United States House Select Committee on Assassinations
Encyclopedia
The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was established in 1976 to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy
and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the shooting of Governor George Wallace
. The Committee investigated until 1978, and in 1979 issued its final report, concluding that President John F. Kennedy was very likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy
. However, the committee noted that it believed that the conspiracy did not include the governments of the Soviet Union
or Cuba
. It also stated it did not believe the conspiracy was organized by any organized crime
group, nor any anti-Castro
group, but that it could not rule out individual members of any of those groups acting together.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations suffered from being conducted mostly in secret, and then issuing a public report with much of its evidence sealed for 50 years under Congressional rules. In 1992, Congress passed legislation to collect and open up all the evidence relating to Kennedy's death, and created the Assassination Records Review Board
to further that goal.
hearings that had revealed CIA ties to other assassinations and assassination attempts. The HSCA resulted from public demands following hundreds of books, magazine articles, and video documentaries completed by private citizens and professional investigators since 1963. It was also spurred by public outcry after a copy of the Zapruder film
was first shown in motion on TV in March 1975, after having been stored by Life
magazine out of view of the public for almost twelve years.
The Chief Counsel of the Committee later changed his views that the CIA was being cooperative and forthcoming with the investigation when he learned that the CIA's special liaison to the Committee researchers, George Joannides, was actually involved with some of the organizations that Lee Harvey Oswald was involved with in the months leading up to the assassination, including an anti-Castro group, the DRE, which was linked to the CIA, where the liaison, Joannides, worked in 1963. Chief Counsel Blakey later stated that Joannides, instead, should have been interviewed by the Committee, rather than serving as a gatekeeper to the CIA's evidence and files regarding the assassination. He further disregarded and suspected all the CIA's statements and representations to the Committee, accusing it of obstruction of justice
.
, that "there is a likelihood" that this was the result of a conspiracy, and that no U.S. government agency was part of this conspiracy probably between Ray and his brothers.
The Committee further concluded that it was probable that:
The HSCA agreed with the single bullet theory
, but concluded that it occurred at a time point during the assassination that differed from any of the several time points the Warren Commission theorized it occurred.
The Department of Justice
, FBI, CIA, and the Warren Commission
were all criticized for not revealing to the Warren Commission information available in 1964, and the Secret Service
was deemed deficient in their protection of the President.
alleged to be from a stuck transmitter on a police motorcycle in Dealey Plaza
during the assassination. After the committee finished its work, however, an amateur researcher listened to the recording and discovered faint crosstalk of transmissions from another police radio channel known to have been made a minute after the assassination. This was supported by the National Academy of Science article.
Further, the Dallas motorcycle policeman thought to be the source of the sounds followed the motorcade to the hospital at high speed, his siren blaring, immediately after the shots were fired. Yet the recording is of a mostly idling motorcycle, eventually determined to have been at JFK's destination, the Trade Mart, miles from Dealey Plaza.
In 2001, this criticism of the Committee's acoustic evidence was rebutted in a Science and Justice article written by D.B. Thomas, a government scientist and JFK assassination researcher. He concluded the HSCA finding of a second shooter was correct and that the NAS panel's study was flawed. Thomas surmises that the Dictaphone needle jumped and created an overdub on Channel One.
The 1981 Committee on Ballistic Acoustics was charged with reviewing the HSCA’s acoustic evidence , they concluded that the acoustic evidence of conspiracy was invalid. Donald Thomas who reportedly performed the first independent peer review of the HSCA’s work and who people think was “an expert on acoustic testing” never read Thomas’ own report on his work with the acoustic evidence in which he acknowledges that "he is not an acoustic expert."
In 2003, computer animator Dale Myers
used various films from the day of the shooting to plot the locations and speeds of the motorcycle police officers during the assassination, and concluded that no police motorcycles were anywhere near the precise microphone location on Houston Street required by the Committee's acoustic experts. Myers' study confirmed the same misgivings voiced by HSCA photographic consultant Richard E. Sprague in 1978.
