That Dirty Little Rumor

It all began to move very fast.


Executive Session.

22 Jan 1964 - This session was called specifically to address the allegation that Oswald was a paid "FBI Undercover Agent," number 179,
paid $200 per month from September 1962 until the assassination. Waggoner Carr, the Texas Attorney General, had called Rankin that morning with
allegations which had come from a member of the press (Lonnie Hudkins, though not named in the transcript). Rankin noted that
"I am confident that the FBI would never admit it, and I presume their records will never show it...," and noted that Oswald's use of postal boxes
"would be an ideal way to get money to anyone that you wanted as an undercover agent."

Rankin also noted that if the allegation were true "then you would have people think that there was a conspiracy to accomplish this assassination
that nothing the Commission did or anybody could dissipate." Rankin expressed puzzlement that the normally conservative FBI was so insistent the
Oswald was the sole assassin, saying "They would like to have us fold up and quit." After more such discussion, Dulles said the transcript
of the meeting itself "ought to be destroyed." This was indeed done, but an original court reporter's tape was later recovered and the transcript
re-made from it after a long legal battle brought by Harold Weisberg.

from "Walkthrough: Warren Commission Executive Sessions"
www.maryferrell.org/pages/Walkthrough_-_Warren_Commission_Executive_Sessions.html

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From the Jan. 22^nd session...

Dulles: Oh, terrible.
Boggs: Its implications of this are fantastic, don't you think so?

A: Terrific.
Rankin: To have anybody admit to it, even if it was the fact, I am sure that there wouldn't at this point be anything to prove it.

Dulles: Lee, if this were true, why would it be particularly in their interest -- I could see, it would be in their interest to
get rid of this man but why would it be in their interest to say he is clearly the only guilty one?
I mean I don't see that argument that you raise particularly shows an interest.

Boggs: I can immediately --
A: They would like to have us fold up and quit.

Boggs: This closes the case, you see. Don't you see?
Dulles: Yes, I see that.

Rankin: They found the man. There is nothing more to do. The Commission supports their conclusions, and we can go on home and that is
the end of it.

Dulles: But that puts the men right on them. If he was not the killer and they employed him, they are already it, you see. So your argument is
correct if they are sure that this is going to close the case, but if it don't close the case, they are worse off than ever by doing this.

Boggs: Yes, I would think so. And of course, we are all even grasping in the realm of speculation. I don't even like to see this being taken down.
Dulles: Yes. I think this record ought to be destroyed. Do you think we need a record of this?

A: I don't, except that we said we would have records of meetings and so we called the reporter in the formal way.
If you think what we have said here should not be upon the record, we can have it done that way. Of course it might. . . .

Dulles: I am just thinking of sending around copies and so forth. The only copies of this record should be kept right here.

Boggs: I would hope that none of these records are circulated to anybody.
A: I would hope so too.

Rankin: We also give them to you Commissioners. Now if you don't want them, those are the only ones who get them but Sides himself....

off the record.

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The most direct and damning thing any of them ever said.

Boggs: This closes the case, you see. Don't you see?
Dulles: Yes, I see that.

Rankin: They found the man. There is nothing more to do.
The Commission supports their conclusions, and we can go on home and that is the end of it.

Copies of both Executive Sessions are in the Reference Library.
January 22, 1964 | January 27, 1964

Memorandum for the Files
From: Mr J. Lee Rankin, General Counsel
Subject: Rumors that Oswald was an undercover agent

Allegations have been received by the Commission to the effect that Lee Harvey Oswald was an undercover agent for the
Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Central Intelligence Agency prior to the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
This memorandum reviews these allegations and summarizes the action taken to date by the Commission.

On Wednesday, January 22, 1964, I received a telephone call from Waggoner Carr, Attorney General of Texas. Mr Carr stated that he had
received on a confidential basis an allegation to the effect that Lee Harvey Oswald was an undercover agent for the
Federal Bureau of Investigation since September of 1962, and that he had been paid $200.00 a month from an account designated as No. 179.
Mr Carr indicated that this allegation was in the hands of the press and defense counsel for Ruby and suggested that his information came
ultimately from District Attorney Henry Wade, although he stated that he had not discussed this matter directly with Wade.

