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Mr. Tolson . _ - uy Ait. Belmont'™____ . ; _ Mr. Mohr —* . wa . Ny Mr. DeLoach Mr. Casper \ Mr. Callahan —_«— » Mr. Conrad Mr. Felt _2 MR. TOLSON: rat \ yi as a> SK AMr. Gale 5 - Qt Rosen vad Sulliv Mr. T, 7 ener teteer Tele. Room r 5 y Sunday, 7-16-65, and talked for approximate ) 25 minutes , he President mentioned he was seriously thinking of Miss Holmes | appointing Abé ‘ortag to a major departmental position. He stated Miss Gandy , ae knew we had inve investigated Fortas sometime ago at his, the TTT | President's, specific instructions, however, he thought that this Ie investigation should be brought up to date, He stated he remembered a Ss en a * that Fortas had belonged to a number of communist front organizations back in the | early 1940's, however, he placed no credence on these facts inasmuch as Fortas since . ‘had matured and was now a well trusted, loyal individual. The President stated he trusted Fortas as much as he did Lady Bird and even more so with respect to advice “regarding business and international matters. " within the next day or so. He stated he wanted to find out first exactly what opposifion the would encounter after he named Fortas. He stated he thought we should intervfew a number of Senators and get them on record. He then named Senator Cannon, & McCarthy, Douglas, Senator Boo Kennedy and Senator Ed <ennedy. (I interzu > President at this point and asked him if he was serious. re replied that he 4 é should go ‘on record in order to prevent these Senators from is ssuing adver press * statements' later on.) The President added Senators Kuchel and Dirksen. With respect a } to Senator Dirksen, the President stated that Dirksen was in a bad way physically and {| he was afraid he wouid be losing him within the next several weeks. The President ia added he wanted a number of conservative Senators interviewed. He then named Hruska ‘tickenlooper, Cotton and Murphy of California. He stated that Murphy would know nothite } about Abe Fortas, however, it would be a good idea to get him on record. onic! t The President specifically stated he wanted our Agents, if questioned, .to intimate that Fortas was to be appointed to a presidential advisory commission. He stated this, of course, was not true, however, he wanted to keep from arousing comment $as much as possible. I told the President that FBI interview of the Senators named above would certainly cause comment. He replied he knew this, however, hoped that the Agents couic handle this investigation as quietly as possible. Ho1-28 0 — 37 fron enn ow fu 5 “OT PFFORDED WW / arn sy? . 46 JUL 28 1968 \! . Ke Oo CONTINUED. NEXT-PAGE. “ys { CDD:sa1 ~- i? — [ INFORMATIN NTAINIC