A majority of witnesses who testified on the source of the shots said they came from the direction of the Depository. However, many witnesses thought the shots came from the direction of the Knoll. Only five witnesses, from a total of over one hundred, thought the shots came from two directions simultaneously.
The Mitrokhin Archive--The KGB in Europe and the West
, by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin
, documents extensive manipulation by the KGB
in creating and fostering conspiracy theories regarding the Kennedy assassination. The origin of the infamous forged letter, purported to be from Oswald to E. Howard Hunt
, remained inconclusive in the final opinion of the Committee, leaving, in the words of Hunt, "an article of faith that I had some role in the Kennedy assassination."
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the shooting of Governor George Wallace
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
. The Committee investigated until 1978, and in 1979 issued its final report, concluding that President John F. Kennedy was very likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
. However, the committee noted that it believed that the conspiracy did not include the governments of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
or Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. It also stated it did not believe the conspiracy was organized by any organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
group, nor any anti-Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
group, but that it could not rule out individual members of any of those groups acting together.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations suffered from being conducted mostly in secret, and then issuing a public report with much of its evidence sealed for 50 years under Congressional rules. In 1992, Congress passed legislation to collect and open up all the evidence relating to Kennedy's death, and created the Assassination Records Review Board
Assassination Records Review Board
The Assassination Records Review Board was created as a result of an act passed by the US Congress in 1992, entitled the "President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act." The Act mandated the gathering and release of all US Government records related to the Assassination of John F....
to further that goal.
Formation
The HSCA was a followup to the Hart-Schweiker and Church CommitteeChurch Committee
The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
hearings that had revealed CIA ties to other assassinations and assassination attempts. The HSCA resulted from public demands following hundreds of books, magazine articles, and video documentaries completed by private citizens and professional investigators since 1963. It was also spurred by public outcry after a copy of the Zapruder film
Zapruder film
The Zapruder film is a silent, color motion picture sequence shot by private citizen Abraham Zapruder with a home-movie camera, asU.S. President John F...
was first shown in motion on TV in March 1975, after having been stored by Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine out of view of the public for almost twelve years.
Members
- Thomas N. DowningThomas N. DowningThomas Nelms Downing was a lawyer, politician, and Democratic Congressman from for nine terms.Downing was born and raised in Newport News, Virginia. He attended Newport News High School, and graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1940...
, (VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
) First Chairman - Louis StokesLouis StokesLouis Stokes is a Democratic politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives....
, (OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
), Second Chairman - L. Richardson PreyerL. Richardson PreyerLunsford Richardson Preyer , who typically went by 'Richardson' or 'Rich,' was a jurist and a U.S. representative in Congress from North Carolina. He was the grandson of inventor Lunsford Richardson...
, (North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
) - Walter E. FauntroyWalter E. FauntroyWalter Edward Fauntroy is the former pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and a civil rights activist. He is also a former member of the United States Congress and was a candidate for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, as well as a human rights activist...
, (District of Columbia) - Yvonne Brathwaite BurkeYvonne Brathwaite BurkeYvonne Brathwaite Burke is a politician from Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. She was the Los Angeles County Supervisor representing the 2nd District . She has served as the Chair three times . She was the first African-American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress...
, (CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
) - Christopher DoddChristopher DoddChristopher John "Chris" Dodd is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut for a thirty-year period ending with the 111th United States Congress....
, (ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
) - Harold Ford, Sr.Harold Ford, Sr.Harold Eugene Ford, Sr. was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives representing the Memphis, Tennessee area for ten terms—from 1975 until his retirement in 1997. He was the first African-American to represent Tennessee in the U.S...
, (TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
) - Floyd FithianFloyd FithianFloyd James Fithian was a U.S. Representative from Indiana.Born and raised in Vesta, Nebraska, Fithian graduated from Vesta High School, 1947. He achieved his B.A., Peru State College, Peru, Nebraska, 1951; an M.A., University of Nebraska, 1955; and a Ph.D., University of Nebraska, 1964. He was a...
