The Kerner Commission Is Appointed The Kerner Commission was
established one week after the start of the Detroit riot, in
which forty-three persons were killed, more than seventy-two
hundred arrests were made, and approximately $40 million worth
of damage was done to property. Eleven commissioners were
personally named by President Johnson. As a body, the commission
was weighted sharply toward the ranks of elected national
officials and exuded an aura of moderation. Liberals of both
parties predominated; neither southern Democrats nor black
nationalists were represented; organized labor, big business,
established civil rights organizations, and police departments
each had some voice, and the commission included one female and
two black Americans. The commission's executive director, also
designated by Johnson himself, was David Ginsburg, a Washington
attorney. Not a single one of the commissioners was a social or
behavioral scientist (although Fred Harris could certainly claim
to be an advocate), and Ginsburg