Actions for DECISION MAKING IN THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS EMPLOYING IRVING JANIS' GROUPTHINK HYPOTHESIS (WARREN COMMISSION, FBI, LEE HARVEY OSWALD).

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DECISION MAKING IN THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS EMPLOYING IRVING JANIS' GROUPTHINK HYPOTHESIS (WARREN COMMISSION, FBI, LEE HARVEY OSWALD).

Author
MCKINNEY, BRUCE CONVERSE
Physical Description
230 pages
Additional Creators
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary
In September 1964, the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy released the Warren Report which was the official government account of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The report identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin of Kennedy: there was no conspiracy. However, the Warren Report soon fell into disfavor with the American public among claims that Oswald was part of a conspiracy to kill Kennedy. However, in 1979 the Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald did not act alone: President Kennedy's assassination was part of a conspiracy.
To determine why a presidential commission (the Warren Commission) could have produced a report that has created so much controversy, an analysis was performed on transcripts of the Commission's discussions. The transcripts analyzed dealt with a crucial decision the Commission had to make: How to investigate rumors that Oswald, the man the FBI had charged with the assassination, was an FBI undercover agent.
This study dealt specifically with the question, "Did the Warren Commission manifest symptoms of groupthink that may have led to ineffective decision making?" Groupthink is a term originated by Irving L. Janis that refers to a mode of thinking that groups engage in when maintaining group solidarity is more important than critically examining issues that might affect the group's cohesion.
The Commission's transcripts were compared to symptoms of, and correctives to, groupthink as outlined by Janis to determine if this controversial group was a victim of the groupthink syndrome. Results indicate that the Warren Commission displayed several symptoms of, and fewer correctives to, groupthink. This led to an incomplete survey of alternatives on how to best investigate if Oswald was an agent of the FBI. In making their decision on this issue, the Commission displayed symptoms of defective decision making.
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Dissertation Note
Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University 1985.
Note
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2483.
Part Of
Dissertation Abstracts International
46-09A
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