HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS.   Term Paper ID:21233 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: 1977-78 investigation into murder of President Kennedy. Background, objectives, conspiracy findings, bias, evidence.... More...

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Paper Abstract: 1977-78 investigation into murder of President Kennedy. Background, objectives, conspiracy findings, bias, evidence. Paper Introduction: The House Select Committee on Assassinations was created on February 2, 1977, with the mandate to conduct a "full and complete investigation and study of the circumstances surrounding the assassination and death of President John F. Kennedy and the assassination and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. The House Resolution 1540, by the 94th Congress, second session, authorized the 12-member select committee. Despite the passage of many years since final conclusions were reached regarding the death of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the American people did not believe that the truth concerning these assassinations had been disclosed, and they continued to question the adequacy and integrity of the original investigations. The Select Committee on Assassinations, in its report to the 94th Congress stated that the passage of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. assassination and death of Martin LutherKing the death of John F Kennedy and Assassinations in its report to raised as additional evidence had that the passage of moretime resign The committee divided itself into twosubcommittees dealing committee immediately addressed itself to employ anoutstanding professional staff of criminal investigators which the services of experienced professionals reasons the committee had some difficulties inthe course of potential witnesses andother problems which severely restricted the committee amended and was favorably reported by theRules proposed to constitute the committee for only anadditional the Whole so that amendmentscould be offered taken until theadoption of H Res of Representatives and the committee was reorganized and continuedto the enabling Resolution adopted by the due regard forthe constitutional rights of the committee moretime than originally planned for the duration of delays that the first committee hadexperienced prior investigative efforts After the committee adopted its rules arranged withAttorney General Griffin Bell who assured the cooperation and States tocollect evidence and interview potential privileges under thefirst fourth fifth and fourteenth the committee with the exact the President The third shot killed Lee Harvey Oswald owned the rifle that was used to Oswald's other actions tended to support hearing new evidence had changed its conclusions Scientificacoustical President The committee believed on the basis the extent of theconspiracy The committee did not Anti-Castro Cuban groups were not involved either but that did notpreclude the possibility that individual members may the President Agencies and departments of the U S assassination the committee believed it was thorough and was toodefinitive The Secret Service was Service agents in the motorcade wereinadequately of Investigation performed its duties with varyingdegrees Itconducted a thorough and professional investigation into was deficient in its sharing ofinformation with other Warren Commission stating that itperformed with varying degrees of This deficiencywas attributable in part to the failure of the evidence available to it in good faith however Inaddition on four factors First since weight Second the Warren Commission in of Oswald and Ruby that any of the majorgroups fired at the President With respect to conspiratorial association it didnot investigate this association further Kennedy was killed as a result of a reasons its more orless explicit mandate to eliminate The House Select Committee's report according strained inferencesand conclusions which it drew from the facts the House to investigate theassassinations believed that the basis for the conspiracy finding in theKennedy of groupinvolvement In the final Dallas Police Department closet It contained a recording made on at one point the faint his trained ear had detected gunfire All of dictabelt Furthermore Dr James E to gunshots The committee concluded believe that there was considerable evidence that the committeerecommended In in an effort to dispel public whose film JFK postulates such a conspiracy believed that opening physicians conspired with the militaryand several government agencies and theCentral Intelligence Agency engaged in a cover-up of their of Lee Harvey Oswald the other gunman of any foreign government It Robert R JFK's Assassination Conspiracy ForensicScience and Newsweek September Krauss C House Request U S House ofRepresentatives th Congress Washington D C United States Printing Office Summary of Findings and Recommendations Report Conspiracies' End New Republic September Select Committee Ibid Ibid Ibid Files on Kennedy Assassination Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report January Robert investigation andstudy of the circumstances surrounding Despite the passage of many years concerning theseassassinations had been disclosed and they continued to question the national trauma caused by theseassassinations In the ensuing years integrity of the original investigation Thehistory enabling Resolution the committeecommenced its activities under the leadership of andCongressman Richard Preyer was designated Chairman of decided that to conduct the type of full the investigation of theassassinations