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Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., vol. 1, 1979
The committee concluded that conspiracies might have been responsible for both assassinations but ruled out any federal or foreign government involvement. It pointed to failings of the Department of Justice, intelligence agencies, and the Secret Service. Criticized for relying on some faulty evidence, the committee’s report left many questions unanswered about the assassinations of Kennedy and King.
Law Library of Congress, Library of Congress
Exhibit Theme
The Kennedy and King Assassinations
The assassinations of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 devastated the nation. A 1964 presidential commission report on the Kennedy murder failed to satisfy the public, and there were lingering questions surrounding the King assassination. To bring closure to these tragedies, Representatives Thomas Downing of Virginia and Henry B. González of Texas, along with the Congressional Black Caucus, pressed for new investigations of both assassinations. In 1976 the House established the Select Committee on Assassinations.
Assassination is more than a deadly assault: It is an attack on the foundations of democracy . . . ; it undermines the political system . . . ; it produces fear among the citizenry
Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations . . . , 1979