157-10011-10090 AGENCY : RECORD NUMBER : RECORD SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : ORIGINATOR : FROM: TO: TITLE : _ DATE: PAGES: SUBJECTS : DOCUMENT TYPE : CLASSIFICATION : RESTRICTIONS : CURRENT STATUS : DATE OF LAST REVIEW : OPENING CRITERIA : . COMMENTS : v9.1 BW 50955 Docld: 32203858 JFK Assassination System identification Form Agency Information SSCIA 157-10011-10090 MATERIAL Document Information ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION OLSEN, ROBERT FILE MATERIAL FROM ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION RE: E. HOWARD HUNT | 03/06/1975 54 ALLEGATIONS HUNT WAS INVOLVED IN ASSASSINATION OF KENNEDY BAY OF PIGS PUBLIC STATEMENTS MADE BY GREGORY, DICK AND SCHOENMAN, RALPH INTERVIEW WITH HUNT, E. HOWARD AND DAUGHTER, HUNT, LISA BOOK BY SZULC, TAD (E. HOWWARD HUNT, THE COMPULSIVE SPY PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT Unclassified Consulted; 1B; Donor Restricted Redact 03/02/1994 SSCI Box 294, Folder 6 Page 1 Date: 7/30/201
Date: 10/06/93 Page:1 JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM ee ' IDENTIFICATION FORM ey aa ee wee cee aE NM Re SEK we sek AE HS SE AE ND GED GID GE OH OED et cD ED SAD nh une em) HF eh em mE Men ueD  mEN) EG ne ee lL EG ME GUE Ne Gey DE GED SG Gin my th ey tae a ; AGENCY : SSCIA RECORD NUMBER : 157-10011-10090 RECORDS SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : DOCUMENT INFORMATION ORIGINATOR : ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION FROM : OLSEN, ROBERT TO: FILE © TITLE : INTERVIEW WITH HUNT, DATE : 03/06/75 - PAGES : 54 - E. HOWARD AND DAUGHTER, HUNT, LISA SUBJECTS : INTERVIEW WITH HUNT, E. HOWARD AND DAUGHTER, HUNT, LISA ALLEGATIONS HUNT WAS INVOLVED IN ASSASSINATION OF KENNEDY PUBLIC STATEMENTS MADE BY GREGORY, DICK AND SCHOENMAN, RALPH BOOK BY SZULC, TAD (E. HOWWARD HUNT, THE COMPULSIVE SPY BAY OF PIGS DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT CLASSIFICATION : S$ RESTRICTIONS : REFERRED CURRENT STATUS : P DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 09/29/93 OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS : SSCI Box 294, Folder 6 ete cove mee ses un Sem ues mm ES ce DED Ge me em cee et nth nD ease et ES DED GD ED OED EO oD atte RE te te a AEG GD Mets i> GED GE GIP my SE Om Gm mR oe oe [R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED HY 50955 Doctd: 322703856 Page 2?
