(Testimony of Forrest V. Sorrels)
Mr. Sorrels.
would be a very sharp hairpin turn, and the place that is built there is there specifically to prevent anyone from getting over on the wrong way there.
Mr. Stern.
When you laid out the motorcade route and drove over it--and I take it you drove over it several times----
Mr. Sorrels.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Stern.
Did you consider or discuss with Mr. Lawson the possibility of any danger to the President from the buildings along the route?
Mr. Sorrels.
Well----
Mr. Stern.
Did you think about any of the buildings as presenting any particular problem?
Mr. Sorrels.
All buildings are a problem, as far as we are concerned. That, insofar as I have been concerned--and I am sure that every member of the Service, especially the Detail--that is always of concern to us. We always consider it a hazard. During the time that we were making this survey with the police, I made the remark that if someone wanted to get the President of the United States, he could do it with a high-powered rifle and a telescopic sight from some building or some hillside, because that has always been a concern to us, about the buildings.
Mr. Stern.
Do you recall any further conversation, any further remarks in that conversation? Did anybody respond to that remark? Only if you recall.
Mr. Sorrels.
I don't recall any particular response. Probably there was confirmation of that fact, because I think that anyone that has had any experience in security measures would have the same opinion. I don't recall anyone specifically making any comment like that.
Mr. Stern.
But there was no suggestion that anything might be done to minimize that risk?
Mr. Sorrels.
Nothing more than what we always do----try to scan the windows, and if we see something suspicious, take proper action.
Mr. Stern.
When you went over the parade route with the police officials, did they confirm your view that this was the proper route to use?
Mr. Sorrels.
Yes, they did.
Mr. Stern.
And there was no concern expressed by them that some other route might be better for some reason?
Mr. SORRELS, No, sir; no, sir.
Mr. Stern.
I would like you now, Mr. Sorrels, to tell us something of the Protective Research activities that took place in preparation for the President's visit to Dallas, that you recall.
Mr. Sorrels.
At that time, we had no known Protective Research subjects that we were making periodic checks on in that area. Mr. Lawson informed me that he had checked with PRS, and that was confirmed.
However, bearing in mind the incidents that had taken place some time before with Mr. Stevenson, I had instructed Special Agent John Joe Howlett, to work with the Special Services Bureau of the Police Department, and I also conferred by phone with the chief of police at Denton, Tex., because some of those individuals who were involved in the Stevenson affair were going to college there.
Mr. Stern.
What was the Stevenson affair, as far as you knew?
Mr. Sorrels.
That was an instance where a number of people were at a theatre, as I recall it, theatre building, when Mr. Stevenson came out, and they were there with placards, and one woman is alleged to have hit him over the head with a placard, and another individual spat upon Mr. Stevenson, and also a police officer that took him into custody. And I did not want any such instance to happen when the President of the United States was there.
Mr. Stern.
How soon had that happened before the President's visit?
Mr. Sorrels.
I don't remember. It was probably some 60 days, maybe, before.
It was quite some time before.
But within recent time. And so Mr. Anderson, chief of police, informed me that he had an informant that was keeping in touch with the situation. I arranged with the Dallas Police Department for Lieutenant Revill to accompany Special Agent Howlett to Denton, and confer with the police there, and to also get photographs of these individuals.
When we were conferring with Mr. Felix McKnight, the managing editor of the Dallas Times Herald, I learned that--from him--that they had photographs
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