Mr. STERN. Do you recall discussing the Oswald case with another agent?
Mr. FAIN. Not specifically, no; I do not.
Mr. STERN. But you do think you would have in connection with the
procedures you followed upon your retirement?
Mr. FAIN. Maybe not. We might not, since this case was closed, I doubt
very much that we discussed it.
Mr. STERN. You have no recollection of it?
Mr. FAIN. At least I have no recollection of having discussed it with
him.
Mr. STERN. May we have this report, Mr. Chairman, which has been marked
for identification 824, admitted?
Representative FORD. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to, previously marked as Commission Exhibit No.
824 for identification, was received in evidence.)
Mr. STERN. Mr. Fain, I show you a document, a letter from Director
Hoover with attachments, which has been marked for identification
Commission No. 825. Would you turn to the last two pages and can you
tell us what the last two pages constitute?
Mr. FAIN. The last two pages constitute an affidavit which I gave to
the Houston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mr. STERN. Did you make it at the Houston office?
Mr. FAIN. Yes, sir.
Mr. STERN. What was the occasion of your making this affidavit?
Mr. FAIN. I was contacted by Mr. Ed Dalrymple, special agent of the
FBI, and he explained to me that he would like to talk to me about
this matter. He said he had had an inquiry concerning whether or not
I had ever paid this man, Lee Oswald, any money for any information
and he asked me if I would be willing to give an affidavit and I said
I certainly would be glad to. I came down to the office and gave this
affidavit to him on January 29, 1964.
Mr. STERN. Is there anything you would like to add to this affidavit or
any correction you would like to make in it at this time?
Mr. FAIN. No, sir; I do not.
Mr. STERN. When you talk about an informant, does that term mean to you
only someone who receives money for information?
Mr. FAIN. No, they have an informant that would furnish information
without compensation. Informant in the generally accepted term is
anyone who would furnish information to the FBI.
Mr. STERN. When you say no effort was made to recruit Lee Harvey
Oswald's services in any capacity on behalf of the FBI or any other
Government agency, you mean for compensation or otherwise?
Mr. FAIN. Oh, yes. That was my understanding for the reason of this
affidavit was whether or not I had ever paid him or offered to pay
him any money, remuneration or compensation for any information and
certainly there had been no effort to recruit him along that line at
all and no payment had ever been made to him.
Mr. STERN. Would you consider then the same question but without the
element of compensation: Had you ever made any effort to recruit his
services without compensation?
Mr. FAIN. Well, we, of course, interviewed him a couple of times and
asked him for information and told him that if he were ever contacted
by any Soviet individuals or under any suspicious circumstances to be
sure and let us know about it.
Mr. STERN. Did you ever ask him to do anything more than that for you?
Mr. FAIN. No, sir.
Mr. STERN. Did you ever ask him to try to become a member of any group
for you?
Mr. FAIN. No, sir; no, sir.
Mr. DULLES. Did he agree to supply the information?
Mr. FAIN. He promised to; yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. In case he should be approached?
Mr. FAIN. He said he would cooperate with us.
Mr. STERN. The last paragraph of your affidavit describes his attitude
as arrogant and hostile. Did you say that on the basis of both
interviews with him?
Mr. FAIN. Predominantly as a result of the first, and frankly as I said
a while ago, he was and continued to be evasive as to his reason for
ever having gone over there, and I consider that uncooperative.
Mr. STERN. But did you feel he was arrogant and hostile at the time of
the second interview?
Mr. FAIN. Not so much as he was the first. I would say he was more so,
more arrogant and hostile at the first interview.
Mr. STERN. If there are no other questions in this area, I have just
one other point I would like to cover with Mr. Fain, and that is what
were your instructions, Mr. Fain, as a special agent of the FBI, with
regard to referring to the Secret Service information bearing upon
the protection of the President, not in this case but as a general
proposition?
Mr. FAIN. As a general proposition, if there was any information
coming to our attention, express or implied, or any implication that
the President might be in danger or anyone had made a threat of that
character, we would always refer it to the Secret Service, that was
made clear to us from the very beginning of my service.
Mr. STERN. In your 20 years of service as a special agent did you ever
have any occasion to refer information to the Secret Service?
Mr. FAIN. I don't remember any specific instances but I am sure there
have been a few occasions where I have turned over some information
like that and I have run several investigations out as to who this
individual was and as to what he was, and so forth.
But any indication of, a threat or otherwise I would have contacted
my supervisor--it happened at Fort Worth at that time we didn't have
a representative of Secret Service, it was covered out of Dallas, but
if there had been anything like that, any indication of potential for
violence or any threats I would have called my Dallas office and they
would have in turn advised the Secret Service.
Mr. STERN. Did you see any reason to refer Lee Harvey Oswald to the
Secret Service?
Mr. FAIN. No, sir; no, sir. I didn't see any potential for violence at
that time; no, sir.