richard gibson
TRANSCRIPT
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8/11/2019 Richard Gibson
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Title: DEPT OF STATE DOCUMENTS, CONVERSATION AMEMB PARIS, MR
RICHARD GIBSON
Author: n/a
Pages: 5
Agency: CIA
RIF#: 104-10217-10328
Subjects: FAIR PLAY CUBA; GIBSON, RICHARDSource: AARC
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Date
10/28/98
Page
1
JFK
ASSASSINATION
SYSTEM
IDENTIFICATION
FORM
.=
AGENCYINFORMATION
AGENCY CIA
RECORD NUMBER 104-10217-10328
.RECORDSERIES JFK
.AGENCY
FILE NUMBER
80T01357A
DOCUMENTINFORMATION
ORIGINATOR DOS
FROM
TO
TITLE DEPT
OF STATE
DOCUMENTS
CONVERSATIONAMEMB
PARIS
MR
RICHARD GIBSON
DATE
12/09/63
PAGES 4
SUBJECTS FAIR PLAY CUBA
GIBSON
RICHARD
DOCUMENT
TYPE
PAPER TEXTUAL DOCUMENT
.CLASSIFICATION
CONFIDENTIAL
RESTRICTIONS OPEN IN FULL
CURRENT STATUS OPEN
.DATE
OF LAST REVIEW
09/23/98
OPENING
CRITERIA
COMMENTS
JFK64-52:F8A 1998.09.23.14:38:35:186108
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tinuing
the
interview in
other
areas
resulted
in
a
general
conversation
-Lasting about one and one-half hours Points of possible interest that
arose
during
that
conversation are summarized
herewith
by subject
Mr
Gibson was asked
to visit the
Embassy
because
of
a
report
by
a
controlled
American source
that
as
an
ex-official of the Fair
Play
for Cuba
Committee of
New
York
he
might
have
some
informa
tion
concerning
Lee
Harvey
Oswald
After the discussion with
Mr
Gibson
concerning
Oswald was
completed
his
obvious
interest
in
con
Subject
Assassination
of
President
Opinions
of
Mr
Gibson
POL
Mr
win Curtis
POL
Mr
C`~C
1bar-G1eyet
AMB
Mr
Woodward Romine
CON/GEN
(2)
MEMORANDUM
OF
CONvERcpT_t'.N
Date December
9
1963
Time
3p.m
Place Consul General's
office
Embassy
Paris
Participants
Mr
Richard
GIBSON
U.S
citizen
on
editorial board of
R6volution
Oswald
I
opened
the
conversation
by saying
that
although
we
were no
doubt in
profound disagreement
on
many
matters
I
was sure we held
identical
viewpoints
on
the
President's
murder
and
I
bad therefore
asked him to
call at the
Embassy
in
the
hope
that he could
tell us
some.
thing
of
possible
use or
significance
concerning
Oswald
or
any
of
his
associates
Gibson
said
that he
did
not believe
he knew
anything
of
value but
would
tell
me what
he did
know
viz
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1)
That
he had no
correspondence
with or
knowledge
of Oswald
as
Lee
Harvey
Oswald
that he
did
however
recall
receiving,in
the late
summer of 1962 a letter from Fort Worth from a mat who signed his
name Lee
Bowmont
indicating
an
interest
in
organizing
a
Fair
Play
for
Cuba Committee
(FPFCC)
in Fort Worth and
enclosing
a
Fort Worth
newspaper
clipping
including
a
photograph
of
himself
concerning
some
activity
or
other
in that
general
field
Mr
Gibson
said that to
the
best
of
his
memory
Bowmont
received
a
routine
reply
enclosing
some litera
ture
Gibson had no
further
correspondence
with
Bowmont
(Gibson
himself
left
the
US
in
September
1962)
Although
he had
no
reason
at the time to
believe
that
Bowmont
was a
pseudonym
he now
thinks
that Bowmont
may
have been
Oswald
Gibson
pointed
out
that
the
FPFCC received
many
letters and
visits from
cranks
some of whom of
course
used
pseudonyms
I
asked
him at
this
point
if he
thought
it
possible
that in
replying
to Bowmont
he
might
have
given
him the
name of someone
already
active for the FPFCC
in the Fort Worth area for Bowmont to get in touch with which would give us
a
further
lead Gibson
said
no
he
was
fairly
sure that
they
did
not
be
cause
in the South and
Southwest
at
that time
virtually
the
only
workers for
the
FPFCC
were
Negroes
that
in
that
region
they
would of
course
avoid
putting
a
Southern
white
in contact with their
Negro leadership
and
that
Bowmont
was
obviously
from
his
letter
a
Southern
white
Gibson did
not recall
that
they
had
anyone
in Fort
Worth
at
that time
anyway
2)
Gibson said that
in
the
summer
of
1962
the New
York
offices
of FPFCC
were
visited
by
a
Trotskyist
group (Socialist
Workers
Party
?)
