MEMORANDUM

To: The Files
From: Frederick D. Baron
Date: September 5, 1975
Re: Interview with James Douglas on Lumumba Assassination Case.

I spoke by phone today with James Douglas, who was Deputy Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower Administration from early December 1959 until January 21, 1961.

Mr. Douglas served under DOD Secretary Thomas Gates.

I interviewed Mr. Douglas because of a reference to him in Douglas Dillon's testimony (Dillon, p.19). Dillon said that in a phone conversation with Gates about the Pentagon meeting (at which Dillon said someone raised the question of assassinating Lumumba) Gates named James Douglas as a person likely to have attended such a meeting.

Never Heard Suggestion of Assassination

Mr. Douglas said that during his tenure in office, he never heard a suggestion of the assassination of Lumumba raised in his presence. "I never heard speculation that it was even on anyone's mind," he said.

Pentagon Meeting

Mr. Douglas does not recall a meeting at the Pentagon in the summer of 1960 (as recounted by Douglas Dillon) where the question of assassinating Lumumba was raised. Mr. Douglas says that it was possible that he attended such a meeting, but he has no recollection of it.

Special Group Meetings

Mr. Douglas attended Special Group meetings with some regularity. Frequently, however, these meetings were attended by Mr. Irwin, who was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during that period. Douglas said that Irwin was more actively in contact with the State Department and the CIA during this time. (Irwin is now practicing law in New York.)

Mr. Douglas said that the question of assassination of Lumumba was not raised in his presence at a Special Group meeting.