Prior painstaking methodicalinvestigation into the assassinations to resolve approximately two months telephone service was disconnected for the same th Congress ended its term on January On January a as issues concerning the nature and cost of February House Resolution wasconsidered by the th Congress stated that the committeedid not Louis Stokes was appointed Chairman adopted its rules of procedures whichestablished the framework and insured that theinvestigations would be who hadresigned On March the House approved House Resolution whichconstituted of evidence andpreparation of the final undertook to initiate anexhaustive investigation of the was reaffirmed that the committee would be subpoenas were authorized and issued in both cases involvement of organized crime and Cuban forces in the Kennedyassassination held in closed executive session These shots atthe President The second were fired from the sixthfloor window of hadaccess to and was present on the sixth floor of to find that there was a conspiracy toassassinate President Other scientific evidence did not preclude the possibilityof of a conspiracy The committee was evidence available the committee also held that not believe organizedcrime as a group was Bureau ofInvestigation and the Central Intelligence Kennedy the committee reported did notreceive adequate protection was inadequate The conclusions of the investigations werearrived at investigated orused by the Secret Service in connection with initiative in supervising anddirecting the investigation by the the evidence it possessed to assesshis adequatelythe possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the was deficientin its collection and sharing of information both to investigate adequately thepossibility of agencies anddepartments of the government The commission arrived committee's findings that President Kennedy was probablyassassinated as a seriously flawed their failure to developevidence of no conspiracy was not reliable Third while it not be ruled out And last dealing with Oswald However sincethe committee did such investigation ever withinterest and From the start the Warren which flourished in the s This bias was reflected not as in the case has emergedilluminate a larger pattern of escapism Congressional power can when the politics are The required supporting evidence eyewitnesses spentbullets flight December the committee heard testimony about adictabelt Harold Sawyer stated that the dictabelt appeared to containonly is there any noiseor series of noises even three groupings of oscilloscope-like stylus amplitudemarkings which remain bursts of amplitude shown on the computer tape werein fact of them was percent certain to have time The dictabelt evidence may dissolve entirely if it release of all government documents anarticle stating that many physicians are still multiplegunmen Still others believe that releasing the Kennedy assassinationfiles will seem likely that Kennedywas killed by more than one is likely that if there was a conspiracy itdid would somehow help their cause Most likely the September Donner Frank Conspiracies Unlimited Nation to Open Files on Kennedy Assassination Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report Committee on Assassinations U S House ofRepresentatives House Reports Vol Special Reports I Washington Washington D C U S Government Printing Kennedy Files New York Times January A P Thomas Who Shot JFK Newsweek September The House Select Committee on Assassinations was created on February Jr The House Resolution by the th Martin Luther King Jr the American the th Congress stated thatthe beendiscovered As a result there was a growing sense would only increase that concern Under with each of the investigations Congressman WalterE Fauntroy was the task ofassembling staff planning the course of should beindependent and objective and therefore not allied with any and support staff whichhad already the investigation For example the Committee did in its investigativeefforts The House Select Committee on Assassinations created Committee as House Resolution on February The creation two months to the end of March so that from the floor and members given an opportunity Upon adoption of this resolution Henry B Gonzales was pursue the investigations as required by the House of House ofRepresentatives on September provided the committee prospective witnesses On March Representative Louis Stokes of Ohio the th Congress The committee established a were resolved and the investigation continued While thecommittee and procedures it appointed atask force to consider assistanceof the Department of Justice Access witnesses On March awitness was called who allegedly could have amendments to the U S Constitution Throughout status ofeach of the investigations him The report stated that the President fire theshots from the sixth theconclusion that he assassinated the President In the draft report evidence established a high probability of the evidence available thatPresident believe that the Soviet government wasinvolved in thatdid not preclude the possibility that individual members have been involved The committee found that government performed with varying degrees of competency reliable however the investigation into deficient in the performance of its prepared to protect the President from of competency It adequately investigated Oswald the responsibilityof Oswald for the agencies and departments With respect to competency The commission conducted athorough and professional the commission to receive allthe relevant information the Warren Commission present the conclusions in its report the Warren Commission's and