XIII. Kennedy Assassinations, 1963-1970

Extent:
14 box(es)
Scope and content:

In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson set up a commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Senator Russell was one of seven members to serve on the Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (the Warren Commission). Because of so many other commitments, Russell was reluctant to serve on the commission. At this time, he was also leading the fight against the civil rights bill of 1964 and felt he could not participate in the whole investigation. Russell hired Alfredda Scobey, an Atlanta attorney, to assist him with commission work, and she often attended meetings in his place. Russell also presided as chairman of an informal subcommittee that went to Dallas, Texas, for a second interrogation of Marina Oswald.

Senator Russell had considerable influence on the final report. His main change considered whether there was a conspiracy among Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, and possibly unknown parties to kill the president or whether Oswald acted on his own. Russell did not believe there was enough evidence to establish a conspiracy and that there were many unanswered questions. Much of the evidence was beyond the commission's reach.

The Kennedy Assassinations series concerns both the homicides of John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. The majority of the documents, however, relate to the president's assassination and the subsequent findings of the Warren Commission. This series is subdivided into subject files and miscellany. The files of this series include information prompted by the investigation, correspondence, reports, testimony transcripts, book manuscript drafts and proofs, memoranda, evidential material, manuscript drafts and proofs of the final commission report and newspaper clippings pertaining to the assassinations, the commission reports, and other related topics. Other material related to this series is in the Dictation series and in the Intra-Office Communications series of the Winder Papers.

Certain files in the series were pulled by staff of the National Archives-Southeast Region in accordance with federal classifications and are still held by the National Archives under review.

Contents

Access and use restrictions

Parent restrictions:
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