Representative FORD. Was that standing in the basement near the car or
was it over toward the elevator?
Mr. REVILL. We were walking over toward the elevator during this
conversation and as far as blowing up, this is semantics. I wanted to
know why they had not given us this information.
Representative FORD. What is his reaction to that?
Mr. REVILL. "We couldn't." I do not know what he meant by that.
Representative FORD. When you use words like "We couldn't" that "Oswald
was a Communist" this is what I am trying to find out. You mean these
are the precise words he said or are these your interpretations of what
he said?
Mr. REVILL. The time involved it could be my interpretation, to give
him the benefit of the doubt, because as I said Hosty is a friend of
mine, and the last thing I wanted to do was to cause this man any
trouble, because of our relations in the past.
Representative FORD. Have you ever had any doubt in the interval
between that time and now that what your recollection is is accurate or
inaccurate, fair or unfair?
Mr. REVILL. As far as I am concerned I have; this report is honest,
and it was made within an hour after he made the thing. And since this
assassination I have gone over in my mind could I have misunderstood
him. I sometimes wish or hoped that I have. But this is in essence what
he said to me. It might not be exactly the "we's" the "I's" but in
essence it is what Mr. Hosty said.
Representative FORD. At one point as I recall your testimony, you
said Hosty said that Oswald was a Communist. A few minutes after that
testimony I think you said that Hosty suspected he was a Communist.
Now, did you say that deliberately or did you just----
Mr. REVILL. No, sir; if I said that I was wrong.
Representative FORD. Was that just confusion?
Mr. REVILL. As I mentioned earlier he come hurrying up to me and he
said, "Jack, a Communist killed the President." I said, "What?" He
said, "Lee Harvey Oswald, a Communist killed the President," and then
he went into the fact that they had known he was there, and then at
the conclusion of our, not the conclusion because we continued to
discuss this thing going up on the elevator, he made the statement that
they had information that he was capable of this. He might have said
probably or possibly capable of it, I don't recall, because in Dallas
that day, the town died, and I know I was sick that this thing happened
in my city, and I felt that maybe we could have done something else to
prevent it.
Mr. DULLES. You stress the word "capable", that sticks in your mind,
does it?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. He didn't say might have done it?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir; capable.
Mr. DULLES. Normally would information of this kind have passed to you
directly from the FBI or through the Secret Service in the event--of
course, there hadn't been other Presidential visits, I guess, so there
was no precedent but I was wondering in the case of a Presidential
visit would it normally have come to you directly from the Secret
Service rather than directly from the FBI?
Mr. REVILL. Well, in the past Mr. Kennedy had visited Mr. Rayburn
there and this information had never been made known to us and usually
the information we got from the FBI and you have got to realize the
relations are good, was on a personal basis, working with Mr. Hosty and
the other agent assigned to their security section and men assigned to
their criminal section, it was a share and share alike thing because
I have 11 men, and we just augmented their force really with the
information we gathered.
Mr. DULLES. Had you had a meeting with the FBI, a general meeting, to
go over security problems prior to this time, prior to the President's
visit?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir; I personally had taken part in no meetings.
Mr. DULLES. With the FBI?
Mr. REVILL. With the FBI.
Mr. DULLES. Or Secret Service?
Mr. REVILL. Or Secret Service.
Mr. DULLES. Why was this?
Mr. REVILL. This I do not know. This was handled at a higher level.
It is my understanding meetings were held and my captain who is my
immediate supervisor was involved in these meetings but----
Mr. DULLES. You were not present at these meetings?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir; I was not.
Mr. DULLES. But the meetings you think were held?
Mr. REVILL. This is my understanding; yes, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. Lieutenant Revill, have you seen the original of that
Exhibit 709?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; I have.
Mr. RANKIN. Is that the report that you referred to when you were
answering questions?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; I brought a copy.
Mr. RANKIN. And Congressman Ford?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; there was just one copy made of this and this is
the copy I retained. The original went to Chief Curry. And on this,
Chief Curry called me and he would like me to swear that this was a
true and correct statement, and this I did.
Mr. RANKIN. By that you are referring to the statement sworn to and
subscribed before me this 7th day of April 1964?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. Now, will you tell us how you happened to make this report,
Exhibit 709?
Mr. REVILL. Why I made the report?
Mr. RANKIN. How did it happen that you made it?
Mr. REVILL. After Mr. Hosty had related these circumstances to me, and
after taking him to the third floor, I reported this incident to my
captain, Captain Gannaway.
Mr. RANKIN. When was this?
Mr. REVILL. Within minutes after I left Mr. Hosty at the homicide and
robbery bureau.
Mr. RANKIN. What did you say to him?
Mr. REVILL. I told him what had happened, what had transpired.
Mr. RANKIN. Just describe what you said to him.
Mr. REVILL. About meeting Mr. Hosty in the basement?
Mr. RANKIN. Just tell us what you said.
Mr. REVILL. About Mr. Hosty, following Mr. Hosty in the basement, that
he came up to me, and stated that a Communist had killed the President,
and that a Lee Harvey Oswald, they had him in their security files, and
that they knew he was in Dallas, and that he was capable, that they had
information he was capable of this. To this----
Mr. RANKIN. Did you say anything about what you have said?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir; I don't recall. I might have.
Mr. RANKIN. You don't recall that at all?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your captain ask you whether you said anything about
that?
Mr. REVILL. I don't recall him asking me that; no, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he say anything to you about it?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; he did. He told me to put this on paper.
Mr. RANKIN. That is all he said?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; and to which I told him that I hated to do that
because of Mr. Hosty, that he might have been stating a personal
opinion. He said, "You put it on paper and give it to me and I will
take it to Chief Curry," and this I did.
Within 30 minutes to an hour after the thing happened.
Mr. RANKIN. Neither one of you said anything about this being strange
that Agent Hosty would say anything like this?
Mr. REVILL. I do not recall, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. You didn't say anything like that?
Mr. REVILL. I don't recall making such a statement.
Mr. RANKIN. And he didn't say anything like that to you that you
recalled?
Mr. REVILL. No, sir.
Representative FORD. Did you write this out in longhand?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; and then I dictated it to one of the stenos in
the office. And she was to, this is what I mentioned earlier the time
element, she was to, she got off at 4 o'clock and this was before she
went home for the day.
Mr. DULLES. This is on November 22 you are talking about?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. Did you sign it on November 22 or at a later date?
Mr. REVILL. The same time.
Mr. DULLES. But you swore to it on the 7th day of April 1964?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. You swore that was your signature?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; at the time I was hoping it would never come up.
Mr. RANKIN. Why?
Mr. REVILL. Because of the relations that we had with the Bureau.
Mr. RANKIN. You thought this was a bad thing for the Bureau?
Mr. REVILL. Yes, sir; I did.