Mr. DULLES. Would you kindly raise your right hand?
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. You are Robert G. Klause?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And you appear here voluntarily today?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. I may say, Mr. Chairman, I reached Mr. Klause in Dallas
yesterday afternoon. He had just returned from a 2-week vacation.
He volunteered to come. The Secret Service got him on a plane with
but minutes to spare, and no baggage. This he did to accommodate the
Commission.
Mr. Klause is here to testify with respect to the genesis and
dissemination of the "Wanted For Treason" handbill, Commission Exhibit
No. 996.
Mr. DULLES. Proceed, please.
Mr. JENNER. Your age, please?
Mr. KLAUSE. 32.
Mr. JENNER. You are a married man?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. You were born and reared in this country?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Likewise your wife?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And your parents?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And you reside in Texas?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Where?
Mr. KLAUSE. Dallas.
Mr. JENNER. What address?
Mr. KLAUSE. 1126 South Waverly.
Mr. JENNER. And what is the name of your mother?
Mr. KLAUSE. Dorothy Anna Mercer.
Mr. JENNER. And is she engaged in a printing business in Dallas?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. She and her husband?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. What is her husband's first name? Clifford?
Mr. KLAUSE. Clifford; yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Are you employed in their business?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Is that the Lettercraft Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And that is located where?
Mr. KLAUSE. 2615 Oak Lawn, Dallas.
Mr. JENNER. And how long have you been employed in the Lettercraft
Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. I would say approximately about a year and a half. I think
we have been open about a year and a half, it might be going on 2 years.
Mr. JENNER. And tell us what the nature of that printing company is.
Mr. KLAUSE. Offset lithography, letterheads, statements, envelopes,
things like that.
Mr. JENNER. Is it a small house?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Were you employed theretofore by a different printing
company?
Mr. KLAUSE. Sir?
Mr. JENNER. Were you formerly employed by another printing company in
Dallas?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And that was Johnson Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. Johnson Printing Co.; yes, sir. With several other
companies in town.
Mr. JENNER. I see. And where is Johnson Printing Co. located?
Mr. KLAUSE. I think it is the 2700 block of Haskell in Dallas.
Mr. JENNER. Did you become acquainted with Robert A. Surrey while you
were employed at Johnson Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Had you known him before that?
Mr. KLAUSE. No, sir.
Mr. JENNER. I show you a document which has been identified and
admitted in evidence as Commission Exhibit No. 996. The particular
document I show you is a Xerox reproduction of the original exhibit.
Did you play some part in producing the original, the original copy and
materials from which the Exhibit No. 996 I show you was prepared?
Mr. KLAUSE. I am not too sure what you mean but as far as
laying--laying the job out, no, sir. Now, like I said, I ran the job. I
shot the negatives.
Mr. JENNER. Perhaps we can get at it this way, sir. When first did you
have any connection with this matter?
Mr. KLAUSE. Approximately, I would say, a month before President
Kennedy came to town.
Mr. JENNER. How did that arise?
Mr. KLAUSE. Mr. Surrey called on me and asked me if I would run a job.
Mr. JENNER. You say he called on you. Where were you when he called on
you?
Mr. KLAUSE. I believe I was at the shop. In fact, I know I was at the
shop. He must have called me at the shop.
Mr. JENNER. When you say shop, you mean the Lettercraft Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. He came to Lettercraft Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. No, sir; he called.
Mr. JENNER. What did he say?
Mr. KLAUSE. He said that he had a little job he would like to have run,
and would I run it myself?
Mr. JENNER. And you responded?
Mr. KLAUSE. I said yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Did he come over to your shop?
Mr. KLAUSE. Mr. Jenner, to be honest with you, really I do not remember
now. I might have gone out, or he might have come over. To be perfectly
honest, right at the present time I do not remember.
Mr. JENNER. Did I understand you to say that you said to him you would
run it yourself?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. You mean by that something distinct from or having
Lettercraft Printing Co. run it?
Mr. KLAUSE. He asked me if I was interested in doing a little job on
the side, and I said yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. By "on the side," does that mean that you were going to
do some reproduction printing for him, other than as a job for the
Lettercraft Printing Co.?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir. You see, I have my own shop.
Mr. JENNER. You do?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Where is that located?
Mr. KLAUSE. Actually, I operate out of my house. But I have always had
my own shop. I mean I have two or three little insert accounts that
I do, and a couple of beauty suppliers. They will come in and want
500 letterheads. For a long time, when I was out of work, I went out
and solicited work door to door. Then I would job them out to other
printers. And then when I could get my hands on a press, I would run
them myself.
Mr. JENNER. Was Mr. Surrey aware of this practice?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir; I am sure he was.
Mr. JENNER. And he proposed to you at the outset that you do it "on the
side"?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Now, you met with Mr. Surrey after this telephone call?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Do you recall whether it was at your home or whether it was
at the Lettercraft Co. or some other place?
Mr. KLAUSE. Actually, like I say, Mr. Jenner, I am not real sure. I
do not know whether it was out at--I am pretty sure it was not at the
shop. And Mr. Surrey has never been to my house. And so it must have
been out.
Mr. JENNER. Now, there are two reproductions of President Kennedy, a
profile and a front view. Did you prepare the plates from which those
profiles were made?
Mr. KLAUSE. By preparing the plates--the only thing that I actually did
is--either it was two newspaper clippings or magazine clippings.
Mr. JENNER. From whom did you receive the magazine clippings?
Mr. KLAUSE. From Mr. Surrey.
Mr. JENNER. They were slick paper magazine clippings?
Mr. KLAUSE. Something on a slick paper basis; yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. That contained the front and profile of President Kennedy,
which is reproduced on Commission Exhibit No. 996?
Mr. KLAUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Now, what did you do with those two slick magazine
reproductions of President Kennedy's head?
Mr. KLAUSE. Well, I tried to shoot them, and I could not shoot them. We
have our own camera. We take a picture of it--reproduce it.
Mr. JENNER. You must assume that none of us is experienced in the
printing business. And when you say "shoot"----
Mr. KLAUSE. I will explain myself more carefully. When they were
brought to me----
Mr. JENNER. By Mr. Surrey?