Dallas FBI Agent James Hosty #8
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The main issue that FBI chiefs had to answer before the Warren Commission (WC) about James Hosty was why he had failed to tell the Washington DC Secret Service and local security authorities about Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO).
Each FBI executive responded to that question several times during the WC hearings. They all responded repeatedly that the FBI had no information to suggest that LHO was violent. Yet this question came under a bright spotlight on April 24, 1964, with a Dallas Morning News (DMN) article by reporter Hugh Aynesworth.
Aynesworth had reported that FBI agent James Hosty told Dallas Police Lieutenant Jack Revill the following, soon after JFK was assassinated:
1. The FBI had been tracking LHO
2. The FBI knew that LHO was in Dallas, working at the TSBD
3. The FBI knew that LHO was a Communist
4. The FBI knew that LHO was capable of assassinating JFK.
Aynesworth had material evidence – a memo that Revill wrote to his boss on the day of the JFK Assassination. That memo is now WC Exhibit CE-709. Hoover instantly demanded that James Hosty write an affidavit denying that DMN article, which Hosty immediately did. On April 27, J. Edgar Hoover sent WC counsel Lee Rankin his own letter of denial, attaching the DMN article and Hosty’s memo.
A package of several documents is WC Exhibit CE-831. Let’s look at each one in detail:
MEMO OF JACK REVILL – CE-709
We will start with Lt. Revill’s letter to his boss, Captain William Gannaway, less than four hours after the JFK assassination.
November 22, 1963
Captain W.P. Gannaway
Special Service Bureau
Subject: Lee Harvey Oswald
605 Elsbeth Street
Sir:
On November 22, 1963, at approximately 2:50 PM, the undersigned officer met Special Agent James Hosty of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the basement of the City Hall.
At that time Special Agent Hosty related to this officer that the Subject was a member of the Communist Party, and that he was residing in Dallas.
The Subject was arrested for the murder of Officer J.D. Tippit and is a prime suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy.
The information regarding the Subject’s affiliation with the Communist Party is the first information this officer has received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding same.
Agent Hosty further stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was aware of the Subject and that they had information that this Subject was capable of committing the assassination of President Kennedy.
Respectfully submitted,
Jack Revill, Lieutenant
Criminal Intelligence Section
This memo was heartfelt on the part of Lt. Revill, since he was a member of the team assigned to the security of JFK in Dallas. The JFK Assassination was like a personal failure for Revill.
Thus, we can understand his surprise that the FBI had information about the murder suspect that the FBI held back from the JFK security team.
MEMO OF V.J. BRIAN – CE-711
Next we a memo by Revill’s co-worker, Detective V.J. Brian, addressed to Captain Gannaway to confirm Revill’s memo. Surprisingly, V.J. Brian’s memo is dated five months after the JFK Assassination, and only four days before Aynesworth published his DMN article (CE-831) suggesting a possible connection with CE-831.
April 20, 1964
Captain W.P. Gannaway
Special Service Bureau
Dallas Police Department
Sir,
On November 22, 1963 I was present and accompanying Lieutenant Jack Revill in the basement of City Hall... Lieutenant Revill and myself along with several other Officers had just completed searching the Texas School Book Depository...
Upon entering the basement of City Hall, Lieutenant Revill and myself met FBI Agent Hosty who had already parked his car and was walking very fast...
At this time Agent Hosty made the statement that Lee Oswald had killed the President...Hosty also said that he knew that Oswald was a Communist and that he was working at the School Book Depository.
While we were in the basement Hosty also said several things to Lieutenant Revill that I could not hear as there was a lot of excitement and commotion there.
Lieutenant Revill and myself then accompanied Hosty to Captain Fritz’s office and Lieutenant Revill introduced Hosty to Lieutenant Ted Wells. We...made a Report of the incident and turned the report into Captain W.P. Gannaway who is in charge.
