(Testimony of Bernard William , Accompanied By Weissman)
Mr. Jenner.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 1036 for identification.)
Mr. Jenner.
Before you read from the letter, how did you come into possession of the letter?
Mr. Weissman.
Larry Jones gave it to me.
Mr. Jenner.
Over in Germany?
Mr. Weissman.
Over in Germany; yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
And the envelope which I now have in my hand, from which you extracted the letter, is postmarked Dallas, Tex., November 5.
Representative Boggs.
What year?
Mr. Jenner.
1962. Is that the envelope in which the letter, Commission Exhibit No. 1036, was received by Mr. Jones? I notice the letter is addressed to Mr. Jones, SP-4 Larry Jones.
Mr. Weissman.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner.
We will mark that as Commission Exhibit No. 1036-A--that is, the envelope.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 1036-A for identification.)
Mr. Weissman.
On the third page, last paragraph, he has marked "One bad thing, though. Frank gives me the impression of being rather anti-Semetic. He is Catholic. Suggest Bernie convert to Christianity, and I mean it."
"We must all return to church. These people here are religious bugs. Also no liberal talk whatsoever---none." Larrie had a flare for the dramatic.
Mr. Dulles.
When he mentions "these people" who does he mean?
Mr. Weissman.
The NIC. And at this point I was ready to drop out of the organization completely, but thought better of it, because I am a perennial optimist. I felt once I got down there it is like changing your wife after you marry her. You figure everything will work out.
Representative Ford.
This CUSA organization in Munich-did it have any local Munich affiliation at all? I mean German affiliation?
Mr. Weissman.
No; none whatsoever. Strictly an American proposition.
Representative Ford.
All among GI's, with the one exception of----
Mr. Weissman.
GI's or, one or two hangers-on, American civilians over there.
Senator COOPER May I ask a question, Mr. Chairman?
You stated at one point in your testimony that you did not care to become associated with some of the organizations you had discussed. You named the John Birch--you thought it was too extreme. Yet you stated earlier that it was your intention to infiltrate these organizations. How do you explain this inconsistency?
Mr. Weissman.
It is difficult to explain. The situation being as fluid as it was--you find that without anything solid to go on, you have got to change your stand a little bit in order to just get started.
Senator COOPER. Let me ask you something else. You said that you all had thought that to be able to fully pursue your political objectives, you needed to have a certain financial independence, is that correct?
Mr. Weissman.
Yes.
Senator COOPER. Did you intend to get some financial support from these organizations, in addition to political support?
Mr. Weissman.
No; not directly. We felt that after we had accomplished our goal--this is assuming we would accomplish our goal--any treasury that they had through membership dues or what-have-you would then be a common treasury, a CUSA treasury.
Senator COOPER. You had the idea that you could infiltrate and get control of these organizations, then you would have a source of revenue through their treasury, or through whatever treasury you were able to build up?
Mr. Weissman.
Yes.
Senator COOPER. Did you think, also, in terms of contributions to these organizations from individuals?
Mr. Weissman.
It had been discussed--never very completely. It had just been brought up. But we didn't know exactly what we were going to do, really.
Senator COOPER. Was there any discussion about the support of these
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