J. Lee Rankin; Ex-U.S. Solicitor General

J. Lee Rankin, 88, former solicitor general of the United States and chief counsel for the Warren Commission. Rankin, born in Hartington, Neb., studied law at the University of Nebraska and practiced in Lincoln for 22 years. After running his state’s 1952 election campaign for Dwight D. Eisenhower, he soon joined the U.S. Justice Department. By 1956, Rankin was in the No. 3 position, solicitor general, in which he argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court. After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Rankin served as chief counsel for the Warren Commission, which investigated the killing and issued an 800-page report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin. Rankin also served as the city attorney of New York City. On Wednesday in Santa Cruz, Calif.