Table of Contents, Appendix XII, Appendix XIV
In August 1929, while she was still working at the law firm, Marguerite
married Edward John Pic, Jr., 10 a quiet man of her own age, who worked as a
clerk for T. Smith & Son a New Orleans stevedoring company. The marriage was
not a success, and by the summer of 1931 she and Pic were separated. Marguerite
was then 3 months pregnant; she told her family that Pic did not want any
children and refused to support her. Pic ascribed the separation simply to their
inability to get along together. A boy was born on January 17, 1932, whom
Marguerite named John Edward Pic. Pic saw his son occasionally until he was
about 1 year old; after that, he did not see the boy again but contributed to
his support until he was 18 years old.
During her separation from her first husband, Marguerite saw a great deal of
Robert Edward Lee Oswald, an insurance premium collector, who also was married
but was separated from his wife. In 1933, Marguerite was divorced from Pic and,
Oswald's wife also having obtained a divorce, they were married in a Lutheran
church on July 20. Marguerite has described the period of her marriage to Oswald
as "the only happy part" of her life. A son was born on April 7, 1934, who was
named for his father; Oswald wanted to adopt John Pic, but his mother objected
on the ground that John's father might cut off the support payments. In 1938,
the Oswalds purchased a new house on Alvar Street for $3,900, in what John
remembered as "a rather nice neighborhood." The house was across the street from
the William Frantz School, which first John and later both he and Robert, Jr.,
attended. On August 19, 1939, little more than a year after the Oswalds bought
the Alvar Street house, Robert Oswald died suddenly of a heart attack.
Two months later, on October 18, 1939, a second son was born. He was named
Lee after his father; Harvey was his paternal grandmother's maiden name. For a
while after her husband's death, Mrs. Oswald remained in the Alvar Street house
without working; she probably lived on life insurance proceeds. Sometime in
1940, she rented the house to Dr. Bruno F. Mancuso the doctor who had delivered
Lee. (Dr. Mancuso continued to rent the house until 1944, when Marguerite
obtained a judgment of possession against him. She sold the house for $6,500 to
the First Homestead and Savings Association, which resold it to Dr. Mancuso.)
She herself moved to a rented house at 1242 Congress Street, where she lived for
about half a year. For part of this period after Oswald's death, the two older
boys were placed in the Infant Jesus College, a Catholic boarding school in
Algiers, La., a suburb of New Orleans. Neither they nor their mother liked this
arrangement, which John thought was intended to save money; it lasted for less
than a year, after which the boys returned to the school Frantz and then
transferred to the George Washington Elementary School.
On March 5, 1941, Mrs. Oswald purchased a frame house at 1010 Bartholomew
Street, for $1,300. According to John's recollection, the neighborhood was not
as pleasant as Alvar Street; the house had a backyard, and the family kept a dog
named "Sunshine." A neighbor, Mrs. Viola Peterman, recalls that Mrs. Oswald kept
to herself but appeared to be "a good mother to her children." She opened a shop
in the front room, where she sold things like sewing"'supplies and small
groceries. Oswald's Notion Shop, as it was called, failed to make money, and on
January 16, 1942, Mrs. Oswald sold the house back to the Third District Home
Association, from which she had purchased it, for a profit of $800.
Probably in contemplation of the sale of the house, Mrs. Oswald applied in
December 1941 to the Evangelical Lutheran Bethlehem Orphan Asylum Association
for the admission of her two older sons to the orphan asylum, known as the
Bethlehem Children's Home; she stated on the application that she could
contribute $20 per month to their maintenance and would supply shoes and
clothing. She had inquired also about Lee, who was too young to be admitted.
John and Robert were accepted and entered the home on January 3, 1942.
Mrs. Oswald moved to an apartment at 831 Pauline Street, and returned to
work. In December 1942, she listed her occupation as "telephone operator"; this
may be the job she held at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., a company for which
she worked at some point during this period. She left Lee for much of this time
with his aunt, Mrs. Murret, who thought him a good looking, friendly child, but
could not devote a great deal of attention to him because she had five children
of her own. In the late spring of 1942, Lee was watched for several weeks by
Mrs. Thomas Roach, who lived with her husband in the same house as the Oswalds.
Lee evidently did not get along with Mrs. Roach who told the next occupant of
the house that Lee was a bad, unmanageable child who threw his toy gun at her.
Apparently referring to the Roaches, Mrs. Oswald testified that she had once
hired a couple to care for Lee; the couple neglected him, so she "put them out"
and cared for Lee herself until Mrs. Murret was able to help her again. Soon
after the incident with the Roaches, Mrs. Oswald moved again, this time to 111
Sherwood Forest Drive, near the Murrets.
Mrs. Murret took care of Lee for several months longer. Near Lee's third
birthday, Mrs. Oswald again inquired about his admission into the Bethlehem
Children's Home, perhaps because a disagreement with her sister made it
impossible to leave him with her any longer. He was admitted on December 26. On
his application, Mrs. Oswald agreed to contribute $10 per month and to supply
shoes and clothing, as for the other boys.
Lee remained in the home for about 13 months, but according to John's
testimony, left on several occasions to spend short periods of time with his
mother or the Murrets. John and Robert have pleasant memories of the home, which
apparently gave the children a good deal of freedom. Robert described it as
nondenominational but having "a Christian atmosphere"; "it might have been just
a Protestant home." Mrs. Oswald visited them regularly, and they occasionally
left the home to visit her or the Murrets.
In July 1943, Mrs. Oswald was hired to manage a small hosiery store. This is
probably the store to which she referred in her testimony as the "Princess
Hosiery Shop on Canal Street," at which, she testified, she was left by herself
and "in 6 days' time ... hired four girls." Her employer remembers her as a
neat, attractive, and hardworking woman, an aggressive person who would make a
good manager. She was not good with figures, however, and after several months
he discharged her. At about this same time, she met Edwin A. Ekdahl, an
electrical engineer older than herself, who was originally from Boston but was
then working in the area. They saw each other often. Ekdahl met the boys and,
according to John's testimony, on at least one occasion, they all spent a
weekend at a summer resort area in Covington, La.
By January 1944, Mrs. Oswald and Ekdahl had decided to marry. She withdrew
Lee from the Children's Home and moved with him to Dallas, where Ekdahl expected
to be located. They planned to postpone the marriage until the end of the school
year so that the older boys could complete the year at the home before they left
it. In the meantime, she would care for Ekdahl, who was recovering from a
serious illness, probably a heart attack. Mrs. Oswald has testified that when
she arrived in Dallas, she decided that she did not want to marry Ekdahl after
all. Using part of the proceeds from the sale of the Alvar Street house, she
purchased a house at 4801 Victor Street, a portion of which she rented. In June,
John and Robert left the Children's Home and joined their mother in Dallas. They
entered the nearby Davy Crockett Elementary School the following September.
Ekdahl visited Mrs. Oswald on weekends and stayed at Victor Street. By the
following year she had resolved her doubts about marrying him, influenced in
part by his substantial income and perhaps by the visit some time earlier of his
sister, who favored the marriage because of his ill health. Explaining that she
expected to travel a great deal, Mrs. Oswald tried unsuccessfully to return the
older boys to the home in February 1945. She and Ekdahl were married in May.
After a brief honeymoon, they returned to Victor Street.
Ekdahl got along well with the boys, on whom he lavished much aftention. John
testified that Ekdahl treated them as if they were his own children and that Lee
seemed to find in Ekdahl "the father he never had"; John recalled that on one
occasion he told Lee that Ekdahl and his mother had become reconciled after a
separation, and that "this seemed to really elate Lee, this made him really
happy that they were getting back together. "
Because Ekdahl's business required him to make frequent trips, in September,
John and Robert were placed in the Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy at Port
Gibson, Miss. ; their mother paid the tuition herself, using the proceeds from
the sale of the Alvar Street property. They remained at the academy for the next
3 years, returning home only for or vacations. Lee accompanied his parents on
their travels. Mrs. Myrtle Evans, who had known both Marguerite and Ekdahl
before their marriage, testified that Marguerite insisted on keeping Lee with
her; Mrs. Evans thought that Marguerite was "too close" to Lee and "spoiled him
to death," which hurt her marriage to Ekdahl.
Sometime in the fall after John and Robert were at boarding school, the
Ekdahls moved to Benbrook, a suburb of Fort Worth, where they lived on Granbury
Road, in a house of stone or brick, set on a large plot of land. Records of the
Benbrook Common School show Lee's admission into the first grade on October 31;
his birth date is incorrectly given as July 9, 1939, his mother presumably
having given that requirement. On February 8, 1946, he was admitted to the
Harris Hospital in Fort Worth with "acute mastoiditis." A mastoidectomy was
performed without complications, and Lee left the hospital in 4 days. (In 1955,
Lee indicated on a school form that he had an "abnormal ear drum in left ear,"
presumably a reference to the mastoidectomy; but when he entered the Marines
year later, physical examination disclosed no physical defects.) The Ekdahls'
marriage quickly broke down. Before they had been married a year, Marguerite
suspected Ekdahl of infidelity. She thought him stingy, and there were frequent
arguments about his insistence that she account for her expenditures and his
refusal to share his money with her. In the summer of 1946, she left Ekdahl,
picked up John and Robert at Chamberlain-Hunt, and moved with the boys to
Covington, La., where they lived for at least part of the time at 311 Vermont
Street. Mrs. Evans described them at Covington, possibly during this summer, as
"really a happy family"; Lee seemed like a normal boy but "kept to himself" and
seemed not "to want to be with any other children."