7 SSCI Box 294, Foider.6° + Recor NO en _ d Number: 157210011-10090 | COMMISSION ON CIA ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES Washington, DC 20500 Nelson A. Rockefeller, David W. Belin, Chairman Executive Director John T. Connor C. Douglas Dillon March 6, 1975 Erwin N. Griswold Lane Kirkland Lyman L. Lemnitzer Ronaid Reagan Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. HW 450955 SECRET /SENSITIVE MEMORANDUM TO: File FROM: Robert Olsen KK . 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. bee Mr. Hunt is presently residing at 1245 N.E, 8#th 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. (e) SECRET /SENSITIVE CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO DECLASSIFICATICH AND/OR RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT AS SANITIZED ie I3 JAN 94 | ()@) Bocla: 32703653 Page 3 SACL LOVES ALLL LGC TE SE LOS aT EEN Ne PP ERT Ng EN ere Pe ceric, me ere AE RTE TE 3
” é 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 pide adapted 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 h-.d 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. 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 SECRET/SENSITIVE HY 50955 DBocld: 322703858 Page 4 FT TS TT ey TE LITRE Ud oD FeO TS CRU A LE is I * arf " Ee HY Ate EE NLRs TE a Pa ie Fal NPR 5. & Ee # at Z
HW 450955 for Plans. He was involved 1 SECRET/SENSITIVE for an airstrike on Cuba which would have destroyed the six renjainite combat planes that were available to Castro; second, the order teat 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 Cobans 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 of the Deputy Directorate |His immediate superior was | who was either Chief of Operations or Executive Officer of the Jand Tracy Barnes, who was Division Chief of| (Barnes is a cousin by marriage to Vice President Rockefeller. ) which Hunt was engaged in managing weré cover operation; and Sodomlse bravel’ @uvdee which Hunt questions as to whether it had any use. had been set up in 1946 as a cover ration but served no apparent use during the years Hunt was with SECRET/SENSITIVE Boclda: 32703658 Page 5 rs RATE por a ae ee Bie S 1 fad : 5. : 4
SECRET/SENSITIVE ROL NRL TE  LIE S PE RIE LA PIE K The headquarters for as at H Street, N.W., in Washington, D, C,, and then later it was on Pennsylvania Avenue. Hunt's assignment with| lasted until the spring of 1965. During the period from January 1962 until 1965, he states that he never traveled to Mexico or any other Latin American country. His first trip to Mexico after 1961 was in 1970, when he traveled there for the Mullen Company after his retirement from the CIA. Hunt's Whereabouts on November 22, 1963 # § g. & B ig Hunt states that he had never been in Dallas until 1971, with a possible exception of a change of planes on his way to Mexico with his family in 1960. He does not recall whether that change of planes took place in Dallas or in Houston. In any event, he and his family never left the airport on that occasion. He has never had any contact, directly or indirectly, with Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby or anyone else thought to have been associated with ql ce the assassination of the President. : He was never in New Orleans in 1963 and has never had anything whatever E to do with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which he identifies as a i communist organization. B During the period from January 1962 to 1965, he traveled once or twice P per year to India, two or three times per year to Paris, once or twice eB per year to London, and, during that period, he traveled two or three 5 times to Rome. His only domestic travel in 1963 was between Washington Eo and New York. All travel, whether domestic or international, was in his E own name. k Hunt states that in 1961 he used the pseudonym in connection with his work on the Cuban project in Florida. With the © exception of that pseudonym and the pseudonym he used on the identifi- cation papers provided him for the Ellsberg break in, he has never used a pseudonym. zi SECRET/SENSITIVE HW 350955 DBocld:322035358 Page 6
HW 50955 SECRET/SENSITIVE On November 22, 1963, he and his wife were driving on H Street at about 9th in Washington, D, C,, when he turned the car radio on and learned that the President had been shot. He and Mrs. Hunt had been shopping in a Chinese grocery store in that immediate vicinity, immediately prior to their getting into the car. The Hunts lived at 5215 Balton Road, Sumner, Maryland. On their way home they drove to the Sidwell Friends school on upper Wisconsin Avenue and picked up their younger daughter, Kevan. Kevan told them that Robert and Courtenay Kennedy, children of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, were students in the same school and had been picked up by the Secret Service. The children in the school knew that the President had been shot. Mr. Hunt states that the following persons are witnesses to the fact that he was here in Washington, D, C,, at the time the President was shot in Dallas: 1. His son, Howard St. John Hunt, then ten years of age. 2. His daughter, Lisa, then twelve years of age. | 3. His daughter, Kevan, then eleven years of age. 4. The family maid, Mary Trayner, now employed by a family living at 4806 DeRussey Parkway, Chevy Chase, Maryland, and whose phone number is 652-2930. Mr. Hunt believes that he was either taking the day off from work as a part of annual leave on November 22, 1963, or he may have been recuperating from a hospitalization for ulcers. He had been hospitalized at about that period at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D. C, Mr. Hunt states that he held the following oil company charge account and credit cards in 1963 and that such accounts may provide corroboration as to his presence in Washington, D. C., on November 22, 1963: Esso Oil, Gulf Oil, Texaco Oil, Cities Service Oil, Brooks Brothers (New York), Garfinkle's, Woodward and Lothrop, Sears Roebuck & Co., Hecht Co. He also states that telephone records might be checked with SECRET/SENSITIVE Boclda: 3227036858 Page ?
