November 28, 1963: Hawks Lobby for 'Blue Ribbon' Panel to Investigate JFK Assassination

The new president creates a commission to uphold the FBI’s ‘lone gunman’ verdict

National Security Advisor W. W. Rostow with President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 (Credit: Yoichi Okamoto/National Archives and Records Administration)

By Thursday, Nov. 28, President Lyndon Johnson had heard exhortations from numerous corners to establish a presidential commission to investigate his predecessor’s murder.

Johnson had toyed with other ideas, s…