Updated:
Oct 28, 2018
Original:
Nov 18, 2013
9 Things You May Not Know About the Warren Commission
Find out more about this much-maligned investigation into the murder of America’s 35th president.
Evan Andrews
1. Some members of the Commission were reluctant to serve on it.
Lyndon Johnson initially resisted the idea of forming a federal commission to investigate Kennedy’s assassination, preferring to allow the state of Texas to review what he called a “local killing.†But after learning that both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives were considering launching their own inquiries, the newly-installed President assembled the Warren Commission in the hope of avoiding multiple and possibly conflicting reports on the shooting.
Johnson wanted the Commission to include members from each of the different branches of government, but many of his preferred choices were hesitant to participate. Wary of the possible legal entanglements of serving, Chief Justice Earl Warren turned down the opportunity to chair the commission multiple times, and only agreed after Johnson argued that an inadequate report could incite a public panic and even spark a nuclear war. Meanwhile, conservative Senator Richard Russell flatly refused to serve because he disliked Warren’s liberal judicial record. Johnson waived off Russell’s protests and publicly named him to the Commission anyway, saying his participation was necessary “for the good of America.â€
https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-warren-commission
