Mr. O'Brien. It was my understanding that the President would be taken to a hospital. I don't recall any discussion of the reason specifically other than my assumption that the autopsy would take place at one of the military hospitals in Washington. And obviously there were two to select from, and the President being an ex-Navy man, it seemed just sort of normal to suggest Bethesda.
Mr. Adams. And you remained with Mrs. Kennedy during the entire trip?
Mr. O'Brien. Yes; I did.
Mr. Adams. What was her condition?
Mr. O'Brien. She conversed a great deal with us. The one impression left with me from the entire trip and conversations with Mrs. Kennedy during the trip, participated in by all of us, was her great concern for us, really—her feeling that we had, as she put it, been with him at the beginning and we were with him at the end. We were all bereft. And I am afraid that the four of us who felt that we should be of some comfort to her were inadequate to the job in the sense that it was difficult for us to come up with anything that made much sense by way of being helpful.
Mr. Adams. Do you remember any other general subjects of discussion as you made the trip up?
Mr. O'Brien. No; I do not.
Mr. Adams. What happened when you arrived?
Mr. O'Brien. A lift was placed at the rear door of the plane. The honor guard came up the front steps, through the plane, to the back compartment. We concluded that we would take the body off the plane.
Mr. Adams. You say "we." You mean Mr. Powers, Mr. O'Donnell, and yourself?