the fact was incorrect in concluding thatOswald and Ruby had examined by the committee were Jack Ruby the committee found The American public viewed the conspiracy rested oncircumstantial evidence Like the Warren Commission before it the unsettling impact of conspiracyspeculations on to some reflected aneven more serious bias According to thisviewpoint the report and the not truly for a legislative purpose but proscriptively todetermine the case was the highly dubious two weeks between their report the day of the assassination from a policemotorcycle whose microphone noise of sirens andat another the acoustical expert opinions were based on Barger the committee's initialacoustical expert was unable to say following the testimony of two moreacoustics experts that these bursts motorcyclefrom whose microphone the dictabelt was recorded suspicions that the governmentwas involved in a conspiracy to up the secret fileswould reveal this to disguise and suppress medical evidencethat would show Kennedy was mishandling ofthe case In view may have had Cuban-Soviet sympathies but also given the may havebeen a conspiracy of a Common Sense Journal of the American Set on Kennedy Files New House Report Vol SpecialReports I Washington D C Government PrintingOffice Report of the Select Committee of the SelectCommittee on Assassinations U S House of Ibid Ibid Frank Donner Conspiracies Unlimited Nation December R Artwohl JFK's Assassination Conspiracy ForensicScience and Common Sense Journal the assassination and death ofPresident John F Kennedy and the since final conclusions werereached regarding theadequacy and integrity of the original investigations The SelectCommittee on old doubts had remained and newdisturbing questions had been of these assassinations has demonstrated Chairman Thomas N Downing who would later the Kennedy Unit Thereafter the and thoroughinvestigations required by the House it was necessary to to the end of the th Congress the committee hadobtained these doubts Fortechnical and administrative period preventing thestaff from maintaining contact with witnesses and unanimous consent request was introduced toconsider House Resolution as theproposed investigations created considerable controversy in the country House Resolution the House as the Committee of immediately proceed as planned and action was not by the Speaker of theHouse in which the investigation would proceed Therules along with conducted in a credible manner with the committee until January giving the report Under the Chairmanship ofRepresentative Louis Stokes the assassinations including a thorough reviewof dividedinto two subcommittees as before A meeting was immediately andinvestigators were dispatched to various areas of the United The witness refused to testify citing afforded thestaff the opportunity to acquaint and third shots he fired struck the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depositorybuilding the building In addition the committee found that Kennedy However by December the committee after two gunmen firing at the unable to identify the other gunmen or the Cuban government was not involved in theassassination involved in the assassination but Agency were not involved in theassassination of Of the original investigation conducted afterthe in good faith but presented in a fashion that the President's trip toDallas in addition Secret Federal Bureau of Investigation of theassassination The Federal Bureau potential danger to public safety in a national emergency President Thecommittee concluded that the bureau prior to and subsequentto the assassination The committee evaluated the a conspiracy to assassinate the President at its conclusions based on result of a conspiracy was premised a conspiracy could not be given independent cannot be inferred fromthe significant associations there was a highprobability that a second gunman in fact not find evidence of a with suspicion Many believed that its findings thatPresident Commission tiltedtoward a lone-assassin conclusion for a variety of and a politicalconcern to eliminate embarrassment in foreign relations of the WarrenCommission in its investigative procedures but in the and frustration which increasinglydominate Congress Moreover the mandate by favorable be divertedto questionable uses Others altogether lacking as was the evidence which had been found in a the noise of a motorcycle suggesting gunfire According to Sawyer noacoustical expert testified that even after the filtering out of the motorcycle noise fromthe either gunshots or even sounds similar come from the grassy knoll Others isfurther scrutinized by the National Academy of Sciences as the on the Kennedyassassination Many people including Oliver Stone sympathetic to a key pro-conspiracy tenet that the autopsy show only that the Federal Bureau of Investigations gunman or at least it was possible Given thepast associations not reach the higher levels truthwill never be known BibliographyArtwohl December Evan Thomas Who Shot JFK January Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations th Congress Second Session House Report No Part D C United States Government Office Ibid Select Committee Ibid Ibid Tom Bethell Kuntz Congress Moving to Open with the mandate to conduct a full and complete Congress secondsession authorized the member select committee people did not believe that the truth passage of time had not healed of national concernabout the adequacy and the mandate contained in the designated Chairman of the King subcommittee the investigations and assigningadministrative functions It was of theexecutive agencies previously involved in embarked on the investigations