it there. Police also recovered a brown paper bag on the sixth floor of the depository building. Oswald prints were also found on this paper bag, inside of which were traces of oil from the rifle. Two eyewitnesses recalled seeing Oswald with this brown paper bag on the morning of 22 November. Lillie Mae Randall, a neighbour, stated that Oswald had carried a long package in a paper bag from his house that morning. As well as this, one of Oswalds own work colleagues, Buell Wesley Frazier, who had given him a lift to work that day, claimed that he too had seen Oswald carry a large paper bag to the depository on the morning of the assassination. Both witnesses stated that the package Oswald had been carrying was 22-23 inches long, roughly the size of the rifle. The evidence slowly mounted up. Next, the ownership of the rifle was traced to Oswald. His wife, Marina, confirmed that Oswald had owned a rifle similar to the murder weapon that he kept in the garage of their house. However when the garage was searched, the rifle was missing! I believe that this made a substantial difference in the investigation, as Oswalds own wife had provided conclusive evidence against him. When captured, Oswald was carrying a forged identity card in the name of A J Hidell. Enquiries were at one began at local gun stores of whether a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle had been purchased within the past year by anyone named Oswald or Hidell. Soon a mail order supplier came forward with records to prove that a similar rifle had been purchased by a certain A Hidell. The address given on the receipt was Oswalds and the gun had been sent to his PO Box, which he had recently rented. Experts later also verified that the signature on the on the order form had been in Oswalds handwriting. This strengthened the investigation a great deal, as it was almost certain that the murder weapon had belonged to Oswald. Some thought that Oswald had purchased the weapon using a false Id and had rented a PO Box in order to cover his tracks. Despite his efforts, it obviously hadn't worked and had actually made the whole situation seem more suspicious than it maybe was.

As well as these links to the murder weapon, the Warren Commision also established links between Oswald and the crime scene, the Texas school book depository building, where Oswald had been working for six weeks previous to the assassination. Therefore he probably knew the building quite well. His prints were found on the boxes on the sixth floor of the building. There were also many eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald on the sixth floor of the depository, prior to the murder. Charles Givens stated that he saw Oswald on the sixth floor, acting suspiciously, at 11:55, about 35 minutes before the shooting. Another man called Arnold Rowland who was on Elm Street just before the motorcade was about to arrive, described a man fitting Oswald description who he claimed was standing on the sixth floor holding a rifle. He believed that it ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 937 words of 1873.

Read the full essay

18th Century European Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is a name given by historians to an intellectual movement that was predominant in the Western world during the 18th century. Strongly influenced by the rise of modern science and by the aftermath of the long religious conflict that followed the Reformation, the thinkers of the Enlightenment (called philosophes in...

108 reviews

Download

Richard M

. Nixon Early Life ilhous Nixon grew up in Yorba, California the son of Quakers Frank and Hannah Nixon. During Nixon's childhood in Yorba, the family was always on the edge of poverty. The lemon grove was unfruitful, and there was little money for anything beyond food and clothing for the growing family. The Nixons never ate in a restaurant or t...

186 reviews

Download

Charles Et Secondat, Baron De

Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu was born in 1689 to a French noble family. "His family tree could be traced 350 years, which in his view made its name neither good nor bad." (The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, p. 68) Montesquieu's views started to be shaped at a very early age. A beggar was chosen to be his god...

9 reviews

Download

Holocoust

Fuel'Flame'Fire' Inferno'Ash' Historically, the word holocaust meant a religious rite in which an offering was completely consumed by fire. In current times, however, the word holocaust has taken on a darker more tragic meaning and refers to more than a religious sacrifice. During World War II, a fire raged throughout Eastern Europe....

109 reviews

Download

Industrialization 2

During the Industrialization workers in U.S cities were strongly effected. Times were changing and instead of getting better, conditions only got worse. While manufacturing was at the greatest, living conditions were horrible. Major company's such as Pullman had their company's run on the outskirts of town. They owned what they call company tow...

143 reviews

Download