Mr. STERN. Or to an FBI agent?
Mr. QUIGLEY. Well, he is in custody--this I cannot answer you. You
ask me what I thought, this is what my feeling was on the matter. His
actual motive, I really wouldn't have any idea.
Mr. STERN. Is there any possibility that he was trying to give the New
Orleans police the idea that he was working for or with the FBI?
Mr. QUIGLEY. Not to my knowledge, sir; no.
Mr. STERN. None of his conduct went in that direction?
Mr. QUIGLEY. No; he certainly, to my knowledge, never advised the New
Orleans police of this. As a matter of fact, he, during the course of
the interview with Lieutenant Martello, made a flat statement that he
would like to talk to an FBI agent, which is not an unusual situation.
Frequently persons who are in custody of local authorities would like
to talk to the FBI.
The CHAIRMAN. Is that so?
Mr. QUIGLEY. That is true, sir. Many times people don't really
understand what the FBI jurisdiction is. They feel we handle a
multitude of things which we don't. We are happy to talk with them, we
record the information, and if we can be of assistance, we are, and if
we cannot be of assistance we tell them we cannot and we explain to
them why we can't be of assistance.
The CHAIRMAN. Did he ask you to be of any assistance to him?
Mr. QUIGLEY. No, sir; he did not.
Mr. STERN. Mr. Quigley, did you believe he was telling you the truth in
all respects?
Mr. QUIGLEY. No; I did not, sir.
Mr. STERN. In what respect did you think he was not telling the truth?
Mr. QUIGLEY. Well, as I stated before, when--I accepted basic
information that he furnished to me regarding background, about what
occurred at the time of his arrest. Then when I began questioning him
as to who A. J. Hidell was, who the members of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee were in New Orleans, where they held their meetings, what
literature he read, which he claimed he had been receiving from the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, he was noncommittal or wouldn't discuss
it.
At one point of the interview he told me that he had held one of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee meetings at his home. I asked him, "Well,
how did you get in touch with the other people?" "Well, I don't care to
discuss that." "Who were the persons at the meeting?" "I don't know."
"Did you know any names at all?" "Yes. They were introduced to me by
first names only." "What were their first names?" "I cannot remember."
So it was apparent to me that he was not certainly going to furnish
anything that he had made his statement, why I did not know. But when I
pressed him for details he declined to furnish anything.
Another one, for example, I asked him about A. J. Hidell, obviously you
can see why I would have been interested in this. "Well, Mr. Hidell had
a telephone." "What was Mr. Hidell's telephone number?" "Mr. Hidell's
telephone has been disconnected." "What was the number?" "I can't
remember." This was the end of it, so this is the basis for my thinking.
Mr. STERN. Yes.
Mr. QUIGLEY. One more thing I would like to add that might help clarify
it, as to why I felt it was a self-serving statement is that he told me
that he was distributing these throwaways for the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee because of a patriotic duty, as a patriotic American citizen.
This I felt was certainly, in his opinion, a self-serving statement.
Mr. STERN. Did he elaborate on that? Did he tell you in what respect
he thought he was performing a patriotic duty by distributing this
pamphlet?
Mr. QUIGLEY. No; not in so many words, but he did explain that he
felt that the goal and theme of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee was
that it was his patriotic duty to bring to the attention of as many
people as he could, the fact that the United States should not attack
Cuba at the time or interfere into their political affairs, and that
by spreading what he considered the philosophy of the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee, that the American people would better understand the
internal conditions there, and the American people should be given an
opportunity to go to Cuba and let them make their own mind up as to
what the situation was as of that time rather than just merely reading
it in the newspaper.
Senator COOPER. I have a question I would like to ask. You have just
stated that Oswald told you something about his own purposes and also
the objectives of this Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Did he make any
comment on the policy of the United States toward Cuba?
Mr. QUIGLEY. No, sir; he did not.