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. Having had a chance to look at those notes again and
thinking about our conversation during the last couple of days--is
there any indication from those notes that you knew or had a strong
idea prior to the time Kilduff gave this press conference that
President Kennedy was not going to survive?
Mr. KANTOR. No. I don’t know whether it was a matter of not wanting
to accept the strong possibility, but really until I went into the
hospital and saw the priest in the hallway and the look on Lady Bird
Johnson’s face, I had no strong premonition about it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. But did you see the priest and Lady Bird Johnson before
the press conference?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes; I did, while I was on the telephone talking to my
office in Washington.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Right. By the time you got off the telephone what was
your--and having seen Lady Bird Johnson and the priest and so forth?
Mr. KANTOR. I still didn’t know that the President had been hit in the
head, and when Congressman Thomas told me that a brain surgeon had been
brought in, I knew then that he had been hit in the head but I didn’t
know until that point even where he had been hit.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you have had a chance, I suppose, to talk with other
newspaper people and other people who were present at Parkland Hospital
since this event, have you not?
Mr. KANTOR. Not in depth. I have had some conversations with people who
were there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. In your conversations with people who were there, have you
gained any information that those who were in the area around Parkland
Hospital attentive to what might be going on, had an idea or believed
that the President was dead before the announcement was made by Mr.
Kilduff?
Mr. KANTOR. Well, I am sure I have not asked anybody outside of a
couple of Congressmen I have talked to since then who were a lot
closer to the situation than I obviously was at that time, and they
really knew what was going on. And I haven’t asked anyone, I guess I
felt no reason to ask and I don’t recall anyone volunteering that they
specifically believed the President was moribund.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I don’t want to push you into saying something----
Mr. KANTOR. I am not aware of that.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, do your notes here--do you have any notes here which
reflect your observations in the Dallas Police Department from the time
you arrived there until the time you left Dallas?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes; I do.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you show us in here where those notes are?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes. Just any and all in the police station?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. KANTOR. Right. Where you have placed the marker here is the extent
of notes taken in the police station between Friday afternoon, November
22 and Sunday evening, November 24.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Let me ask a few questions about the notes. I notice that
you have made the notation and I will read it, “Ruby asked question
Friday night at press conference.” Do you remember making that notation?
Mr. KANTOR. Yes; I do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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