Mr. JOHNSON. No. 3, 4, and 6.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you initial those two as I have done, Mr. Johnson.
(Witness complies.)
Mr. RANKIN. In Exhibit 4-A, you speak about finding some way to get in
touch with Mr. Oswald in Baltimore. Can you tell us what you meant by
that?
Mr. JOHNSON. In his letter of September 1, he refers that he is going
to come to the Baltimore-Washington area and asked for information
about how to reach somebody. It is not my practice to refer them to
people until a person comes into an area, and if there is any reason
to refer them to a person, then I do so under those circumstances.
Thus, this is a simple form of simply--of just saying that when such
a circumstance arises we can make a contact, that is, look him up
wherever he is at the time.
Mr. RANKIN. After you received the letter, Exhibit 4, with regard
to Lee Harvey Oswald's trying to dissolve his American citizenship
while he was in the Soviet Union, did you make any inquiry to try to
determine whether he had taken such action?
Mr. JOHNSON. Nothing further than was in the letter itself.
Mr. RANKIN. And you said that it is often advisable for some people to
remain in the background, not underground. What did you mean by that?
Mr. JOHNSON. Very simply that as an American citizen, whatever he
is doing should always be aboveground; that a person remains in the
background within any organizational activities, that he does not push
himself forward in whatever he is doing.
(Document marked Johnson Exhibit No. 5.)
Mr. RANKIN. I hand you Exhibit No. 5 and ask you whether that letter
dated August 31, 1963, consisting of two pages and an envelope, was one
of the pieces of correspondence you turned over to the FBI at the time
you described?
Mr. JOHNSON. It is.
Mr. RANKIN. Had you seen that Exhibit 5 at some time prior to the time
you turned it over?
Mr. JOHNSON. Oh, yes; just within a couple of days before, I think it
was.
Mr. RANKIN. It is addressed to a Mr. or M. Bert. I guess Mr. Bert.
Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. Bert.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us who that is?
Mr. JOHNSON. He is the managing editor of the Worker.
Mr. RANKIN. How did that Exhibit 5 come to your attention?
Mr. JOHNSON. I inquired specifically of the Worker as to whether there
was any other correspondence when I was assembling the material to turn
over, and I insisted upon a search of files, in an easy way, "Please
look through the files and see if there is anything."
Mr. RANKIN. Who did you make that inquiry of?
Mr. JOHNSON. I made that actually to Mr. Jackson.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us who Mr. Jackson is, enough so that we can
know how he may be acting or he may have the authority to search the
files?
Mr. JOHNSON. He is the editor of the Worker.
Mr. RANKIN. That was done shortly before you turned over the other
papers and this to the FBI?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have any basis for believing that when you made such
a request it would be carried out?
Mr. JOHNSON. Oh, yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us enough about that so we would know what
reason you would have to believe that it would be carried out?
Mr. JOHNSON. Well, the relationship would be one, which was very
normal; the editorial policy of the Worker in relationship to the
assassination; and insistence upon cooperation in any fashion to
determine anything related to it that would be helpful in the work
of the Commission or Government agencies involved. There was no
resistance, and there was immediately a willingness and desire to do
so; that is all.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ask that there be a complete search for anything
that would show any correspondence?
Mr. JOHNSON. I did.
Mr. RANKIN. Or contact with Lee Harvey Oswald by either the Communist
Party in the United States or the Worker?
Mr. JOHNSON. I did.
Mr. RANKIN. Are you satisfied that that search was full and complete?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; I am.
Mr. RANKIN. And that whatever you turned over to the FBI was all that
either of those organizations had in their possession?
Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have any further conversation with Mr. Bert in
regard to Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. JOHNSON. Only in the sense of asking whether he was sure that there
was no other communications, and I think that was really all. I mean I
didn't ask him what his reactions were or anything like that.
Mr. RANKIN. And you did not discuss the correspondence in the sense of
what it contained?
