Mr. O'BRIEN. With the exception of insuring the inclusion in the
motorcade of the Members of Congress and Senator Yarborough, that they
be properly handled so that they would be included in open cars in the
motorcade.
Mr. ADAMS. And it was part of your responsibility to see that--what
cars they got into and all those arrangements?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I would not say specifically that. They would have their
car assignments. But for the most part, it was, if anything went wrong
in the arrangements at some point, I would then be able to have a staff
man correct it. So I would keep a close eye on the congressional people
traveling with the President on a trip of that nature to be sure that
they were well taken care of.
Mr. ADAMS. Do you know when the information about the precise route was
released to the press?
Mr. O'BRIEN. No; I do not.
Mr. ADAMS. Was there any thought--I withdraw that one, and ask you
this: Do you know how it came about that Dallas was chosen as one of
the cities to visit?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I don't recall specifically, except that the size of the
city, the concentration of population, would make it an obvious stop in
Texas, if you were going to be in the State for 2 or 2-1/2 days. It is
rather an obvious decision, that the Dallas area would be one of the
stops.
Mr. ADAMS. As far as you know, there was never any consideration given
to omitting Dallas?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I do not recall any.
Mr. ADAMS. Well, we are back now at Love Field. Would you tell us what
happened there, as far as you observed it?
Mr. O'BRIEN. The President moved over to the fence, where a large
crowd had gathered and shook the hands of several in the crowd, as
the motorcade was awaiting his departure. All those in the motorcade
proceeded to get into their cars. There was the usual amount of minor
confusion--people hustling around to locate their car number, and I
stood watching the President engaged in this activity, until he had
gotten into his car, and a quick observation indicated to me that all
those traveling with us had gotten into their cars.
I came very close, however, to being left at Love Field, because I
delayed a little longer than I normally would, observing the scene,
and, consequently, I had to make a little dash, myself, to hop into a
car, to insure that I would travel into town.
Mr. ADAMS. When the President was greeting people along the fence
there, was he accompanied by Mrs. Kennedy?
Mr. O'BRIEN. That is my recollection.
Mr. ADAMS. And do you recall at that time what the Vice President and
Mrs. Johnson were doing?
Mr. O'BRIEN. They were engaged in the same activity, as I recall it.
Mr. ADAMS. I think you said this was a large crowd.
Mr. O'BRIEN. Yes; it appeared to be a large crowd. The difficulty in
judging a crowd from the ground at an airport is obvious. But as we
came down the steps of the plane, looking out over the crowd, I had the
impression that it was a large crowd for an airport stop, considering
the fact the President was about to travel through the heart of the
city.
Mr. ADAMS. Was it a friendly crowd?
Mr. O'BRIEN. It appeared to be friendly.
Mr. ADAMS. Now, getting to the motorcade, what was its organization, as
you recall it, in terms of what cars at what places?
Mr. O'BRIEN. As I recall it, following the usual police grouping in
the front and sides, the President's car, Secret Service car, the
Vice President's car, additional Secret Service car, wire service
cars--I would think there probably were two--the VIP cars followed,
and then following those cars, which was rather a long line of them,
as I recall, were, I believe, one or two buses containing the press,
traveling press.
Mr. ADAMS. When you refer to the VIP cars, those would include the
Congressmen and the other gentlemen you referred to before?
Mr. O'BRIEN. That is right. Senator Yarborough was in the car with
the Vice President and Mrs. Johnson. The members of the congressional
delegation traveling with us at that point were then in open cars--I
would think there were perhaps four open cars to accommodate them.
Mr. ADAMS. Which one were you in?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I was in one of those open cars--specifically, I don't
remember the order of the car, but I remember the passengers I joined.
And as I pointed out, this was rather a quick hop into the car that I
made at that point. Congressman Mahon was in the front seat with the
driver. Congressman Rogers of Texas, now Judge Homer Thornberry of
Texas, and me in the back seat.
Mr. ADAMS. Do you know who the driver was?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I do not.
Mr. ADAMS. Now, would you say that between you and the Vice President's
followup car, there was more than one open car? As I get it--to put it
another way to perhaps refresh your recollection--there was the Vice
President's car, then there was a followup car behind that, and then
came, as you have recalled, the open cars, in which you were seated in
one of them.
Mr. O'BRIEN. Yes.
Mr. ADAMS. Now, were you in the one directly behind the Vice
President's followup car, or farther back?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I do not believe I was in the first VIP car, because,
as I stated when I looked around and the motorcade started to move
slightly, I moved toward a car handy to me. I would think that I was in
the second or conceivably third open car, because, at that time, we had
approximately 10 or 12 members of the Texas congressional delegation,
and obviously we, therefore, had perhaps four open cars. I don't recall
that I was in the first one--it was the second or third. I was not in
the last one, either.
Mr. ADAMS. Were you assigned to a particular car, or would you just
have taken any that would happen to be available?
Mr. O'BRIEN. I am sure I was assigned to a particular car. As a rule, I
would be assigned to the first VIP car--VIP meaning as a rule, again,
a congressional delegation. And in this instance, I don't recall the
actual car assignment. And it was not unusual for me to not adhere
strictly to the assignment.
Mr. ADAMS. And as the motorcade left Love Field--let me withdraw that
and put it this way: You were seated in the back?
Mr. O'BRIEN. On the right back.
Mr. ADAMS. On the right-hand side?
Mr. O'BRIEN. That is correct.
Mr. ADAMS. From where you were seated in that car, as you proceeded
toward the city, could you see the President in his car?
Mr. O'BRIEN. Only occasionally. There were occasions when you could
not see him. Other times, depending on the turns in the road, and
what-have-you, you would get a view of him. And there were times when
he was upright in the car, and you could spot him.
But, generally speaking, I would say that I was concentrating on crowd
attitude and size for the most part, going in toward the city.
Mr. ADAMS. From what you could see of the President's car, where was he
seated?
On the right-hand side or the left-hand side?
Mr. O'BRIEN. As I looked toward the car, he was seated on the right,
with Governor Connally seated directly in front of him.