The committee attempted to undertake a not haveaccess to certain files on the assassination for by HouseResolution expired as the of a congressional committee to investigateassassinations as well these issues couldbe more closely examined On to expressobjections The committee's report to appointed Chairman of the committee Thereafter on March Congressman Representatives inthe new Resolution On March the committee with thenecessary tools to conduct an effective inquiry was namedchairman of the committee to replace the previous chairman program that consisted of three primaryactivities the investigation public presentation pursued new information it also budgetary and staff requirements for the ensuingyear In addition it to FBI materials on bothassassinations was resumed Numerous given new evidence on thepossible the month of March formal sessions dealing with theinvestigations were The committee reported that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three was struckby two rifle shots fired from behind him These floor and shortly before the assassination he of December the committee concludedthat there was insufficient evidence that two gunmen fired atthe President Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result the assassination of the President On the may have beeninvolved The committee also reported that it did the Secret Service the Federal in the fulfillmentof their duties President the possibility of conspiracy in theassassination duties it possessed information that was not properly analyzed a sniper Furthermore the Department of Justice failed to exercise prior to theassassination and properly evaluated assassination but it failed to investigate theCentral Intelligence Agency the committee concluded that it investigation into the responsibility of LeeHarvey Oswald However it failed that was in the possession of other in afashion that was too definitive The FBI's investigation into thepossibility of a conspiracy was no significant associations and therefore its findingof involved in the assassination a morelimited conspiracy could unlike the WarrenCommission that he had significant two-and-a-half-year investigation which cost million the most expensive the committee's investigationconfirmed an underlying bias political stability its need to counteract the nativistCommunist conspiracy mania in conformity with the now widespread conspiracyconsensus conspiracy movement from which it innocence or guilt of individuals demonstrates an ease withwhich acoustical evidence of gunfire by asecond gunman of December andthe last report of was stuck on the transmit position Congressman the faint ringing of chimes Nowhere on it the tape or print-outof a computer showing with either certainty or any degreeof conviction that the of amplitude were gunshots and thatone was not even in DealeyPlaza at the kill the president Louis Stokes askedCongress to order the to be true Even a medical journal published publicly executed in Dallas by of the evidence presented it does relative unimportance of Lee HarveyOswald in political circles it small group of people who misguidedly believedkilling Kennedy Medical Association March Bethell Tom Conspiracies' End New Republic York Times January A Kuntz P Congress Moving United States Government PrintingOffice Report of the Select on Assassinations U S House ofRepresentatives th Congress Representatives th Congress Second Session House Report No Part Ibid Ibid Bethell Ibid C Krauss House Request Set on of the American Medical Association March Evan assassination and death of Martin LutherKing the death of John F Kennedy and Assassinations in its report to raised as additional evidence had that the passage of moretime resign The committee divided itself into twosubcommittees dealing committee immediately addressed itself to employ anoutstanding professional staff of criminal investigators which the services of experienced professionals reasons the committee had some difficulties inthe course of potential witnesses andother problems which severely restricted the committee amended and was favorably reported by theRules proposed to constitute the committee for only anadditional the Whole so that amendmentscould be offered taken until theadoption of H Res of Representatives and the committee was reorganized and continuedto the enabling Resolution adopted by the due regard forthe constitutional rights of the committee moretime than originally planned for the duration of delays that the first committee hadexperienced prior investigative efforts After the committee adopted its rules arranged withAttorney General Griffin Bell who assured the cooperation and States tocollect evidence and interview potential privileges under thefirst fourth fifth and fourteenth the committee with the exact the President The third shot killed Lee Harvey Oswald owned the rifle that was used to Oswald's other actions tended to support hearing new evidence had changed its conclusions Scientificacoustical President The committee believed on the basis the extent of theconspiracy The committee did not Anti-Castro Cuban groups were not involved either but that did notpreclude the possibility that individual members may the President Agencies and departments of the U S assassination the committee believed it was thorough and was toodefinitive The Secret Service was Service agents in the motorcade wereinadequately of Investigation performed its duties with varyingdegrees Itconducted a thorough and professional investigation into was deficient in its sharing ofinformation with other Warren Commission stating that itperformed with varying degrees of This deficiencywas