First published 2013
Philip Shenon set out to chronicle the Warren Commission's investigation into President Kennedy's assassination. Instead, he uncovered how the inquiry was designed to fail from the start. Chief Justice Earl Warren prioritized protecting the Kennedy family over discovering what really happened on November 22, 1963. The CIA, FBI, and other Washington power brokers deliberately concealed crucial information from the commission during its ten-month investigation. Shenon reveals how major figures like Bobby Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, and James Jesus Angleton shaped the flawed process. Drawing from hundreds of interviews with surviving commission staff and key participants, plus unprecedented access to insider sources, Shenon presents evidence that challenges official conclusions about Lee Harvey Oswald and potential conspiracies. His investigation exposes the institutional failures that prevented Americans from learning the complete truth about their president's murder.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Washington
Period: 1963
640 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.