Mr. WEISSMAN. GI's or, one or two hangers-on, American civilians over
there.
Senator COOPER. May I ask a question, Mr. Chairman?
You stated at one point in your testimony that you did not care to
become associated with some of the organizations you had discussed. You
named the John Birch--you thought it was too extreme. Yet you stated
earlier that it was your intention to infiltrate these organizations.
How do you explain this inconsistency?
Mr. WEISSMAN. It is difficult to explain. The situation being as fluid
as it was--you find that without anything solid to go on, you have got
to change your stand a little bit in order to just get started.
Senator COOPER. Let me ask you something else. You said that you all
had thought that to be able to fully pursue your political objectives,
you needed to have a certain financial independence, is that correct?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes.
Senator COOPER. Did you intend to get some financial support from these
organizations, in addition to political support?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No; not directly. We felt that after we had accomplished
our goal--this is assuming we would accomplish our goal--any treasury
that they had through membership dues or what-have-you would then be a
common treasury, a CUSA treasury.
Senator COOPER. You had the idea that you could infiltrate and get
control of these organizations, then you would have a source of revenue
through their treasury, or through whatever treasury you were able to
build up?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes.
Senator COOPER. Did you think, also, in terms of contributions to these
organizations from individuals?
Mr. WEISSMAN. It had been discussed--never very completely. It had just
been brought up. But we didn't know exactly what we were going to do,
really.
Senator COOPER. Was there any discussion about the support of these
organizations--about the financial support of these organizations,
that they might be a source of funds?
Mr. WEISSMAN. You mean from individuals who would contribute?
Senator COOPER. Yes.
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes.
Senator COOPER. Was there any discussions as to what individuals were
supporting these organizations?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Just those that we had occasionally read about in Life or
Look or Time--people like Hunt, H. L. Hunt.
Mr. JENNER. Of Dallas, Tex.?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Of Dallas, Tex.--the oilman. In other words, people
who are known to be conservative, sympathized with the conservative
philosophy. And we didn't know at the time--in fact, I still don't know
personally whether or not they do contribute. I just know it is said
they do. But whether they do or not, I have no idea.
Representative BOGGS. It has been established, I presume, who paid for
this newspaper advertisement.
Mr. WEISSMAN. Well, this is something else. I am still not sure of who
paid for it.
Mr. JENNER. The newspaper advertisement is Commission Exhibit No. 1031.
Representative BOGGS. Did you bring the money in to pay for it?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes; I did.
Representative BOGGS. Do you know where you got it?
Mr. WEISSMAN. I know where I got it. But I don't know where he got it
from. I got it from Joe Grinnan.
Mr. JENNER. Joseph P. Grinnan, Room 811, Wilson Building, Dallas, Tex.,
independent oil operator in Dallas.
Representative BOGGS. How did you happen to get it from him?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Well, Joe was the volunteer coordinator for the John
Birch Society.
Representative BOGGS. And how did he hand it to you--in a check or cash?
Mr. WEISSMAN. In cash.
Representative BOGGS. How much was it?
Mr. WEISSMAN. It was a total of $1,462, I believe. We had 10 $100 bills
one day, and the balance the following day. Now, as far as I know, Joe
didn't put any of this money up personally, because I know it took him
2 days to collect it.
Representative BOGGS. Do you think you know where he got it from?
Mr. WEISSMAN. I don't know. I really don't know.
Representative BOGGS. He didn't tell you where he got it from?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No; he didn't.
Representative BOGGS. But you are convinced in your own mind that it
wasn't his money?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes; because he seemed to be--he didn't seem to be too
solvent.
Representative BOGGS. Did you solicit him for this money?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No; I didn't.
Representative BOGGS. Who did?
Mr. WEISSMAN. I believe--well, I believe Larrie did. I think the idea
for the ad originated with Larrie and Joe.
Representative BOGGS. And Larrie solicited the money?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No; I don't think so. I think it was Joe who originally
broached the subject.
Representative BOGGS. How did you happen to end up with the money?
Mr. WEISSMAN. This was an expression of confidence, you might say, that
Joe Grinnan had in me.
Representative BOGGS. Did you write the copy?
Mr. WEISSMAN. I helped.
Representative BOGGS. Who else?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Larrie.
