The testimony of A. M. Eberhardt was taken at 2:40 p.m., on March 25,
1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building,
Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Burt W. Griffin,
assistant counsel of the President’s Commission.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Let me state for the record, and also for your advice and
information, my name is Burt Griffin and I am a member of the advisory
staff of the General Counsel’s office of the President’s Commission
investigating the assassination of President Kennedy. This Commission
has been set up by virtue of an Executive order of the President of
the United States and a congressional resolution. The Executive order
is Order No. 11130, which was issued on November 29, 1963, and the
congressional resolution is Resolution No. 137. As a result of these
two official acts, the Commission has promulgated a set of rules to
conduct the proceedings, and in conformance with those rules and
the Executive order and the congressional resolution, I have been
designated to take a sworn deposition from you, Detective Eberhardt.
Now, the general area of the investigation of the Commission is to
ascertain, evaluate and report back to President Johnson on the facts
relating to the assassination of President Kennedy and the later murder
of Lee Oswald. In particular as to you, we are concerned about the
events that led up to the death of Lee Oswald and most particularly
about Jack Ruby, but we are concerned about anything else that you
might have to offer the Commission that you think is pertinent. The
Commission is not an investigatory agency in the sense that a grand
jury is.
We don’t have any authority to prosecute for any crimes. The only
crime that could be committed in connection with this investigation
that we can do anything about is perjury, and our primary concern in
this matter is frankly one of national security and not prevention of
crime. The most obvious thing is to learn how we can prevent the kind
of things that have happened, well, since November 22, from recurring
again, but it goes much further than that, because there are matters
that transcend simply the protection of the President, there are
problems, real problems of national security that are involved in this,
and there are worries about it that are involved, too, because whenever
you have the President murdered, you can’t exclude the possibility that
there is some political group or even nonpolitical group interested in
killing the President of the United States, and it is compounded when
you find that the man that is charged with the murder of the President
himself dies.
So it becomes very important for us to learn what the truth is, and we
want to do this in a way that will encourage people to come forward and
tell us the truth, and if there are problems in connection with this,
nobody can be close to this without having some personal problems or
personal involvement in this thing, we want to try to do what we can to
minimize these kinds of problems for you and to encourage you to come
forward with whatever you know that may be of value to us.
Now, you in particular are appearing here as a result of a general
request which the General Counsel of the Commission made to Chief
Curry. Under the rules adopted by the Commission, you are actually
entitled to a 3-day written notice before any deposition is taken;
however, the rules also provide that you can waive the notice, and I
will ask you now if you want us to provide you with a written notice
or if you are willing to waive that notice and go forward with the
deposition?
Mr. EBERHARDT. It is fine to go on.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Okay. You are also entitled to have an attorney here
before the Commission, and we do have many witnesses who come here with
attorneys, and you are not here now, I see, with counsel, but if you
would like to have an attorney, consult with one beforehand, we would
be happy to adjourn at this point and let you come back whenever you
feel like it.
Mr. EBERHARDT. I don’t need any counsel.
Mr. GRIFFIN. I will ask you, then, if you will raise your right hand
and be sworn. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. EBERHARDT. I do.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would you state your full name for the record?
Mr. EBERHARDT. A. M. Eberhardt.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you just have a first initial?
Mr. EBERHARDT. No. August Michael.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where do you live?
Mr. EBERHARDT. 706 East Farmers Road, Seagoville, Tex.