(Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover)
Mr. Hoover.
Thank you.
Mr. Rankin.
Mr. Hoover, I hand you Exhibit 863 and ask you to examine that and state whether or not that is the letter that you referred to in which you answered questions of the Commission concerning the National Enquirer magazine or newspaper?
Mr. Hoover.
This letter of May 8 addressed to the Commission is the letter that dealt with our interview with Chief Curry and was predicated upon the article which appeared in the National Enquirer of May 17, 1964.
Mr. Rankin.
I ask you if you would care to add anything to that letter except what you have already testified to?
Mr. Hoover.
No; I have nothing to add to that. Chief Curry was very specific, I am told by my agent in charge at Dallas, that this article is an absolute lie; that none of these things set forth in the article occurred; that he received no phone call or any request of any kind oral or by phone or in writing from the Department of Justice or from the FBI. As I stated earlier, the report from the Department of Justice indicated that they made no request.
Mr. Rankin.
Mr. Chairman, I offer in evidence Exhibit 863, being the letter just referred to.
The Chairman.
It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 863 for identification and received in evidence.)
Mr. Rankin.
Mr. Hoover, is Exhibit 837 the article that you referred to in the National Enquirer?
Mr. Hoover.
Yes; that is the one.
Mr. Rankin.
I call your attention to Exhibit 836 and ask you if that is the letter that you referred to which describes the criteria in the handling of the security of the President that you have described in your testimony.
Mr. Hoover.
This is the letter. It sets forth the criteria which were adopted, originally about 1942 and later incorporated in the manual of instructions in 1954. It also includes the amended instructions to our field offices, prepared in December of 1963, which extended the criteria.
Mr. Rankin.
Does that Exhibit correctly set forth the information you had in regard to those matters?
Mr. Hoover.
It does.
Mr. Rankin.
Do you care to add anything to it?
Mr. Hoover.
No; I have nothing to add to it at all.
Mr. Rankin.
Now, in light of what happened. Mr. Hoover, I think the Commission would desire to have your comments or whatever you care to tell them, concerning the reasons why you did not furnish the information you had concerning Lee Harvey Oswald to the Secret Service prior to the time of the President's assassination.
Mr. Hoover.
Well, I have gone into that very thoroughly because that was obviously one of the questions that I had in my mind when the tragedy occurred in Dallas.
In going back over the record, and I have read each one of the reports dealing with that and the reports of Mr. Hosty who had dealt with the Oswald situation largely in Dallas, we had the matter that I have previously referred to, the report of the State Department that indicated this man was a thoroughly safe risk, he had changed his views, he was a loyal man now and had seen the light of day, so to speak.
How intensive or how extensive that interview in Moscow was, I don't know. But, nevertheless, it was in a State Department document that was furnished to us.
Now, we interviewed Oswald a few days after he arrived. We did not interview him on arrival at the port of entry because that is always undesirable by reason of the fact it is heavily covered by press, and any relatives generally are there, so we prefer to do it after the man has settled down for two or three days and become composed. We do it in the privacy of our office or wherever he may be, or in his own home or apartment. We interviewed him twice in regard to that angle that we were looking for. We had no indication at this time of anything other than his so-called Marxist leanings, Marxist beliefs.
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