Respectfully submitted,
V.J. Brian, Detective
NOTARIZED, April 20, 1964
In effect, V.J. Brian took partial credit for the content of Jack Revill’s memo (CE-709). Perhaps Gannaway had requested an eye-witness to Lieutenant Revill’s memo of 11/22/1963.
DMN ARTICLE BY HUGH AYNESWORTH – CE-731
Now let’s look Hugh Aynesworth’s April 24th DMN article. I will type in only the first two paragraphs, since the reader can use the following URL to read the entire news article:
FBI KNEW OSWALD CAPABLE OF ACT, REPORTS INDICATE
A source close to the Warren Commission told the Dallas News Thursday that the Commission has testimony from Dallas police that an FBI agent told them moments after the arrest and identification of Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, that “we knew he was capable of assassinating the president, but we didn’t dream he would do it.”
In a memorandum to supervisors on Nov. 22, Lt. Jack Revill, head of the Dallas police criminal intelligence squad, reported that FBI special agent James Hosty had acknowledged awareness of Oswald in the basement of the City Hall at 2:05 PM, Nov. 22. His remark was made as five officers brought Oswald in from Oak Cliff, Revill reported…
The article goes on with many details to support those opening sentences. What was astonishing to WC officials on the day that article appeared was that Revill’s memo had never come before the WC executives before. Even the FBI had never seen Revill’s memo before. An Anerican journalist was first to receive the memo and to leak that story to the press on 4/24/1964.
AFFIDAVIT OF DENIAL BY JAMES HOSTY – CE-832
So, on the afternoon that Aynesworth’s DMN article appeared, Dallas FBI agent James Hosty composed a sworn, notarized affidavit denying everything that Revill or somebody had leaked to the press, bypassing the WC. I will type in most of that affidavit:
AFFIDAVIT
I, JAMES P. HOSTY, JR., being duly sworn, depose as follows: I am a Special Agent o£ the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice and have been so employed since January 21, 1952. My attention has been called to an article appearing on the front page of the “Dallas Morning News,” of April 24, 1964, captioned, “FBI KNEW OSWALD CAPABLE OF ACT, REPORTS INDICATE,” written by HUGH AYNESWORTH.
...On November 22, 1963, at approximately 3:00 PM, I arrived at the Dallas Police Department for the purpose of sitting in on an Interview of LEE HARVEY OSWALD. When I arrived at the basement of the Dallas Police Department, I met Lieutenant JACK REVILL, whom I know to be the head of the Intelligence unit of the Dallas Police Department.
Lieutenant REVILL advised me that he “had a hot lead” on the assassination of President KENNEDY and that a man whose first name was LEE was the only employee of the Texas School Book Depository who had not been accounted for. I then told Lieutenant REVILL that LEE HARVEY OSWALD had already been arrested about one hour previously by the Dallas Police Department and was at that time in the office of Captain WILL FRITZ, Homicide Bureau, Dallas Police Department, being interrogated.
To my knowledge, this was the first time that Lieutenant REVILL knew of OSWALD’s arrest.
I further advised Lieutenant REVILL that OSWALD had defected to Russia and had returned to this area in 1962, and that OSWALD was employed at the Texas School Book Depository. I also advised Lieutenant REVILL that OSWALD was at that time the main suspect in the assassination of President KENNEDY.
The above constitutes the entire contents of my conversation with Lieutenant REVILL which took place on the stairway from the basement to the third floor at the Dallas Police Department, during which time both Lieutenant REVILL and myself were running up the stairs and not facing each other.
…I unequivocally deny ever having made a statement to Lieutenant REVILL or anyone else that the FBI knew OSWALD was capable of assassinating the President or that OSWALD possessed any potential for violence.
I specifically deny ever having made the statement as quoted in this article, “We knew he was capable of assassinating the President, but we didn’t dream he would do it.”
In fact, prior to the assassination of President JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, I never had any information indicating potential violence on the part of LEE HARVEY OSWALD.
FBI Special Agent
James Hosty
I want to emphasize Hosty’s phrase, “both Lieutenant REVILL and myself were running up the stairs.” This simple phrase became a WC scandal. We’re coming to that.
