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  » Volume XV
Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. XV - Page 74« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Seth Kantor)

Mr. Kantor.
If he used profanity, it doesn't register with me. He was an effusive person. Obviously when he liked somebody or something, he liked that person or that thing very much. And if he didn't, he portrayed it rather strongly, also. And his facial expressions would change, depending on what he was talking about.
Mr. Griffin.
Do you remember any particular things that he expressed great like or dislike for?
Mr. Kantor.
Well, I remember one time he told me that he had met a movie star--and I honestly don't remember her name, except that she was sort of on the way down--out at Love Field, somewhere around 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. He was out there. for whatever reason I don't know. And he talked to her for a period of time until her plane was ready. She was just going through. And he had gotten a promise from her to appear at his club. He was just ecstatic about this. He thought this was the greatest thing in the world. He was full of praise for her, because she stopped and talked with him, without knowing him at all.
Mr. Griffin.
Now, you were in Dallas, were you not, at the time that President Kennedy was shot?
Mr. Kantor.
Yes; I was.
Mr. Griffin.
Can you tell us where you were at the approximate time that the shots were fired?
Mr. Kantor.
I was in the motorcade. I was in the White House Press Bus No. 2. This was about--I don't know--11 vehicles back, or some such.
Mr. Griffin.
Now, were you in a position where you could hear the shots or see any of the actions?
Mr. Kantor.
I heard the last two shots. I didn't know there were three shots until some time later.
Mr. Griffin.
Well, after the shots were fired, what did you do?
Mr. Kantor.
We tried to get off the bus to see what had happened, but we were not allowed to, and the bus went at a high rate of speed out to the Dallas Trade Mart. There we were let out at a side entrance, and we still had no word of anything. We raced up four flights to a press office up there, and still could not find out what happened. So we raced down the four flights again.
One of the reporters--I don't know who--got on the phone and contacted the Dallas police, and talked to Chief Stevenson and discovered that the President had been shot and had been taken to Parkland Hospital.
Mr. Griffin.
Let me interrupt you here just a minute. Do you recall the route that you took from the scene of the shooting to the Parkland Hospital?
Mr. Kantor.
We went on to the Stemmons Expressway immediately, and took the expressway to a point immediately adjacent to the trade mart. I don't know what the little road is that goes off of it.
Mr. Griffin.
How long would you say that it took you to drive from the scene of the shooting to the trade mart?
Mr. Kantor.
We were traveling at a speed of about 65-70 miles an hour. I guess it would be 4 or 5 minutes.
Mr. Griffin.
And about how long did it take from the time you got out of that bus and ran up and down your four flights of stairs until the one press representative was able to make a telephone call?
Mr. Kantor.
I WOUld guess about another 4 or 5 minutes.
Mr. Griffin.
All right. Now, after he made the telephone call, what happened--what did you do?
Mr. Kantor.
I shouted to a couple of the other reporters that I was familiar enough with Dallas and would get a taxicab. And someone who was there to attend the function for the President overheard me and volunteered the service of his station wagon. He gave us his name, but I didn't write it down, and don't remember it.
About eight of us got into the station wagon. And outside of the reporters who were in the pool car behind the President, we were the first group of reporters to arrive at the hospital.
This gentleman who drove us there in a station wagon broke an awful lot of traffic rules, and even went against traffic at a couple of points, driving on the
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