178-10002-10363 AGENCY : RECORD NUMBER : RECORD SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : ORIGINATOR : FROM: TO: TITLE: DATE: PAGES: SUBJECTS : JFK Assassination System ~ Date: 8/27/201 Identification Form Agency Information ROCKCOM 178-10002-10363 OLSEN-ROETHE FILES O-R (I-AA) HUNT, E. HOWARD INTERVIEWED 3/4/75 Document Information ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION OLSEN, ROBERT FILE INTERVIEW 3/4/75 WITH E.HOWARD HUNT AND HIS DAUGHTER, LISA HUNT 03/06/1975 6 CUBAN EXILES CONSPIRACY THEORIES, THREE TRAMPS CONSPIRACY THEORIES, CIA INVOLVEMENT BOOK, E. HOWARD HUNT--THE COMPULSIVE SPY NIXON, RICHARD ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES EISENHOWER, DWIGHT D. HUNT, E. HOWARD BAY OF PIGS DOCUMENT TYPE: MEMORANDUM CLASSIFICATION: — Secret ‘RESTRICTIONS: IB CURRENT STATUS:  Redact DATE OF LAST REVIEW: = 07/10/1993 OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS : v9.1 . 96 HW 509955 Docld: 32204752 Page 1
COMMISSION ON CIA ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES — Washington, DC 20500 . David W. Betin, Neison A. Rockefeller, Executive Director Chairman John T. Connor C. Douglas Ditton Erwin N. Griswold Lane Kirkland Lyman L. Lemnitzer Ronaid Reagan 178-10002-10363 Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. SECRET /SENSITIVE MEMORANDUM TO: File ; EW a" OM: Robert Olsen March 6, 1975 SUBJECT: Interview of March 4, 1975, with E. Howard Hunt and his Daughter, Lisa Hunt The interview commenced at approximately 4:00 PM and was conducted at 712 Jackson Place. . ete ; 4 BS Mr. Hunt is presently residing at 1245 N. E, B2th Street, Miami, Florida . 33138. He has a silent telephone number of 305 758-6159, Lisa Hunt resides at 3406 Nimitz Road, Apt. A-2, Kensington, Maryland 20795, She has an unlisted telephone number which she declined to ~ give us. She was born on March 9, 1951. The interview concerned allegations that Mr. Hunt was involved in the assassination of’'President John Kennedy and other public figures. He is aware of the public statements made by Dick Gregory and Ralph Schoenman in early February 1975 relative to his being involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. He states that most of the infor- ‘mation that Mr. Gregory and Mr. Schoenman referred to is drawn from a book by Tad Szulc entitled, E. Howard Hunt, the Compulsive Spy. Hunt states that the book is saturated with errors. One of those errors is the claim that Hunt was Chief of Station in Mexico City in the fall of 1963. po ty eb AUWdGIT GUO “YW GIWURO FHL HOUT AdODOLOHd HW 50955 Docld: 32204752 Page 2
SECRET/SENSITIVE The Bay of Pigs Background Hunt states that in 1960 he was assigned to the job of organizing a "government in exile'' for Cuba’among Cuban exiles in Florida. The plan adopted by the National Security Council under President Eisenhower called for the formation and training of a brigade of Cuban exiles who would invade Cuba, establish a provisional government, receive recog- nition by the United States and overthrow the Castro government. The brigade had its own air force and was otherwise fully equipped by the United States Government. The operation, however, was not supposed to be one involving United States Government participation. The venture was to involve training and launching from outside the United States. In connection with his political activity and the organization of the government in exile, Hunt went to Mexico in 1960. Shortly thereafter the Mexican government demanded that they leave and he returned to the United States. Richard Nixon, then Vice President, was working closely with the CIA on the project, When President Kennedy was elected in November 1960, he was briefed on the project and confirmed the plans, including the plan to provide air cover to the invading Cuban force. In early 1961, however, the Kennedy administration decided that the political organization of the Cuban government in exile would have to be broadened so as to include all elements of the Cuban society. Even radical leftwingers were to be included. Hunt was assigned the job of convincing the leaders of the Cuban community to accept such a broadening of the political structure of the government in exile. Hunt found this to be an impossible job to accomplish because the Cubans recruited to make up the invasion force had been promised that the government in exile would be solidly anti- Castro and anti-communist. Hunt asked to be relieved of his assignment because he thought it was an impossible one to achieve and he returned to Washington to work on propaganda and similar non-political aspects of the forthcoming invasion. *g x © ti to) Q fe) 9 vs b*] o 4 3 es ty : t o vee Ce] 2 i re fe] iS ro ° Within twenty-four hours prior to the time that the Cuban brigade was to hit the beaches at the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy made two critical decisions that affected the final outcome: he cancelled plans ae SECRET/SENSITIVE HW 50955 Docld: 32204752 Page 3
SECRET/SENSITIVE for an airstrike on Cuba which would have destroyed the six remaining combat planes that were available to Castro; second, the order that there be no air cover for the invading brigade. The result was that the invading force was chopped up while it was still in the water; the ' ships carrying the armored vehicles were sunk, as were the supply ships, and the troops were left abandoned on the shore. The remnant of the Cuban Air Force was entirely adequate to demolish the invasion fleet, Hunt concedes that he was bitter about the decisions made by President Kennedy, but he primarily blames Arthur. Schlesinger, Adlai Stevenson and Robert Kennedy for advising the President to follow the course he chose. He particularly feels that the Cubans had been recruited with certain promises and that those promises were withdrawn at the last minute. Hunt says, in fact, that the decision not to make the airstrike and not to provide air cover was made after the invasion fleet had arrived at the point of no return, i,e., when radio communication to the invasion fleet had already terminated for security reasons. After the Bay of Pigs disaster, Hunt worked with Allen Dulles until early 1962 at which time Dulles was replaced as DCI, In January 1962, Hunt was assigned to the Domestic Operations Division of the Deputy Directorate for Plans. He was involved in handling proprietaries based in the United States, which have their impact abroad. His immediate superior was Stanley Gaines, who was either Chief of Operations or Executive Officer of the Domestic Operations Division and Tracy Barnes, who was Division Chief of DOD (Barnes is a cousin by marriage to Vice President Rockefeller. ) , The proprietaries which Hunt was engaged in managing were Continental ress, which prepared news and radio broadcasts for foreign use; Alliéd - Pacific Publishing Company of Bombay, ! which was engaged in publishing textbooks for Indian schools; the ‘Rome: Daily American; a cover operation; and Fodor's Travel Guides, a proprietary which Hunt questions as to whether it had any use. (Fodor's had been set up in 1946 as a cover operation but served no apparent use during the years Hunt was with DOD, a pr re rd wy fay ‘oy fined ve int Uy hoon otis \ 2 <7 ; es ef a Z ™, ead SECRET/SENSITIVE HY 50955 Docld: 32204752 Page 4 42) “ox Q 3 fe) 2 an) 45) o< rey ys] Oo = Sar = tH : oO a rey te e jes] S ao)