Although governmental commissions are not the only available source of nonpartisan investigation and policy advice, their prestige, scale of operation, and national importance establish the commission as a unique political body. This volume provides both general discussions of commission communication and specific analyses of commissions.

Part One considers definitional and functional issues inherent in commission studies, and takes up such concerns as the constraints under which these entities operate. Part Two is devoted to case studies of historically, politically, or socially significant commissions, including the Warren Commission investigation of President Kennedy's assassination, the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography in 1970, the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography in 1986 (the Meese Commission), the Rogers Commission investigation of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, and the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. The cases are compared and contrasted, and the authors' research questions and analyses demonstrate the theoretical and methodological pluralism possible in the study of governmental commission communication. Recommended for scholars of political science, history, and political, rhetorical, small group, and organizational communication.