LETTER OF DENIAL BY J. EDGAR HOOVER – CE-831
The letter of denial of Aynesworth’s DMN article consisted of this letter and the three documents cited above. J. Edgar Hoover wrote directly to WC counsel Lee Rankin three days after the article came out, firmly underscoring Hosty’s denials. Here is an excerpt:
Dear Mr. Rankin,
… Special Agent Hosty unequivocally denies ever having made a statement to Lieutenant Revill or anyone else that the FBI knew Oswald was capable of assassinating the President or that Oswald possessed any potential for violence.
Special Agent Hosty specifically denies ever having made the statement as quoted in this article, “We knew he was capable of assassinating the president, but we didn’t dream he would do it.”
Special Agent Hosty points out that prior to the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, he never had any information indicating potential violence on the part of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Sincerely,
J. Edgar Hoover
Alan Belmont and J. Edgar Hoover had already testified to the WC several months prior, and this topic never surfaced. Both FBI Directors repeated that prior to the JFK Assassination, the FBI “never had any information indicating potential violence on the part of Lee Harvey Oswald” in response to questions about the failure of FBI agent James Hosty to warn the Washington DC Secret Service and local security staff about LHO before the visit of JFK to Dallas.
Even so, Hoover, Belmont, and Hosty all agreed that the FBI had been surveilling LHO for most of 1963 on general suspicion.
In response to all this commotion, the WC finally called Lieutenant Revill himself to testify about his side of the story. He appeared before them on May 13, 1964.
TESTIMONY OF LIEUTENANT JACK REVILL
The WC presented all the documents above in their questioning of Lt. Revill. His long testimony is available online at the WC Hearings and Exhibits website at this URL:
I offer my own brief summary here:
Lieutenant Revill was in charge of the DPD Criminal Intelligence Section since 1958, investigating organized crime in Dallas. Revill had known James Hosty since 1959.
Revill’s role on the day of the JFK Assassination, along with Detective Brian, was to record names, addresses and phone numbers of everybody in the TSBD before evacuating them from the building.
Upon driving back to City Hall around 2:45 PM, he and Detective Brian saw Hosty parking nearby. He said that Hosty “ran” to him and Brian.
Hosty exclaimed, “Jack, a Communist killed President Kennedy!” Revill asked, “What are you talking about?” Hosty replied, “Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy.” Revill asked, “Who is Lee Harvey Oswald?” Hosty replied, “He is in our Communist file. We knew he was here in Dallas.”
Hosty and Revill proceeded to the elevator alone, and Hosty added, “We had information that LHO was capable of committing this assassination!”
That remark upset Revill, who was a member of the Dallas team assigned to JFK security. Why didn’t the FBI report that LHO was capable of this, demanded Revill! Hosty replied, “We couldn’t.” This astonished Revill, who had always worked successfully with the FBI in the past.
Detective V.J. Brian caught up with them as they entered the DPD elevator with several others, and Hosty told Revill and Brian that he was on his way to the Homicide Office to report to Captain Fritz. Revill and Brian said that they were going there, too.
The elevator stopped at the 3rd floor of City Hall, so Revill and Brian accompanied Hosty to see Captain Fritz, but his office door was closed. Revill and Brian introduced Hosty to Lieutenant Ted Wells and returned to their own departments.
This was the first time Revill had heard the name of LHO, but at the same time the TSBD buzzed with a rumor that someone named “Lee” had been arrested that morning.
In any case, Revill was so upset by Hosty’s remarks that he immediately went to his boss, Captain Gannaway, and told him.
Gannaway told Revill to put this on paper right away, so that Gannaway could take it to Chief Curry. So Revill quickly wrote a memo to give to his secretary to typist at about 3:30 p.m. That memo is now CE 709.
In the process of writing this memo, Lieutenant Revill spoke to others at the DPD and learned, from FBI agent Bob Barrett LHO was in custody for shooting J.D. Tippit. Other policemen gave Revill more specific data about LHO’s arrest which Revill also included in his memo.