The separation continued after the two boys returned to boarding school, and
in September Lee was enrolled in the Covington Elementary School. His record at
Benbrook had been satisfactory he was present on 82 school days and absent on
15, and received all A's and B's but he had not completed the work of the first
grade, in which he was enrolled for a second time. Lee received no grades at the
Covington School, from which he was withdrawn on January 23, 1947, because his
parents, now reconciled, were moving to Fort Worth, where they lived at 1505
Eighth Avenue. Four days later, he enrolled in the Clayton Public School; he was
still in the first grade, which he completed in May with B's in every subject
except physical education and health, in which he received A's. In the fall, he
entered the second grade in the same school but, relations between his parents
having deteriorated again, was withdrawn before any grades were recorded.
After the move to Fort Worth, the Ekdahls continued to argue frequently;
according to John, "they would have a fight about every other day and he would
leave and come back." That summer, Marguerite obtained what she regarded as
proof that Ekdahl was having some sort of affair. According to her testimony, a
neighbor told her that Ekdahl had been living on Eighth Avenue with another
woman while she was in Covington. Then, at a time when Ekdahl was supposed to be
out of town, she went with John and several of his friends to an apartment in
Fort Worth; one of the boys posed as a telegram carrier, and when the door
opened she pushed her way into the apartment and found Ekdahl in his shirt
sleeves in the company of a woman in a negligee.
Despite this apparent confirmation of her suspicions, Marguerite continued to
live with Ekdahl until January 1948. In January, according to Ekdahl's
allegations in the subsequent divorce proceedings, she "directed ... [him] to
leave the home immediately and never to return," which he did. Ekdahl filed suit
for divorce in March. The complaint alleged that Marguerite constantly nagged
Ekdahl and argued "with reference to money matters," accused him of infidelity,
threw things at him, and finally ordered him out of the house; that these acts
were unprovoked by Ekdahl's conduct toward her; that her acts endangered his
already impaired health; and that her "excesses, harsh and cruel treatment and
outrages" toward him made it impossible for them to live together. She denied
all these allegations. After a trial, at which John testified and, he thought,
Lee was called to the stand but was excused without testifying, the jury found
on special issues that Marguerite was "guilty of excesses, cruel treatment, or
outrages" unprovoked by Ekdahl's conduct. On June 24, the court granted the
divorce and approved an agreement between the parties disposing of their
property between them and awarding Marguerite $1,500; at her request, the
divorce restored to Marguerite her former name, Marguerite C. Oswald.
While the divorce suit was pending, Marguerite moved from Eighth Avenue to a
house on 3300 Willing Street, next to railroad tracks. The boys found her there
in May when they returned from the military academy; for John, the move
signified that they "were back down in the lower class again." Lee's withdrawal
from the Clayton School on March 18, 1948, probably coincided with the move to
Willing Street. He entered the Clark Elementary School on the following day, and
in June completed the second grade with a record mostly of B's and A's. Philip
Vinson, a classmate at the Clayton School has described Lee at that time as "a
quiet type of kid" who "didn't make a lot of noise." Lee was "stocky and well
built," which made other boys look up to him and regard him as the leader of one
of their schoolyard "gangs." Vinson thought that Lee was not a bully and got
along with his classmates, but had the impression that he rarely played with
them or brought them home after school.
Shortly after the divorce, Mrs. Oswald purchased a small house in Benbrook,
on what is now San Saba Street; John has testified that it had a single bedroom,
in which Lee slept with his mother, and a screened porch where John and Robert
slept. Mrs. Oswald worked at a department store in Fort Worth, and left the
three boys home alone. A neighbor, Mrs. W. H. Bell, has stated that Lee seemed
to enjoy being by himself and to resent discipline; another neighbor, Otis R.
Carlton, stated that he once saw Lee chase John with a knife and throw it at
him, an incident which, Carlton said, their mother passed off as a "little
scuffle." At the end of the summer, Carlton purchased the property. He stated
that he appraised it at $2,750 at Mrs. Oswald's request; she then insisted that
he had made an offer to purchase at that price, which he finally agreed to do.
After the house was sold, the family returned to Fort Worth, a move
necessitated by Mrs. Oswald's, and now John's, employment. Mrs. Oswald bought a
two-bedroom, frame house at 7408 Ewing, from which Robert and Lee could walk to
school. John, who was then 16, obtained a job as a shoe stockboy at Everybody's
Department Store; he testified that he wanted to finish high school at the
military academy, but that his mother advised him to leave school and help to
support the family. He gave her $15 per week out of his salary of $25. Robert
returned to school.
Lee entered the third grade at the Arlington Heights Elementary School. He
remained at Arlington Heights for the entire school year, completing the third
grade with a satisfactory record, which included A's in social studies,
citizenship, elementary science, art, and music, and a D in spelling. In
September 1949, he transferred to the Ridglea West Elementary School, where he
remained for the next 3 years. Lee's record at Ridglea is not remarkable in any
respect. In the fourth and fifth grades, he received mostly B's; in the sixth
grade, B's and C's predominate. He received D's in both the fifth and sixth
grades in spelling and arithmetic; in the fourth and sixth grades, C's are
recorded for Spanish, which may account for his rudimentary familiarity with
that language later on. In the fourth grade his IQ was recorded at 103; on
achievement tests in each of the 3 years, he twice did best in reading and twice
did worst in spelling.
Lee is generally characterized as an unexceptional but rather solitary boy
during these years. His mother worked in a variety of jobs, and, according to
her own testimony, told Lee not to contact her at work except in an emergency.
He ordinarily returned home alone directly after school, in obedience to his
mother's instructions. A fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Clyde I. Livingston,
described him as a lonely boy, quiet and shy, who did not easily form
friendships with other students. But Richard W. Garrett has stated that he was a
classmate of Lee in the fourth or fifth grade and found him easy to get along
with; he recalled playing with Lee often at school and sometimes walking home
together with him. Mrs. Livingston recalled that at Christmas 1949, Lee gave her
a puppy and afterward came to her home to see the puppy and talk to her and her
family.
Lee's relationship with his brothers was good but limited by the difference
in their ages. He still had a dog, but there were few children of his age in the
neighborhood, and he appears to have been by himself after school most of the
time. He read a lot, had a stamp collection, and played chess and Monopoly with
his brothers. Mrs. Murret remembered that on a visit to her home in New Orleans,
Lee refused to play with other children or even to leave the house; he preferred
to stay indoors and read (mostly "funnybooks") or listen to the radio. After
several weeks with the Murrets, Lee wrote to his mother and asked her to come
for him. Hiram Conway, a neighbor on Ewing Street, thought Lee was an
intelligent child, who picked things up easily; although he did not recall many
specific incidents to support his impressions, Conway regarded Lee as "a bad
kid," who was "quick to anger" and "mean when he was angry, just ornery." John's
general picture of Lee in these years is that of "a normal healthy robust boy
who would get in fights and still have his serious moments."
John returned to high school in January 1949, but continued to work part
time. Early in 1950, he entered the Coast Guard. Robert left school soon after
John's departure and went to work full time, contributing most of his earnings
to the support of his family. He returned to school in 1951-52, and after
completing his junior year in high school, joined the Marines in July 1952. In
August, Mrs. Oswald and Lee moved to New York, where John was living with his
wife and a very young baby in an apartment at 325 East 92d Street; the
apartment- belonged to John's mother-in-law, who was temporarily away. Mrs.
Oswald has explained that with Robert gone she did not want Lee to be alone
while she worked and that she went to New York City "not as a venture," but
because she "had family" there. The visit began well. John testified of his
meeting with Lee: "We met in the street and I was real glad to see him and he
was real glad to see me. We were real good friends." He took about a week of
leave and showed Lee the city; he remembered trips to the Museum of Natural
History and Polk's Hobby Shop, and a ride on the Staten Island ferry. But when
it became obvious that his mother intended to stay, the atmosphere changed. Mrs.
Oswald did not get along with John's wife, with whom she quarreled frequently.
There was difficulty about her failure to contribute anything towards her own
and Lee's support. According to John, his wife liked Lee and would have been
glad to have him alone stay with them but felt that his mother set Lee against
her; they never suggested that Lee remain with them since they knew that it
would not work out. The visit ended when Lee threatened Mrs. Pic with a pocket
knife during a quarrel, and she asked Mrs. Oswald to leave. John testified that
during this same quarrel Lee hit his mother, who appeared to have lost all
control over him. The incident permanently destroyed the good relationship
between Lee and his brother.
Mrs. Oswald and Lee moved uptown to a one-room basement apartment in the
Bronx, at 1455 Sheridan Avenue. While they were still at the Pica, he had been
enrolled at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran School on Watson Avenue. He was
withdrawn on September 26, after several weeks of irregular attendance, and 4
days later enrolled in the seventh grade of Public School 117, a junior high
school. Mrs. Oswald found a job at one of the Lerner Shops, a chain of dress
shops for which she had worked briefly in Fort Worth several years before. In
January, they moved again, to 825 East 179th Street, and a few weeks later, she
left the employ of Lerner Shops. In April, she was working at Martin's
Department Store in Brooklyn, where she earned $45 per week; in May, she went to
work for a chain of hosiery shops, with which she remained until December. Lee
was registered at Public School 117 until January 16, 1953, although the move to
179th Street, which took him out of that school district, probably took place
before that date. He had been at Public School 117 for 64 schooldays, out of
which he had been present on 15 full and 2 half days; he had received failing
grades in most of his courses.
