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Willam Coleman was a staff member of the Warren Commission. Along with junior staff member
David Slawson, he was involved in the investigation of foreign conspiracy allegations. Coleman and
Slawson wrote a 100+ page report on these issues, and were the staff members whose area covered
Oswald's trip to Mexico City. Along with Harold Willens, Coleman and Slawson took a trip to Mexico
City in early April 1964, where they met with CIA Station Chief Winston Scott and other CIA officers.
In this interview with HSCA investigators, Coleman was unable to recall many of the details of
his tenure with the Warren Commission, repeatedly telling his questioners that "it would be in the
record," something which was not in fact the case in many areas. Questioning concerned the photographic
and telephone tap coverage of the Cuban and Soviet Embassies, and how and when the Warren Commission
became aware of these, and also touched upon Warren Commission knowledge of Sylvia Duran, Luisa
Calderon, Gilberto Alvarado Ugarte, and Elena Garro de Paz. At times, Coleman reacted defensively
to questions concerning the Warren Commission's knowledge in certain areas. When asked whether the
Warren Commission ever got an explanation as to why the CIA did not have an actual tape recording
of Oswald, Coleman fudged. "I haven't the faintest idea whether they did or didn't," he said,
though he has since admitted that he and Slawson actually listened to these tapes during their
April trip to Mexico City. Excerpts
| In this excerpt,
Coleman bantered with HSCA investigators about what he knew about CIA photo surveillance of
the embassies in Mexico City, and referred them to "the documents" because of his lack of memory. |
| Coleman disputed
the HSCA's assertion that he had been dissatisfied with CIA responses to Warren Commission inquiries. |
| The relationship with the
CIA was formal and done through written letters, according to Coleman, a recollection that is at
odds with CIA officials such as Raymond Rocca who told the HSCA that the written record is incomplete
because the Warren Commission was passed information informally in meetings. |
| Coleman again took
issue with his questioners again regarding the completeness of "the record." |
| After the reading of a memo
regarding why no photo had been taken of Oswald in Mexico City, Coleman was asked whether he had
ever gotten an adequate explanation. |
| Coleman related how he
learned the details of the telephone tap operation. |
| In this excerpt, Coleman
told HSCA investigators how important the secrecy regarding telephone taps was, saying that even
in his own memoranda it was important to hide the sources of some information, even from some
Commission members. |
| The importance of secrecy
regarding the telephone tap operation was again stressed by Coleman, including lack of disclosure
to Warren Commission members. |
| The HSCA investigators
were apparently unaware, at least at this date, of the fact that "Oswald" tapes indeed survived
the assassination. Asked in passing whether he ever got an explanation from CIA as to why they did
not have tapes of Oswald's voice, Coleman stammered a bit and said "I don't know whether they had
or didn't have." Since this time, Coleman and Slawson have both stated that they actually listened
to these tapes during their visit to Mexico City in April 1964. |
| The HSCA's intense focus
on the supposed foreknowledge of Luisa Calderon in exhibited in this excerpt from a more lengthy
discussion of Calderon, to which Coleman had little to contribute. |
| Coleman challenged the
HSCA questioners regarding whether they were really coming up with anything of import. |
| Coleman stated that
his prime suspects in any conspiracy would be the Cubans, the Vietnamese, the right wing, and the
Soviet Union. |
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