Warren Commission (10 of 26): Hearings Vol. X (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (10 of 26): Hearings Vol. X (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. GRAEF. That's correct, and so you see he would become familiar with
quite a few things in his hobby that he would know about when he came
to work for us. We wouldn't have to start from the very beginning and
say, "Now, this is film, and this is paper," and the difference between
the two and start from the very beginning. So, to explain a little bit
about why I didn't make any inquiries, I didn't frankly feel that any
were necessary.
The fact that he had--that the employment agency had said--told
me--that he had recently been discharged from the Marines, or had
gotten out of the Marines, and the fact that he had backed up that
statement immediately when he came over and said that he had been
recently discharged from the Marines, and I asked him if he had been
honorably discharged, more as a joke, and he said "Yes," he had. To me,
what background was there to check into? Was I going to go through his
commanding officer or his sergeant, for example?
Mr. JENNER. Well, it was a half truth--he had been honorably discharged
and then dishonorably discharged.
Mr. GRAEF. I wish I had--but the whole thing, of course, seemed so on
the level that I just hoped that he would be a person that could fill
the job.
Mr. JENNER. Was this interview in the ordinary course of business?
Mr. GRAEF. Oh, yes.
Mr. JENNER. And having in mind the particular position you desired
to train the man for whom you were looking, and having in mind the
work--the background of work of the Texas Employment Agency, you
made, I take it, the inquiries you would normally make under the
circumstances?
Mr. GRAEF. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. There was nothing extraordinary about this?
Mr. GRAEF. No.
Mr. JENNER. Out of the ordinary pattern?
Mr. GRAEF. No--he came in for this interview sometime in the morning,
10:30 or 11:00, and we perhaps talked for 15 minutes. Of course, I took
down his name and whatever information I could get on a piece of paper,
just for my own record, as I did with the other two or three boys that
had come previously or after him, and finally there was no one else,
and so then I had to make a decision, and, of course, I think I threw
this piece of paper away because they were just personal notes that
I had made about the interview, so that I could look back and remind
myself who was who. So, I believe, in fact I am very certain that Lee
called me back--I told him--at the time I interviewed him, I thought I
knew that he had the best chance of the other fellows of doing the job,
and usually I call them and would tell them that they are hired, but I
think in this case that there was no phone and that when I asked him
could I call him and let him know whether he had been hired or whether
he had not been hired--he said, "No, there is no phone" where I could
call him, and I said, "Well, I'll be making a decision perhaps tomorrow
and if you would care to call, I can let you know then."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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