, (IndianaIndianaIndiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
) - Robert W. EdgarRobert W. EdgarRev. Dr. Robert William Edgar is president and CEO of Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization, effective May 2007. He served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1987, representing the 7th district of Pennsylvania...
, (PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
) - Samuel L. DevineSamuel L. DevineSamuel Leeper Devine was an American politician of the Republican party who served in the United States House of Representatives as Representative of the 12th congressional district of Ohio from 3 January 1959 until 3 January 1981; he left office after being defeated by Democrat Bob Shamansky...
, (OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
) - Stewart McKinney, (ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
) - Charles ThoneCharles ThoneCharles Thone is an American Republican politician.-Biography:Charles Thone was born in Hartington, Nebraska. He has three brothers, including John Jr. He graduated from Holy Trinity High School . During World War II, he served in the Infantry of the United States Army...
, (NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
) - Harold S. SawyerHarold S. SawyerHarold Samuel Sawyer was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.Sawyer was born in San Francisco, California, and attended the public schools of the San Francisco Bay area. He graduated from Marin Junior College , Kentfield, California and from the University of California, Berkeley in 1940....
, (MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
)
Committee staff
- G. Robert BlakeyG. Robert BlakeyGeorge Robert Blakey is an American attorney and law professor. He is best known for his work in connection with drafting the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and for scholarship on that subject.-Education and family:Blakey graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1957,...
was Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the 1977 House Select Committee on Assassinations. After completing his work on the HSCA, Blakey went on to become the William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Professor of Law at the University of Notre DameUniversity of Notre DameThe University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, and is considered the foremost expert on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ActRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ActThe Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO).
General conclusions
In particular, the various investigations performed by the U.S. government were faulted for insufficient consideration of the possibility of a conspiracy in each case. The Committee in its report also made recommendations for legislative and administrative improvements, including making some assassinations Federal crimes.The Chief Counsel of the Committee later changed his views that the CIA was being cooperative and forthcoming with the investigation when he learned that the CIA's special liaison to the Committee researchers, George Joannides, was actually involved with some of the organizations that Lee Harvey Oswald was involved with in the months leading up to the assassination, including an anti-Castro group, the DRE, which was linked to the CIA, where the liaison, Joannides, worked in 1963. Chief Counsel Blakey later stated that Joannides, instead, should have been interviewed by the Committee, rather than serving as a gatekeeper to the CIA's evidence and files regarding the assassination. He further disregarded and suspected all the CIA's statements and representations to the Committee, accusing it of obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
.
Conclusions regarding the King assassination
On the King assassination, the Committee concluded in its report that he was killed by one rifle shot from James Earl RayJames Earl Ray
James Earl Ray was an American criminal convicted of the assassination of civil rights and anti-war activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr....
, that "there is a likelihood" that this was the result of a conspiracy, and that no U.S. government agency was part of this conspiracy probably between Ray and his brothers.
Conclusions regarding the JFK assassination
The HSCA concluded in its 1979 report that:- Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at President John F. Kennedy. The second and third shots he fired struck the President. The third shot he fired killed the President.
- Scientific acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that at least two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy. Other scientific evidence does not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President. Scientific evidence negates some specific conspiracy allegations.
- The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee was unable to identify the other gunmen or the extent of the conspiracy.
- The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Soviet Government was not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
- The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Cuban Government was not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
- The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that anti-Castro Cuban groups, as groups, were not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved.
- The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the national syndicate of organized crime, as a group, was not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved.
- The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Central Intelligence Agency were not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
- Agencies and departments of the U.S. Government performed with varying degrees of competency in the fulfilment of their duties. President John F. Kennedy did not receive adequate protection. A thorough and reliable investigation into the responsibility of Lee Harvey Oswald for the assassination was conducted. The investigation into the possibility of conspiracy in the assassination was inadequate. The conclusions of the investigations were arrived at in good faith, but presented in a fashion that was too definitive.