Lee's truancy increased after he moved; he was now located in the school
district of Public School but refused to go to school there. On one occasion
that spring, an attendance officer located Lee at the Bronx Zoo; the officer
testified that Lee was clean and well dressed, but was surly and referred to the
officer as a "damned Yankee." Several truancy hearings were held in January, at
the first of which at least, both Mrs. Oswald and Lee evidently failed to
appear. At a hearing on January 27, by which time it was known that Lee was
living in the Public School district, it was decided to commence judicial
proceedings if his truancy continued. Meanwhile, on January 16, his mother
called the Community Service Society, to which she had been referred by the
Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, and asked for an appointment to
discuss the problem. She mentioned that a truancy hearing had been held and said
that Lee would not attend school despite the threat of official action; she
thought that his behavior was due to difficulty in adjusting to his new
environment. An appointment was scheduled for January 30, but she failed to
appear, and the case was closed. Sometime in February, the Pics visited the
Oswalds. John testified that his mother told him about Lee's truancy and asked
how she could get Lee to accept psychiatric aid. Nothing came of these
discussions.
On March 12, the attendance officer in charge of Lee's case filed a petition
in court which alleged that Lee had been "excessively absent from school"
between October and January, that he had refused to register at Public School or
to attend school there, and that he was "beyond the control of his mother
insofar as school attendance is concerned? On the same day, Mrs. Oswald appeared
in court alone and informed the presiding judge that Lee refused to appear in
court. Evidently impressed by the proceedings, however, Lee did register at
Public School on March 23. Nevertheless, on April 16, Justice Delany declared
him a truant, and remanded him to Youth House until May 7 for psychiatric study.
In accordance with the regular procedures at Youth House, Lee took a series
of tests and was interviewed by a staff social worker and a probation officer,
both of whom interviewed Mrs. Oswald as well. Their findings, discussed more
fully in chapter VII of the Commission's report, indicated that Lee was a
withdrawn, socially maladjusted boy, whose mother did not interest herself
sufficiently in his welfare and had failed to establish a close relationship
with him. Mrs. Oswald visited Lee at Youth House and came away with a highly
unfavorable impression; she regarded it as unfit for her son. On the basis of
all the test results and reports and his own interview with Lee, Dr. Renatus
Hartogs, the chief staff psychiatrist, recommended that Lee be placed on
probation with a requirement that he seek help from a child guidance clinic, and
that his mother be urged to contact a family agency for help; he recommended
that Lee not be placed in an institution unless treatment during probation was
unsuccessful.
Lee returned to court on May 7. He and his mother appeared before Justice
McClancy, who discussed the Youth House reports with them. He released Lee on
parole until September 24, and requested that a referral be made to the
Community Service Society for treatment. The probation officer called the
society on the same day but was told that. it would probably not be able to take
the case because of its already full case load and the intensive treatment which
Lee was likely to require; it confirmed this position 1 week later and dosed the
case on May 31. An application was made to the Salvation Army also, which turned
it down because it could not provide the needed services.
During the few weeks of school which remained, Lee attended school regularly,
and completed the seventh grade with low but passing marks in all his academic
subjects. (He received a failing mark in a home economics course.) His conduct
was generally satisfactory and he was rated outstanding in
"Social-Participation"; the record indicates that he belonged to a model
airplane club and had a special interest in horseback riding. Robert Oswald
visited New York that summer, while he was on leave from the Marines. Lee did
not appear to him to be unhappy or to be acting abnormally, nor did Robert
observe that relations between Lee and his mother were strained. Lee's truancy
the previous fall and winter was apparently discussed only in passing, when Mrs.
Oswald mentioned that Lee had to appear before a judge.
On September 14, Lee entered the eighth grade at Public School 44. His parole
was due to end 10 days later. On September 24, however, Mrs. Oswald telephoned
the probation officer and advised that she could not appear in court; she added
that there was no need for her to do so, since Lee was attending school
regularly and was now well adjusted. The parole was extended until October 29,
before which date the school was to submit a progress report. The report was
highly unfavorable. Although Lee was attending school regularly, his conduct was
unsatisfactory; teachers reported that he refused to salute the flag, did little
work, and seemed to spend most of his time "sailing paper planes around the
room." On October 29, Mrs. Oswald again telephoned to say that she would be
unable to appear. Justice Sicher continued Lee's parole until November 19 and
directed the probation officer to make a referral to the Berkshire Industrial
Farm or Children's Village.
Before the next hearing, Mrs. Oswald discussed Lee's behavior with the school
authorities, who indicated to the probation officer that Lee's behavior improved
considerably after her visit to the school. He did, in fact, receive passing
grades in most of his subjects in the first marking period. His report also
contains notations by his teacher that he was "quick-tempered," "constantly
losing control," and "getting into battles with others." Both Lee and his mother
appeared in court on November 19. Despite Mrs. Oswald's request that Lee be
discharged, Justice Sicher stated his belief that Lee needed treatment, and
continued his parole until January 28, 1954; the probation officer was directed
to contact the Big Brothers counseling service in the meantime.
At the request of the probation officer, the Big Brothers office contacted
Mrs. Oswald in December, and on January 4 a caseworker visited her and Lee at
home. The caseworker reported that he was cordially received but was told by
Mrs. Oswald that continued counseling was unnecessary; she pointed out to him
that Lee now belonged to the West Side YMCA, which he attended every Saturday.
The caseworker reported, however, that Lee was plainly "displeased with the idea
of being forced to join various 'Y' organizations about which he cared little."
Mrs. Oswald declared her intention to return to New Orleans and was advised to
obtain Lee's release from the court's jurisdiction before she left. On the
following day, she called the probation officer, who was away on vacation, and
was advised by his office again not to take Lee out of the jurisdiction without
the court's consent. The same advice was repeated to her by the Big Brothers
caseworker on January 6. Through all these contacts, Mrs. Oswald had evidenced
reluctance to bring Lee into court, prompted probably by fear that he would be
retained in some sort of custody as he had been at the time of the commitment to
Youth House. Without further communication to the court, Mrs. Oswald and Lee
returned to New Orleans sometime before January 10. On March 11, the court
dismissed the case.
In New Orleans, Lee and his mother stayed with the Murrets at 757 French
Street while they looked for an apartment. Lee enrolled in the eighth grade at
Beauregard Junior High School on January 13 and completed the school year
without apparent difficulty. He entered the ninth grade in September and again
received mediocre but acceptable marks. In October 1954, Lee took a series of
achievement tests, on which he did well in reading and vocabulary, badly in
mathematics. At the end of the school year, on June 2, 1955, he filled out a
"personal history." He indicated that the subjects which he liked best were
civics, science, and mathematics; those he liked least were English and art. His
vocational preferences were listed as biology and mechanical drawing; his plans
after high school, however, were noted as "military service" and "undecided." He
said that reading and outdoor sports were his recreational activities and that
he liked football in particular. In response to the question whether he had "any
close friends in this school," he wrote, "no."
Lee is remembered by those who knew him in New Orleans as a quiet, solitary
boy who made few friends. He was briefly a member of the Civil Air Patrol, and
considered joining an organization of high school students interested in
astronomy; occasionally, he played pool or darts with his friend, Edward Voebel.
Beyond this, he seems to have had few contacts with other people. He read a lot,
starting at some point to read Communist literature which he found at the public
library; he walked or rode a bicycle, sometimes visiting a museum. Except in his
relations with his mother, he was not unusually argumentative or belligerent,
but he seems not to have avoided fights if they came; they did come fairly
frequently, perhaps in part because of his aloofness from his fellows and the
traces of a northern accent in his speech. His only close friendship, with
Voebel, arose when Voebel helped him tend his wounds after a fight. Friends of
Mrs. Oswald thought that he was demanding and insolent toward her and that she
had no control over him.
While Lee was in the eighth and ninth grades, Mrs. Oswald worked first at
Burt's Shoestore and then at the Dolly Shoe Co. One of her employers at Dolly,
where she worked as a cashier and salesclerk, remembered her as a pleasant
person and a good worker. At her request, the company hired Lee to work part
time; he worked there, mostly on Saturdays, for about 10 weeks in 1955. On the
"personal history" record which he filled out in school, he stated that he had
been, a "retail shoesaleman"; but his employer recalled that they had tried to
train him as a salesman without success and that he had in fact, been a
stockboy.
After a short period with the Murrets, Mrs. Oswald and Lee had moved to an
apartment. owned by Myrtle Evans at 1454 Saint Mary Street, which she and Mrs.
Murret helped to furnish; later they moved to a less expensive apartment in the
same building, the address of which was 1452 Saint Mary Street. Relations
between Mrs. Oswald and Mrs. Evans became strained, and in the spring of 1955
the Oswalds moved to a new apartment at 126 Exchange Place in the French
Quarter. Although Lee gave the Exchange Place address on a school form at the
end of the ninth grade, the school authorities had apparently not been advised
of these moves earlier, because Mrs. Oswald did not want Lee to be transferred
from Beauregard, which she considered a good school. During the summer of 1955,
Robert left the Marine Corps and spent a week with his mother and Lee in New
Orleans before moving to Fort Worth; he found Lee unchanged.
