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-. { se. ormon oom pa. ru UNITED STATES GOVES MENT H Belmont —— Cosper : ‘Mem orandum fio Boas WL To 7 Mr, Betnonfl'” DATE: 5/25/63 oxen 1 FROM =: C. A. ay Tele Roe — ~- Gandy SUBJECT: TYLER GATEWOOD KENT ae _ We A f INTERNAL SECURITY ~ RUSSIAN ~~: , REGISTRATION ACT st _ ¥ , i. at, Late Friday afternoon, May 24, 1963, Assistant Attorney ~- General John Douglas of the Civil Division stopped by the office /’-—. and referred to the pending likel suit which has been filed by subject against former Ambassador posse onnedy s Mr. Douglas stated that following the filing of this lib suit in the State Court of Florida early in April, 1963, the Civil Division reviewed this matter for the ———— purpose of determining whether the suit should be defended by the --—-—— Department of Justice, The Justice Department would have defended the suit if it had arisen out of official action taken by Mr. Kennedy in connection with his position as United States Ambassador. The Civil Division concluded, however, that the libel suit had no relationship to Mr, Kennedy's position as Ambassador, It would therefore be inappropriate for the Justice Department to act as defense counsel. - Mr, Douglas indicated that thereafter, Ambassador Kennedy arranged to have the suit defended by one of his private attorneys, z William Payton Marron of New York, ~~ a ur. Douglas stated that Attorney Marron is in the process, - of securing the necessary evidence to defend the suit, and An thas 4. connection. has learned that a former United States foreign officer by the name Gowen had testified in the original prosecution;oef a: Kent in Engiand for violation of the British Official Secrets Act, in 1940. Pertinent testimony on the part of this witness is saidi.. to relate to two telegrams which Kent had in his possession. These telegrams were between former President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill, To support the testimony of the U. 5S, foreign officer, it was desired that pertinent pages of the transcript of the original Kent trial be utilized in current a TAS RS Sa pan / 1 = Mr, Sullivan . we! aase £° f f 1 = Mr. Branigan oe REC 14 963 1 - Mr, Lenihan 4 “Ly Bp MAY 28 725 cua df, 1% — ev 3 pws 17