PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION
ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
STATE OF TEXAS,
_County of Dallas, ss_:
I, Howard Leslie Brennan, being first duly sworn, do upon oath depose
and state:
On or about March 24, 1964, I testified in Washington, D.C., before
the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.
In that connection I testified as to the reasons why I declined on
November 22, 1963, to give positive identification of Lee Harvey Oswald
as the man I saw firing a rifle from the southeast corner of the sixth
floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building on November 22, 1963.
Included in these reasons at pages 3629 and 3630 of Volume 28 of the
transcript of the Commission proceedings are the following reasons:
"And then I felt that my family could be in danger, and I, myself,
might be in danger. And since they already had the man for murder, that
he wasn't going to be set free to escape and get out of the country
immediately, and I could very easily sooner than the FBI or the Secret
Service wanted me, my testimony in, I could very easily get in touch
with them, if they didn't get in touch with me, and to see that the man
didn't get loose."
"... "Because I had already more or less give a detailed description of
the man, and I talked to the Secret Service and gave them my statement,
and they had convinced me that it would be strictly confidential and
all that. But still I felt like if I was the only eye witness, that
anything could happen to me or my family."
I have also been advised that on page 3595 of Volume 28 of the
transcript of the Commission proceedings, the following appears:
"Mr. BELIN. What do you mean by security reasons for your family, and
yourself?
"Mr. BRENNAN. I believe at that time, and I still believe it was a
Communist activity, and I felt like there had been more than one eye
witness, and if it got to be a known fact that I was an eye witness,
my family or I, either one, might not be safe."
I hereby state that this is a court reporter's error and that in truth
and in fact my answer to the question was:
"Mr. BRENNAN: I believe at that time, and I still believe it was a
Communist activity, and I felt like there _hadn't_ been more than
one eye witness, and if it got to be a known fact that I was an eye
witness, my family or I, either one, might not be safe."
Signed the 7th day of May 1964.
(S) Howard Leslie Brennan.
HOWARD LESLIE BRENNAN.