Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. THORNLEY. When I knew him and since I knew him, when I knew him I
was surprised when he was offended at my statement about the coming
of the revolution that Saturday morning. I was surprised when I read
in the papers overseas that he had gone to the Soviet Union. I was
surprised when he came back. And I was entirely caught unaware when it
turned out that he was involved in the assassination, to such an extent
that for some time afterwards, I thought he was innocent.
Mr. JENNER. Why were you surprised when he came back and tell us before
you do that where were you and how did you find out about it.
Mr. THORNLEY. I was in New Orleans. My parents sent me an article from
the Los Angeles Times about it. The reason I was surprised at his
coming back was as I said before, I just expected that would be the
last I would hear of him. I fully expected him to adjust to Soviet
life. I thought what he--at that time I thought what he probably
lacked in the Marine Corps was any sympathy for the overall purpose of
the Marine Corps. Whereas he certainly had sympathy for the overall
purpose of the Soviet Government, so I don't think he would mind the
restrictions imposed on him, as he resented them in the Marine Corps.
I did not expect him to become disillusioned, certainly, with
the Soviet Union. I am not, of course, sure that he did become
disillusioned with it. It just seemed unlike him to come back to this
country when he said he would never live in either as a capitalist or
as a worker.
Mr. JENNER. When did he say that?
Mr. THORNLEY. He said that at a press conference in Moscow according to
the papers.
Mr. JENNER. This was something you read in the Stars and Stripes?
Mr. THORNLEY. I don't know whether I read this in the Stars and
Stripes or whether I read this--I certainly read it when he came back
from Russia, I remember. It was in the article from the Times my
folks sent me. Said when he had left for the Soviet Union he had said
such-and-such, quote.
Mr. JENNER. You said you did not expect him to become disillusioned
with Soviet Russia. Was it your impression at any time, take the
several stages, that he had a conviction with respect to any form of
political philosophy or government?
Mr. THORNLEY. Well, he did definitely always before and after have a
Marxist bias. From anything that has come to me, that has never--I have
never reason--never had reason to doubt that.
Mr. JENNER. That, you think, was a conviction?
Mr. THORNLEY. I think that was an irrevocable conviction, you might say.
Mr. JENNER. You do not think it was not merely a theoretical concept
which he used for argumentation?
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