The Committee further concluded that it was probable that:
- four shots were fired
- the third shot came from a second assassin located on the grassy knoll, but missed. They concluded that it missed due to the lack of physical evidence of an actual bullet, of course this investigation took place almost sixteen years after the crime.
The HSCA agreed with the single bullet theory
Single bullet theory
The single bullet theory was introduced by the Warren Commission in its investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to explain what happened to the bullet which struck Kennedy in the back and exited through his throat...
, but concluded that it occurred at a time point during the assassination that differed from any of the several time points the Warren Commission theorized it occurred.
The Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, FBI, CIA, and the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
were all criticized for not revealing to the Warren Commission information available in 1964, and the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
was deemed deficient in their protection of the President.
Criticisms and further research
The sole acoustic evidence relied on by the committee's experts to support its theory of a fourth gunshot (and a gunman on the grassy knoll) in the JFK assassination, was a Dictabelt recordingDictabelt evidence relating to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
The Dictabelt evidence relating to the assassination of John F. Kennedy comes from a Dictabelt recording from a microphone stuck in the open position on a motorcycle police officer's radio when John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963...
alleged to be from a stuck transmitter on a police motorcycle in Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza , in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas, Texas , is the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
during the assassination. After the committee finished its work, however, an amateur researcher listened to the recording and discovered faint crosstalk of transmissions from another police radio channel known to have been made a minute after the assassination. This was supported by the National Academy of Science article.
Further, the Dallas motorcycle policeman thought to be the source of the sounds followed the motorcade to the hospital at high speed, his siren blaring, immediately after the shots were fired. Yet the recording is of a mostly idling motorcycle, eventually determined to have been at JFK's destination, the Trade Mart, miles from Dealey Plaza.
In 2001, this criticism of the Committee's acoustic evidence was rebutted in a Science and Justice article written by D.B. Thomas, a government scientist and JFK assassination researcher. He concluded the HSCA finding of a second shooter was correct and that the NAS panel's study was flawed. Thomas surmises that the Dictaphone needle jumped and created an overdub on Channel One.
The 1981 Committee on Ballistic Acoustics was charged with reviewing the HSCA’s acoustic evidence , they concluded that the acoustic evidence of conspiracy was invalid. Donald Thomas who reportedly performed the first independent peer review of the HSCA’s work and who people think was “an expert on acoustic testing” never read Thomas’ own report on his work with the acoustic evidence in which he acknowledges that "he is not an acoustic expert."
In 2003, computer animator Dale Myers
Dale K. Myers
Dale K. Myers is a computer animator, author, and John F. Kennedy assassination researcher. He was honored in 2004 with an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his computer animated recreation of the Kennedy assassination featured in ABC News' 40th anniversary...
used various films from the day of the shooting to plot the locations and speeds of the motorcycle police officers during the assassination, and concluded that no police motorcycles were anywhere near the precise microphone location on Houston Street required by the Committee's acoustic experts. Myers' study confirmed the same misgivings voiced by HSCA photographic consultant Richard E. Sprague in 1978.
A majority of witnesses who testified on the source of the shots said they came from the direction of the Depository. However, many witnesses thought the shots came from the direction of the Knoll. Only five witnesses, from a total of over one hundred, thought the shots came from two directions simultaneously.
The Mitrokhin Archive--The KGB in Europe and the West
Mitrokhin Archive
The Mitrokhin Archive is a collection of notes made secretly by KGB Major Vasili Mitrokhin during his thirty years as a KGB archivist in the foreign intelligence service and the First Chief Directorate...
, by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin was a Major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, and co-author with Christopher Andrew of The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, a massive account of Soviet intelligence...
, documents extensive manipulation by the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
in creating and fostering conspiracy theories regarding the Kennedy assassination. The origin of the infamous forged letter, purported to be from Oswald to E. Howard Hunt
E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
, remained inconclusive in the final opinion of the Committee, leaving, in the words of Hunt, "an article of faith that I had some role in the Kennedy assassination."
External links
- Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives (29 March 1979). Stokes, Louis Chairman, House Select Committee on Assassinations.