Mr. Meyers. Well, he called me and the first thing he said to me is what did I think of this terrible, terrible thing? So I said the usual banalities, what did I think about it, it was a horrible thing. So it was so sad that I thought in this country, if you didn’t like a man’s politics you voted him out of office instead of killing him, and that in a nutty place—I hope neither of you are from Dallas——
Mr. Griffin. Let me, if you know—are these things that you actually said to him or thoughts that you had later on?
Mr. Meyers. I said to him, in a nutty place like Dallas anything can happen. I don’t mean I was not surprised that this happened but that only in a place like Dallas, I guess was the words I used, would a thing like this happen, which was a ridiculous thing to say. It could have happened anywhere. And then he kept repeating himself. He was so absolutely repetitious about those poor people. Now, I want to make this point clear. He had been—oh, yes. It comes back now. He was squawking or beefing to me about the fact that his competitors had opened their place of business Saturday night and that he had stayed closed. He had closed his. And how terrible he thought it was and how unfair he thought it was. And then he went into this conversation of these poor people, these poor people, I feel so sorry for them.
Mr. Griffin. Did he mention what poor people he was talking about?
Mr. Meyers. This is what I am getting at now. My original concept was that these poor people he was talking about were his competitors whom he felt had no heart and no—well, no feelings, you know; they were money hungry and this bit. And then it dawned on me as he went on and kept mentioning the poor woman and the children and then I realized he was talking not about his competitors but about Mrs. Kennedy and her children, and I don’t know exactly what I said to him. How could I remember exactly other than, well, Jack, I am sure that she will make—you know, life goes on. She will make a life for herself, and so on and so forth. Then he was obviously very upset. He was—let me say it this way—in all of my conversations with him through the years that I have known him, he had occasions to get to a degree overwhelmed, in other words, he would almost get incoherent because he was so anxious to get his point over. I am sure you have talked to people who will do this. This night he seemed far more incoherent than I have ever listened to him. The guy sounded absolutely like he had flipped his lid, I guess. Of course, you all have to understand I have read so much, everybody swinging this way.
Mr. Griffin. Try to focus on what your view was at that time?
Mr. Meyers. I am trying very hard because I am sure you realize I want to tell you everything that I know. And I also have a reason for this. He became so incoherent, so vehement about these poor people, these poor people, the poor children, I said, Jack, where are you, and I don’t remember where he said he was, I really don’t. I said, look—he said come have a drink with me or a cup of coffee with me. That is right. He asked me to come and have something with him, some food or drink. I said, Jack, that is silly. I am undressed. I have bathed. I am in bed. I want to go to sleep but, I said, if you want a cup of coffee you come on over here and come on up to my room and I will have some coffee or food sent up to my room and we can sit here and talk. He said, no, no, he had things to do. He couldn’t come over. I don’t know whether he said at the time or not but he couldn’t come over. This went on for a little while and the last thing I said, Jack, why don’t you go ahead and get a good night’s sleep and forget this thing. And you call me about 6 o’clock tomorrow night because I have no plans for tomorrow night. Call me at 6 tomorrow night and we will have dinner together and he said okay. I said, fine, Jack, I will look forward to your calling about 6 o’clock Sunday night. He didn’t call me.
Mr. Griffin. Do you recall—you say he mentioned to you where he was.
Mr. Meyers. No; he didn’t tell me where he was. You mean he called me Saturday night?
Mr. Griffin. Yes.