Representative BOGGS. So Joe Grinnan gave you the money, and you and
Larrie wrote the copy?
Mr. WEISSMAN. We wrote the copy before that.
Representative BOGGS. And then you paid for it. What was this
committee? Are you the chairman of that committee?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Well, this is an ad hoc committee. I think we finally
thought of the name--as a matter of fact, we decided on it the same
morning I went down to place the original proof of the ad.
Representative BOGGS. What do you mean an ad hoc committee?
Mr. WEISSMAN. It was formed strictly for the purpose of having a name
to put in the paper.
Representative BOGGS. Did you have many of these ad hoc committees?
Mr. WEISSMAN. This is the only one that I was involved in; that I know
of.
Representative BOGGS. Were there others?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Not that I know of.
Representative BOGGS. Did you ever ask Joe where this money came from?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No; Joe was pretty secretive. I frankly didn't want to
know. I was interested, but not that interested. And it didn't--it
would have been a breach of etiquette to start questioning him, it
seemed.
Representative BOGGS. Have you ever heard of H. R. Bright, independent
oil operator?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No.
Representative BOGGS. Did you ever hear of Edgar Crissey?
Mr. WEISSMAN. No.
Representative BOGGS. Did you ever hear of Nelson Bunker Hunt?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes; that is H. L. Hunt's son. I knew that he had gotten
it from three or four different people, because he told me he had to
get $300 here and $400 there, but he did not say where.
Mr. JENNER. The "he" is Mr. Grinnan?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Grinnan; right.
Representative BOGGS. That is all, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. DULLES. Did you suggest that this advertisement had been drafted
before he collected the money?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes.
Mr. DULLES. And you used this advertisement as the basis for the
collection of the money, or was it used for this purpose, as far as you
know?
Mr. WEISSMAN. As far as I know; yes.
(At this point, Representative Boggs withdrew from the hearing room.)
Mr. WEISSMAN. May I see the ad for a moment? There are a few things I
would like to point out in this.
Mr. JENNER. Give the exhibit number, please.
Mr. WEISSMAN. It is Exhibit No. 1031.
Mr. JENNER. Tell us the genesis of the advertisement, the black border,
the context, the text, the part which Mr. Grinnan played, you played,
and Mr. Schmidt played in drafting it, how it came about, what you did,
in your own words. How the idea arose in the first place--and then just
go forward.
Mr. WEISSMAN. Well, after the Stevenson incident, it was felt that
a demonstration would be entirely out of order, because we didn't
want anything to happen in the way of physical violence to President
Kennedy when he came to Dallas. But we thought that the conservatives
in Dallas--I was told--were a pretty downtrodden lot after that,
because they were being oppressed by the local liberals, because of
the Stevenson incident. We felt we had to do something to build up the
morale of the conservative element, in Dallas. So we hit upon the idea
of the ad.
Mr. JENNER. Would you please tell us who you mean?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Me and Larrie, Larrie and Joe, and then all of us
together.
Mr. JENNER. All right.
Mr. WEISSMAN. And I originally--well, I took the copy of the ad to the
Dallas Morning News.
Mr. JENNER. Please, sir--we wanted the genesis from the beginning. How
it came about, who participated in drafting it.
Mr. WEISSMAN. About a week or so before placing the ad, Larrie and I
got together at his house.
Mr. JENNER. The ad was placed when?
Mr. WEISSMAN. The first payment was made on the 19th or 20th of
November.
Representative FORD. Was this after the announcement of the President's
visit?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes.
Representative FORD. You knew that President Kennedy was to be in
Dallas on November 22?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. A week before that?
Mr. WEISSMAN. Right; we had started working on the ad. Larrie and I
got together. And I said, "What are we going to put in it?"; because
I didn't have the vaguest idea. And Larrie brought out a list of
questions, 50 questions, that were made up for some conservative--I
think it might possibly have been one of Goldwater's aides had just
listed 50 questions of chinks in our foreign policy, you might say,
weak points. And we just picked some that we thought might apply to
President Kennedy and his foreign policy. Because the 50 questions went
back quite aways. And all of the questions except for two I had a part
in saying okay to. The two that I had no part in was----
Mr. JENNER. Read them, please.