Mr. Ford.

their support, and this was my primary reason for not wanting to associate with him rather than any political feelings he had.

Mr. Liebeler.

How did these things lead you to think that he was not capable of doing the assassination or that he just went there to get involved?

Mr. Ford.

Prior to the assassination I never even considered the Possibility of his killing a man but if somebody had asked me prior to the assassination, I would have answered no, 1 don't think he would kill anybody. But I don't think I really even considered it.

Mr. Liebeler.

You would have--

Mr. Ford.

When the President was assassinated.

Mr. Liebeler.

And you would have based that response on the things you mentioned already.
Is there anything else you would have based that reason on?

Mr. Ford.

Well, it is difficult to say. My general opinion of the man was that he was strange and he did a lot of things I couldn't understand but I had no reason to think he would attack a person with the intent to kill him.
As far as I knew there was nothing he had ever done before that that would indicate he would ever kill anybody. I don't know how you tell ahead of time whether a man can commit murder. I was never worried about him going out and killing somebody: say I would have never said prior to the assassination that you have got to watch out for this guy, he is dangerous. He didn't impress me that way.

Mr. Liebeler.

You had information prior to the assassination that he had beaten his wife, did you not?

Mr. Ford.

Right.

Mr. Liebeler.

And did you take that information, would you take that, into consideration in the judgment that you just expressed?

Mr. Ford.

No; I don't think so. I think man and wife can fight over a lot of things and it isn't necessary that either one of them would intend to kill somebody. He might become violent toward his wife, who is a much smaller and weaker person but he never impressed me as the type of person who would violently attack another man, for example.

Mr. Ford.

When did you first hear that Lee Oswald was held by the authorities?

Mr. Ford.

It was the afternoon of the assassination, I heard on the radio.

Mr. Liebeler.

What was your reaction then?

Mr. Ford.

Just what I said, my first reaction, "This idiot has gone down to get himself some attention and confuse the whole issue."
At that time I didn't know he was working in the School Book Depository Building.

Mr. Liebeler.

What did you do subsequent to hearing this radio broadcast?

Mr. Ford.

Let's see: I heard it in a hardware store and I went and picked up my wife who was shopping at the grocery store, picked her up, and told her what I had heard and we went home. I didn't do anything specifically that I can think of. I did not mention it to anybody.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you and your wife on the way home from this shopping trip discuss the apprehension of Lee Oswald and his implication in the affair?

Mr. Ford.

Well, I told her the police had picked him up, and that he was apparently being held both for the assassination of the President and for shooting a police officer, and my wife was a little bit worried then, I think, about the people's reaction to the children, and she said, well, "Don't mention it in front of the children."
By the time we got home, I believe Linda, my stepdaughter, had already talked on the phone to Mrs. Anna Ray, who had also heard the radio broadcast and called up to ask if my wife had heard it, and, of course, by then it was too late, they knew who Lee Oswald was, they read who he was, that Marina stayed at our house.

Mr. Liebeler.

Then if I understand it you and your wife voluntarily went down to police headquarters?

Mr. Ford.

Well, the next Sunday.

Mr. Liebeler.

Two days later?

Mr. Ford.

Yes; the assassination was on a Friday afternoon. On Sunday morning,