That fall, Lee entered the 10th grade at Warren Easton High School. He had
been there for about a month when he presented to the school authorities a note
written by himself to which he had signed his mother's name. It was dated
October 7, 1955, and read:
To whom it may concern,
Because we are moving to San Diego in the middle of this month Lee must quit
school now. Also, please send by him any papers such as his birth certificate
that you may have. Thank you.
Sincerely, Performed various clerical duties such as distributing mail, delivering
messages & answering telephone. Helped file records & operated ditto,
letter opening & sealing machines.
Anticipating that Lee would join the Marines as soon as he was 17, Mrs.
Oswald moved in July 1956 to Fort Worth, where she took an apartment at 4936
Collinswood for herself, Lee, and Robert. In September, Lee enrolled in the 10th
grade at the Arlington Heights High School but attended classes for only a few
weeks. He dropped out of school on September 28 . A few days later, he wrote the
following letter to the Socialist Party of America:
October 3, 1956
Dear Sirs; Sincerely Lee became 17 on October 18. He enlisted in the Marines on October 24.
While he was at San Diego, Oswald was trained in the use of the M-1 rifle.
His practice scores were not very good, but when his company fired for record on
December 21, he scored 212, 2 points above the score necessary to qualify as a
"sharpshooter" on a marksman/sharpshooter/expert scale. He did not do nearly as
well when he fired for record again shortly before he left the Marines. He
practiced also with a riot gun and a . 45-caliber pistol when he was in the
Marines but no scores were recorded.
Oswald was given a 4. 4 rating in both "conduct" and "proficiency" at the
Recruit Depot, the highest possible rating being 5. 0 and an average rating of
4. 0 being required for an honorable discharge. On January 18, 1957, he reported
to Camp Pendleton, Calif., for further training and was assigned to "A" Company
of the First Battalion, Second Infantry Training Regiment. He was at Pendleton
for a little more than 5 weeks, at the end of which he was rated 4. 2 in conduct
and 4. 0 in proficiency. Allen R. Felde, a fellow recruit who was with Oswald at
San Diego and Pendleton, has stated that Oswald was generally unpopular and that
his company was avoided by the other men. When his squad was given its first
weekend leave from Pendleton, all eight men took a cab to Tijuana, Mexico.
Oswald left the others and did not rejoin them until it was time to return to
camp. Felde said that this practice was repeated on other trips to Los Angeles;
Oswald accompanied the men on the bus to and from camp but did not stay with
them in the city. On February 27, he went on leave for 2 weeks, during which he
may have visited his mother in Fort Worth.
On March 18, he reported to the Naval Air Technical Training Center at the
Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla. For the next 6 weeks he attended an
Aviation Fundamental School, in which he received basic instruction in his
specialty, including such subjects as basic radar theory, map reading, and air
traffic control procedures. This course, as well as his next training assignment
at Keesler Air Force Base, required Oswald to deal with confidential material.
He was granted final clearance up to the "confidential" level on May 3, "after
[a] careful check of local records had disclosed no derogatory data." He
completed the course on the same day, ranking 46th in a class of 54 students. On
the previous day, he had been promoted to private, first class, effective May 1.
At Jacksonville, he received ratings of 4. 7 in conduct and 4. 5 in proficiency,
the highest ratings he ever attained.
Oswald left for Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., on the day his
course was completed; he traveled, probably by overnight train, in a group of
six marines led by Pfc. Daniel P. Powers, the senior marine in charge. At
Keesler, he attended the Aircraft Control and Warning Operator Course, which
included instruction in aircraft surveillance and the use of radar. Powers was
not sure whether he had met Oswald before the trip to Biloxi but remembers him
there as "a somewhat younger individual less matured than the other boys," who
"was normally outside the particular group of marines that were in this
attachment to Keesler." (Oswald was in fact 3 years younger than Powers.) Powers
testified that Oswald had the nickname "Ozzie Rabbit." Oswald generally stayed
to himself, often reading; he did not play cards or work out in the gym with the
others. He spent his weekends alone, away from the base; Powers thought he left
Biloxi and perhaps went "home" to New Orleans, less than 100 miles away. He
finished the course seventh in a class of 30 marines on June 17, and on June 25,
was given an MOS (military occupational specialty) of Aviation Electronics
Operator. On June 20, he went on leave, possibly visiting his mother. His
ratings at Keesler were 4. 2 in conduct and 4. 5 in proficiency, which Powers
thought was "pretty good. "
On July 9, Oswald reported at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro,
Calif., near Santa Ana. He was classified as a replacement trainee and attached
to the Fourth Replacement Battalion. Six weeks later, on August 22, he departed
from San Diego for Yokosuka, Japan, on board the U. S. S. Bexar. Powers
testified that while on board, Oswald taught him to play chess, which they
played frequently, sometimes for more than 4 hours a day. Like most of the men
on board, Oswald read a lot from the books which were available. Powers thought
he read "a good type of literature," remembering in particular Whitman's "Leaves
of Grass. "
The Bexar docked at Yokosuka on September 12. Oswald was assigned to Marine
Air Control Squadron No. (MACS-1), Marine Air Group 11, 1st Marine Aircraft
Wing, based at Atsugi, about 20 miles west of Tokyo. Oswald was a radar operator
in MACS-1, which had less than 100 men. Its function was to direct aircraft to
their targets by radar, communicating with the pilots by radio. The squadron had
also the duty of scouting for incoming foreign aircraft, such as straying
Russian or Chinese planes, which would be intercepted by American planes.
On October 27, when Oswald opened his locker to remove some gear, a derringer
. 22 caliber pistol fell to the floor and discharged; the bullet hit him in the
left elbow. Paul Edward Murphy, a fellow marine who was in the next cubicle,
heard the shot, rushed in, and found Oswald sitting on the locker looking at his
arm; without emotion, Oswald said to Murphy, "I believe I shot myself." He was
in the naval hospital at Yokosuka until November 15.
The Judge Advocate General concluded that Oswald had "displayed a certain
degree of carelessness or negligence" by storing a loaded revolver in his
locker, but that his injury was incurred "in the line of duty" and was not the
result of his own misconduct." He was, however, charged with possession of an
unregistered privately owned weapon in violation of general orders. A
court-martial followed on April 11, 1958, when Oswald's unit returned from
maneuvers, and on April 29 he was sentenced to be confined at hard labor for 20
days, to forfeit $25 per month for 2 months, and to be reduced to the grade of
private. The confinement was suspended for 6 months, after which that portion of
the sentence was to be remitted.
Five days after Oswald left the hospital, MACS-1 embarked aboard the Terrell
County, LST 1157, for maneuvers in the Philippine Islands area. According to
Powers' recollection, the squadron was expected to return to Atsugi after
maneuvers were completed, but an international crisis developed; since another
operation was scheduled for a few months later, the squadron debarked at Cubi
Point (Subic Bay) in the Philippines and set up a temporary installation. While
he was in the Philippines, Oswald passed a test of eligibility for the rank of
corporal; in a semiannual evaluation, however, he was given his lowest ratings
thus far: 4. 0 in conduct and 3. 9 in proficiency. The unit participated in
exercises at Corregidor, from which it sailed for Atsugi on March 7, 1958,
aboard the U. S. S. Wexford County, LST 1168. The Wexford County reached Atsugi
11 days later.
Oswald was court-martialed a second time on June 27, for using "provoking
words" to a noncommissioned officer (a sergeant) on June 20, at the Bluebird
Cafe in Yamato, and assaulting the officer by pouring a drink on him. The
findings were that Oswald spilled the drink accidentally, but when the sergeant
shoved him away, Oswald invited the sergeant outside in insulting language.
Oswald admitted that he was rather drunk and had invited the sergeant outside
but did not recall insulting him. He was sentenced to be confined at hard labor
for 28 days and to forfeit $55; in addition, suspension of the previous sentence
of confinement was withdrawn. He was in confinement until August 13. Meanwhile,
a previously granted extension of oversea duty was canceled, and he was given
ratings of 1. 9 in conduct and 3. 4 in proficiency.
On September 14, Oswald sailed with his unit for the South China Sea area;
the unit was at Ping Tung, North Taiwan on September 30, and returned to Atsugi
on October 5. On October 6, he was transferred out of MACS-1 and put on general
duty, in anticipation of his return to the United States. He spent several days
thereafter in the Atsugi Station Hospital. On October 31, he received his last
oversea ratings: 4. 0 in both conduct and proficiency.
Oswald appears generally to have been regarded by his fellows overseas as an
intelligent person who followed orders and did his work well, but who complained
frequently. He did not associate much with other marines and continued to read a
great deal. Paul Murphy testified that Oswald could speak "a little Russian"
while he was overseas. Powers believed that Oswald became more assertive in
Japan and thought that he might have had a Japanese girl friend. He departed
from Yokosuka on board the USNS Barrett on November 2, and arrived in San
Francisco 13 days later. On November 19, he took 30 days' leave.
On December 22, Oswald was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron No. 9
(MACS-9) at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, where he had been briefly
before he went overseas. He was one of about seven enlisted men and three
officers who formed a "radar crew," engaged primarily in aircraft surveillance.