After a discussion with the Chairman of the Commission and Mr Leon Jaworski, I contacted Attorney General Carr.
I asked the Attorney General to to contact District Attorney Wade and try to ascertain more definitely the source of this allegation.
At the request of the Chairman of the Commission, I also asked Mr Carr to ask Wade and his assistant, Bill Alexander,
to come to Washington as soon as possible to discuss this matter.

A meeting of the Commission was called for 5:30pm on Wednesday, January 22, 1964. All members of the Commission were present with the exception
of John J. McCloy and Senator Richard B. Russell. This specific allegation was discussed in detail by the Commission. It was recognized by all
members of the Commission that, although this allegation was probably not accurate, this matter had to be regarded seriously by the Commission.
It was agreed that the Commission would have to take whatever action necessary to pursue this matter to final conclusion. During the meeting efforts
were made to contact Attorney General Carr again. When he was contacted, Attorney General Carr stated that the Disctrict Attorney Wade had been unable
or unwilling to specify the source of this allegation in more detail. He informed me that he and Messrs Wade, Alexander, Jaworski, and Storey would
come to Washington the next day.

On Thursday, January 23, 1964 Secret Service Report No. 767 was brought to my attention. This report is dated January 23, 1964 and summarizes an
interview by Agent Bertram with Houston Post reporter Alonso H. Hudkins III. A pertinent paragraph of the report reads as follows:

On December 17, Mr Hudkins advised that he had just returned from a weekend in Dallas, during which time he talked to Allen Sweatt, Chief Criminal Division,
Sheriff’s Office, Dallas. Chief Sweatt mentioned that it was his opinion that Lee Harvey Oswald was being paid $200 a month by the FBI as an informant in connection
with their subversive investigation. He furnished the alleged informant number assigned to Oswald by the FBI as “S172”.

The report concludes with the request that Chief Allen Sweatt of the Dallas Sheriff’s office be interviewed regarding the above allegation.
Upon being informed by representatives of the Secret Service that this subsequent interview had not yet taken place, I requested that it be done immediately.

On Friday, January 24, 1964, the Chairman of the Commission and I met with Attorney General Carr, District Attorney Wade, Assistant District Attorney Alexander,
Mr Jaworski and Dean Storey. We reviewed the situation to date. District Attorney Wade and others of the Texas representatives stated that the rumors to the effect
that Oswald was an undercover agent were widely held among representatives of the press in Dallas. They stated also that Mr Belli, attorney for Jack L. Ruby, was
familiar with these allegations. Wade stated he was also aware of an allegation that Oswald was an informant for the CIA and carried Number 110669.

District Attorney Wade and Alexander stated that the sources for these allegations or rumors were several reporters, inlcuding Houston Post reporter Hudkins.
They did not pinpoint Hudkins as being the source of this information, but they did not name any other individual reporters. They both indicated that they
would not vouch for the integrity or accuracy of these reporters. They did inform us that this information was not disclosed in chambers during the bail
hearing on Monday, January 20, 1964. District Attorney Wade stated that, based on his experience as an FBI agent during the years 1939–1943, he did not think
that the number would be either a payroll or voucher number carried on the Bureau records. He suggested that the records are not kept that way and would not show
the name of the informer, who would probably be paid by the FBI in cash. He further stated that in his experience it was customary for the agent to carry the
informer on his books as a number.

There was a general discussion regarding other information disclosed in the investigative reports which lend some degree of credibility to these allegations.
Among other matters discussed at the meeting, the following were stressed:

the use by Oswald of Post Office boxes;
use by Oswald of aliases;
the lengthy 2–hour interview conducted by the FBI of Oswald in August of 1962;
interviews conducted by Special Agent Hosty in Dallas regarding Oswald’s whereabouts and the failure to notify Secret Service of this information;
the comment after the assassination of Special Agent Hosty that Oswald had contacted two known subversive agents about 15 days before the assassination;
Oswald had Special Agent Hosty’s car license and telephone numbers in his notebook;
Oswald’s mother has stated that her son was an agent for the FBI or some other agency;
Special Agent Hosty was transferred from Dallas two weeks after the assassination.

The Chief Justice decided to present the results of this meeting to the entire Commission on Monday, January 27, 1964 and decided to propose tentatively
that necessary inquiries be made concerning these allegations and that this memorandum be prepared for the record.

