Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth

The eminence of its members and the authoritative appearance of its Report caused nearly universal acceptance of the conclusions of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, commonly known as the Warren Commission. On the other hand, among the minority who refuse to believe that the case is closed, many adhere to the view that the Commission, acting consciously, conspired to stifle the truth. This disturbing book espouses neither of these positions. Mr. Epstein, a young scholar at the time of publication, began this book with the intention of writing a case study of the nature and activity of an extraordinary government commission. He accomplished this task brilliantly. But in the course of interviewing nearly all members of the Commission, and many members of its staff, he discovered that the official version of the Kennedy assassination failed to contend with serious contradictions presented by the evidence. Inquest clearly traces the process by which this official story came into being; it does not indulge in theoretical speculation about a deliberate suppression of crucial evidence. Mr. Epstein instead proposes an explanation based on the concept of "political truth": the Commission, sincerely convinced that the national interest would best be served by the termination of rumors, and predisposed by its make-up and by the pressure of time not to search more deeply, failed to answer some of the essential questions about the tragedy.Inquest includes previously unpublished government documents and illustrations. Although the author's revelations are startling, he nowhere makes unsupported claims; his style is cool and objective. A sober, new view of the way the Commission dealt with one of the central events of our recent history, this book was destined to induce widespread discussion and debate.