(Testimony of William Kirk Stuckey)
Mr. Stuckey.
which were the four or five pieces I have already described. Then at night he says, "Look, i found this also", and he brought this.
Mr. Jenner.
Meaning Stuckey Exhibit No. 1?
Mr. Stuckey.
Stuckey Exhibit No. 1.
Mr. Jenner.
I offer Stuckey Exhibit No. I in evidence. All right, we had you still on Saturday morning talking with him at his home on Magazine Street.
Mr. Stuckey.
Right. We discussed literature, his literature, the pieces of information I have already described. He showed me the Fair Play for Cuba Committee membership card. I asked him about the membership of this organization, and he said there were quite a few, quite a few members. The figure 12 or 13 sticks in my head, I don't really recall why now. There were that many officers or something like that, 12 or 13 people he mentioned that he was responsible to, or active workers, something like that, although I guess I shouldn't mention it until I have a more coherent idea of why he used that.
Mr. Jenner.
Just give your best recollection of what he said on that occasion.
Mr. Stuckey.
Right. Also as I recall, he was very vehement, insisting he was not the president, but was the secretary, and that was the occasion in which he pulled out his card showing that he was the secretary, not the president, and this other gentleman, Hidell, was the president.
Mr. Jenner.
Did that strike you in any special way that he was apparently careful to point out to you that he was secretary instead of president?
Mr. Stuckey.
No; it made no impression on me, none whatsoever. It seemed logical. He appeared to be a very logical, intelligent fellow, and the only strange thing about him was his organization. This was, seemed, incongruous to me that a group of this type or he should associate with a group of this type, because he did not seem the type at all, or at least what I have in my mind as the type. I would like to mention this. I was arrested by his cleancutness. I didn't expect this at all. I expected a folk-singer type, something of that kind, somebody with a beard and sandals, and he said--I found this fellow, instead I found this fellow who was neat and clean, watched himself pretty well.
Mr. Jenner.
You mean he watched his--
Mr. Stuckey.
He seemed to be very conscious about all of his words, all of his movements, sort of very deliberate. He was very deliberate with his words, and struck me as being rather articulate. He was the type of person you would say would inspire confidence. This was the incongruity that struck me, the fact that this type of person should be with this organization. That is the gist of the first meeting. I asked him to meet me at the radio station that afternoon about 5 o'clock for the interview, and he agreed.
Mr. Jenner.
This was to be an interview preliminary to a broadcast?
Mr. Stuckey.
Well, this was to be a recorded interview prior to the broadcast.
Mr. Jenner.
Why would you do that?
Mr. Stuckey.
To avoid the possibility of errors. It is a risky business going on live. You know, you never know when you are going to slip up and, particularly, with somebody as controversial as a representative of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee you want to know what you have in hand before you put it on. During that day I thought quite a bit about Oswald before he arrived at the station for the interview, and I was interested in his articulateness and in discussing this organization, so I had decided during the day that instead of Just interviewing him for 5 minutes, which was the length of my program, that I would just let him talk as long as he wanted to.
Mr. Jenner.
In the private interview with you?
Mr. Stuckey.
Yes; but record it.
Mr. Jenner.
Yes; of course.
Mr. Stuckey.
Yes. And then I thought after doing that I could take some excerpts out for a 5-minute program, and then ask the management at the station if they would be interested in running the whole thing in toto as a demonstration of the line of this organization. So this was the decision I made before the broadcast.
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