Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Origins of the ‘Wanted for Treason’ Handbill

The “Wanted for Treason” handbill, distributed in Dallas 1-2 days before President Kennedy’s arrival, featured front and profile photos of Kennedy alongside a series of inflammatory charges against him. Robert A. Surrey, a 38-year-old printing salesman for Dallas’s Johnson Printing Co., was identified as the handbill’s author. Surrey had long been associated with General Edwin Walker in political and business activities, served as president of American Eagle Publishing Co. (a partnership with Walker) that used Johnson Printing Co.’s PO box, and stored Walker’s political and promotional materials at Walker’s headquarters.

第八章 She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367]

The chapter details the production and investigation of the “Wanted for Treason” handbills circulated around the time of the John F. Kennedy assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald’s September 1963 trip to Mexico City and his contacts with Cuban and Soviet embassies there, the process and results of his visa applications at those embassies, testimony from Cuban Embassy employee Senora Silvia Duran regarding Oswald’s visits, verification of Duran’s testimony and the full details of Oswald’s Mexico trip, and the Commission’s investigation of allegations of a conspiracy between Oswald and the Cuban government.

Production of “Wanted for Treason” Handbills

Production of “Wanted for Treason” Handbills Surrey prepared the handbill’s text and used Johnson Printing Co. facilities to produce a proof. He then enlisted Klause, a Lettercraft Printing Co. of Dallas salesman he had met while both worked at Johnson Printing, to print the handbills “on the side.” Klause stated Surrey first contacted him roughly 2 to 2.5 weeks before November 22, 1963, and delivered two slick paper magazine prints of front and profile photographs of President Kennedy alongside the textual proof approximately one week before the assassination. Unable to create the photographic negative needed for the printing plate, Klause had the work completed at a local shop, then arranged the Kennedy halftone images at the top of the text to mimic a police “man wanted” placard, and produced a photographic printing plate of the combined image. Overnight, Klause and his wife surreptitiously printed approximately 5,000 copies on Lettercraft’s offset printing equipment without their employer’s knowledge, and delivered the finished handbills to Surrey the following day for a total charge of $60 including expenses.