Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. KANTOR. I attempted actually to go in before I got on the phone,
and the Secret Service man who was stationed there told me I couldn’t
go in.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you later find out what was in that area?
Mr. KANTOR. Not exactly. A few days later I got a description of what
the emergency area was like inside. But I don’t know exactly which part
of it I was facing at the time I was on the telephone. I was dictating
a story in to Jim Lucas of Scripps-Howard, and just describing things
as I saw them unfold in the hallway at that point.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About how long did this telephone conversation with Mr.
Lucas last?
Mr. KANTOR. Well, counting the time that it took me to get Washington,
and my story dictated, I would say about 20 to 25 minutes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. When you make a long-distance telephone call to your home
office, do you use a credit card, or is there some other indication
used by the telephone company for billing purposes?
Mr. KANTOR. No; I just called direct.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you tell us the telephone number that you called in
Washington?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes; I called District 7-7750.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were there other Scripps-Howard representatives at
Parkland Hospital at the time you made this call?
Mr. KANTOR. No; I was the only person on the trip for Scripps-Howard.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you ask for any particular person? Was it a
station-to-station call?
Mr. KANTOR. It was a station-to-station call, and the switchboard
operator gave me a man by the name of Charles Egger, who is managing
editor of Scripps-Howard.
Mr. GRIFFIN. After you had completed that telephone call, what did you
do?
Mr. KANTOR. I walked into the hall where I saw two Texas Congressmen
who were on the trip, Representatives Henry Gonzalez and Albert Thomas,
standing together. They were immobile, and they were standing against
a wall. I asked them for whatever they could tell me. Henry Gonzalez
appeared to be unable to speak. At least he did not speak. And Albert
Thomas told me that a brain surgeon had been brought in for the
President.
That was the first I knew that the President had been hit in the head.
It was at that point, when Malcolm Kilduff, who was in charge of press
arrangements for the White House on the trip, came behind me and just
touched my back as he passed by, and he said, “Come with me, I have an
announcement to make.”
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where did you go?
Mr. KANTOR. I followed him out of the emergency door and on to the
grass. He was accompanied by Merriman Smith, who was incessantly asking
for whatever news there was without waiting to go where Kilduff was
going, and another man with him was--I am sorry, I have forgotten his
name----
Mr. GRIFFIN. I think it is actually in one of your earlier interviews.
We will get to that later.
Mr. KANTOR. All right. At any rate, I was directly behind Kilduff, who
was moving rapidly. And we went on to the grass and up a little hill
and around the corner of the hospital, moving from west to south.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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