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

REPORT OF U.S. POSTAL INSPECTOR H. D. HOLMES

A formal report dated December 17, 1963, from U.S. Postal Inspector H. D. Holmes in Dallas, Texas, providing an informal memorandum of the interview he participated in with Lee Harvey Oswald on the morning of November 24, 1963.

MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW

The memorandum describes the interview conducted between approximately 9:25 a.m. and 11:10 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, 1963, with participants including Inspector Holmes, Captain Will Fritz of the Dallas Police, Forrest V. Sorrels (Local Agent in Charge, Secret Service), Thomas J. Kelly (Inspector, Secret Service), and three detectives assigned to guarding Oswald who did not participate in the interrogation.

第二章 With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the

Chapter II, prepared with the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels, comprises a detailed account of Lee Harvey Oswald’s interrogation by Postal Inspector H. D. Holmes (with Captain Fritz) following the assassination of President Kennedy. The chapter covers Oswald’s demeanor and denials, his post office box rentals, organizational affiliations, Marine Corps service, a marked map of Dallas, his activities around the assassination, and the A. J. Hidell identification card. The section concludes with a transition describing Oswald’s transfer to the County Jail and the beginning of Appendix XII on Speculations and Rumors.

Oswald’s Interrogation Demeanor and Assassination Denial

Oswald’s Interrogation Demeanor and Assassination Denial Holmes characterized Oswald as alert, composed, and mentally disciplined, quick to answer questions he wished to address and skillful at parrying those he did not. Holmes doubted Oswald would ever have confessed. Oswald emphatically denied any involvement in or knowledge of the shootings of Officer Tippit and President Kennedy, claiming his detention stemmed solely from having “popped a policeman in the nose in a theater on Jefferson Avenue.”