Mr. LAWSON. No, sir.
Mr. STERN. That was actually selected, no criticism of it? What
arrangements did you make with the Dallas police for security along the
route, starting from Love Field and getting to the Trade Mart?
Mr. LAWSON. A good deal of it was traffic control, both to keep people
out of our path as the motorcade progressed so that they would have at
least the major intersections covered and as many of the other ones as
possible. Those which were not, all intersections that were not able to
be controlled physically by a policeman or more than one policeman were
to be controlled by motorcycles that would hop-skip the motorcade, or
other police vehicles in the motorcade.
At certain times certain intersections were to be cutoff as we
proceeded so that it would allow time for any traffic ahead of us to
clear the area before we arrived there. Where it was felt from past
experience and the type of area that we were passing through there
would be large crowds, more police were requested for along the route,
and on the routes.
Mr. STERN. Foot policemen or motorcycle patrolmen?
Mr. LAWSON. Both, sir. They were requested at the corners to have more
than one policeman, so that there would be policemen for watching the
crowd and controlling the crowd, and other policemen who would have
jurisdiction over the traffic in the area, so that someone wouldn't be
watching the crowd and a car going by him or vice versa. We saw the
underpasses or overpasses or bridges that were on the route, and they
were requested to have officers, depending on the type of installation
there that I just mentioned, the type that it was, either under it or
over it, on the underpasses. The railroad lines were checked and here
was no rail traffic of a scheduled nature over the two rail crossings
that we would pass, none on the way in but two on the way out.
However, just to make sure that a switch engine or other trains
wouldn't come along about the time we were due there, and then stop
the President's motorcade, why we had police stationed at the railroad
crossings that were on the same level as the road.
Mr. STERN. What were the instructions that you asked be given to the
police who were stationed on overpasses and railroad crossings?
Mr. LAWSON. They were requested to keep the people to the sides of
the bridge or the overpass so that--or underpass--so that people
viewing from a vantage point like that would not be directly over the
President's car so that they could either inadvertently knock something
off or drop something on purpose or do some other kind of harm.
Mr. STERN. This is all people, not just outside members of the public?
Mr. LAWSON. Any citizen that was trying to view the motorcade, they
were to be kept from right directly over the President's car, if it was
a bridge or an underpass.
Mr. STERN. What about the deployment of police on rooftops of buildings
at any point along the route?
Mr. LAWSON. We had--police were requested at points where I knew that
the President would be out of the car for any length of time.
Mr. STERN. And where was that?
Mr. LAWSON. At the Trade Mart and at the airport.
Mr. McCLOY. May I interrupt at this point. During the course of the
motorcade while the motorcade was in motion, no matter how slowly, you
had no provision for anyone on the roofs?
Mr. LAWSON. No, sir.
Mr. McCLOY. Or no one to watch the windows?
Mr. LAWSON. Oh, yes. The police along the area were to watch the crowds
and their general area. The agents riding in the followup car as well
as myself in the lead car were watching the crowds and the windows and
the rooftops as we progressed.
Mr. McCLOY. It was part of your routine duties when you were going
through a street in any city, to look at the windows as well as the
crowds?
Mr. LAWSON. Yes, sir; and if the President's car slowed to such a point
or the crowd ever pressed in to such a point that people are getting
too close to the President, the agents always get out and go along the
car.
Mr. STERN. Perhaps you had better describe the vehicles and passengers
in the motorcade beginning with the pilot car and going, say, through
the Vice Presidential followup car.
Mr. LAWSON. At one time I could have probably listed them all by name.
Mr. STERN. No, not their names, but the vehicle order.
Mr. LAWSON. The vehicle itself, yes sir.
Mr. STERN. And the agents, the number of agents.
Mr. LAWSON. And the function of the vehicle.
Mr. STERN. And the function of the vehicle and the responsibility of
the agents in the vehicle.
Mr. LAWSON. Yes sir. This varies, but in a usual motorcade, as in this
particular instance, there is what we call a pilot car. This is usually
a local police car that precedes the motorcade some distance, depending
on the crowd. It would usually precede it by at least a quarter of a
mile. This is to see if there is any kind of a disturbance up ahead
far enough so that we are able to take an alternate route if the need
arises. It being a police car, it has radio communications with the
whole network of the police and also the police at the stops, the ones
we have just left and the particular function like the Trade Mart or
airport that we are going to.
In this car ride a few command officers of the local police department,
and it is their job to make sure that the traffic is stopped as it was
planned to be, look out for any disturbances, and in general be a front
guard for the motorcade.
Mr. McCLOY. Do you have a communications system with the Secret Service
agents for this pilot car?
Mr. LAWSON. Yes, sir; because the next car in the motorcade is what we
call a lead car and it is actually a rolling command car. We try to
have a command officer from every jurisdiction of police with a radio
net of their own in that vehicle. Sometimes if you are in an area
where there are State police and local police and sheriff's and quite
a few jurisdictions, where it is a long motorcade and you are going
through various counties you are not able to have a command officer of
every jurisdiction in that.
But in Dallas the lead ear, the car that I was in directly ahead of the
President was a police car, and of course it had a radio that was in
contact with the pilot car and any other radio on the police net. In
addition to that, I had a portable radio on the Secret Service White
House network.
Mr. McCLOY. Was there a Secret Service agent riding in the pilot car?
Mr. LAWSON. No sir; there was not.