Mr. RANKIN. Who is he?
Mr. WADE. He is an attorney in New York.
Mr. RANKIN. You said he didn't want any attorney?
Mr. WADE. Lee Harvey Oswald told Nichols and Nichols told me this. He
said that. Nichols then said he told him, along with the police they
would try to get ahold of Mr. Abt, which they did. I think, I think
maybe the press found him before the lawyers found him. But he says
something that he didn't have time or something, as I understand it.
This was all reported in the press. He had said the second person he
wanted, Lee Harvey Oswald told Nichols the second person he wanted, was
some lawyer out in Chicago with the American Civil Liberties Union, his
name I don't know what it was, but Nichols would know.
He said, "If I can't get either one of those I will help get a local
lawyer," because that was all done Saturday, with reference to his
obtaining a lawyer.
I wanted to get that because I think you probably knew it and get it in
the record anyhow.
Mr. RANKIN. Now going back to this telephone conversation with Mr. Carr
that you referred to, do you remember anything else that Mr. Carr said
to you at that time?
Mr. WADE. I don't actually even remember, you know, he said that he had
had a call from Washington, I don't actually remember anything about
that. I remember he said that about this charge that this is going.
"This would be a bad situation, if you allege it as part of a Russian,
the Russian conspiracy, and it may affect your international relations,
a lot of things, of the country," and I said it was silly because I
don't know where the rumor started but I will see even if it was so we
could prove it, I wouldn't allege it. Isn't that about it, the way you
recall it, Mr. Carr?
Senator COOPER. We will call him in a minute.
Mr. WADE. O.K.
Mr. RANKIN. Was he during that conversation saying anything to you
about not alleging it if it were true?
Mr. WADE. No, sir; it was a question of, he had heard we were going to
allege it and he asked me about it and I said it is silly. I had heard
something, I think, about it, about the same time.
And to no one, if it was part of it, no one said they necessarily
wanted to hush the thing up, but it was a situation where the minute
they mentioned what their problem was, it sounded silly to me, I said
whether he is a member of the Communist Party or not is not important
in this charge.
Senator COOPER. Was there any official, anyone on your staff or any
persons charged with law enforcement in Dallas, or any U.S. district
attorney in Dallas or anyone connected with his office, to your
knowledge ever suggest that there should be a charge of conspiracy?
Mr. WADE. None to my knowledge.
Now, I will say in some of these conversations, like I said, I don't
know whether it was with Waggoner Carr or Barefoot Sanders, they said,
one said, "Well, David Johnston, the J. P. has said this," and the
other one has said, "Bill Alexander, one of your assistants who was up
at the police department said it."