This work probably gave him access to certain kinds of classified material, some
of which, such as aircraft call signs and radio frequencies, was changed after
his defection to Russia. For part of his time at El Toro, Oswald may have been
assigned to clerical or janitorial tasks on the base. Some of his associates
believed rumors, incorrect according to official records, that he had lost his
clearance to work on radar crews; one recalled hearing that Oswald had once had
clearance above the "confidential" level and had lost it because he "had poured
beer over a staff NCO's head in an enlisted club in Japan, and had been put in
the brig. "
The officer in command of the radar crew, Lt. John E. Donovan, found him
"competent in all functions," and observed that he handled himself calmly and
well in emergency situations. Donovan thought Oswald was not a leader but that
he performed competently on occasions when, as the senior man present, he served
as crew chief. This estimate was generally shared by his fellows, most of whom
thought that he performed his assigned duties adequately but was deficient in
disciplinary matters and such things as barracks inspection. One of them
recalled that after a number of bad inspections, the other members of Oswald's
Quonset hut complained about him and secured his transfer to another hut. He was
thought to be an intelligent person, somewhat better educated and more
intellectually oriented than other men on the base. A few of the men thought it
more accurate to describe him as someone who wanted to appear intelligent. He
had a pronounced interest in world affairs, in which he appears to have been
better informed than some of the officers, whose lack of knowledge amused and
sometimes irritated him; he evidently enjoyed drawing others, especially
officers, into conversations in which he could display his own superior
knowledge.
It seems clear from the various recollections of those who knew him at El
Toro that by the time Oswald returned to the United States, he no longer had any
spirit for the Marines; the attitudes which had prompted his enlistment as soon
as he was eligible were entirely gone, and his attention had turned away from
the Marines to what he might do after his discharge. While no one was able to
predict his attempt to defect to Russia within a month after he left the
Marines, the testimony of those who knew him at El Toro in contrast to that of
his associates in Japan, leaves no doubt that his thoughts were occupied
increasingly with Russia and the Russian way of life. He had studied the Russian
language enough by February 25, 1959, to request that he be given a foreign
language qualification test; his rating was "poor" in all parts of the test.
Most of the marines who knew him were aware that he was studying Russian; one of
them, Henry J. Roussel, Jr., arranged a date between Lee and his aunt, Rosaleen
Quinn, an airline stewardess who was also studying Russian. (Miss Quinn thought
that Oswald spoke Russian well in view of his lack of formal training; she found
the evening uninteresting. Donovan, with whom she had a date later, testified
that she told him that Oswald was "kind of an oddball. ") He read, and perhaps
subscribed to, a newspaper, possibly printed in Russian, which his associates
connected with his Russian bent.
Most of those who knew him were able to recount anecdotes which suggest that
he was anxious to publicize his liking for things Russian, sometimes in good
humor and sometimes seriously. Some of his fellows called him "Oswaldskovich,"
apparently to his pleasure. He is said to have had his name written in Russian
on one of his jackets; to have played records of Russian songs "so loud that one
could hear them outside the barracks"; frequently to have made remarks in
Russian or used expressions like "da" or "nyet," or addressed others (and been
addressed) as "Comrade"; to have come over and said jokingly, "You called?" when
one of the marines played a particular record of Russian music.
Connected with this Russophilia was an interest in and acceptance of Russian
political views and, to a lesser extent, Communist ideology. Less obvious to his
fellows generally, it nevertheless led him into serious discussions with some of
them. Donovan, who was a graduate of the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown
University, thought Oswald was "truly interested in international fairs" and
"very well versed, at least on the superficial facts of a given foreign
situation." He recalled that Oswald had a particular interest in Latin America
and had a good deal of information about Cuba in particular. Oswald expressed
sympathy for Castro but, according to Donovan, "what he said about Castro was
not an unpopular belief at that time." Donovan believed that Oswald subscribed
to the Russian newspaperwhich Donovan thought was a Communist newspapernot only
in order to read Russian but also because he thought it "presented a very
different and perhaps equally just side of the international affairs in
comparison with the United States newspapers." Donovan was clear, on the other
hand, that he never heard Oswald "in any way, shape or form confess that he was
a Communist, or that he ever thought about being a Communist. "
Private Kerry Thornley described himself as a close acquaintance, but not a
good friend, of Oswald, whom he met in the spring of 1959; he later wrote an
unpublished novel in which he drew heavily on his impressions of Oswald.
Thornley generally corroborates Donovan's testimony but thought Oswald
definitely believed that "the Marxist morality was the most rational morality to
follow" and communism, "the best system in the world." Thornley thought this
belief was "theoretical," a "dispassionate appraisal" which did not indicate
"any active commitment to the Communist ends"; he described Oswald as "idle in
his admiration for communism." He recalled discussions about Marxism in which
Oswald criticized capitalism and praised the Soviet economic system. Thornley
testified that his association with Oswald ended when, in response to Oswald's
criticism of a parade in which they both had to march, he said "Well, comes the
revolution you will damage all that." Oswald, he said, looked at him "like a
betrayed Caesar" and walked away. Thornley attributed Oswald's decision to go to
Russia to a growing disillusionment with the United States, especially its role
in the Far East, and a conviction that communism would eventually prevail. He
was surprised by the decision but expected Oswald to adjust to Russian life and
remain in Russia permanently.
Another marine, Nelson Delgado, met Oswald soon after the latter arrived at
El Toro. They were about the same age and had similar interests; Oswald enjoyed
trying to speak Spanish with Delgado, who spoke it fluently. Delgado regarded
him as a "complete believer that our way of government was not quite right," but
did not think he was a Communist. Their discussions were concerned more with
Cuba than Russia. They both favored the Castro government and talked"dreaming,"
Delgado saidabout joining the Cuban Army or Government and perhaps leading
expeditions to other Caribbean islands to "free them too." Oswald told Delgado
that he was in touch with Cuban diplomatic. officials in this count; which
Delgado at first, took to be "one of his ... lies," but later believed.
Oswald's interest in Russia and developing ideological attachment to
theoretical communism apparently dominated his stay at El Toro. He was still
withdrawn from most of his fellows, although his special interests appear to
have made him stand out more there than he had at other posts and to have given
him a source for conversation which he had hitherto lacked. According to several
of the witnesses, names like "Ozzie Rabbit" still clung to him; others recalled
no nickname or only shortened versions of his real name. His reading acquired
direction; books like "Das Kapital" and Orwell's "Animal Farm" and "1984" are
mentioned in the testimony concerning this period. He played chess; according to
one of his opponents he chose the red pieces, expressing a preference for the
"Red Army." He listened to classical music. For a short time, he played on the
squadron football team. According to Donovan, who coached the team, Oswald was
not very good; he lacked team spirit and often tried to call the plays, which
was not his job. Delgado thought Oswald was a mediocre player. Donovan did not
know whether Oswald quit or was thrown off the team. He spent most of his
weekends alone, as he had at Keesler, and did not leave the post as often as the
other men. Delgado once rode with him on the train to Los Angeles but separated
from him there; Oswald returned to the base after one night. Del-gado recalls
that on another weekend Oswald accepted his invitation to go to Tijuana; they
stayed there for one night.
At the end of January l959 and at the end of July, Oswald was given his
semiannual ratings, scoring 4. 0 in conduct both times, and 4. 0 and 4. 2 in
proficiency. (The July ratings were repeated in September, when he was
transferred from MACS-9 in preparation for his discharge.) On March 9, he was
promoted as of March 1, to the rank of private, first class, for the second
time. He took a series of high school level general educational development
tests on March 23 and received an overall rating of "satisfactory." His best
scores, in the 76th and 79th U. S. percentiles, were in English composition and
physical sciences; his worst was English literature, in which he placed in the
34th percentile. In the spring, Oswald applied to Albert Sehweitzer College in
Churwalden, Switzerland, for admission to the spring term in 1960; the
application is dated March 19. Sehweitzer is a small school, which specializes
in courses in religion, ethics, science, and literature. He claimed a
proficiency in Russian equal to 1 year of schooling and that he had completed
high school by correspondence with an average grade of 85 percent. He listed
philosophy, psychology, ideology, football, baseball, tennis and
stamp-collecting as special interests, and writing short stories "on
contemporary American life" as his vocational interest. Jack London, Charles
Darwin, and Norman Vincent Peale were listed as favorite authors. He claimed
membership in the YMCA and the "A. Y. H. Association," and said that he had
participated in a "student body movement in school" for the control of juvenile
delinquency. Asked to give a general statement of his reasons for wanting to
attend the college, he wrote:
In order to acquire a fuller understanding of that subject which interest
me most, Philosophy. To meet with Europeans who can broaden my scope of
understanding. To receive formal Education by instructors of high standing and
character. To broaden my knowledge of German and to live in a healthy climate
and Good moral atmosphere.
On the basis of these representations, Oswald's application was approved
by the college. He enclosed a registration fee of $25 in a letter dated June 19,
in which he said that he was "looking forward to a fine stay." Few of the other
marines seem to have known about this application. He told Delgado, however,
that he planned to attend a Swiss school to study psychology, and Delgado knew
that some application had been made. Another marine, Richard Call, also knew
something of his plans.