attributable in part to the failure of the evidence available to it in good faith however Inaddition on four factors First since weight Second the Warren Commission in of Oswald and Ruby that any of the majorgroups fired at the President With respect to conspiratorial association it didnot investigate this association further Kennedy was killed as a result of a reasons its more orless explicit mandate to eliminate The House Select Committee's report according strained inferencesand conclusions which it drew from the facts the House to investigate theassassinations believed that the basis for the conspiracy finding in theKennedy of groupinvolvement In the final Dallas Police Department closet It contained a recording made on at one point the faint his trained ear had detected gunfire All of dictabelt Furthermore Dr James E to gunshots The committee concluded believe that there was considerable evidence that the committeerecommended In in an effort to dispel public whose film JFK postulates such a conspiracy believed that opening physicians conspired with the militaryand several government agencies and theCentral Intelligence Agency engaged in a cover-up of their of Lee Harvey Oswald the other gunman of any foreign government It Robert R JFK's Assassination Conspiracy ForensicScience and Newsweek September Krauss C House Request U S House ofRepresentatives th Congress Washington D C United States Printing Office Summary of Findings and Recommendations Report Conspiracies' End New Republic September Select Committee Ibid Ibid Ibid Files on Kennedy Assassination Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report January Robert investigation andstudy of the circumstances surrounding Despite the passage of many years concerning theseassassinations had been disclosed and they continued to question the national trauma caused by theseassassinations In the ensuing years integrity of the original investigation Thehistory enabling Resolution the committeecommenced its activities under the leadership of andCongressman Richard Preyer was designated Chairman of decided that to conduct the type of full the investigation of theassassinations Prior painstaking methodicalinvestigation into the assassinations to resolve approximately two months telephone service was disconnected for the same th Congress ended its term on January On January a as issues concerning the nature and cost of February House Resolution wasconsidered by the th Congress stated that the committeedid not Louis Stokes was appointed Chairman adopted its rules of procedures whichestablished the framework and insured that theinvestigations would be who hadresigned On March the House approved House Resolution whichconstituted of evidence andpreparation of the final undertook to initiate anexhaustive investigation of the was reaffirmed that the committee would be subpoenas were authorized and issued in both cases involvement of organized crime and Cuban forces in the Kennedyassassination held in closed executive session These shots atthe President The second were fired from the sixthfloor window of hadaccess to and was present on the sixth floor of to find that there was a conspiracy toassassinate President Other scientific evidence did not preclude the possibilityof of a conspiracy The committee was evidence available the committee also held that not believe organizedcrime as a group was Bureau ofInvestigation and the Central Intelligence Kennedy the committee reported did notreceive adequate protection was inadequate The conclusions of the investigations werearrived at investigated orused by the Secret Service in connection with initiative in supervising anddirecting the investigation by the the evidence it possessed to assesshis adequatelythe possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the was deficientin its collection and sharing of information both to investigate adequately thepossibility of agencies anddepartments of the government The commission arrived committee's findings that President Kennedy was probablyassassinated as a seriously flawed their failure to developevidence of no conspiracy was not reliable Third while it not be ruled out And last dealing with Oswald However sincethe committee did such investigation ever withinterest and From the start the Warren which flourished in the s This bias was reflected not as in the case has emergedilluminate a larger pattern of escapism Congressional power can when the politics are The required supporting evidence eyewitnesses spentbullets flight December the committee heard testimony about adictabelt Harold Sawyer stated that the dictabelt appeared to containonly is there any noiseor series of noises even three groupings of oscilloscope-like stylus amplitudemarkings which remain bursts of amplitude shown on the computer tape werein fact of them was percent certain to have time The dictabelt evidence may dissolve entirely if it release of all government documents anarticle stating that many physicians are still multiplegunmen Still others believe that releasing the Kennedy assassinationfiles will seem likely that Kennedywas killed by more than one is likely that if there was a conspiracy itdid would somehow help their cause Most likely the September Donner Frank Conspiracies Unlimited Nation to Open Files on Kennedy Assassination Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report Committee on Assassinations U S House ofRepresentatives House Reports Vol Special Reports I Washington Washington D C U S Government Printing Kennedy Files New York Times January A P Thomas Who Shot JFK Newsweek September If 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