Editing Charles Whitman (section)

===Connally Commission===
[[John Connally]], then [[governor of Texas]], commissioned a task force to examine the autopsy findings and material related to Whitman's actions and motives. The commission was composed of [[neurosurgeon]]s, [[psychiatrist]]s, [[pathologist]]s, and [[psychologist]]s, and included the University of Texas Health Center Directors, John White and Maurice Heatly. The commission's toxicology tests revealed nothing significant. They examined Chenar's [[Tissue microarray|paraffin blocks]] of the brain tumor, stained specimens of it and Whitman's other brain tissue, in addition to the remainder of the autopsy specimens available.<ref name=autogenerated1>
[http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf "Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708154238/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |date=2011-07-08 }}, The Whitman Archives. ''Austin American-Statesman''. September 8, 1966.
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Following a three-hour hearing on August 5,<ref>{{cite news |title=Jury Blames Tumor For Killings |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6FlJAAAAIBAJ&pg=804,861969/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124173937/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6FlJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KQoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=804,861969&dq/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2013 |newspaper=The News and Courier |date=August 5, 1966 |page=9–A }}</ref> the commission concluded that Chenar's diagnosis of astrocytoma with a small amount of [[necrosis]] had been in error.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |date=September 8, 1966 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |page=6 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The panel instead found that the tumor had features of a [[glioblastoma]] multiforme, with widespread areas of necrosis, [[Palisade (pathology)|palisading]] of cells,<ref name="cimedia7">{{cite web |date=September 8, 1966 |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |page=7}}</ref> and a "remarkable vascular component" described as having "the nature of a small [[congenital]] vascular malformation". Psychiatric contributors to the report concluded that "the relationship between the brain tumor and [...] Whitman's actions [...] cannot be established with clarity. However, the [...] tumor conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |date=September 8, 1966 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |pages=10–11 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The neurologists and neuropathologists were more circumspect, concluding that, "[t]he application of existing knowledge of organic brain function does not enable us to explain the actions of Whitman on August first."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |title=Report to the Governor, Medical Aspects, Charles J. Whitman Catastrophe |date=September 8, 1966 |publisher=alt.cimedia.com |page=8 |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215181220/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/findings.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Forensic investigators have theorized that the tumor pressed against Whitman's [[amygdala]], a part of the brain related to [[anxiety]] and [[fight-or-flight response]]s among numerous other functions.<ref>
Eagleman, David [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520 The Brain on Trial] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309180218/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520/ |date=2017-03-09 }}, The Atlantic Monthly, July 2011
</ref><ref>{{harv|Freberg|2009|p=41}}</ref>