DOCUMENTS SHOW FORD PROMISED FBI DATA - SECRETLY - ABOUT WARREN PROBE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500110025-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 5, 2000
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: January 20, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
THE 1.JAS11I.+GTOH POST
p~. ed For Release 2001/08/012 1- , P~1 , O1 R000
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A spokeswoman for Ford said he
would have no immediate comment..
The Warren Commission, by con-
appears to have had no compa- +
trast,
rable insights into the workings of the
FBI. In fact, when Ford told DeLoach
.of "startling information" about the
.'Oswald case that he had just received
from CIA then-Director John McCone,
Hoover harrumphed in another-
notation:
"This shows how garrulous McCone
The report concerned an alleged ex-
.change of money in Mexico City be-
tween Oswald and "an unknown Cu-
ban Negro," which, DeLoach assured
Ford on the spot, had already been
largely discredited.
The early dissatisfaction with War-
ren; according to DeLoach's memo, in-
volved what Ford called the Chief
Justice's attempts "4o establish a 'one-
man commission'" by naming one of
his proteges, Warren Olney, as chief
counsel.
The proposal was headed off, ac
cording to a subsequent DeLoach-
memo, only after "a number of
sources" worked "to confidentially
brief members of the presidential
commission. other than Warren, as to,
Olney's background," which the bu-
reau evidently found objectionable. -
As Forrelated the outcome to be-
oach, former CIA Director Dull
__
pro este uite violentl "when War-
ren pro ose ne 's a oint
e u?st commission meeting. By the
secon session, or an Boggs stated
their- opposition: Boggs was quoted as -
warning flatly "that he [Boggs] would
not` work on the commission with
Olney.,,
Former- Solicitor General Lee Ran-
kin was named instead, as a compro-
mise choice. He,. in turn, was appar--, j
ently dissuaded by the FBI. and others
from pressing for his own investiga
tive staff. By Feb. 17, 1964, the FBI -
`files show, Hoover was- telling pub-
lisher William Randolph Hearst Jr.
that not only was Hoover "convinced
that Oswald killed the President" but
he was also confident "that the com-
mission will ultimately reach that
finding... >.... , ...._ , _ t
Another document indicates that
testimony before the commission was
on occasion carefully coordinated. On ,lay 13, 1964. FBI Assistant Dire
u tam . Sullivan reported that
ha dust been contacted by James Anr-
g nn - s cniet of counterirttet
igence, about - cone's scheduled a
pearance before the commission th
nex ay.
"Angleton said it occurred to" him
tha i wou a wei for both :tlcCone
-an t r. oover to a aware that the
commission mi., t as' the same aues-
tons wcn erin~ w e er thev ~voul4
get differeiFt replies from the -heads of
ne tub agencies . eton wanted us
1 ow some on tae t s w ch he
asset and
sieves .cone ivllFt~
ne rep es w c wi a ceft
"One uestion," the memo conti
tie "will be % as Lee Harvey Oswald
ever an agent of G1.1-?' The answer
wf e no: ?
Despite such attention to detail, it
is sometimes difficult to figure out
the FBI's investigative priorities. In a.
Jan. 17, 1964, memo Hoover, for exam-
ple, told a top aide to Attorney Gen-
eral Robert F. Kennedy that the, FBI
did not 'inves`tigate -Oswald's alleged
l;illino'of Dallas policeman J. D. Tip-
pit "because it was strictly alocal
crime."
Jr.
By George Lardner.
Washington Post Staff writer
Gerald It. Ford promised to keep
the FBI secretly informed of the ac-
tivities of the Warren ' Commission al-
most immediately after it was organ-
ized to investigate the assassination of
President Kennedy, FBI files show.
Then the House minority leader and
one of the commission's seven mem- i
bers, Ford made the offer in a Dec. 12,
1963,, conversation with FBI"Assistant
Director Cartha D. DeLoaeh -which,
Ford requested be kept-"in the- stric-
test of confidence." Headed by Chief Justice Earl War-
ren, the commission had held.its first
meeting only- a week earlier, on Dec.
.5, but it was already embroiled in in-
ternal bickering, according to a two-,
page memo DeLoach.submitted to his
superiors after the meeting in Ford's
office on Capitol Hill. Ford, for one,
was critical of Warren, and the House
GOP leader reported similar com-.
plaints by House Democratic leader
Hale Boggs (D-La.) -and former Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency Director Al
len Dulles.
Made public this week along with
more than 58,000 other pages about
the Kennedy assassination from FBI
files, the.'-. memo by: DeLoach
continued.
"Ford indicated he would keep me
thoroughly advised as,to the activities
of the. commission: He. stated 'thi.'3 '
would have to be on-a con fidential ba-
sishowever he thought it should be
,;, ~t ' ,. P: ?: ; r {~4
done."
DeLbach'sald t`ord;then a Republi-
can congressman from Michigan,. "also
asked if he, could call me from time to
time and straighten out questions in
his mind concerning our investigation.
I told. him by all means he should do-'
this: He reiterated that our relation-
ship would, of course, remain confi-
dential"
"Well-handled," FBI .Director J. Ed--
gar Hoover jotted down on the report,
that additionally assured him that the
bureau's relations' with Ford over- the
years had been ."excellent" and that
the "congress-man had' even been given,
"an autographed copy of the director's-
book, Study#oi Communism,.'; ;;;
"Our investigation," the memo said,
"only touched on those aspects of the
crime which related directly to our' in
terest in Oswald and the assassination;.
of President John?. Kennedy"
Contributing to this' 'artielt'? mere
Washington Post staff writers john' Ja-r
cobs and Ren-'Eessler. and researcher_`
DennisRini_ ~.?c:__,="s`i
Approved For Release 2001/08/01 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R000500110025-7