Leaving Gerald Ford, I rushed to the Senate for my next interview. When I got to the Senator Reception Room, I learned Cooper was still on the Senate Floor. Since I had never seen the Senate in action, I asked his staff man to take me to the Gallery. The session ended at about 6PM. I then met the Senator in his office. He was thin, thoughtful and extremely courteous. Unlike Ford, he did not record our conversation. The interview, according to my notes, proceeded as follows.

Q. How did the Commission work?

A. Every member made his own unique contribution ,to the Commission. We didn't take any evidence at face value. We thrashed out our ideas at executive meetings.

Q. Did you set any guidelines for Staff?

A. We took Rankin, and he did a fine job.

Q. Senator Russell had an assistant? Did any other members have one?

A. I didn't. I didn't realize it until later--and I did all the work myself.

Q. Do you think Commission affected any other government agencies?

A. We really shook up the CIA. If their procedures were lax here, they might be lax elsewhere. We brought about a general tightening within the CIA

Q. Did the Commission act like Board Of Directors vis a vis its staff?

A. The staff didn't hear our executive meetings, we really thrashed out ideas. We were a good deal more than a Board of Directors.

Q. What members contributed?

A. McCloy had a strong mind. Ford was good with words. Dulles knew intelligence--we all made contributions. When Boggs came, he asked good questions.

Q. Were you especially interested in the Foreign aspects

A. I wanted to exhaust all possibilities of a Foreign Conspiracy I was also interested in calling witnesses who knew Oswald, to establish a motive--this was difficulty.

Q. Were you also interested in people who influenced Oswald, say George De Mohrenshieldt.

A. Yes. Very curious fellow DeMohrenshieldt. Very curious. I was very interested in him. Read histestimony in the hospital. He was a very curious person. I wondered about him.

Q. Senator Russell disagreed that Connally was hit by the same bullet?

A. I also didn't believe Connally was hit by the same bullet?

Q. Was the Commission interested in the "how" as well as conclusions?

A. Yes. We scrutinized everything The FBI, gave us their reports the first week, but we rejected them. We didn't accept the staff reports either. We did our own investigation.

Q. What pressures were there to end that investigation?

A. None. I've never seen a Commission as free and independent. There was some talk of ending before the election.

Q. Was the "National nterest" a burden?

A. We all knew we were dealing with a vital subject.

Q. Are there still things that must remain secret?

A. No.

Q. Did Foreign Relations' considerations play a role. For example, Russia?

A. Well, we considered the foreign implications. But they played no role.

Q. Do you think the Commission system works?

A. For a problem as grave as this, it was the only answer.

The interview ended at 6:45 pm. I liked Senator Cooper. He was quite intelligent and civil, but he seemed determined to say the Commission, not outside agency or the staff, did the investigation. Yet, the Commission seemed to disagree on how the bullets shot Kennedy and Connally and how a conspiracy could be excluded.