Captain Gannaway had submitted this memo to the WC in January, 1964, as expected, so that the April 1964 contents of this DMN article surprised almost everyone.
Asked how Revill became the source of the DMN story, he admitted that on Fri 22 April 1964 he was at a Police Conference in Fort Worth where he told Lt. H.F. Hopkins the whole story. A few hours later, Fort Worth news media descended upon Revill! He said nothing further, but rushed back to Dallas.
But Hopkins was not the leak! The DMN article cited the exact number of paragraphs in Revill’s memo to Gannaway, and even quoted from it verbatim, and Hopkins never saw that memo. So, how did the DMN get a copy?
Ultimately, WC Attorney Rankin had to ask Revill if he was certain that he and Hosty took the elevator together, since Hosty testified under oath that they took the stairs. Revill was sure – the elevator. Rankin asked Revill that if James Hosty claimed it was the stairs, whether that would be untrue, Revill said that it would certainly be untrue.
That is a fair summary of Revill’s WC testimony. Now that we have reviewed all the testimony and documents considered by the WC on this topic, we can see the main problem, namely, that James Hosty and Jack Revill clashed head-on in their WC testimony.
Our interpretation of the facts depends on how we resolve this conundrum. Either Hosty or Revill was telling the truth – it could not be both.
TAKING SIDES
Since these officers have opposite stories, we must take a side. Hosty in writing insisted that his dialogue with Revill “took place on the stairway from the basement to the third floor at the Dallas Police Department… REVILL and myself were running up the stairs…” Yet, Revill affirmed solidly that their dialogue occurred outside and inside the elevator and not the stairs.
Neither would back down from his version of the events, so the elevator vs. stairs controversy became a material symbol for their sharp disagreement. Which side was telling the truth?
I tend to side with Lieutenant Revill because as we’ve seen Hosty had been officially tracking LHO for most of 1963, so Hosty’s testimony that LHO was not suspicious cannot easily fit. And as we have seen in previous posts here, Hosty worried in 1975 that his breach of ‘normal channels’ might make trouble for the FBI or himself.
WHO LEAKED REVILL’S MEMO?
But who leaked Revill’s memo? Since Detective V.J. Brian added his memo to Gannaway only four days before that DMN story was printed, and since Gannaway was the only officer who possessed Revill’s memo, the leaker was apparently Gannaway himself, who prepared for the leak by instructing Brian to produce another eye-witness memo to support Revill’s memo.
But why would Gannaway leak this story to the press instead going through normal channels that the WC had established from the start in January, 1964. Surely, all documents relevant to the JFK Assassination had to be submitted to the WC authorities at the start. Why was Gannaway’s problem?
I am aware of only one outspoken movement in Dallas 1963 which despised the WC enough to bypass them, namely, the Dallas radical right-wing movement. In those days, the resigned General Walker was the outspoken and leading figure of that movement in Dallas.
Walker had resented Hoover and the WC for refusing to consider his Communist plot theory of the JFK Assassination. Hoover kept telling the world that LHO was a Lone Nut who had no accomplices still at large. General Walker kept telling the world that LHO was a Communist who had many accomplices still at large. Walker and his minions would try almost anything to undermine Hoover and the WC.
So, Gannaway’s bypassing of the WC here might remind us of the WC scandal of Jan 22, 1964, when Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr and two minions (Bill Alexander and Henry Wade) surprised Earl Warren and J. Lee Rankin with evidence that LHO had been an FBI informant (#S-172 or #S-179) ever since Sep 1962, paid $200 monthly! These high-level Dallas authorities tried to embarrass the FBI and the WC in order to again seize the headlines and blame the Communists for the JFK Assassination. To do that they had to shrink the reputation of the FBI as a source of truth, honesty, and integrity. Yet Hoover ended that January controversy with a single affidavit.