HY 0955 SECRET/SENSITIVE Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co.; that the CIA might have travel voucher records showing his travel during that year and that CIA should also have records on the dates on which he took sick leave or annual leave. Mr. Hunt categorically denies that he has been involved in any way what- soever with the assassination of President Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, or any other person either within or without the United States. He similarly denies any participation or involvement whatever in the attempted assassination of Governor Wallace, the disappearance of Congressman Hale Boggs or the shooting of Senator Stennis. He states that in connection with the planning for the Cuban invasion in 1961, he did suggest that Fidel Castro should be assassinated either before or contemporaneously with that invasion, but his suggestion was not acted upon or otherwise approved. Attached are copies of a press statement made by Mr. Hunt in early February 1975 in Florida, in which he denies the allegations made by Dick Gregory and others with respect to his involvement in the assassi- nation of President Kennedy and a letter written to Mr. Hunt by the former family maid, Mary Traynor. Lisa Hunt confirms her father's account that he was at home with the family in the afternoon and evening of November 22, 1963. She recalls that her father assembled the family in front of the television set. He wanted them all to watch the program because it was.an important historical matter. They were all shocked about the assassination of the President. ce: D. Belin Senior Counsels SECRET/SENSITIVE Boclda: 322703858 Page 6 Ree 1 & E
The all ations made by Dick “rego and others connecting me to the murder of President John Kennedy are totally without foundati, They constitute a false and vicious libe-., GP These charges are bizarre - '. products of sick minds. The Political Left has never been able or willing te accept the fact that Kennedy's assassin was a man of the Left; thus the Leftist prooceupation with finding an alternate assassin. Dick Gregory's smear represents the ultimate in slander and innuendo customarily characterized as McCarthyism. | The Rockefeller and other investigative committees will probably examine Gregory's charges - as indeed they should. For my part I would welcome a thorough high-level investigation and a full airing of all relevant findings. Only if this takes place will I have any hope of clearing my name and living free from the threats against my life already made by neurotics. | €s I was not in Dallas,Texas, on November 22,1963; in fact I never visited Dallas until eight years later, I did not meet Frank Sturgis until 1972, nine years after we were allegedly together in Dallas. Iwas not in Mexico in 1963, and I did not meet Lee Harvey Oswald there or at any other place or time. Moreover, I shared the nation's grief over the murder of our President. These are the facts. Until authoritative investigative bodies make known their judgment concerning my alleged involvement in the Kennedy murder I will continue to bring libel actions against any and all parties who repeat the libel. I must take this course because the libels are prejudicial to my position before the Court now considering my Appeal from the Watergate affair. And because the libels threaten my a only means of livelihood, as a writer, But of even greater concern to | me is that . - continued publicity given to these reckless charges could stimulate some yet-unpublicized maniac into violent CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO ao Yr action against me and my family. DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR HY 50955 Docld:32203858 Page 9 RELEASE OFTHIS DOGUMENT YY FEB 9. 1975
ADVICE AND WAIVER | oO | Date “/ ET, et | RSS ITS Tag ROTA Py ey CRT Before you make any Statement to, or answer any questions from, the Commission or its investigators, you ‘Should understand that you have the right to remain silent. ff you choose to answer, anything you say can be used against you in court, 4 , You may consult a lawyer for advice before any questions are put, and may have a lawyer with you during questioning, _ if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions without a lawyer present, you still have the right to stop answering at any time; or you may defer your. answer until you talk to a lawyer.. . | &£ OE & . 7 WAIVER i have read and understand the foregoing advice. I . am willing to make a statement and answer questions fudehi. [without] a lewyer at this time. No promises. ox threats have been made to me, and no pressure or coercion of any kind has‘been used against me. oe ees . a . p ae es Oc me Signed" 7 arta ma , OL LL yaaa Pa Witness: | Time: . ° HW 50955 Docld:32203858 Page 10
