The testimony of Farrell Dobbs was taken at 11:45 a.m., on April 17,
1964, at the U.S. Courthouse, Foley Square, New York, N.Y., by Messrs.
J. Lee Rankin, general counsel and Wesley J. Liebeler, assistant
counsel of the President's Commission. Farrell Dobbs was accompanied by
his attorney, Rowland Watts.
Farrell Dobbs, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified
as follows:
Mr. RANKIN. In this examination, Mr. Dobbs, we are proceeding in
accordance with the procedures that the Commission has set out and by
reason of the Executive order of President Johnson No. 11130 and the
joint resolution of Congress No. 137.
The examination will be done by myself, J. Lee Rankin, general counsel
for the Commission. Mr. Liebeler is associated with me in that regard.
You are entitled to a 3-day notice of this examination. I assume, since
you are willing to come here, you are willing to waive that 3-day
notice and proceed with the hearing at this time; is that right?
Mr. DOBBS. That's right.
Mr. RANKIN. You are also entitled to have your counsel here, as you
have, and during the examination, if he has any objection to any
questions or wants to have a recess so that he may talk with you, of
course, he may. At the close of your testimony, if there is something
that he would like to examine you about so as to clarify anything that
you said or give you an opportunity to correct or to change it, that is
provided for, too. Do you have any questions before we start?
Mr. WATTS. Mr. Rankin, I think that it should show on the record
that this is a voluntary appearance, that Mr. Dobbs volunteered what
information he had and offered to come if you chose to have him.
Mr. RANKIN. Yes; we wish to have that on the record.
Did you produce the information that was requested of you?
Mr. DOBBS. Yes; I turned it over to Mr. Watts, and he forwarded it to
you.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have from the Militant files the 4-month
introductory subscription blank stamped September 17, 1962?
Mr. WATTS. Yes; we offer it.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you mark that as Exhibit 1.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibit No. 1.)
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have the 4-month renewal blank stamped May 28, 1963?
Mr. WATTS. Yes; we offer that.
Mr. RANKIN. Mark that Exhibit 2, please.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibit No. 2.)
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have the Addressograph plate for Lee H. Oswald?
Mr. WATTS. Yes; we offer that.
Mr. RANKIN. Mark that Exhibit 3, please.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibit No. 3.)
Mr. RANKIN. And from the Pioneer Publishers' files--I failed to ask you
for the change of address notice postmarked June 12, 1963, and November
12, 1963. Do you have those?
Mr. WATTS. Yes; I offer them.
Mr. RANKIN. Mark those Exhibits 4 and 5 respectively.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibits Nos. 4 and 5.)
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have from the Pioneer Publishers' files an order
for the Teachings of Leon Trotsky and a cash memo dated May 8, 1962,
indicating that 25 cents had been received?
Mr. WATTS. Yes; we have that, and with them is a carbon copy of a
letter from Pioneer Publishers, dated September 28, 1963, and a
canceled envelope postmarked January 2, I believe, 1963, to Pioneer
Publishers from Lee Oswald, and we offer all of those.
Mr. RANKIN. Thank you.
Mr. WATTS. In addition, from Pioneer Publishers, we have a letter from
Lee Oswald with a date January 1, the year not identified, ordering
"The Coming American Revolution," "The End of the Comintern," and "The
1948 Manifesto of the Fourth Internationale," indicating that 35
cents is enclosed and requesting the English words of the song "The
Internationale," and attached is a receipt or a cash memo of Pioneer
Publishers, indicating that 35 cents was received.
Mr. RANKIN. Mark that No. 7.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibit No. 7.)
Mr. WATTS. We also have a carbon copy of a letter dated April 26, 1963,
to Mr. Oswald, setting forth the English words of The Internationale. I
believe that is all we have from Pioneer Publishers.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have any document from the files of the Socialist
Workers Party?
Mr. WATTS. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you describe those, please?
Mr. WATTS. We have a letter dated August 12, 1962, signed Lee H. Oswald
to the Socialist Workers Party, asking for information concerning the
nature of the party and expressing an interest in finding out all he
can about the program. We have a coupon dated as having been received
October 31, 1962, signed Lee H. Oswald, indicating that he would like
to join the Socialist Workers Party, and we have a carbon copy of a
letter dated August 23, 1962, apparently in answer to the first letter,
thanking Mr. Oswald for his request for information and indicating that
a pamphlet concerning the Socialist Workers Party was being enclosed
and inviting further inquiry if he had any more questions.
Mr. RANKIN. The last material you have described, Mr. Watts will be
marked Dobbs' No. 9.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibit No. 9.)
Mr. WATTS. We have, in addition, a letter dated September 1, 1963,
signed Lee H. Oswald. Attached to it is what appears to be its envelope
from New Orleans, postmarked August 31, 1963. This letter requests
information concerning SWP representatives in the Washington-Baltimore
area and states that Mr. Oswald expects to be moving into that area in
October. That is all I have.
Mr. RANKIN. Thank you. The last letter and envelope are marked Dobbs'
Exhibit No. 10.
(Marked Dobbs' Exhibit No. 10.)
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Dobbs, do you have some occupation at the present time?
Mr. DOBBS. I am secretary of the Socialist Workers Party.
Mr. RANKIN. Have you been in that position for some time?
Mr. DOBBS. Since 1953.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have some correspondence with Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. DOBBS. We have nothing in our files other than what we have turned
over to you. I might add that I feel certain that we would have
responded to his--the coupon that he sent indicating a desire to join
the party. It's not surprising we wouldn't have kept a file copy,
because our interest in cases of this kind is an established thing. It
is our policy not to take anybody into membership in the party unless
we have a branch of the party in the area where they are resident. In
such case we would--we would have replied to him to that effect. We
would have suggested to him that he interest himself in the circulation
of The Militant and Socialist literature and would have expressed a
desire for continued fraternal contact with him on that basis.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall having seen Dobbs' No. 1 at some time?
Mr. DOBBS. I recall that only in the sense that I assisted in the
search of the files after November 22 to find everything we could.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you describe to the Commission what happened at that
time, what you did? Did you do something to try to find out if there
was any contact or communication between your organization and Lee
Harvey Oswald?
Mr. DOBBS. Yes. I received a telephone call from one of the newspaper
reporters asking me if Oswald had ever been a subscribed to The
Militant. I told him not to my knowledge. I then, however, went and
checked the files, discovered he had been, and with that I decided to
check every file that I could, and find whatever information was in the
files, and get it together.
Mr. RANKIN. About when did you do that?
Mr. DOBBS. This would have been done, I believe, about Monday following
the assassination. I think it was on Monday morning I received the
call.
Mr. RANKIN. What kind of a search was made at that time; can you
describe that for the Commission, please?
Mr. DOBBS. Yes. We went through all the files that we had, and, well, I
guess that is about all I can say.