Mr. McCloy. It was part of your routine duties when you were going through a street in any city, to look at the windows as well as the crowds?
Mr. Lawson. Yes, sir; and if the President's car slowed to such a point or the crowd ever pressed in to such a point that people are getting too close to the President, the agents always get out and go along the car.
Mr. Stern. Perhaps you had better describe the vehicles and passengers in the motorcade beginning with the pilot car and going, say, through the Vice Presidential followup car.
Mr. Lawson. At one time I could have probably listed them all by name.
Mr. Stern. No, not their names, but the vehicle order.
Mr. Lawson. The vehicle itself, yes sir.
Mr. Stern. And the agents, the number of agents.
Mr. Lawson. And the function of the vehicle.
Mr. Stern. And the function of the vehicle and the responsibility of the agents in the vehicle.
Mr. Lawson. Yes sir. This varies, but in a usual motorcade, as in this particular instance, there is what we call a pilot car. This is usually a local police car that precedes the motorcade some distance, depending on the crowd. It would usually precede it by at least a quarter of a mile. This is to see if there is any kind of a disturbance up ahead far enough so that we are able to take an alternate route if the need arises. It being a police car, it has radio communications with the whole network of the police and also the police at the stops, the ones we have just left and the particular function like the Trade Mart or airport that we are going to.