COMMISSION ON CIA ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES aa Washington, DC 20500 March 10, 1975 SECRET/SENSITIVE MEMORANDUM FOR: FILE an FROM:. Robert B. Olsen NA A | SUBJECT: Telephone Interview with E. Howard Hunt on March 7, 1975 I called Mr. Hunt at his residence in Miami, Florida, after first clearing the matter with his attorney, Mr. Snyder, of Baltimore. I asked Mr. Hunt about the apparent inconsistency between his des- cription to us of the circumstances under which he heard about the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, and the letter from a former family maid, Mary Traynor. In particular, I ‘called his attention to the fact that Mrs. Traynor ,in her letter, advises that Mr. and Mrs. Hunt were at home when word of the assas- ination came in a telephone call from Veronica Moppett. This is inconsistent with Mr. Hunt's statement that he and Mrs. Hunt © heard about the assassination on the car radio while they were in es downtown Washington, D. C. Mr. Hunt stated that Mary Traynor seems to be in error. He says that it is entirely possible that there was such a call from Veronica Moppett, although he does not remember it. He says that a lot of people were calling each other with the news about the shooting of the President. He says it is also possible that this was the manner in which Mary Traynor heard about the shooting and that she is simply in error in her recollec- tion that the Hunts were then at home. Hunt stated that he thinks that the Sidwell Friends School dismissed classes for the day at 3:15 pm or 3:30 pm. He says it is possible that the school was dismissed earlier on the day of the assassination -but he does not know for sure. He acknowledges that he and Mrs. Hunt would not have known about an earlier dismissal of classes in time to. pick up Kevan unless Mrs. Hunt had called the school while they were enroute from downtown Washington, D. C. He does not recall making such a call himself, and he does not recall his wife making one. If classes let out at the normal time, he and Mrs. Hunt would have arrived at home, with their daughter Kevan, at about 3:30 or 3:45 pm. SECRET/SENSITIVE si “CIA HAS NO OBJECTION 10 - DECLASSIFICATION ANDAOR RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT fs (3 Jaq 14. HW 350955 DBocld:32203358 Page 11
SECRET/SENSITIVE - 2- He states that, as he recalls it, there was some delay between the time of the death of the President and the time it was made public ce on radio and television. He does not recall whether the death of the President had been announced by the time he and Mrs. Hunt arrived at home and he turned on the television set. [The President was pro- nounced dead at 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time. The exact time when the death was announced on radio or television has not been checked out. ] He recalls that when he was watching T.V. with his family after arriving at home, either Huntley or Brinkley made some statement to the effect that the assassination was an outgrowth of the hatred of far Right groups which was much in evidence in Dallas, as had been shown by a recent inci- dent involving some one spitting into the face of Adlai Stevenson. The implication made by Huntley or Brinkley was that the assassination had been accomplished by some one from the far Right Wing. This was before anything was known about the actual assassin. Hunt remembers commenting to his family that it was just like Huntley or Brinkley to jump to the conclusion that the shooting had been by a Right Winger before any evi- dence was available concerning the assassin. Mr. Hunt will give us a detailed affidavit covering his non-involvement in the various assassinations. He states that he hopes to be able to avoid another trip back to Washington because he wants to spend as much time as possible with his eleven-year old daughter, who is very anxious about her father's impending imprisonment. oO Mr. Hunt states that he hopes to be assigned to a minimum security federal prison in Florida when he reports on March 25. With respect to the late-night television program on the evening of March 6, 1975, on ABC TV, Hunt states that he recorded the program on tape. It was an interview of Dick Gregory, Ralph Schoenman, and one of their companions. None of the above mentioned Hunt's name or that of Sturgis on the program. He describes the interviewer pressing Dick Gregory on whether he claims that the CIA was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy and Gregory responding that they were not stating that as a fact, but only that if there was any chance of CIA involvement, then the President's Com- mission should investigate it. Gregory and his companions showed the Zapruder film and the major thrust of the program was an emphasis on the snapping back of the President's head at the time of the fatal shot. One of the interviewees (I believe he said it was Schoenman) stated that they did not really expect much from Olsen at the CIA Commission, but that they were going to 'keep embarrassing him with the facts." Mr. Hunt feels that the press should give some publicity to Schoenman's background with the Bertrand Russell Foundation. RBO/ymr CC: D.Belin Senior Counsels ca SECRET/SENSITIVE HY 50955 DBocld: 322703658 Page i?
