THE SCAVENGERS AND CRITICS OF THE WARREN REPORT: The Endless Paradox

by Richard Warren & Lawrence Schiller Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 26, 1967

Writer Lewis and investigator Schiller travelled 18,000 miles to interview witnesses to the assassination, apply this new research to lancing the pretensions and postulations of those who have risen up against the findings of the Warren Commission. When they deal with charges, they counter with reasonably reassuring evidence; when they deal with the nay-sayers themselves, they unfortunately resort to dingy yellow journalism (Mark Lane offered ""an easily digestible panacea to an incredulous audience still reeling from the reaction of November 22-24, 1963""....Penn Jones, the fifty-two-year old editor, ""scuttled"" etc.), emphasizing the profit-and-glory seeking motives of ""scavengers and critics."" They practice this treatment across the board from Edward Jay Epstein, accused of the very carelessness he attributed to the Commission, to George Thomson, with his twenty-two shot, LBJ theory. As to the evidence, they take up the question of identity, film frames and FBI interference, of conspiracy, the implication of the police, the validity of amateur re-enactments, etc. and argue to some point. They remind that the Report consisted only of material used as evidence, not that considered. Doubts, they feel, are fed by the fact that the Commission disbanded, failing to provide an instrument for official rebuttal, and ""a psychological disinclination to believe"" (assistant counsel Licbeler). It is a pity that the Commission could not have been championed and defended with greater dignity.

Pub Date: April 26, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION