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John Abt

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by KnitCap (talk | contribs) at 19:10, 8 January 2006 (transcripts). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

John Abt was the Chief of Litigation, Agricultural Adjustment Administration from 1933 to 1935, assistant general counsel of the Works Progress Administration in 1935, chief counsel on Senator Robert La Follette, Jr.'s LaFollette Committee from 1936 to 1937 and special assistant to the United States Attorney General, 1937 and 1938. In 1948 he worked with the Progressive Party of former Vice President Henry A. Wallace. John Abt married Jessica Smith.

During Lee Harvey Oswald's interrogation by the Dallas Police on the evening of 22 November 1963, after his arrest for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he requested the services of Mr. Abt:

"I want that attorney in New York, Mr. Abt. I don't know him personally but I know about a case that he handled some years ago, where he represented the people who had violated the Smith Act, [which made it illegal to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government] . . . I don't know him personally, but that is the attorney I want. . . . If I can't get him, then I may get the American Civil Liberties Union to send me an attorney."

References

  • John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press
  • New York FBI report, 9 April 1944, John Jacob Abt FBI file 100-236194, serial 6.
  • The Warren Commission Report, Volume X - Testimony of John J. Abt [1]
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