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HW 450955 June 6, 1975 Mr. William A. Snyder 1600 Maryland National Bank Building Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Dear Mr. Snyder: Bob Olsen has asked me to return the enclosed photographs of Mr. Hunt, which Mr. Hunt left with the Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States. We appreciate very much Mr. Hunt's making these photographs available to us. D4 7 (yr ed fa “we James NJ Roethe Staff Attorney non Enclosures Bocld: 3227036538 Page i145 ae We SE daaronty Poy Aas Gas BEA it ae Ls fe ? est aig FY Rape rE
pepe ry ert efit AFFIDAVIT OF LISA T. HUNT I, Lisa T. Hunt, being duly sworn, depose and say that I am submitting this Affidavit to the Comuissior on CIA Activities Within the United States at the written request of Mr. Peter R, Clapper, who identified himself as an investigator for the aforementioned Commission, The purpose of this Affidavit is to record my recollections of the whereabouts of my parents, Mr. and Mrs, E, Howard Hunt, Jr., and myself on November 22, 1963. On that date, I was Living with my parents in our house in Sumner, Maryland. After returning from school that afternoon, and throughout the weekend that followed, I was with my father and mother at our house spending much of the time watching television reports in connection with the assassination of President John F, Kennedy. 7 a ® BS Tae foregoing represents a truthful summary of my recollections of the whereabouts of my parents and myself on November 22, 1963. Tine sen eee SLUL VRS ASRS A UAET LP OF Dyn Cop Dt ODEOEG Loe ia an Subset éd and sworn to before ng HZ ; wy, Appts (OL DP 77 HW 350955 DBocld:322703658 Page 16
HW 50955 April 2h, 1975 a hey iv prt: 7 bea pe a rs i. ae Ate = fia A EY RALed pr potion, fL f fs, Lisa Hunt: Raadatele . sorted! fan 3106 Nimitz Road Apt, &-2 Keasingten, Md, 20795 ty tend Dear Ms, Hunt: On March 16 I wrote to you with a request that you forward to this Commission an affadavit containing your recollections of your aotivities and your father's whereabouts on November 22, 1963, As you will recell, that was the date of the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, Yexas, t J think you are aware of allegations that your father may have been in Da llas on that data, It would be very helpful to this Comin sissi on to have your recollections in that connection, The affadevit may be as short as you wish, It may be typed or in ink. Tt must be syorn to by you before : a notary public. If you have any questions or wish any assistance from me please give me a call on (20?) 56-7017. The affadavit may be mailed to me at the following address: Peter R, Clapper Commission on CIA Activities Within the United State Office of the Vice President Executive Office Building Washington, D,C, 20500 Thank you for your consideration, Peter R, Clapper =f) Investigator: Boclda: 32203858 Page i?
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