Howard P. Willens
His book, History Will Prove Us Right: Inside the Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, published in 2013,[1] relied on previously undisclosed primary sources to document the methods and strategies underlying the "most massive, detailed and convincing piece of detective work ever undertaken.
Separately, a lawsuit filed in 1957 by dissident union members resulted in a consent decree requiring Hoffa and other IBT officials to address evidence of corruption.
[11][12] When Justice Department lawyers learned that Hoffa attempted to tamper with the jury in one of those cases, Robert Kennedy sent Willens to Tennessee to handle the Government's response.
Willens observed the first meeting of the newly hired staff January 13, 1964, and reported: "The lawyers were enthusiastic about their assignments, eager to get to work, and determined to ferret out whatever conspiracy might have led to the assassination and the murder of Oswald.
Further, in an act of "inexcusable dishonesty," Hoover concealed from the commission his own decision to discipline Hosty and 16 other FBI agents for their failure to identify Oswald as a security risk and to inform the Secret Service before the president's arrival in Dallas.
[20] Willens notes that later investigations examined the hidden FBI evidence "and no facts have come to light that challenge our fundamental conclusions regarding the identity of the assassin and the absence of any conspiracy.
The agents indicated that Oswald's activities in Mexico were limited to efforts to obtain visas for travel through Cuba to the Soviet Union, and no evidence suggested that his visit was related to President Kennedy.
One attorney, David Belin, focused his efforts on trying to prove that a second shooter had participated in the assassination, but detailed work by the FBI and analysis of the Zapruder film suggested that all of the shots that hit President Kennedy and Governor Connally originated from Oswald's position in the book depository.
Willens writes that their goal was to present the facts "in a way that would persuade readers that our investigation was sufficiently thorough that the conclusion finding no credible evidence of a conspiracy was a fair and reasonable one.
[28] On December 31, 1966, the Commission released a 1,041-page report that recommended a series of reforms to address rapidly rising crime rates in the District, including gun control legislation, reorganization of the police department, speedier handling of criminal cases and changes to bail laws.
The commission noted that the District's low-income community faced unemployment, racial segregation, poor education and vocational training, all of which contributed to crime.
In 1967, Willens joined the law firm then known as Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C. His major clients included the Ford Motor Company, Educational Testing Service and the Northern Mariana Islands.
"[33] As Willens stated, when President Ford signed legislation adopting the Covenant on March 24, 1976, "[t]he fourteen thousand citizens of the Marianas had successfully exercised their right of self-determination.
[38][39] After leaving Wilmer Cutler in 1995, Willens published three books concerning American foreign policy in the Pacific and the efforts of the people of the Northern Marianas to join the United States.
Willens and Siemer engaged in a five-year legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain documents under the Freedom of Information Act, resulting in the disclosure of approximately 70,000 pages of internal agency records.
