Mr. RANKIN. What did you say to him and what did he say to you?
Mr. WADE. Well, we discussed the history of Lee Harvey Oswald and
the--one of the purposes he came to me, he wanted his mother, Oswald's
mother, and wife and him to see Oswald.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he say this to you?
Mr. WADE. Yes; but we had already set it up, somebody, I don't know
whether my office or the police, but he was set up to see him that
morning at 11 o'clock, I believe, or 12 o'clock, some time.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you do anything about it?
Mr. WADE. Yes, sir; I checked to see if it was arranged. I called
Captain Fritz and told him that he wanted to see him, and he said they
were going to let him see him. I don't know. I don't know the name, but
it was either 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock Saturday morning.
I don't know whether he had requested or not, but that was the first
time I had seen him. I don't know why he came to my office, but I used
it to try to go into Lee Harvey Oswald's background some, and I also
told him that there is a lot involved in this thing from a national
point of view, and I said, "You appear to be a good citizen," which
he did appear to me, "and I think you will render your country a
great service if you will go up and tell Oswald to tell us all about
the thing." That was part of the deal of my working for a statement
from Oswald which didn't pan out, of course. Because I was going to
interview Oswald Sunday afternoon when we got him into the county jail
and I was going to attempt to get a statement from him.
Mr. RANKIN. Did Robert tell you anything about Lee Harvey Oswald's
background at that time?
Mr. WADE. He told me about in Europe, how in Russia, how they had had
very little correspondence with them and he wrote to them renouncing or
telling them he wanted to renounce his American citizenship and didn't
want to have anything else to do with him. He said later that one of
the letters changed some, I mean back, and then he said he was coming
home, coming back and he had married and kind of his general history
of the thing and he came back and I believe stayed with this Robert in
Fort Worth for 2, 3, or 4 months. Now I say this is from memory, like
I don't have--and they had helped him some, and said that Marina, the
thing that impressed her was most your supermarkets, I think, more than
anything else in this country, your A. & P. and the big, I guess you
call them, supermarkets or whatever they are.
And he told me something about him going to New Orleans, but I gathered
that they were not too close. I believe he told me this, that he hadn't
seen him in close to a year prior to this, or a good while.
Now, it seemed to me like it was a year, and he said their families,
they didn't have anything in common much, and he said, of course--I
said "Do you think"--I said, "the evidence is pretty strong against
your brother, what do you think about it?" He said, "Well, he is my
brother, and I hate to think he would do this." He said, "I want to
talk to him and ask him about it."
Now, I never did see him. Roughly, that is about all I remember from
that conversation. We rambled around for quite a bit.
I know I was impressed because he got out and walked out the front
of my office and in front of my office there were 15 or 20 press men
wanting to ask him something, and he wouldn't say a word to them, he
just walked off.
I told him they would be out there, and he said, "I won't have anything
to say."
Mr. DULLES. Was this the morning after the assassination?
Mr. WADE. Yes, sir; Saturday morning.
Mr. DULLES. About what time?
Mr. WADE. I would say between 9 and 10 is when I talked with him.
And so the main purpose in the office, we believed, the main purpose
of me and the lawyers in the office were briefing the law on whether
to try Oswald for the murder of the President, whether you could prove
the flight and the killing of Officer Tippit, which we became satisfied
that we could, I mean from an evidentiary point of view.
Mr. RANKIN. By "we" who do you mean, in your office?
Mr. WADE. Well, I think I had seven or eight in there, Bowie, and
Alexander, and Dan Ellis, Jim Williamson, but there was a legal point.
My office was open, but that, with reference to this case, there were
other things going on, but in reference to this case, this is what we
spent our time trying to establish whether that would be admissible or
not.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you consult with any Federal officers in regard to how
you should handle the case or what you should say about it at any time?
Mr. WADE. No; I didn't discuss, consult with any of them. I did talk to
some of the FBI boys and I believe there was an inspector.
Mr. RANKIN. Secret Service?
Mr. WADE. No.
Mr. RANKIN. FBI?
Mr. WADE. There was an inspector of the FBI who called me two or three
times. I don't remember.
Mr. RANKIN. Did they tell you how to handle the case in any way?
Mr. WADE. I don't think so. I mean it wasn't really up to them.
Mr. RANKIN. The only time you ever talked to Barefoot Sanders about it
was in regard to this conspiracy, possibility of, that you have already
described?
Mr. WADE. Frankly, that is hard to say. I think we talked off and on
every day or two about developments in it, because, you see, well, I
don't know whether we talked any more but before the killing by Ruby,
but we had nearly a daily conversation about the files in the Oswald
case, what we were going to do with them. You see, they were going to
give them all to me, and at that stage we didn't know whether it was
going to be a President's Commission or a congressional investigation
or what. After the President's Commission was set up, I arranged
through him and Miller here in the Justice Department that rather than
give the files to me, to get the police to turn them over to the FBI
and send them to you all, or photostat them and send them to you all.
Barefoot and I talked frequently, but I don't know of anything
significant of the Oswald angle that we discussed, and we spent the
last 2 months trying to get some of the FBI files to read on the Ruby
trial. I mean we talked a lot but I don't know anything further about
Oswald into it or anything on Ruby of any particular significance.
Mr. RANKIN. Was Barefoot Sanders suggesting how you should handle the
Oswald case except the time you already related?
Mr. WADE. I don't recall him doing, suggesting that.
Mr. RANKIN. Any other Federal officers suggesting anything like that to
you?
Mr. WADE. The only thing I remember is the inspector of the FBI whom I
don't think I ever met. I was there in the police one time during this
shuffle, and I think it was some time Saturday morning, and he said
they should have nothing, no publicity on the thing, no statements.
Now, I don't know whether that was after Ruby shot Oswald or before, I
don't know when it was, but I did talk with him and I know his concern
which was that there was too much publicity.
Mr. RANKIN. And he told you that, did he?
Mr. WADE. At some stage in it. I am thinking it was Sunday night which
I know I talked with him Sunday night, but we are not that far along
with it yet. But I don't know whether I talked to him previously or not.
Mr. RANKIN. That is the only conversation of that type that you recall
with any Federal officer?
Mr. WADE. That is all I recall. I am sure Barefoot and I discussed the
publicity angle on it some, but I don't remember Barefoot suggesting
how we handle it, but neither one of us knew whether it was his offense
or mine, to begin with, for 2 or 3 hours because we had to select it.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know what Barefoot said about publicity when you did
discuss it with him?
Mr. WADE. I don't recall anything.
Mr. RANKIN. All right.
What happened next, as you recall?
Mr. WADE. I was going home. I went by the police station to talk to
Chief Curry.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you discuss the evidence then?
Mr. WADE. Well, at that time--you see, Chief Curry knew very little of
the evidence at that stage. He should have known, but he didn't. But I
discussed the thing with him and I told him there was too much evidence
being put out in the case from his department, that I wish he would
talk to Fritz and have no further statements on it.
Mr. RANKIN. What did he say about that?