Was President Kennedy motivated, to any extent at all, by his interest in making himself as President available to the people generally in every section of the country, including Texas?
Mr. O'DONNELL. Very definitely. The President s views of his responsibilities as President of the United States were that he meet the people, that he go out to their homes and see them, and allow them to see him, and discuss, if possible, the views of the world as he sees it, the problems of the country as he sees them. And he felt that leaving Washington for the President of the United States was most necessary--not only for the people, but for the President himself, that he expose himself to the actual basic problems that were disturbing the American people. It helped him in his job here, he was able to come back here with a fresh view of many things. I think he felt very strongly that the President ought to get out of Washington, and go meet the people on a regular basis.

Mr. Specter.

Did he enjoy that exposure, strictly as a personal matter?
Mr. O'DONNELL. He enjoyed it very much. The President--liked people, and he liked to mingle with people.

Mr. Specter.

When were the specific dates of November 21 and November 22 finally set as being the precise times for the trip to Texas?
Mr. O'DONNELL. Well, I am not clear in my recollection of that. I would think some time early in November. I know Thanksgiving was one of the problems we had to work with. We decided that would be the best time to go, in that general area, and we, in general, would keep a file---once we agreed we were going to Texas--we would keep a file on all the speaking engagements, all the invitations the President had received.
I would go to that file and select some that might look promising. One of them that I recollect was an invitation from Congressman Albert Thomas, or his committee, that was giving him an appreciation dinner--not the Congressman himself. And the President was very fond of Congressman Thomas, he was most helpful to him, and I knew he would want to go, if this was at all possible.
I would think that probably had more to do with setting the actual definite dates of the 21st and 22d.

Mr. Specter.

When, if you recall, was the Secret Service notified of the forthcoming trip to Texas?
Mr. O'DONNELL. I would think they would be notified around the first week in November. The general desire is that they have the specific information at least on the places that he might go 3 weeks prior to the trip.

Mr. Specter.

And who among the members of the Presidential staff would be charged with the responsibility for coordinating the trip with the Secret Service?
Mr. O'DONNELL. That would be my responsibility. The manner in which we would set it up would be that I would notify the head here, who is Gerry Behn, and Gerry Behn would ask me when we were sending people down, so that his people and our people could go down at the same time. And I recollect that Jerry Bruno was one of them.
The first step would be to confer with the Governor, go over the general proposals that the Governor would make, and then bring it back to me. And I would go over it with the Governor and the Vice President and the President.

Mr. Specter.

What planning was undertaken with respect to the determination of the motorcade route through Dallas?
Mr. O'DONNELL. Well, I think once we arrived--we chose the four cities we were going into. And then the advance men and the Secret Service went out. Then we would work backwards from where we had to be at what time, and what things we had agreed we would do there. And the originals---Dallas, as I recollect, was going to be an evening affair. The Governor thought the evening affair should be in Austin, and that we should hit Dallas around noontime.

Mr. Specter.

When you say the evening affair, what are you referring to specifically there?
Mr. O'DONNELL. There was a political dinner which was to be conducted at

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