Oswald was obligated to serve on active duty until December 7, 1959 (the date
having been adjusted to compensate for the period of confinement). On August 17,
he submitted a request for a dependency discharge, on the ground that his mother
needed his support. The request was accompanied by an affidavit of Mrs. Oswald
and corroborating affidavits from an attorney, a doctor, and two friends,
attesting that she had been injured at work in December 1958, and was unable to
support herself. Oswald had previously made a voluntary allotment of part of his
salary to his mother, under which arrangement she received $40 in August, and
had submitted an application for a "Q" allotment (dependency allowance) in her
behalf of $91. 30; one payment of the "Q" allotment, for the month of August,
was made in September. On August 28, the Wing Hardship or Dependency Discharge
Board recommended that Oswald's request for a discharge be approved; approval
followed shortly. On September 4, he was transferred from MACS-9 to the H. &
H. Squadron, and on September 11, he was released from active duty and
transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve, in which he was expected to serve until
December 8, 1962. He was assigned to the Marine Air Reserve Training Command at
the Naval Air Station in Glenview, Ill.
Almost exactly 1 year later, on September 13, 1960, Oswald was given an
"undesirable discharge" from the Marine Corps Reserve, based on:
reliable information which indicated that he had renounced his U. S.
citizenship with the intentions of becoming a permanent citizen of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics. Further, that petitioner brought discredit to the
Marine Corps through adverse newspaper publicity, which was generated by the
foregoing action, and had thereby, in the opinion of his commanding officer,
proved himself unfit for retention in the naval service.
Oswald went directly home after his discharge, and arrived in Fort Worth by
September 14. He told his mother that he intended to get a job on a ship or
possibly in the "export-import business." If he stayed in Fort Worth, he said,
he would be able to earn only about $30 per week; on a ship, he would earn "big
money" and be able to send substantial amounts home. Three days after he arrived
in Fort Worth, he left for New Orleans. While he was in Fort Worth he had
registered his dependency discharge and entry into the Marine Reserve at the
Fort Worth Selective Service Board, and visited his brother Robert and his
family. He also gave his mother $100.
On September 17, Oswald spoke with a representative of Travel Consultants,
Inc., a New Orleans travel bureau; he filled out a "Passenger Immigration
Questionnaire," on which he gave his occupation as "shipping export agent" and
said that he would be abroad for 2 months on a pleasure trip. He booked passage
from New Orleans to Le Havre, France, on a freighter, the SS Marion Lykes,
scheduled to sail on September 18, for which he paid $220. 75. On the evening of
September 17, he registered at the Liberty Hotel.
The Marion Lykes did not sail until the early morning of September 20. Before
its departure, Oswald wrote his mother a letter, which was her last news of him
until she read stories of his defection in Fort Worth newspapers:
Dear Mother: Oswald disembarked at Le Havre on October 8. He left for England that same
day, and arrived on October 9. He told English customs officials in Southampton
that he had $700 and planned to remain in the United Kingdom for 1 week before
proceeding to a school in Switzerland. But on the same day, he flew to Helsinki,
Finland, where he registered at the Torni Hotel; on the following day, he moved
to the Klaus Kurki Hotel.
Oswald probably applied for a visa at the Russian consulate on October 12,
his first business day in Helsinki. The visa was issued on October 14. It was
valid until October 20 and permitted him to take one trip of not more than 6
days to the Soviet Union. He also purchased 10 Soviet "tourist vouchers" which
cost $30 apiece. He left Helsinki by train on the following day, crossed the
Finnish-Russian border at Vainikkala, and arrived in Moscow on October 16.
He was met at the Moscow railroad station by a representative of "Intourist,"
the state tourist agency, and taken to the Hotel Berlin, where he registered as
a student. On the same day he met the Intourist guide assigned to him during his
stay in Russia, a young woman named Rima Shirokova. They went sightseeing the
next day. Almost immediately he told her that he wanted to leave the United
States and become a citizen of the Soviet Union. According to Oswald's "Historic
Diary," she later told him that she had reported his statement to Intourist
headquarters, which in turn had notified the "Passport and Visa Office"
(probably the Visa and Registration Department of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, the MVD 485). She was instructed to help Oswald prepare a letter to the
Supreme Soviet requesting that he be granted citizenship. Oswald mailed such a
letter that same day. (The "Historic Diary" is Oswald's handwritten account of
his life in Russia. The earlier entries were written after the events which they
describe; later, in Minsk, he probably kept a contemporaneous record of his
experiences. The Commission has used the diary, which Oswald may have written
with future readers in mind, only as Oswald's record of his private life and
personal impressions as he sought to present them and has relied wherever
possible on official documents, correspondence, and the testimony of witnesses.)
The diary records that when Oswald told Rima Shirokova that he intended to
defect she was "flabbergasted," but agreed to help. She was "politely
sympathetic but uneasy" when he told her that he wanted to defect because he was
"a Communist, etc." As an Intourist guide, Rima toured parts of Moscow with
Oswald in the next few days. His primary concern, however, appeared to be his
effort to become a Soviet citizen, and she also aided him in his dealings with
the Soviet Government. He thought that Rima felt sorry for him and tried to be a
friend because he was "something new." On his 20th birthday, 2 days after he
arrived in Russia, she gave him Dostoevski's "The Idiot," in which she had
written: "Dear Lee, Great congratulations! Let all your dreams come true! 18. X.
1959"
On October 19, Oswald was probably interviewed in his hotel room by a man
named Lev Setyayev, who said that he was a reporter for Radio Moscow seeking
statements from American tourists about their impressions of Moscow, but who was
probably also acting for the KGB. Two years later, Oswald told officials at the
American Embassy that he had made a few routine comments to Setyayev of no
political significance. The interview with Setyayev may, however, have been the
occasion for an attempt by the KGB, in accordance with regular practice, to
assess Oswald or even to elicit compromising statements from him; the interview
was apparently never broadcast. (As discussed in ch. VI of this report, the
Commission is aware that many of the Soviet officials with whom Oswald came into
contact were employees of the KGB, the agency which has primary jurisdiction for
the treatment of defectors.) On the following day, Rima Shirokova told him that
the "Pass. and Visa Dept." wanted to see him, and on the morning of October 21,
he was interviewed by an official concerning his application for citizenship.
The official offered little information and no encouragement; he told Oswald
only that he would check to see if the visa could be extended. Oswald returned
to the Hotel Berlin. That afternoon, he was notified that his visa had expired
and that he had to leave Moscow within 2 hours.
Oswald responded to the unfavorable decision by cutting himself above his
left, wrist, in an apparent suicide attempt. Rima Shirokova found him
unconscious in his hotel room and had him taken to the Botkinskaya Hospital. His
diary states: "Poor Rimmea stays by my side as interpreter (my Russian is still
very bad) far into the night, I tell her 'Go home' (my mood is bad) but she
stays, she is 'my friend. '" For 8 days Oswald was confined in the psychiatric
ward of the hospital. He was examined by a psychiatrist, who concluded that he
was not dangerous to other people and could be transferred to the "somatic"
department. Hospital records containing the results of the examination state
that Oswald came to Russia in order to apply for citizenship, and that "in order
to postpone his departure he inflicted the injury upon himself." They note that
Oswald understood some Russian and, presumably based on information which he
provided, that he had "graduated from a technical high school in radio
technology and radio electronics." The record states: "He claims he regrets his
action. After recovering he intends to return to his homeland. "
Oswald resented being in the psychiatric ward and told Rima Shirokova that he
wanted a transfer. She visited him at the hospital frequently and his diary
records that "only at this moment" did he "notice [that] she is pretty." Another
entry for the hospital period says: "Afternoon I am visited by Roza Agafonova of
the hotel tourist office, who asks about my health, very beautiful, excellent
Eng., very merry and kind, she makes me very glad to be alive." These entries
reflect an attitude gentler and friendlier than his attitude before the suicide
attempt, when he seemed to be coldly concerned only with his status in Russia.
Once Oswald was out of the psychiatric ward, he found the hospital more
pleasant. The new ward, which he shared with 11 other patients, was "airy," and
the food was good. His only complaint, according to his diary, was that an
"elderly American" patient was distrustful of him because he had not registered
at the American Embassy and because he was evasive about the reasons for his
presence in Moscow and confinement in the hospital.
He was released from the hospital on October 28, and, accompanied by Rima
Shirokova, was driven to the Hotel Berlin in an Intourist car. After he said
good-by to Lyudmila Dmitrieva, head of the In-tourist office at the Berlin, and
to Roza Agafonova, another Intourist employee at the hotel, he checked out of
the Berlin and registered at the Metropole, a large hotel under the same
administration as the Berlin. The Government had undoubtedly directed him to
make the change. His visa had expired while he was in the hospital, and his
presence in Russia was technically illegal; he had received no word that the
decision that he must leave had been reversed. Later that day, however, Rima
told him that the "Pass and Registration Office" wished to talk to him about his
future. According to the diary, when Oswald appeared at the office he was asked
whether he still wanted to become a Soviet citizen and he replied that he did;
he provided his Marine Corps discharge papers for identification. He was told
that he could not expect a decision soon, and was dismissed. During this
interview, Oswald was apparently questioned about the interview which preceded
his hospitalization, which led him to conclude that there had been no
communication between the two sets of officials. That evening he met Rima, on
whom he vented his frustration at being put off by the authorities.
