Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why

By Gerald D. McKnight

Book Overview

The Warren Commission's major conclusion was that Lee Harvey Oswald was the "lone assassin" of President John F. Kennedy. Gerald McKnight rebuts that view in a meticulous and devastating dissection of the Commission's work.

The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy was officially established by Executive Order to investigate and determine the facts surrounding JFK's murder. The Warren Commission, as it became known, produced 26 volumes of hearings and exhibits, more than 17,000 pages of testimony, and a 912-page report. Surely a definitive effort. Not at all, McKnight argues. The Warren Report itself, he contends, was little more than the capstone to a deceptive and shoddily improvised exercise in public relations designed to "prove" that Oswald had acted alone.

McKnight argues that the Commission's own documents and collected testimony--as well as thousands of other items it never saw, refused to see, or actively suppressed--reveal two conspiracies: the still very murky one surrounding the assassination itself and the official one that covered it up. The cover-up actually began, he reveals, within days of Kennedy's death, when President Johnson, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and acting Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach all agreed that any official investigation must reach only one conclusion: Oswald was the assassin.

While McKnight does not uncover any "smoking gun" that identifies the real conspirators, he nevertheless provides the strongest case yet that the Commission was wrong--and knew it. Oswald might have knowingly or unwittingly been involved, but the Commission's own evidence proves he could not have acted alone.

Based on more than a quarter-million pages of government documents and, for the first time ever, the 50,000 file cards in the Dallas FBI's "Special Index," McKnight's book must now be the starting point for future debate on the assassination.

Among the revelations in Breach of Trust:

Both CIA and FBI photo analysis of the Zapruder film concluded that the first shot could not have been fired from the sixth floor

The Commission's evidence was never able to place Oswald at the "sniper's nest" on the sixth floor at the time of the shooting.

JFK's official death certificate, signed by his own White House physician and contradicting the Commission's account of Kennedy's wounds, was left out of the official record.

The dissenting views of the naval doctors who performed the autopsy and those of the government's best ballistic experts were kept out of the official report.

The Commission's tortuous "Single Bullet" or "Magic Bullet" theory is finally and convincingly dismantled.

Oswald was probably a low-level asset of the FBI or CIA or both.

Commission members Gerald Ford (for the FBI) and Allen Dulles (for the CIA) acted as informers regarding the Commission's proceedings.

The strong dissenting views of Commission member Senator Richard Russell (D-Georgia) were suppressed for years.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0700619399
• ISBN13: 9780700619399
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Length: 488 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The First Book to Read on JFK Assassination!

What makes this book so great is its limited focus on the Warren Commission itself, and not alternative theories of the JFK Assassination. The political origins of the Commission are described incredibly well. Virtually no objective reader can have any doubt whatsoever that the Warren Commission went into the investigation already armed with an assigned and foregone conclusion. This is the book that non-academic namecalling authors, such as Vincent Bugliosi, are afraid to tackle in an open forum.

Two conspiracies

Too many books on the JFK assassination get sidetracked by the many false leads there to tempt sober analysis. This remarkable addition to the literature is unique for its restraint, refusal to indulge in speculation, and careful focus on what can be documented, and no more. There were really two conspiracies, that of the Warren commision, and the conspiracy they stumbled on half-consciously but refused to pursue. Since their agenda was fixed in advance, making the 'lone nut' interpretation a foregone conclusion, the whole investigation was bogus. Many previous writers have gotten this far and confused this with the indirect, but very strong evidence of the other conspiracy. But as the author notes there is no smoking gun, only the many discrepancies in the evidence, and the transparnt deceptions in the way the initial investigation was carried out. The author's slow but steady pursuit of the basic deception of the Commission is convincing and manages to avoid the traps that have claimed too many previous efforts in this field. Everytime you think this field has reached its limits another book reopens the whole can of worms. Well done.