Mr. JOHNSON. No; I think I did discuss this, I asked him whether
there was any reply to it, and he said, no; that he did not reply.
And I asked him specifically as to whether--"Are you sure?" because I
wondered if there was anything further, and he said he was very sure
about that.
Mr. RANKIN. Would you initial that too, please, Mr. Johnson.
(Witness complies.)
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know the Mr. Weinstock that is referred to in this
Exhibit 5?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; I do.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us who he is or was at that time?
Mr. JOHNSON. He was at that time the managing--the business manager of
the Worker.
Mr. RANKIN. Would you tell us where he is now?
Mr. JOHNSON. Right at the moment he is out of town. He had a heart
illness some time back.
Mr. RANKIN. Is he somewhat disabled?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. Well, he is not working at all now, and I--he was in
town a few days ago seeing doctors, and I told him about this request.
I asked him specifically whether he knew anything about--anything
further about this letter, and so forth. He did not recall a thing.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ask him whether he had any other contacts with Lee
Harvey Oswald except the one that is referred to in that letter?
Mr. JOHNSON. He did not recall it. I asked him that. I also made a
search of his back files and found nothing.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you make any inquiry as to whether he knew anything
else about Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. JOHNSON. I inquired, I asked him that--this was all on the
telephone--and he said, no. And he went to this thing out in the
country some place, just to sort of recover from this illness.
Mr. RANKIN. And there is a Mr. Tormey that is referred to in that
letter. Do you know him too?
Mr. ABT. Mr. Tormey is here, and he is prepared to testify.
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; I do.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know what position he occupied about that time?
Mr. JOHNSON. About that time he was the executive secretary of the
Hall-Davis Defense Committee.
(Document marked Johnson Exhibit No. 5A.)
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Johnson, I hand you Exhibit 5A, which I was informed
was one of the works of Lee Harvey Oswald that you turned over to the
FBI at the same time. Do you recall having seen that?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether or not that was one of the pieces of
Lee Harvey Oswald's purported works that he had sent to Mr. Weinstock?
Mr. JOHNSON. Whether he had sent it to Mr. Weinstock or whether he had
sent it to Mr. Bert, I don't know. I got it at the same time as I got
the letter from Mr. Bert.
Mr. RANKIN. But you do believe that it was sent to one or the other?
Mr. JOHNSON. It was sent to one or the other. It could have been either
one.
Mr. RANKIN. And do you understand that it was purportedly something
that Lee Harvey Oswald claimed to have made up himself?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether or not Mr. Weinstock wrote any letter
back to Lee Harvey Oswald about that or other material that he had sent
in?
Mr. JOHNSON. Not of my own knowledge, other than there is a reference
to it in that letter.
Mr. RANKIN. Yes; and you have already testified that you asked Mr.
Weinstock about it, and he did not recall any answer; is that correct?
Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct.
Mr. RANKIN. I notice with Exhibit 5, the envelope shows considerable
difficulty in reaching the addressee.
Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know how it happened to get to Mr. Bert?
Mr. JOHNSON. Well, the address is wrong in that on the envelope it is
26 West 23d Street, and the proper address would have been 23 West 26th
Street. That is the first mistake. Therefore it was apparently turned
back, and then the post office made the correction.
(Witness initials Exhibit No. 5A.)
(Document marked Johnson Exhibit No. 7.)
Mr. RANKIN. I hand you Exhibit 7, which is a letter from Lee Harvey
Oswald, with the envelope. Do you recall having received that and
turning that over to the FBI?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; I do.
Mr. RANKIN. At the time you referred to?
Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; I do.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether you received it near the date that
shows on the envelope?
Mr. JOHNSON. I know when I received it.
Mr. RANKIN. Oh, you do recall?
Mr. JOHNSON. And it was not near the date.
Mr. RANKIN. I see. When was it?
Mr. JOHNSON. The envelope has a postmark of the 1st of November. I
received it on the 29th of November. That is the day after Thanksgiving.