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. GRIFFIN. Back up towards Harry Hines Boulevard?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes; that is right. We went in an entranceway. I am not
sure whether it was the main entrance of the hospital or whether there
is a door near the main entrance of the hospital.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes; would you mark on the diagram there where the main
entrance is?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes--No. 2?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Just write “Main Entrance.” We will use the numbers for
your position.
Mr. KANTOR. All right. I followed Mr. Kilduff up a flight of stairs to
the second floor, and down one or two hallways, until we came to the
room where he made the announcement that the President had died.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About how long did the announcement take?
Mr. KANTOR. The announcement was very brief. I don’t know actually
where all the other reporters came from. There were quite a number of
reporters in the room already. And as best as I understand it, there
were a vast number of reporters who never got into the hospital in
the emergency area, and had moved into this second floor room for the
announcement.
At any rate, everybody seemed ready for an announcement at the time
that Mr. Kilduff got there. And so the announcement itself took a
minute.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, at the time the announcement was made, had you talked
with other reporters or other people in the area so that you were able
to tell whether there was any prevailing attitude or rumors circulating
around as to the condition of the President?
Mr. KANTOR. No; I had no opportunity. The only people I talked to were
the two Texas Congressmen, as I got off the phone, and that was the
only word I had with anyone until the announcement came from Malcolm.
Mr. GRIFFIN. So that you didn’t, yourself, even have any firm
expectation as to what the announcement of Kilduff would be?
Mr. KANTOR. No; I knew it was a rather grim situation, but I didn’t
know how grim.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Was a prepared statement handed out?
Mr. KANTOR. No; it was not. He made the statement under trying
circumstances. His voice was quivering. He was leaning on a table
which is used by a teacher in the classroom, which was being used as
an emergency press headquarters. With great difficulty he made the
announcement that the President had died at about 1 o’clock, which
would have been a half hour before he was making the announcement.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How do you fix the time of the announcement at 1:30?
Mr. KANTOR. I was following my watch very closely because it was a
matter of newspaper deadlines, especially for our Texas papers. The
reason I had called Washington was because I felt that I could not
begin calling our three papers in Texas individually, and I felt that
from Washington the story could be related to all 18 of our papers. And
so I was watching the time closely.
Mr. GRIFFIN. And did you report to your Washington office that the time
of the announcement had been 1:30?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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