“Governor Allen immediately informed me that it was the spontaneous
action of just one individual. With this information in hand, I started
almost at once for Baton Rouge. In a remarkably short time I reached the
capitol, where I immediately set up headquarters in the office of the
executive counsel. From then until about 2 A.M. I talked to a great many
persons regarding events leading up to, during, and after the
assassination.
“One of the reasons for this inquiry was that I had to make a decision
as to whether or not we were faced with the necessity of dealing with an
armed insurrection on the part of a considerable number of individuals.”
* * * * *
Early that Sunday night Judge Leche, still inclined to make light of his
conversation with Senator Long some hours before, was leaving Baptist
Hospital, where his physician, Dr. Wilkes Knolle, had just changed the
dressing of the airplane splint in which his left arm was immobilized.
“Our chauffeur was driving Tonnie [Mrs. Leche] and me home from the
hospital,” his account of the day’s events continues, “and as we drew up
in front of my house in Metairie I could hear the phone ring. I tossed
my keys to the chauffeur and said: ‘Hurry up and answer it, and tell
whoever it is I’ll be there as soon as I can work my way out of the
car.’ He did so, and I got out awkwardly, my left arm being held rigidly
horizontal at shoulder height with the elbow bent, and when I got to the
phone it was Abe Shushan telling me Huey had just been shot. I called
out to the chauffeur not to leave, we were going to Baton Rouge right
away, and I told Tonnie I would send the car back for her and she could
come up the next day, if that seemed indicated.
“I went directly to the governor’s office, and Oscar Allen was there,
very nervous and visibly shaken. He was talking on the telephone and
picked up a sheet of paper while holding the other hand over the
mouthpiece, and said: ‘This is what I am going to release to the press.’
At the time I thought he said he had already released it. In brief, the
statement said for everyone to remain calm, this had been merely the
irresponsible act of one individual, and that it did not mean more than
just one individual’s crazed action.
“I tore the paper up and handed the pieces back to him, saying: ‘Huey
has been charging in Louisiana and in Washington that there was a plot
on foot to kill him, and that he surrounded himself with bodyguards for
that reason. He conducted a formal investigation into a murder plot with
witnesses who said they had won their way into the confidence of the
plotters, and named them, and carried on an investigation in New Orleans
for days.... How in the world can you take it on yourself to proclaim
officially that this was all twaddle, and that only one individual was
responsible for what happened?’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account