The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was established on September 15, 1976, by U.S. House Resolution 1540 to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and 1968, respectively. The select committee was first formed by the 94th United States Congress, and expired at the end of the 95th Congress.
The HSCA completed its investigation in 1978 and issued its final report in 1979, which concluded that Kennedy "was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy." In addition to acoustic analysis of a police channel dictabelt recording, the HSCA also commissioned numerous other scientific studies of assassination-related evidence that corroborate the Warren Commission's findings. However, the HSCA challenged the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the only shooter, while stating that it was "unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy." The HSCA likewise concluded, based on circumstantial evidence, that there was a "likelihood" King was also assassinated "as a result of a conspiracy." The two-year inquiry cost $5.8 million. In December 1978, the HSCA recommended that the Department of Justice review its findings to decide if further investigation was merited.
The HSCA found that although the Commission and the different agencies and departments examining Kennedy's assassination performed in good faith and were thorough in their investigation of Oswald, they performed with "varying degrees of competency" and the search for possible conspiracy was inadequate. The HSCA determined, based on available evidence, that the probable conspiracy did not involve the governments of Cuba or the Soviet Union. The committee also stated that the conspiracy did not involve any organized crime group, anti-Castro group, nor the FBI, CIA, or Secret Service. The committee found that it could not exclude the possibility that individual members of the national syndicate of organized crime or anti-Castro Cubans were involved in a probable conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. However, some members of the committee would later state their personal belief that one of those groups was involved in the assassination, with Representative Floyd Fithian believing that the Kennedy assassination was orchestrated by members of organized crime.
In a memorandum written to the House Judiciary Committee in 1988 by Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General William F. Weld, the recommendations of the HSCA report were formally reviewed and a conclusion of active investigations was reported. In light of investigative reports from the FBI's Technical Services Division and the National Academy of Sciences Committee determining that "reliable acoustic data do not support a conclusion that there was a second gunman" in the Kennedy assassination, and that all investigative leads known to the Justice Department for both assassinations had been "exhaustively pursued", the Department concluded "that no persuasive evidence can be identified to support the theory of a conspiracy in either the assassination of President Kennedy or the assassination of Dr. King."
Historic context Several forces contributed to the formation of the HSCA. With the rapidly growing body of assassination conspiracy material, public trust in the findings of the Warren Commission report was declining. The Hart-Schweiker and Church Committee hearings had recently revealed CIA ties to other assassinations and assassination attempts and illegal actions from federal administration (FBI and IRS). The Church Commission also conducted an investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, concluding that the federal agencies the FBI and the CIA had failed in their duties and responsibilities and that the investigation into the assassination had been deficient.
There was also significant public interest after a video segment of the Zapruder film was first shown on TV on March 6, 1975, during the ABC late-night television show Good Night America, after being stored by Life magazine out of view for almost twelve years. The footage showed the president's head recoiling violently backwards inside the presidential limousine during the fatal shooting as Lee Harvey Oswald was more than 80 yards behind. The public, having more and more difficulty accepting the conclusions of the Warren Commission report, led members of Congress to ask for new investigations into the assassination, within the framework of a new Commission of Inquiry.
Formation In September 1976, the United States House of Representatives voted 280–65 to establish the Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in order to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
The committee was both controversial and divided among itself. The first chairman, Thomas N. Downing of Virginia, retired in January 1977 and was replaced by Henry B. Gonzalez on February 2, 1977. Gonzalez and Chief Counsel Richard A. Sprague had irreconcilable disagreements over control of the committee, budget, and investigative techniques, ending with Gonzalez's resignation. Sprague also resigned, in part to increase the chances of Congress voting to reconstitute the HSCA for the new two-year congressional term. Sprague's like-minded deputy Robert K. Tanenbaum similarly resigned shortly thereafter. Louis Stokes replaced Gonzalez as chairman, and G. Robert Blakey was appointed as Chief Counsel and Staff Director to replace Sprague.
Former New York police detective and organized crime expert Ralph Salerno was brought on as a consultant in the investigation of organized crime and its relation to the Kennedy assassination. In this capacity he produced a report for the committee.
