TESTIMONY OF LAWRENCE F. O'BRIEN
The testimony of Lawrence F. O'Brien was taken at 11 a.m., on May 26, 1964, at the White House Office, Washington, DC., by Mr. Francis W. H. Adams, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. Adams. Raise your right hand, please.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you shall give in this deposition proceeding before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. O'Brien. I do.
Mr. Adams. Mr. O'Brien, the purpose of this deposition is to get from you your knowledge of the facts surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
I would like to start way back, if I may, at the point of the conception of the trip, the origin of the trip. How far back was that before November 22?
Mr. O'Brien. My recollection is the contemplation of the trip to Texas was back some, perhaps, months before the actual trip.
However, I should quickly add that many discussions took place about potential trips to all parts of the country at some future time, to some degree in the political context. The President, No. 1, enjoyed getting out to meet the people; and, secondly, over a period of time we had anticipated the President would travel rather extensively when the opportunity presented itself. But the difficulty in pinning anything like that down specifically in advance is the obvious difficulty of scheduling any travel by the President, because of the duties of the office and the obvious day to day changes in the problem.
Mr. Adams. But you, yourself, were concerned and involved in discussions looking towards this?