The testimony of James W. Bookhout was taken at 11:15 a.m., on April
8, 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building,
Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Samuel A. Stern,
assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. STERN. Will you please rise.
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give shall be the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I do.
Mr. STERN. Sit down, please.
Mr. STERN. State your name, please.
Mr. BOOKHOUT. James W. Bookhout. Do you want my home address?
Mr. STERN. Yes.
Mr. BOOKHOUT. 7048 Cornelia Lane, Dallas, Tex.
Mr. STERN. What is your occupation, Mr. Bookhout?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mr. STERN. How long have you been with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Little over 22 years.
Mr. STERN. How long have you been assigned to the Dallas office?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Since about 1945.
Mr. STERN. Were you on duty on November 22?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Actually, I was on leave on that particular date.
However, I had been requested to come to the office to handle some
expedited dictation in a particular case. Having completed that, I
left the office and proceeded to the Mercantile National Bank, where
I transacted some personal business. Upon leaving the bank, it was
momentarily expected that the President's motorcade would pass that
area. I stood there for a few minutes, and as the motorcade passed I
was actually unable to personally observe the President, due to the
crowd on the sidewalk. While waiting for the crowd to thin, in order
to cross the street, several separate sirens on the police squad cars
were heard proceeding in the direction of the county courthouse. While
crossing the street, some citizen with a transistor radio stated that
it had just been announced that shots had been fired at the President's
motorcade.
I immediately proceeded toward the office and observed two agents
coming from the direction of the office, who advised that the office
was trying to contact me and I was to proceed to the homicide and
robbery bureau of the Dallas Police Department.
I immediately proceeded to the homicide and robbery bureau and
contacted my office and was advised that I was to maintain liaison with
the homicide and robbery bureau.
Mr. STERN. Did you then go to the police headquarters?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Yes; as I said, I went to the homicide and robbery bureau
after contacting the Dallas office.
Mr. STERN. What then occurred at the police headquarters? Let me ask
you this: How soon after you arrived there was Oswald brought in?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Well, it was some little time, as I recall, the next
pertinent instance was a report that the Dallas Police officer had
been shot, and that was in the Oak Cliff area. Captain Fritz had
not returned to the office at that time. When he did return, and
subsequently Oswald was apprehended in the Texas Theatre, information
was passed to Captain Fritz as to the name of the suspect that they had
apprehended on the Tippit shooting, and at that time he stated that
that was the suspect that they were looking for on the killing of the
President.
Mr. STERN. Did the name Lee Harvey Oswald mean anything to you at that
time?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No. Captain Fritz went on to explain that Oswald was an
employee of the Texas Book Depository, who they had ascertained left
his employment there subsequent to the shooting incident.
Mr. STERN. And sometime after this he was brought to the police
headquarters?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Yes.
Mr. STERN. Were you present when he was brought in?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Yes.
Mr. STERN. Can you describe his physical condition?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I can recall one of the officers that brought him in was
Paul Bentley. He is a polygraph operator in the identification division
of the Dallas Police Department, and Bentley was limping, and Oswald
had one eye that was swollen and a scratch mark on his forehead.
Mr. STERN. Did you observe any other bruises?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. None.
Mr. STERN. Was he handcuffed?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Yes.
Mr. STERN. Was he walking by himself, or being held by police officers?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. To my recollection there was an officer on each side of
him that had ahold of his arms.
Mr. STERN. Was he struggling?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No; just walking in, you know what I mean.
Mr. STERN. Yes.
Mr. BOOKHOUT. In a normal fashion.
Mr. STERN. Then what occurred, that you observed?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I believe he was taken directly into Captain Fritz'
office and the interview started at that time with Captain Fritz, and
two homicide officers.
Mr. STERN. Were you present?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I was not in the office at that time. I called our
office, advised them he had been brought in, and that the interview was
starting and shortly thereafter Mr. Shanklin, our SAC called back and
said the Bureau wanted the agents present in the interview and that
Hosty, James P. Hosty, I believe was to sit in on the interview, and I
was to also be present with Hosty. So, at that time, we asked Captain
Fritz to sit in on the interview, and that was approximately 3:15 p.m.
Mr. STERN. How long had the interview gone on before you were present?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Very shortly. I would give a rough estimate of not more
than 5 to 10 minutes at the most.
Mr. STERN. How long did that first interview last?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. A little under an hour.
Mr. STERN. Was it interrupted at any point, if you remember?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Well, what I am thinking, we have got several interviews
here. I know from time to time I can't recall whether it was this
interview, or subsequent interviews Captain Fritz would have to leave
the office for a second or two. By "office," I mean the immediate
office that the interview was being conducted in, but still within the
homicide and robbery office.