Members, 95th Congress Majority Minority Louis Stokes, Ohio, Chair Richardson Preyer, North Carolina Walter E. Fauntroy, District of Columbia Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, California Christopher Dodd, Connecticut Harold Ford, Sr., Tennessee Floyd Fithian, Indiana Robert W. Edgar, Pennsylvania Samuel L. Devine, Ohio, Ranking Member Stewart McKinney, Connecticut Charles Thone, Nebraska Harold S. Sawyer, Michigan Members of the Subcommittee on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., 95th Congress Majority Minority Walter E. Fauntroy, District of Columbia, Chair Harold Ford, Sr., Tennessee Floyd Fithian, Indiana Robert W. Edgar, Pennsylvania Stewart McKinney, Connecticut Ex officio Louis Stokes, Ohio Samuel L. Devine, Ohio
Members of the Subcommittee on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, 95th Congress Majority Minority Richardson Preyer, North Carolina, Chair Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, California Christopher Dodd, Connecticut Charles Thone, Nebraska Harold S. Sawyer, Michigan Ex officio Louis Stokes, Ohio Samuel L. Devine, Ohio
Investigations
The HSCA commissioned a number of expert scientific studies to re-investigate the physical evidence of the JFK assassination. In comparison to witness testimony and government documents, the committee felt that such investigations would particularly benefit from the scientific advances of the fifteen years since the Warren Commission. Several lines of inquiry were followed to both reaffirm the single shooter/single-bullet theory as well as to disprove specific conspiracy theory allegations. The HSCA concluded that these scientific studies of assassination-related evidence do "not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President."
Ballistic analysis Forensic analysis confirmed that the mostly-intact stretcher bullet, bullet fragments from the presidential limo and the three cartridge casings from the sniper's nest were all fired from Oswald's rifle to the exclusion of all others. A technique using neutron activation analysis (NAA), a form of what has become known as comparative bullet-lead analysis (CBLA), was used to analyse the bullet lead from the JFK assassination. It revealed that it was highly likely that only two lead bullets were the source of all the following pieces of evidence: the mostly-intact stretcher bullet, fragments found in the presidential limousine's front seat and rug, fragments recovered from JFK's brain autopsy and fragments recovered from Governor Connally's wrist. Whether CBLA data can be used to actually exclude the possibility that there were fragments from more than two bullets in the wounds and the car has been the subject of controversy. (See single bullet theory)Review of Randich and Grant's article on NAA
Additionally, the location of the shooter (at the 6th floor Texas School Book Depository window) was determined using trajectory analysis. The origin of the rifle bullets was calculated using the location of the presidential limousine and its occupants combined with the bullet wounds found on the president and governor.
Photographic analysis A team of photographic experts was used to answer several questions related to the photographic evidence of the case. Forensic anthropologists as well as photographic and radiographic experts, based on unique anatomical details, verified that JFK's autopsy photos and x-rays were only of the late president. Forensic anthropologists were also used to verify that all relevant photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald were of only one person. They verified that the backyard photos (showing Oswald holding the rifle used to kill the president) depicted the same rifle found in the Texas school book depository building after the crime. The panel of photographic experts were also used to verify the authenticity of the assassination-related photos and to analyze for any tampering or fakery; none was detected.
Forensic Pathology Panel The HSCA's Forensic Pathology Panel included Michael Baden, John I. Coe, Joseph H. Davis, George S. Loquvam, Charles S. Petty, Earl Rose, Werner Spitz, Cyril Wecht, and James T. Weston.
With the benefit of authenticated photographs, x-rays and notes from the Kennedy autopsy, a nine-doctor panel of expert pathologists reviewed and corroborated the Warren Commission's medical findings. Although the HSCA medical panel was critical of the thoroughness and methodology of the original autopsy,Vincent Bugliosi, "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy," W. W. Norton & Company, 2007 they concurred, although Cyril Wecht dissented, with the Warren Commission's conclusion that two, and only two bullet wounds entered from above and behind (the direction of Oswald in the Book Depository). Their conclusion that the President was struck by a bullet that entered in the right rear of the head near the cowlick area and exited from the right front side of the head differed from a diagram in the Warren Commission's report showing this entrance wound low in the back of the head.
Fingerprint and handwriting analysis The authenticity of several fingerprints and a palm print found on assassination-related materials was reaffirmed by a fingerprint expert. Lee Harvey Oswald's prints were found on the trigger guard and underside of the Mannlicher–Carcano rifle used to shoot the president, the brown paper container used to transport the rifle, several cardboard boxes in the sniper's nest and on the magazine order form to purchase the rifle.
In addition, dozens of documents were analyzed by a panel of three handwriting experts who verified that "the signatures and handwriting purported to be by Oswald are consistently that of one person." These include such incriminating items as the envelope and order form used to purchase the rifle, the application forms to rent the PO Box that the rifle was delivered to, and the notated backyard photo depicting Oswald holding the rifle.
Secret Services Actions analysis The Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA and the Warren Commission were all criticized for the quality of the investigations carried out and for the way they informed the Warren Commission.