Oswald ate only once on the following day; he stayed near the telephone,
fully dressed and ready to leave immediately if he were summoned. He remained in
his room for 3 days, which seemed to him "like three years," until October 31,
when he decided to act. He met Rima Shirokova at noon and told her that he was
impatient, but did not say what he planned to do; she cautioned him to stay in
his room "and eat well." She left him after a short while and, a few minutes
later, he took a taxi to the American Embassy, where he asked to see the consul.
(See Commission Exhibits Nos. 24, 912, 913, pp. 264, 263, 261.) When the
receptionist asked him first to sign the tourist register, he laid his passport
on the desk and said that he had come to "dissolve his American citizenship."
Richard E. Snyder, the Second Secretary and senior consular official, was
summoned, and he invited Oswald into his office.
Oswald's meeting with Snyder, at which Snyder's assistant, John A. McVickar,
was also present, is more fully discussed in appendix XV to the Commission's
report. Oswald declared that he wanted to renounce his American citizenship; he
denounced the United States and praised the Government of the Soviet Union. Over
Oswald's objections, Snyder sought to learn something of Oswald's motives and
background and to forestall immediate action. Oswald told him that he had
already offered to tell a Soviet official what he had learned as a radar
operator in the Marines. The interview ended when Snyder told Oswald that he
could renounce his citizenship on the following Monday, 2 days later, if he
would appear personally to do so. During the interview, Oswald handed to Snyder
a note which suggests that he had studied and sought to comply with section of
the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides for loss of American
citizenship. The note contains paragraphs which read like inartistic attempts to
cast off citizenship in three of the ways specified by the statute. The attempts
failed but there is no reason to doubt that they were sincere. Snyder has
testified that he believed that Oswald would immediately have formally renounced
his citizenship had he been permitted to do so.
The interview lasted for less than an hour. Oswald returned to his hotel
angry about. the delay but "elated" by the "showdown" and sure that he would be
permitted to remain after his "sign of ... faith" in the Russians. Soon after he
returned to the hotel, he was approached by A. I. Goldberg, a reporter for the
Associated Press, whom the Embassy had told about Oswald's actions. Oswald
refused to speak to him. He answered a few questions for two other reporters, R.
J. Korengold and Miss Aline Mosby, but again refused to be interviewed.
Thereafter, the news services made repeated unsuccessful attempts to interview
him, which he thought was an indirect form of pressure from the Embassy to
return to the United States.
On the day after Oswald's meeting with Snyder, his family read in the
newspapers about his appearance at the Embassy and tried to contact him. Mrs.
Oswald testified that she was shocked at her son's decision to defect but,
respected his motives for doing so; later she suspected that he had been
forcibly removed to Russia. She placed a telephone call to him, but he either
refused to speak to her or cut her off very quickly. So too, on November 2, he
rejected the Embassy's efforts to deliver or read on the telephone a telegram
from his brother Robert. A call from Robert was either canceled before it was
completed or was refused. Robert's telegram, along with a message asking Oswald
to contact, him immediately, which Robert had asked the State Department to
deliver, was finally sent to Oswald from the Embassy by registered mail.
A few days later, the Embassy received a letter from Oswald dated November 3
which requested that his citizenship be revoked. The letter stated that he had
appeared at the Embassy '"for the purpose of signing the formal papers to this
effect" and protested against the "conduct of the official" who had refused him
"this legal right." Oswald noted that his application for Soviet citizenship was
pending and said that if it were granted he would ask the Soviet Government "to
lodge a formal protest" on his behalf. The Embassy replied on November 9 that
Oswald could renounce his citizenship by appearing at the Embassy and executing
the necessary papers.
Oswald's diary describes the period from November 2 to November 15, during
which he continued to isolate himself, as "days of utter loneliness." On
November 8, he wrote to his brother:
Dear Robert I have been told that I will not have to leave the Soviet Union if I do not
care to. this than is my decision. I will not leave this country, the Soviet
Union, under any conditions, I will never return to the United States which is a
country I hate. Someday, perhaps soon, and than again perhaps in a few years, I
will become a citizen of the Soviet Union, but it is a very legal process, in
any event, I will not have to leave the Soviet Union and I will never ... [word
missing].
I received your telegram and was glad to hear from you, only one word
bothered me, the word "mistake." I assume you mean that I have made a "mistake"
it is not for you to tell me that you cannot understand my reasons for this very
action. Lee
Toward the end of this waiting period, probably on November 13, Aline Mosby
succeeded in interviewing Oswald. A reporter for United Press International, she
had called him on the telephone and was told to come right over, Oswald's
explanation being that he thought she might "understand and be friendly" because
she was a woman. She was the first person who was not a Soviet citizen to whom
he granted an interview since his meeting with Snyder at the Embassy on October
31. Miss Mosby found him polite but stiff; she said that be seemed full of
confidence, often showing a "small smile, more like a smirk," and that he talked
almost "non-stop." Oswald said to her that he had been told that he could remain
in the Soviet Union and that job possibilities were being explored; they thought
it probably would be best, he said, to continue his education. He admitted that
his Russian was bad but was confident that it would improve rapidly. He based
his dislike for the United States on his observations of racial prejudice and
the contrast between "the luxuries of Park Avenue and workers' lives on the East
Side," and mentioned his mother's poverty; he said that if he had remained in
the United States he too would have become either a capitalist or a worker. "One
way or another." he said, "I'd lose in the United States. In my own mind, even
if I'd be exploiting other workers. That's why I chose Marxist ideology. "
Oswald told his interviewer that he had been interested in Communist theory
since he was 15, when "an old lady" in New York handed him "a pamphlet about
saving the Rosenbergs." But when Mosby asked if he were a member of the
Communist Party he said that he had never met a Communist and that he "might
have seen" one only once, when he saw that "old lady." He told her that while he
was in the Marine Corps he had seen American imperialism in action, and had
saved $1,500 in secret preparation for his defection to Russia. His only
apparent regrets concerned his family: his mother, whom he had not told of his
plans, and his brother, who might lose his job as a result of the publicity.
The interview lasted for about 2 hours. According to Oswald's own account, he
exacted a promise from Miss Mosby that she would show him the story before
publication but she broke the promise; he found the published story to contain
distortions of his words. Miss Mosby's notes indicate that he called her to
complain of the distortions, saying in particular that his family had not been
"poverty-stricken" and that his defection was not prompted by personal hardship
but that was "a matter only of ideology. "
According to the diary, Oswald was told in mid-November that he could remain
temporarily in Russia "until some solution was found with what to do" with him.
Armed with this "comforting news," he granted a second interview, again to a
woman, on November 16. Miss Priscilla Johnson of the North American Newspaper
Alliance knocked on the door of his room at the Metropole, and Oswald agreed to
come to her room at the hotel that evening. This interview lasted about 5 hours,
from 9 p. m. until about 2 in the morning. During the interview he frequently
mentioned the fact that he would be able to remain in Russia, which gave him
great pleasure, but he also showed disappointment about the difficulties
standing in the way of his request for Soviet citizenship. He repeated most of
the information he had given Aline Mosby and again denied having been a member
of the Communist Party or even ever having seen a Communist in the United
States. When Miss Johnson asked him to specify some of the socialist writers
whose works he had read during the past 5 years, he could name only Marx and
Engels; the only title he could recall was "Das Kapital." They talked for a long
while about Communist economic theory, which Miss Johnson thought was "his
language"; she became convinced that his knowledge of the subject was very
superficial. He commented that the Russians treated his defection as a "legal
formality," neither encouraging nor discouraging it. When she suggested that if
he really wished to renounce his American citizenship he could do so by
returning to the Embassy, he said that he would "never set foot in the Embassy
again," since he was sure that he would be given the "same run-around" as
before. He seemed to Miss Johnson to be avoiding effective renunciation,
consciously or unconsciously, in order to preserve his right to reenter the
United States.
For the rest of the year, Oswald seldom left his hotel room where he had
arranged to take his meals, except perhaps for a few trips to museums. He spent
most of his time studying Russian, "8 hours a day" his diary records. The
routine was broken only by another interview at the passport office; occasional
visits from Rima Shirokova; lessons in Russian from her and other Intourist
guides; and a New Year's visit from Roza Agafonova, who gave him a small
"Boratin" clown as a New Year's present. He replied to a letter from Robert in a
letter quoted at length in chapter VII of this report which contains his most
bitter statements against the United States. Robert received a third letter on
December 17, in which Oswald said that he would not write again and did not wish
Robert to write to him. The letter concluded:
I am starting a new life and I do not wish to have anything to do with
the old life. Oswald arrived in Minsk on January 7. He was met at the station by two "Red
Cross" workers who took him to the Hotel Minsk. Two Intourist employees, both of
whom spoke excellent English, were waiting for him. One of them, a young woman
named Roza Kuznetsova, became his close friend and attended his 21st birthday
party in October 1960. (See Commission Exhibit No. 2609, p. 271.) On the
following day, Oswald met the "Mayor," who welcomed him to Minsk, promised him a
rent-free apartment, and warned him against "uncultured persons" who sometimes
insulted foreigners.
Oswald reported for work at the Belorussian Radio and Television Factory on
January 13. Two days earlier he had visited the factory and met Alexander Ziger,
a Polish Jew who had emigrated to Argentina in 1938 and went to Russia in 1955.