Gibson
for
some reason
which
was
not
clear to
me
seemed to feel that
Oswald
may
have
visited
their
headquarters
with
this
Trotskyist
group (I suspect
Oswald's
pictures
look
familiar to
Gibson)
Gibson
went on to
say
that
some of the
Trotskyist types
who
were
rather
vocally
irresponsible
on
matters of direct
action
could
well
without
intending
to
have
planted
in
Oswald's
mind the
idea that
assassination
had
merit
He
greatly
doubts
however
that
they
would
deliberately
or
consciously
have
encouraged
Oswald
to such
action
I
find that
I
have not
been able to
decide
in
my
own
mind
the
extent
of
Gibson's
truthfulness
on
this
subject
I lean
to
the
belief that
what he
said
was true
insofar
as
it
went
that he himself
would
not be
capable
of in
any
way
condoning
Presidential assassination
as
a
political
tool
in
America
and
that he
is
probably
not
withholding
information
which
he himself
feels is
of
possible
use or
significance
in the
investigation
Nevertheless
I
think
he
might
be
withholding
some additional
bit
of
information
that
could indicate
1
a
more
direct
past
communication
with
Oswald
on
his
part
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-3
Gibson
In
the course
of
the
interview
Gibson
made
various
remarks
iris=1f rrd
Lir
pest
as
Ms rressnt
position
which
may
be
useful
whether
true or
not
because
Gibson
apparently
wants
to
maintain
contact
with
us (See below)
'~'~
_
Gibson
says
he lived in Paris in the last half of the
'50's
(exact
dates
not
known
but
probably
'54
to
'58)
that
he
worked
for
Agence
France
Presse
during
much of
this
time
that
he
along
with
some
other
American
Negroes
in
Paris
was
supporting
the
FLN
and that he was
betrayed
to
the French
police
by
one
or
another
of
two
American
Negroes
both
of
whom were down-the-line
Thorez
Communists
for
reasons
he
thinks
of
personal
dislike
As a
result
the
French
police
were able
to
confront
him
with
a
charge
of
forgery
that was
literally
true
although
committed
for
a
political
and not an
economic reason
Nevertheless
the
potential
charge
was
therefore
a
criminal
rather than
a
political
one
and
as
a
result
he lost his
job
with
Agence
France Presse
and
had to
leave
France
He
returned
to
Europe
in
September
1962
and
soon
found himself
penniless
and unable to
obtain
employment
At
this
point
J M
Verges
Director
of
the
magazine
Revolution
offered
him a
job
-
the
only job
he
could
obtain Gibson
appears
to
be
genuinely
concerned
(-
though
this
point
was
made
_
elicately
and
hesitantly
--- the
may
be
too
far
out
on
a
limb
and
that
he
would
welcome
opportunities
to
display
his
continued
allegiance
to
America I
suspect
that if
possibilities
to do
this
arise
he
will
accept
them
Qr
at
least
sct'in such
sway
that we
willbiiieveethat he
is
accepting
them
further
that
if such
opport
ities
sho
i1a
be
coupled
with
an
opportunity
to
improve
his
financial
situation
he
might
welcome
that
too
If
a
subsequent
contact
is
desired
by
the
Embassy
it will be
necessary
for
me to do so
initially
under
arrangements
he made with me
during
the
interview
The
only
real
request
he made
of me
at the
time
of the interview
was
that if
his
name
were mentioned
at
any
time to or
by me or other Embassy officers that we express our firm
is
a
bastard
I was able to
promise
him
this small
favor
belief that he
The material that follows
is
for
the
most
part
of use
only
in
judging
whether
he
himself
might
eventually
be
useful in
any way
