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Letter to the Chief Justice Upon Receipt of the Warren Commission Report.

September 24, 1964

Dear Mr. Chief Justice:

You have today submitted to me the report of the Commission which I appointed on November 29 last to report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The submission of this report fulfills the assignment which I gave to the Commission, and accordingly I now discharge the Commission with my heartfelt thanks.

In my service as President, nothing has impressed me more than the readiness of outstanding Americans to respond to calls for service to their country. There has been no more striking example of this great American strength than the service of the seven extraordinarily distinguished members of your Commission. I send thanks to you all, as I also send thanks to your General Counsel, Mr. Lee Rankin, and to all those who have assisted in your work.

Your Commission, I know, has been guided throughout by a determination to find and to tell the whole truth of these terrible events. This is our obligation to the good name of the United States of America and to all men everywhere who respect our nation--and above all to the memory of President Kennedy.

I have given instructions for the prompt publication of this report to the American people and to the world. I myself shall give it the most careful study. I commend it to the attention of all Americans and all our friends everywhere.

Let me thank you again for all that you have done. You have earned the gratitude of your countrymen.

Sincerely,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

[The Honorable Earl Warren, The Chief Justice, United States Supreme Court, Washington, D.C.]

Note: The report is entitled "Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" (888 pp., Government Printing Office, 1964).

The Commission, of which the Chief Justice of the United States served as Chairman, was appointed by Executive Order 11130 (Item 15, above; see also Item 14).

Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter to the Chief Justice Upon Receipt of the Warren Commission Report. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241340

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