◆ SpookStack

While the conversation with Mr. Phillips appears to have been a one-on-one meeting between Phillips and General Taylor, the questions asked of Colonel Hawkins make clear that General Taylor, Robert Kennedy, and possibly Admiral Burke participated in the conversation. In addition, Colonel King, Chief of WH Division, also was present because he is identified as making at least one specific comment in the course of the conversation. No date is given for the session with Colonel Hawkins, but it is believed likely that it followed the third meeting of the Taylor Committee on 25 April.* Beginning with the first question, more than half of Hawkins's testimony focused on the question of whether the guerrilla option was a realistic possibility for the Brigade, i Col. Hawkins was a participant in the first three meetings of the CSG, but this "conversation" refers to a comment that Hawkins made "before lunch," thus eliminating this specific conversation as a part of the first meeting of the Taylor Committee because that meeting did not convene until the afternoon of 22 April 1961. The second session of the Taylor Committee ran from 10.20. - 1700 hours on 24 April and had both a morning and an afternoon session. Considering the length of the meeting it seems unlikely that the "conversation" with Hawkins took place then. The third meeting of the Committee on 25 April is recorded only as a morning session, but it was at this meeting that Col. Hawkins read his Memorandum for the Record of 24 April 1961 on "Factors Which Hampered Preparations for and Conduct of Effective Paramilitary Operations, Cuba." The questions and discussions noted in the conversation appear to relate directly to Hawkins's memorandum, and for this reason it is assumed that the conversation took place on the afternoon of 25 April 1961. 170