Mr. STERN. Did the interviewing continue when he was out of the room,
or did you wait for his return?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No; it would continue.
Mr. STERN. By whom was the interview conducted?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Primarily it was conducted by Captain Fritz and then
before he would leave from one point to another he would ask if there
was anything we wanted to ask him particularly on that point.
Mr. STERN. By "we," you mean Agent Hosty and yourself?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Right.
Mr. STERN. What was Oswald's demeanor in the course of this interview?
Did he seem in control of himself, excited, or calm? Can you describe
his conduct?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. He was very arrogant and argumentative. That is about the
extent of the comment on that.
Mr. STERN. Is this as to you and Hosty, or also Captain Fritz? Did he
differentiate in his conduct between Captain Fritz and the two of you?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Now--no; that would apply to everyone present.
Mr. STERN. Did he answer all questions put to him or did he refuse to
answer the questions?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No; there would be certain questions that he refused to
comment about.
Mr. STERN. When this happened was the question pressed, or another
question asked?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Anyone asking the--another question would be asked.
Mr. STERN. What sort of question would he refuse to answer? Was there
any pattern to his refusing?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Well, now, I am not certain whether this would apply then
to this particular interview, the first interview or not, in answering
this, but I recall specifically one of the interviews asking him about
the Selective Service card which he had in the name of Hidell, and he
admitted that he was carrying the card, but that he would not admit
that he wrote the signature of Hidell on the card, and at that point
stated that he refused to discuss the matter further. I think generally
you might say anytime that you asked a question that would be pertinent
to the investigation, that would be the type of question he would
refuse to discuss.
Mr. STERN. Would you say he had a pretty good idea of what might be
incriminating and what not incriminating?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Well, I think that would call for an opinion, and I can
only report the facts to you, and based on the example of the type of
questions that I had commented on that he refused to answer, you will
have to draw your own conclusion on that.
Mr. STERN. Fine. I am just trying to get at whether he seemed
in command of himself and alert, and whether he handled himself
responsibly from his own viewpoint, but if you don't want to venture an
opinion, that's fine.
When you first joined the interview, did you advise him that you were
an agent of the FBI, and did you say anything about warning him that
evidence--that anything he said might be used?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Yes; that was done by Agent Hosty.
Mr. STERN. Did he, at that point, or later say anything specifically
regarding the FBI?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Yes.
Mr. STERN. Tell us what that was.
Mr. BOOKHOUT. He accused the FBI of, generally, unfair tactics in
interviewing his wife on some previous occasion.
Mr. STERN. Was this directed specifically at either you or Hosty, or to
the general----
Mr. BOOKHOUT. It was directed against Hosty.
Mr. STERN. He did not, Oswald did not indicate that he knew Hosty
himself, did he?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No.
Mr. STERN. But, there was a complaint about an interview, or
interrogation of Marina Oswald?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. Right.
Mr. STERN. Did he say anything about FBI interviews of him that had
occurred in the past, any complaint about such interviews?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I don't know that that would be in this particular
interview, but in one of the interviews which has been reported he
stated that he had been interviewed at Fort Worth, Tex., by agents upon
his return to the United States from Russia, and he felt that they had
used unfair means of interviewing him, or something. Those are not his
exact words, but that is the impression he conveyed.
Mr. STERN. Unfair in what respect?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I don't know.
Mr. STERN. Did he say?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No.
Mr. STERN. Tell us the nature of his complaint.
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I think he probably used the expression, "Unfair
tactics," or something in their interviews.
Mr. STERN. Yes. Did he indicate that he felt that the interview that
was then going on was unfair in any way? Did he complain about that?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. No, he didn't complain about the interview. He made a
complaint or two, as I recall, that one of the interviews that has
been reported, in fact, I believe it was in this first interview he
complained about his hands being handcuffed behind his back, and asked
Captain Fritz to remove the handcuffs. Captain Fritz had one of his
officers uncuff his hands from behind his back and recuff them in front
and asked him if that was more satisfactory and he stated that it was.
Mr. STERN. Any other aspect of his treatment that he complained of?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. I recall one of the interviews that he complained about
the lineup that he was in, that he wasn't allowed to wear a jacket
similar to jackets worn by others in the lineup.
Mr. STERN. Did this occur at the lineup or subsequently?
Mr. BOOKHOUT. This was in one of the interviews in Captain Fritz'
office.