Mr. JOHNSON. That's so flagrantly against anything about the Communist
viewpoint that it's----
Mr. RANKIN. Will you explain that, Mr. Johnson?
Mr. JOHNSON. Communists just do not believe in assassination as a
method of social change, and----
Mr. RANKIN. You mean that as far as the Communist Party of the United
States is concerned?
Mr. JOHNSON. Definitely.
Mr. RANKIN. Or generally?
Mr. JOHNSON. Definitely and generally. I mean that very specifically.
It has nothing to do with it. We would say that anybody who harbors
such a thought is not only not a Communist but an anti-Communist
basically.
Mr. RANKIN. Would you extend that to cover the activities of various
groups in the Soviet Union?
Mr. JOHNSON. As far as assassination is concerned, yes.
Mr. RANKIN. I thought there was information that they had people
connected with the government who were engaged in trying to understand
and be able to use methods of assassination.
Mr. JOHNSON. No.
Mr. RANKIN. You don't think that's true?
Mr. JOHNSON. Oh, no. That's not true. That's dissident groups, groups
like that, not Communist groups.
Mr. RANKIN. You don't think that is a part presently of the Soviet
Union----
Mr. JOHNSON. Definitely not.
Mr. RANKIN. And you don't think it is any part of the plans of the
Communist Party of the United States?
Mr. JOHNSON. I know that a thousand percent. We have for years made it
a point if anybody has such viewpoints they cannot ever be a member of
the party. They are expelled et cetera. We specifically speak against
any acts of terrorism or individual violence et cetera.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have any contact with Columbia Broadcasting System
in regard to news matters relating to Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. JOHNSON. That's what I was referring to before, that as soon
as--yes, on the--I was trying to say the date, on the 23d, the day
after the assassination, I called and issued a statement to all the
news media in which I made it clear that Lee Harvey Oswald was not
associated with us in any way and so forth, and they carried this on
the radio or on television, I think one of them did. But it was also
carried on the front page of the New York Times and through other
papers. That was called in to all the stations, not just to Columbia.
There was a seven-sentence statement.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ever say that Lee Harvey Oswald was not given
citizenship in the Soviet Union because they considered him a Fascist,
or words to that effect?
Mr. JOHNSON. I don't recall that. I don't recall that.
Mr. RANKIN. Was that your belief?
Mr. JOHNSON. I never got involved in the reason, as I recall, as to why
he was not given citizenship there. I assumed they had good reasons.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ever see any writings or communications or anything
to indicate that he had a Fascist philosophy?
Mr. JOHNSON. The only feature within that would be, within one of these
letters, when he refers to the fact that he attended the Walker meeting
down there in Dallas; another reported story of his volunteering to be
on both sides as far as Cuba was concerned, and then the further point,
and this is a matter of political orientation maybe as to why he was in
contact with Senator Tower instead of Senator Yarborough; that is just
pure speculation, it doesn't mean very much.
Mr. RANKIN. Most of his expressions in his correspondence that you
produced indicated an interest and sympathy with the Communist Party
rather than any Fascist group, didn't they?
Mr. JOHNSON. But the main point would be that this act is so
contradictory to anything in the Communist viewpoint, and that would be
the essential test, that any person who has that kind of a mentality
could just as well be covering up in communications, and that would
be one of the difficulties of it; but the act itself, you see, would
be an act, that kind of act of terrorism based upon the climate and
everything there which would have been an act from a Fascist-minded
person instead of from a Communist-minded person.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have any evidence or know of any evidence to
indicate that this assassination was a rightist or extreme right plot
of any kind, conspiracy?
Mr. JOHNSON. Not of evidence in that sense, no. If you draw conclusions
from the materials that were being circulated in Dallas, that ad in the
newspaper that morning, and the various communications of people, of
the added hate atmosphere, the warnings that were made of that hatred,
that was all of a rightist character.
Mr. RANKIN. But that wouldn't necessarily mean that there was any plot
or conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, would it? Or does it to
you?
Mr. JOHNSON. Well, I would rather think not. I mean I would rather
think that nobody would proceed from any of this to the point of
assassination. And there it is a matter I think where a person may have
an opinion and not necessarily have evidence that could substantiate
the opinion.
Mr. RANKIN. Or you could speculate easily?
Mr. JOHNSON. That is speculation.
Mr. RANKIN. Whether it was a rightist plot or there was a leftist plot?
Mr. JOHNSON. If there was a plot, it was only a rightist plot.
Mr. RANKIN. And you say that because you consider the act of
assassination to accomplish political ends is not within the Communist
Party philosophy; is that right?
Mr. JOHNSON. That is basically true. The second basic point would be
the attitude of the Communist towards President Kennedy was one of high
regard and respect, even though sharply differing on many things, but
it was always that.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Johnson, do you have any other papers or knowledge
bearing upon the assassination of President Kennedy that you haven't
related here?
Mr. JOHNSON. No, I do not.
Mr. RANKIN. That is all I have, Mr. Abt. Do you have anything?
Mr. ABT. I have nothing.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Abt, may we ask you to be so kind as to be sworn and
act as a witness for a brief moment?
Mr. ABT. Surely.