What it will be, it will be an analysis of what the FBI and the Secret Service and the Dallas police have mainly, speculation and opinion of other people.
Now, Mr. Lane has affidavits, I understand, from the same witnesses that have made statements to the Dallas police, which are contrary to those particular statements.
I implore you--I implore you, in the name of justice, to let my son, Lee Harvey Oswald, who is accused of assassinating the President, and I, the mother of this man, who is the accused's mother, be represented by counsel.
We have information pertinent to this case.
My daughter-in-law is the only one who has testified.
The things that came out in the paper--I know, 1 have documents. I am not asking you to believe me as a mother. I can prove the statements that I say.
And I believe in this way you will have a true picture, and a much better picture, because as you are going along you will be having both sides, and won't have to wait to analyze the situation in the end, as the testimony is being given by each individual, right then and there you will have the other party's testimony.
Now, there is another----

The Chairman.

Before you leave that, Mrs. Oswald, may I say to you, first, that the Commission is not here to prosecute your dead son. It is not here and it was not established to prosecute anyone.
It is the purpose and the province of the Commission to obtain all the facts that it can obtain, and then make an impartial report--not as a prosecutor, but as an impartial Commission--on the manner in which the President came to his death.
We are trying to recognize the individual rights of all persons who are called before the Commission, to let them have their lawyers, and let their lawyers have an opportunity to examine them, as well as the Commission.
You may be sure that if Mr. Lane has any evidence of his own knowledge, or has any accumulation of affidavits from others, to the effect--to any effect, concerning this trial, that he will have an opportunity to come here, just as you are here, in order to present those to the Commission.
But so far as his being here at all times before the Commission to cross-examine or to be present when all witnesses are testifying--that is not in accordance with the procedures of the Commission.
But I assure you that if Mr. Lane has any evidence of any kind bearing upon the assassination of the President, he will be accorded the same opportunity that you have to come here and present them, and we will give him an opportunity in his own way to tell his story, and present his own evidence. And should he want counsel, he may have counsel, also.
Now, you may go to your second point.

Mr. Oswald.

No, I am not finished with my first, please.
I appreciate and I understand exactly what you have told me, Chief Justice Warren.
But there is one thing--and, of course, I will have to accept your decision, and will be most happy to have Mr. Lane present his testimony the way you have suggested.
However, I am not in agreement with you. One point I want to make clear.
We do not know the questions that you are asking of myself or Marina or the other witnesses. And I contend that you cannot ask them the pertinent questions because you don't know what I know, and what Mr. Lane knows. And so you will still have an analysis in the long run, a conclusion.
I am going to go back to Marina. As I say, Marina made her statements----

The Chairman.

On that particular thing, may I say this: It is true that we don't know how to examine you at the present time because we don't know what you have to present to this Commission. But we are affording you the opportunity before we ask you any questions to tell your story, in your own way.
Then we should know what questions we want to ask of you.

Mrs. Oswald.

Yes, sir; I understand that thoroughly.
But I am a human being, going through a life story from childhood, and I may forget something that my counsel would know. And that applies to witnesses.

« Previous | Next »

Found a Typo?

Click here

Last Update: Wed, 3 Aug 2016 21:56:33 CET