James Thomas Aycox

The testimony of James Thomas Aycox was taken at 10 a.m., on July 24, 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Burt W. Griffin, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Burt Griffin. I am a member of the general counsel's staff on the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.
I want to tell you a little bit about the procedure that we are going to follow here and what we are trying to do, and then I will administer the oath to you.
The Commission, as you may or may not know, was set up pursuant to an Executive order which was issued by President Johnson in November of last year, and also pursuant to a joint resolution of Congress.
Under this joint resolution, the Commission has been given authority to promulgate various rules and regulations. Under those rules and regulations I have been designated to take your testimony here today.
The Commission was directed by President Johnson to inquire into and to evaluate and report back to President Johnson about all the facts relating to the assassination of President Kennedy and the death of Lee Oswald.
In calling you here today, we are particularly interested in finding out what you know about Jack Ruby and, if anything, about the murder of Lee Oswald, and also if you have any information in other areas, we would like to get that, too. Let me ask you a preliminary question.

Is it all right if I smoke?

Sure.
Did you receive a letter from the Commission?

Yes. Here is the letter.

When did you receive that?

Sunday morning. See, I used to live at this address, but I moved to the 2800 block, just a half block, and I still go up there sometimes to get my mail. So the lady accepted it and brought it to my house Sunday morning.

The reason I ask is, you are entitled to receive notice of an appearance 3 days before you actually are supposed to arrive here, but I see that you have had the 3 days' notice; so we are in good shape there.
Before I administer the oath, do you have any questions that you want to ask me about the proceedings that will take place in the next half hour.

No, not at the present, I don't. I will wait and if there is anything I want to ask, I will stop you and ask you later.

Fine. Feel free to. If you will raise your right hand, I would like to administer the oath.