It
contains
little
to indicate that he has leftest sources
of information
that
might
not
otherwise be
available
and
his
opinions
could well
be based on
press
sources
rather than on more esoteric
knowledge
Revolution
Initially
I
knew
so
little
about
this
magazine
that
I
didn't
realize
it was
also
published
in
English
Mr
Gibson
tells
me
they print
25,000
French-language
copies
in
Paris
and
15,000
in
English
in
Lausanne
3,000
of
the latter edition
are
sold
to
Peking
Gibson
sags
that
he
does
not
lgtowtbeyond this and the income from newsstand sales the sources of
Verges
un s
for'the
magazine..-He
says
some
people
believe
that
Verges
is
on
Peking's
payroll
quite
aside
from
the
sales
of the
3,000
copies
but
he
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8/11/2019 Richard Gibson
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himself doubts
it
He
believes
that
Verges
came
out of
Algeria
with
quite
a
lot of
money
some
of
which
he knows
at
one
time
during
the
AIsr
i.un
war
came from Kidder
He
thinks
Verges may
still
hope
to
have
a
future
in Algeria
Algeria
Gibson indicates that
he
still
retains
Algerian
contacts
or at
least contacts
with
people
close
to
Algerian
Government
sources
In this
connection
he mentioned that
he first
guessed
that
the Moroccans
had
pro
voked the border incidents
on the
theory
that
their
only
chance
was
then
Subsequent
information
leads
him to
believe that
this
was nd
so
tint
within
the
Algerian Army
there
was
some
belief
that
a
little
push
on
the
border
and that the
Moroccans
with Baathist
troubles
in
addition
to their
others
would
fold
that the
results
were
therefore
diconcerting
to the
Algerian
Government
and
that
the
Algerian
Army
or
at least
elements
in
the
Army
have lost face
to a
dangerous
degree
Cuba
Here Gibson seems
to
be on
familiar
ground
and
probably
is
He
was an
official
of the national
headquarters
of
the
FPFCC
in
New
York
prior
to
September
1962
Gibson
himself
to
me
closely
resembles
the
Latin
American
professional
balding perennial
student
agitator
who
has
coma
over the
years
to see
agitation
and
inflamation
as
virtually
ends
in
themselves
who sees himself
as
a
tireless
thinker
and worker
for
a
better
social
order
but is without
enough
consistency
in
picturing
what that
order
would
be to find
a
permanent
party
home
anywhere
To
such
a
person
Castro
of
course
has merit
just
as an iconoclast
Gibson
i
believe
has
not lost
faith
in Castro
nor his
hope
that
Castro
can have
his
cake
and eat
it
too
by
reaching
an
arrangement
with
us
and
still
carry
on
his
revolution
The
following
comments
among
many
in
this
area
may
be
of interest
He
says
Castro
has been
from
the
beginning
an
opponent
of
assassina
tion
(as opposed
to execution?) as an instrument of revolution and that he
was
no
doubt
genuinely
upset
at
Kennedy's
assassination
He
insists
that
Castro
has never
been
a
Moscow
or
for
that
matter
a
Peking
Communist
and that
there
remains
a
deep
division
between
Castro
and
people
like
Guevara
an
uncommitted
Marxist
on
the one
hand
and the
old-line
party
men
and Moscow
tools
like
Bias
Roca
He
says
there
is
an
increasing
tendency
to send
the
latter
type
Cuban
Communist
abroad
to
Embassies
etc
to
shake
their
power
a bit
He
places
the
present
Cuban
Ambassador
to
France
in this
category
and
says
that
the Cuban
Embassy
in Paris
is
presently
little
more
than
a
conscious
captive
instrument
of
the
French Communist_
Party