The Chairman. Mr. Secretary Dean Rusk, we wanted to ask you a few questions about this matter in any particular detail you wanted to answer. Mr. Rankin would you inform the Secretary the areas we intend to cover before we ask the questions.
Mr. Rankin. Mr. Chief Justice, I think the particular area that we would be interested in with the Secretary is just as to whether, or his knowledge of whether there was any foreign political interest in the assassination of President Kennedy?
We have been getting the information in regard to other matters concerning the State Department from other of his associates and colleagues and employees of the Department, and we are going to complete that and it has been helpful to us and I think we can rather limit the inquiry to that area.
The Chairman. Yes; very well.
Mr. Secretary, would you rise and be sworn, please. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give before this Commission shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Secretary Rusk. I do.
The Chairman. Will you be seated, please, and Mr. Rankin will ask you the questions, Mr. Secretary.
Secretary Rusk. Mr. Chief Justice, may I ask one question?
The Chairman. Yes, indeed.
Secretary Rusk. I would like to be just as helpful as possible to the Commission. I am not quite clear of testimony in terms of future publication. There may be certain points that arise where it might be helpful to the Commission for me to comment on certain points but there—it would be a very grave difficulty about publication, so I wonder what the Commission's view on that is.