A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Sept. 27, 1964, the U.S. government publicly released the report of the Warren Commission, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through Executive Order 11130 on Nov. 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of Kennedy just one week earlier.
Soon after Kennedy’s assassination, Oswald had been arrested and detained, and after a short interrogation, was charged with murder. But on Nov. 24, Oswald was fatally shot by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby on live television in the basement of Dallas police headquarters.
As the nation dealt with the shock of a presidential assassination, followed by the death of the believed killer, many questions remained. Hence the need for the Warren Commission.
About 11 months later, the commission issued its report — on this date 60 years ago — and it was covered by newspapers all around the nation and world. The determination? Oswald acted alone.
But as everyone knows, the debates, rumors, understandings and misunderstandings have continued to percolate. Investigative journalists, podcasters and movie directors have forged their whole careers around this question: Did Oswald act alone?
Here are plenty of stories, analyses and opinion pieces on the Warren Commission’s findings from Deseret News archives:
“60 years later, JFK’s death still fuels a culture of doubt”
“JFK’s 1963 assassination was like Shakespearean tragedy”
“Who was Lee Harvey Oswald? A Q&A about the enigma in John F. Kennedy’s assassination”
“30 years of JFK probes yield surprisingly little”
“50 years on, finding profit in ‘truth’ on John F. Kennedy case”
“Ford was the FBI’s spy on the Warren Commission”
“Ford defends his changes in JFK report”
“Release of JFK papers may still fuel conspiracy theories”
“5 decades later, some JFK probe files still sealed”
“Notes shed light on police interrogation of Oswald”