Aynesworth’s 24 Apr 1964 DMN article at first sight seems to be another attempt to embarrass the FBI. Aynesworth presented evidence that the FBI knew about the danger to JFK posed by LHO, yet withheld this crucial data from the US Secret Service and local Dallas security staff – and later from the WC. But Aynesworth himself had no right-wing agenda. He openly mocked the Dallas right-wing. His only motivation was to get a sensational story for his editor.
For Aynesworth, LHO was a 24-year-old ex-Marine with authority issues who couldn’t spell “wrist.” Aynesworth mocked the Dallas radical right-wing for presenting a loser like LHO as a trusted, International conspirator. Aynesworth wrote:
No self-respecting Communist would have wanted himself or his movement associated with the likes of Oswald! ...It was this brand of extremism that was discredited in Dallas by the events of November 22nd. …General Walker grabbed a plane for Shreveport, La., where he hunkered down for several days. (Aynesworth, 1964)
I agree with Hugh Aynesworth in his portrayal of the Dallas radical right-wing as tragi-comic. James Hosty’s 1996 book was a part of that tragi-comedy that tried to convince readers that despite denials by J. Edgar Hoover himself, there was a Communist conspiracy to kill JFK.
So, the evidence suggests that Captain Gannaway himself leaked the story to the DMN, and that his motivation was part of the local Dallas culture of blaming Communists for the JFK Assassination – including all the Communist Yankees in Washington DC!
In Hosty’s imagination, LHO was a super-spy in Mexico City alongside the elusive KGB super-assassin, V.V. Kostikov.
Since Lieutenant Jack Revill’s WC testimony clashed with James Hosty’s WC testimony – e.g., the stairway vs. elevator controversy – we must choose – either Hosty or Revill committed perjury. Anyone who wishes to defend the WC Hearings must answer this direct self-contradiction promptly.
Every part of Lieutenant Revill’s story is believable to me. This included getting further news about LHO from his DPD co-workers, rather than from Hosty (e.g., an outdated address for LHO) and that LHO had been arrested for the murder of J.D. Tippit.
And even if some object that Revill mistook Hosty’s claim that LHO was a communist to mean that LHO was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, that neglects the main point – that Revill stuck by his story that Hosty had said the FBI knew LHO was “capable of committing the assassination of President Kennedy.” Hoover had to scramble to handle that.
Hosty’s sworn affidavit denying Aynesworth’s DMN story contradicted Lt. Revill on several points, aside from the elevator. For Hosty, Revill had started it all by boasting that he “had a lead” on the JFK Assassination because he had identified the one TSBD employee who was absent in his roll-call. And Hosty had told Revill that LHO was arrested – not “other Dallas police” as Revill claimed.
Hosty admittedly told Revill that LHO was a defector; that LHO returned to Fort Worth in 1962; that LHO worked at the TSBD; and that LHO was the main suspect in the JFK case. But never, insisted Hosty, never did he boast to Revill that he knew how dangerous LHO really was. Hosty and Hoover underscored that Hosty never used the exact words: “We knew he was capable of assassinating the President, but we didn’t dream he would do it.”
Actually Revill never testified that Hosty said exactly those words – only something like them.
Hoover and Hosty agreed with one voice to the WC that the FBI never had information that LHO was dangerous. But Hoover, Belmont, nor Hosty could never explain why the FBI tracked LHO so closely for most of 1963.
For the entirety of the 1964 WC hearings, James Hosty never diverged from Hoover’s version of events. Then, in 1975, Hosty cast aspersions on Alan Belmont. Then, in 1996 – long after Hoover and Belmont had died – Hosty published his book, Assignment Oswald, which claimed that Hoover, Belmont, and the whole FBI had lied to the world – and that they really knew about a secret Kostikov-LHO Communist plot to assassinate JFK.
There are many holes in James Hosty’s testimony – but perhaps the largest hole is that Lieutenant Jack Revill told the WC that Hosty knew al lot about LHO long before the JFK Assassination, and deliberately withheld that data from all US authorities.
Revill’s account matches all the facts we have reviewed; so we say: elevator; not the stairs.
Thank you,
--Paul Trejo
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