Crucial work

A much-needed addition to the JFK Assassination litterature, and the kind of book that should be required reading for all those who still cling to the "Lone-Nut" theory. Now this is not your average conspiracy book.You won't find here any confession by an alledged participant in the crime, or any sensational claim by untill-then unknown witness. The author's specific focus is the Warren Commission, its inner working and its relations with the investigative agencies (mainly the FBI and the Secret Service)and representatives of the Government. Only in the last 5 pages does the author give us his own interpretation of the wealth of data that he has presented in the book, which focuses exclusively on reconstructing complicated paper trail of apparently innocuous documents and establishing decision making timelines. And if you think (like I did) that this must make for some quite unexciting read, be prepared for a real surprise... Though serious researchers will probably not find anything new in the book as far as information is concerned, the specific angle of the author's research has the immense merit to bring new shine to old data. And the facts, as they say, are stubborn. The political bias that subverted the WC working is dully detailled and exposed. The ominous poker game between the FBI, the CIA and the Commission regarding crucial elements of the assassination record is irrefutably documented and takes on even more sinister undertones. And the "Journal de Bord" of the day-to-day progress of the investigation does make for interesting reading. Hard-core Lone Nuttists (yes, everybody can play that game...)might be interested in considering the following facts: µThe WC, which relied for its investigation on the FBI and the Secret Service, reached a solution to the crime (the single bullet theory) which contradicts the findings of these two agencies (which by the way don't agree either with one another, but that's another story...). This unbelievable and fondamental discrepancy has never been explained (probably because it can not) *Similarly, the medical staff who attended to JFK and Connally (and who should have known about gunshot wounds, working in one of America's most violent environment) rejected the single bullet theory *the crime was declared "solved" (one shooter, no accomplices) by Hoover a couple of hours after Oswald'S arrest. Even surmising that they could have, in such a short time, established beyond doubt that Oswald was the assassin, there is no conceivable way that the FBI could have determined at that point that Oswald had received absolutely no help whatsoever in his endeavour. And on and on....The detailing of the Mexico City disinformation saga (or "Oswald as a KGB contract killer") is also priceless, and confirms the scenario of the crime on which most serious researchers agree today (even if they would fight one another to death about specific details...): a conspiracy reaching to the highest level of the Amer

A solid excellent book

This book roots in a majesterial examination of the documentary records of the Warren Commission and the FBI, a product of careful, hard work conducted over the decades of the type seldom met with in most histories today and rarely in the JFK inquiry. In addition it is well written. The results are devatating to the coverup inflicted upon the American people by the Warren Commission. It should be noted that four of the members of the Warren commission did not believe their own Report, nor did LBJ, the District Attorney of Dallas, the Police Chief of DAllas and even the FBI and the Secret Service--as the documentary record shows beyond cavil. Russell and Cooper, members of the WC, did not believe the SBT, for example, and left records to the fact. Further, interviews with the head of the Secret Service and Warren Commission records prove the Commission and its staff saw the X-rays and medical photographs, some as early as December 1963. It is unquestionable that the WC and its chief counsel Rankin early on [January, 1964] worked with this knowledge, e.g. Jan. 22 executive session of the WC. To argue otherwise is blindly to accept and faithfully to reiterate the political devices employed by investigators as they realized late in their investigation that they had to coverup their nefarious actions and leave a pious paper file that to scholars is further affirmation of their failure. Breach of Trust's objective and scholarly presentation will assist the reader to understand the workings of the WC and lead an inquiring mind to the light. McKNight's unique book ought to become the standard reference to the crime for decades to come.

a little balance, please

The sole purpose of my 5-star rating for this book is to provide some balance to the previous (and only) reviewer's bizarre 1-star rating. Having looked at a few of the reviewer's previous reviews, he seems to have both a conservative bias, and a need to rate everything either one star or five stars. How easy it must be to live in a world where everything is so black and white. Honestly, there are certainly flaws in this book, but it's overall an excellent dissection of the MUCH more flawed Warren Commission report. If you really, truly believe that Lee Oswald was the "lone gunman" in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, well, bless your heart. You're probably one of the gullible little meat puppets who think Saddam was involved with 9/11 and that we did indeed find WMDs in Iraq.