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by the House of Representatives as the Committee of the Whole so that amendments could be offered from the floor and Members given an opportunity to express objections House Resolution 222 authorized and directed the committee to:
* * * conduct a full and complete investigation and study of the circumstances surrounding the assassination and death of President John F Kennedy and the assassination and death of Martin Luther King Jr. and of any other persons the select committee shall determine might be related to either death in order to ascertain(1) whether the existing laws of the United States including but not limited to laws relating to the safety and protection of the President of the United States assassinations of the President of the United States deprivation of civil rights and conspiracies related thereto as well as the investigatory jurisdiction and capability of agencies and departments of the U.S Government are adequate either in their provisions or in the manner of their enforcement and(2) whether there was full disclosure and sharing of information and evidence among agencies and departments of the U.S Government during the course of all prior investigations into those deaths and whether any evidence or information which was not in the possession of any agency or department of the U.S Government investigating either death would have been of assistance to that agency or department and why such information was not provided to or collected by the appropriate agency or department; and shall make recommendations to the House if the select committee deems it appropriate, for the amendment of existing legislation or the enactment of new legislation
House Resolution 222 was passed by the House on February 2, 1977.
On March 8, 1977, Representative Louis Stokes of Ohio was named chairman of the committee to replace the previous chairman who had resigned Two subcommittees were created—a subcommittee on the assassination of President Kennedy with Representative Richardson Preyer of North Carolina as its chairman and a subcommittee on the assassination of Dr. King with Walter E. Fauntroy Delegate of the District of Columbia as its chairman The staff was divided into two task forces designated to assist each of the subcommittees.
On March,30 1977, the House approved House Resolution 433 which constituted the committee until January 3, 1979, the duration of the 95th Congress.
In June 1977, G. Robert Blakey was appointed chief counsel and staff director to replace the former chief counsel who had resigned on March 30, 1977.
The committee established a program that consisted of three primary activities—the public presentation of evidence and investigation preparation of the final report.
Nature and Scope of the Investigation
The committee identified four main issues to be investigated to fulfill its mandate set forth in House Resolution 222 First who was or
