The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Fain, the purpose of today's hearing is to take the
testimony of members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including
yourself, who interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald or other important
witnesses, before and after the assassination, and concerning the
assassination of President Kennedy, both before and after.
We will also take the testimony today of Mr. Belmont, one of your
superiors. Would you please rise, Mr. Fain, and raise your right hand
and be sworn. You solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give
before this Commission will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. FAIN. I do, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Will you be seated, please.
Mr. Stern will conduct the examination. Mr. Stern.
Mr. STERN. Yes, sir.
Mr. Fain, would you state your full name for the record, please.
Mr. FAIN. John Wythe Fain.
Mr. STERN. And your address?
Mr. FAIN. 12711 Pebblebrook, Houston 24, Tex.
Mr. STERN. What is your education, Mr. Fain, at the college level?
Mr. FAIN. After graduation from Weatherford High School in 1926, I
entered Weatherford Junior College at Weatherford, Tex., which I
finished in 2 years in 1928. After teaching school for about 4 years, I
entered the University of Texas, in the summer of 1933. I finished my
prelaw work, and in 1936, the spring of that year, I received my LL.B.
degree in law from the University of Texas.
Mr. STERN. Are you a member of the bar, Mr. Fain?
Mr. FAIN. I am a member of the Texas State Bar.
Mr. STERN. Can you summarize briefly your employment experience after
receiving your law degree and before joining the Federal Bureau of
Investigation?
Mr. FAIN. I will have to go back just a little bit there. In 1932 I
ran for the office of representative in the State Legislature from
Weatherford, Tex., my home city in Parker County, my home county, and
served two terms, no opposition on the second term, and then I did not
seek reelection at the end of the second term. I chose to go on and
get my law degree at the University of Texas. Then, in 1937 I became
employed. Robert B. Anderson, whom I suppose you know----
The CHAIRMAN. Former Secretary of the Treasury.
Mr. FAIN. Former Secretary of the Treasury, yes; he and I were good
friends, and it happened, that he was in the adjoining county of
Johnson, which touched my county, Parker. I had met him in Weatherford
Junior College, and we were in the same debating society at Weatherford
Junior College, and I served in the Texas State Legislature with him, I
sat in some of his law classes at the University of Texas, and then he
was instrumental in giving me or getting me appointed to, a position as
district supervisor of the Texas Unemployment Compensation Commission.
It is now known as the Texas Employment Commission.
I was in charge of investigations of claims for unemployment insurance,
and I served in that capacity at Waco, Tex., until on September 8 of
1942 I entered the FBI. Of course, I made my application prior to
that. I served in the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a law-trained
special agent until October 29 of 1962, upon which date I retired
voluntarily.
Mr. STERN. Can you describe briefly your experience in the FBI.
Mr. FAIN. Yes, sir. After finishing my training session here at the
seat of government. I believe that lasted 12 weeks at that time, I
took my practical experience here for a couple of weeks, and then was
assigned to the Chicago, Ill., field office, where I remained for a
period of approximately 4 months. I received a transfer to Oklahoma
City, where I was 3 weeks, and then they stationed me at Tulsa,
Okla., as a resident agent, where I remained approximately a year. I
then was transferred to San Francisco, Calif., where I remained for
approximately 2 years; and in December of 1945 I was transferred to
Dallas, Tex., where I remained for approximately 5 years in the head
office there, division office in Dallas, and then I was sent to Fort
Worth in 1949 as a resident agent of the FBI, and remained there until
I voluntarily retired on October 29, 1962.
Mr. STERN. Now, would you describe the relationship between the Fort
Worth office and the Dallas office.
Mr. STERN. Well, the Dallas office is the headquarters city to which
I was originally assigned and, of course, in that area distances are
rather great between the cities, so we have what is known as resident
agencies, there being at that time 10 agents in the Fort Worth office.
(At this point in the proceedings Mr. McCloy entered the hearing room.)
And we had agents, of course, at Lubbock and Amarillo and Wichita
Falls, Sherman, Harris, and the other cities in order for economy
reasons, to save travel. It would be a rather expensive operation to go
from Dallas to those other areas.
Mr. STERN. Mr. Fain, did you specialize in any particular area of FBI
work or were your assignments general?
Mr. FAIN. My assignments were comparatively general up until, I would
say, about 1951, at which time I specialized mostly in security
matters. Most of my investigations after 1951 were security-type
investigations.