TESTIMONY OF WINSTON G. LAWSON, ACCOMPANIED BY FRED B. SMITH, DEPUTY
GENERAL COUNSEL, TREASURY DEPARTMENT
The President's Commission reconvened at 2 p.m.
Mr. McCLOY. Mr. Lawson, you know the general purpose of what we are
here for?
Mr. LAWSON. Yes, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. In the way of trying to get as much information as we can,
not only regarding the assassination of the President but also some
background as to the steps that have been taken to protect him and as
well as perhaps to take some testimony with the thought that we might
be able to recommend measures that might insure future security of our
Presidents. I will ask you, if you will, to rise and I will swear you.
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give in this hearing will
be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you
God?
Mr. LAWSON. I do.
Mr. McCLOY. Go ahead.
Mr. STERN. Mr. Lawson, would you state your name, age, and address for
the record, please?
Mr. LAWSON. Winston George Lawson, 35 years old, 516 Vista Drive,
apartment 204. Falls Church, Va.
Mr. STERN. What was your education at the college level?
Mr. LAWSON. A bachelor of arts with a major in history and government.
Mr. STERN. From what?
Mr. LAWSON. University of Buffalo, 1949.
Mr. STERN. Briefly, what was your employment experience from 1949 to
1959?
Mr. LAWSON. From the time of my graduation after a couple of
months working for a firm that my father worked for, I became a
wholesale carpet salesman until December 1951, and then I joined the
Carnation Co., manufacturers of milk products nationally, and was a
representative in various capacities for them in New York State. In
1953, March, I went in the Army and I had been a reservist and was
called up as a CIC agent. I had 16 weeks of basic infantry, basic
training, went to the CIC Counterintelligence School in Holabird,
Md.--Fort Holabird, Md.--outside of Baltimore, and then was assigned
eventually to the Lexington field office where I did general
counterintelligence work for the Army, background investigations, and
some interviews of the prisoners, POW's from the Korean war.
After I returned to civilian life in 1955, I returned to the Carnation
Milk Co. and had various sales or public relations jobs with them in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., generally covering most of the
State of New York. I applied to enter the Secret Service approximately
3 years before I was accepted, and entered the Secret Service in
October 1959 in the Syracuse field office.
Mr. STERN. Will you tell us of your experience in the Secret Service,
describing briefly each assignment of work?