On the evening of Friday, January 24, 1964, a member of my staff was informed by representatives of Secret Service that Allen Sweatt,
Chief of the Criminal Division of the Sheriff’s office in Dallas, had been interviewed regarding the allegations made in Secret Service Report No. 767.
According to this oral report, Sweatt stated that he received the allegation from Mr Alexander in District Attorney Wade’s office. He also mentioned
Houston Post reporter Hudkins as a source of the information. When Sweatt was informed that the number in a similar allegation was 179 rather than 172,
as he had indicated initially, Sweatt indicated that he would accept 179 as the correct number. Secret Service Inspector Kelley expressed his view that Hudkins
was not very reliable, based on previous unfounded reports which he had furnished to Secret Service.

www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=60439

All the print, that fits the news


Harold Feldman was one the first researchers on the case, along with his brother-in-law Vincent Salandria.
They both began studying the events as they unfolded that weekend.
Feldman was a freelance reporter contributing to "The Nation."
On January 27, 1964, he published the article, "OSWALD and the FBI" This hit the news like a bomb.

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from Spartacus Educational

On 6th January 1964 Carey McWilliams, the editor of The Nation, rejected Feldman's article on the assassination,
Oswald and the FBI. McWilliams told Feldman: "I have decided - most reluctantly, I must confess - not to use your piece.
It is certainly a well-done job, and I was sorely tempted, but it seems to me that on balance and for a variety of reasons
we should not use it at this time." However, he changed his mind and it appeared later that month. McWilliams commented:
"We have made some cuts, but I think they are all to the good."

Feldman started the article with the following words: "The Warren Commission should, if possible, tell us how
President Kennedy was killed, who killed him, and why. But beyond that, it must tell us if the FBI or any other
government intelligence agency was in any way connected with the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. At this moment,
the possibility of such associations in the young man’s life is intolerably a subject for speculation."
Feldman then went on to discuss the information reported by Michael Paine, Joseph C. Goulden and Alonzo (Lonnie) Hudkins.

Feldman argued: "Was the alleged assassin of President Kennedy employed by the FBI? We have seen a news report that the
agency tried to recruit him and that it has refused to say whether he accepted the offer. At present, all we know is that
his history, as we have been able to piece it together, is not inconsistent with such employment.
Indeed, his financial record seems entirely unexplainable unless we make some such hypothesis.

IMO, this is what actually prompted the urgency of the Jan 27th Executive Session.

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by January 27th

Lonnie Hudkins, told the Secret Service his source was Deputy Sheriff Allan Sweatt. He called Sweatt, very reliable.

State Attorney General Wagneer Carr, told the WC the source "was a person in whom he had complete faith and could rely upon."

District Attorney Henry Wade and Assistant Bill Alexander, "...did not pinpoint Hudkins as being the source of this information,
but they did not name any other individual reporters..."

then...
Leon Jaworski, was sent to interview Hudkins. Jaworski reported back to the commission that Hudkins had invented the story.
(at this time Jarwoski was still working for Carr and hadn't started his work for the commission...yet)

Time to Take Action

On Feb. 07, 1964, FBI inspector James Mally had a conversation with Lee Rankin (WC), and Lonnie Hudkins' name came up.
Rankin instructed Mally to go ahead with the interview with Hudkins, and nail this thing down.
Hudkins had already told the Secret Service that his source was Deputy Allen Sweatt.
Apparently, Hudkins is now telling authorities he will not disclose his source.

The memo referred to an interview dated Feb 3rd, where Hudkins admitted he got some from Asst DA Bill Alexander.
What he got from Alexander, was that Lee had FBI agent Hosty's name in his address book.
Hudkins also talked to the mother, who believed her son was a government agent, based on Lee meeting with Hosty.
Hosty has always denied meeting Lee prior to the assassination.

Hudkins then said a government official in Dallas, told him Lee was on FBI payroll
That official gave him a voucher number. Hudkins related this official had given reliable information in the past.
Further information came from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Joseph Goulden, stated FBI had attempted to recruit Lee.

Goulden told the FBI previously he had received this information from a law enforcement official in Dallas.
And further stated he was told by this source the matter was being handled thru the proper channels.
Goulden would not release the name of that source.

Alexander was interviewed previously and claims he overheard reporters talking about Lee and the FBI, at the Ruby bond hearing.
He did not know who these reporters were, one may have been from the north, but he did hear the dollar amount and the voucher number.
Hudkins, doesn't care if he is called by subpoena, he will not divulge his source, same with Goulden.


Memorandum for Mr. Sullivan