Ziger was a department head at the factory; he spoke English, and he and his
family became good friends of Oswald and corresponded with him after his return
to the United States. The factory, a major producer of electronic parts and
systems, employed about 5,000 persons. Oswald's union card described him as a
"metal worker"; Marina testified that he fashioned parts on a lathe. As Oswald
later described it, the shop in which he worked, called the "experimental shop,"
employed 58 workers and 5 foremen. It was located in the middle part of the
factory area in a 2-story building made of red brick. The workday began at 8
o'clock sharp. Work was assigned according to "pay levels," which were numbered
from one to five plus a top "master" level. A worker could ask to be tested for
a higher level at any time.
Oswald had hoped to continue his education in Russia, and was disappointed by
his assignment to a factory. His salary varied from 700 to perhaps as high as
900 rubles per month ($70-$90) Although high compared with the salaries of
certain professional groups in Russia, which in some areas have not grown
proportionately with the wages of factory workers, his salary was normal for his
type of work. It was supplemented, however, by 700 rubles per month, which he
received from the "Red Cross," and, according to Oswald, his total income was
about equal to that of the director of the factory. In August he applied for
membership in the union; he became a dues-paying member in September.
Undoubtedly more noteworthy to most Russians than his extra income was the
attractive apartment which Oswald was given in March 1959. It was a small flat
with a balcony overlooking the river, for which he paid only 60 rubles a month.
(See Commission Exhibit No. 2606, p. 271.) Oswald describes it in his diary as
"a Russian-dream." Had Oswald been a Russian worker, he would probably have had
to wait for several years for a comparable apartment, and would have been given
one even then only if he had a family. The "Red Cross" subsidy and the apartment
were typical of the favorable treatment which the Soviet Union has given
defectors.
Oswald's diary records that he enjoyed his first months in Minsk. His work at
the factory was easy and his coworkers were friendly and curious about life in
the United States; he declined an invitation to speak at a mass meeting. He took
Roza Kuznetsova, his interpreter and language teacher, to the theater, a movie,
or an opera almost every night, until he moved into his apartment and
temporarily lost contact with her. He wrote in his diary, "I'm living big and am
very satisfied." In March or April, he met Pavel Golovachev, a co-worker at the
factory, whom Oswald described as intelligent and friendly and an excellent
radio technician. (See Commission Exhibit No. 2609, p. 271.) Oswald helped
Golovachev with English. They became friends, and corresponded after Oswald
returned to the United States until at least as late as September 1963.
The spring and summer passed easily and uneventfully. There were picnics and
drives in the country, which Oswald described as "green beauty." On June 18, he
obtained a hunting license and soon afterward purchased a 16-gage single-barrel
shotgun. His hunting license identifies him as "Aleksy Harvey Oswald." (He was
called "Alec" by his Russian friends, because "Lee" sounded foreign to them and
was difficult for them to pronounce.) He joined a local chapter of the
Belorussian Society of Hunters and Fishermen, a hunting club sponsored by his
factory, and hunted for small game in the farm regions around Minsk about half a
dozen times in the summer and fall. The hunters spent the night in small
villages and often left their bag with the villagers; Oswald described the
peasant life which he saw as crude and poor. Sometime in June, he met Ella
German, a worker at the factory, of whom he later said he "perhaps fell in love
with her the first minute" he saw her. (See Commission Exhibit No. 2609, p.
271.)
At the same time, however, the first signs of disillusionment with his
Russian life appeared. He noted in his diary that he felt "uneasy inside" after
a friend took him aside at a party and advised him to return to the United
States. Another entry compared life in Minsk with military life:
I have become habituated to a small cafe which is where I dine in the
evening. The food is generally poor and always exactly the same, menu in any
cafe, at any point in the city. The food is cheap and I don't really care about
quality after three years in the U.S.M.C.
In an entry for August-September, he wrote that he was becoming
"increasingly conscious of just what sort of a society" he lived in.
He spent New Year's Day at the home of Ella German and her family. They ate
and drank in a friendly atmosphere, and he was "drunk and happy" when he
returned home. During the walk back to his apartment he decided to ask Ella to
marry him. On the following night, after he had brought her home from the
movies, he proposed on her doorstep. She rejected him, saying that she did not
love him and that she was afraid to marry an American. She said that the Polish
intervention in the 1920's had led to the arrest of all people in the Soviet
Union of Polish origin and she feared that something similar might happen to
Americans some day. Oswald was "too stunned to think," and concluded that she
had gone out with him only because she was envied by the other girls for having
an American as an escort. But in one of the entries in the diary he appears to
have attributed her failure to love him to "a state of fear which was always in
the Soviet Union." His affection for Ella German apparently continued for some
time; he had his last formal date with her in February and remained on friendly
terms with her as long as he was in Russia.
After he returned to the United States, Oswald often commented on Russian
life. He discussed the Soviet systems of public education and medical care. He
observed to one acquaintance that everyone in Russia was trained to do
something, and discussed with another the system of regular wage and salary
increases. His most frequent criticisms concerned the contrast between the lives
of ordinary workers and the lives of Communist Party members. He told an
acquaintance in Dallas that the working class in the Soviet Union made just
about enough to buy clothing and food and that only party members could afford
luxuries. On another occasion, he remarked that if he had as much money as some
of the "managers," he could have visited the Black Sea resorts. He complained
about the lack of freedom in Russia; so is the lack of opportunity to travel ;
inadequate housing; and the chronic scarcity of food products. To one
acquaintance, he observed that the party members were all "opportunists," who
"shouted the loudest and made the most noise," but who were interested only in
their own welfare.
He expressed similar views in a manuscript which he worked on in Russia and
probably intended to publish; soon after he returned to the United States, he
hired a stenographer to prepare a typed draft from his notes. Oswald described
the manuscript, which amounted to 50 typed pages, as "a look into the lives of
work-a-day average Russians."
The manuscript describes the factory in which Oswald worked and suggests that
political considerations of which Oswald disapproved dominated its operation. He
attributed the lack of unemployment to the shortage of labor-saving machinery
and the heavy load of bureaucracy, which kept "tons of paper work" flowing in
and out of the factory and required a high foreman-worker ratio. In addition, he
wrote, there was "a small army of examiners, committees, and supply checkers and
the quality-control board."
He described life in Russia, including life at the factory, as centered
around the "Kollective." The head of the Kollective in his shop, Comrade
Lebizen, saw to it that everyone maintained shop discipline, attended party
meetings, and received all the new propaganda as it came out. He hung the walls
of the shop with signs and slogans of the Communist Party. Meetings of the
Kollective were "so numerous as to be staggering." In a single month, there were
scheduled one meeting of the professional union, four political information
meetings, two young Communist meetings, one meeting of the production committee
to discuss ways of improving work, two Communist Party meetings, four meetings
of the "School of Communist Labor," and one sports meeting. All but one of them
were compulsory for Communist Party members and all but three were compulsory
for everyone. (Marina Oswald testified that her husband did not attend the
courses in Marxism and Leninism given in the factory for party members and those
who wished to become party members.) They were scheduled so as not to interfere
with work, and lasted anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Oswald said that no
one liked the meetings, which were accepted "philosophically"; at the political
meetings especially, everyone paid strict attention, and party members were
posted in the audience to watch for the slightest sign that one's attention
might relax, even for a moment.
Oswald wrote that the "spontaneous" demonstrations on Soviet holidays or for
distinguished visitors were almost as well organized as the Kollectivist
meetings at the factory. He noted that elections were supervised to ensure that
everyone voted, and that they voted for the candidates of the Communist Party.
The manuscript touches on other aspects of Soviet lifeas the housing shortage
and the corruption which it evoked, the "rest-homes" where workers had their
vacations, television and the omnipresent radio, and Russian reading habits.
This writing also may include only what Oswald thought might be acceptable.
On January 4, 1961, I year after he had been issued his "stateless" residence
permit, Oswald was summoned to the passport office in Minsk and asked if he
still wanted to become a Soviet citizen. He replied that he did not, but asked
that his residence permit be extended for another year. The entry in his diary
for January 4-31 reads: "I am starting to reconsider my desire about staying.
The work is drab. The money I get has nowhere to be spent. No nightclubs or
bowling alleys, no places of recreation accept the trade union dances. I have
had enough."
The American Embassy in Moscow had not heard from Oswald after it received
his letter of November 3, 1959. On February 13, 1961, it received an undated
letter from him which had been mailed in Minsk about a week earlier. He asked
for the return of his passport and stated that he wanted to return to the United
States if he could "come to some agreement [with the American Government]
concerning the dropping of any legal proceedings" against him. He noted that he
had not become a Soviet citizen and was living in Russia with "non permanent
type papers for a foreigner," and said that he did not appear personally because
he could not leave Minsk without permission. The letter concluded: "I hope that
in recalling the responsibility I have to America that you remember yours in
doing everything you can to help me, since I am an American citizen." In this
letter, Oswald referred to a previous letter which he said had gone unanswered;
there is evidence that such a letter was never sent.
The Second Secretary, Richard Snyder, answered on February 28 that Oswald
would have to appear at the Embassy personally to discuss his return to the
United States. In the meantime, Oswald's mother, who in January had inquired at
the Department of State about his whereabouts, had been notified of his letter.
A second letter from Oswald, posted on March 5, reached the Embassy on March 20;
it reiterated that he was unable to leave Minsk without permission and asked
that "preliminary inquiries ... be put in the form of questionnaire" and sent to
him. His diary entry for this period records his "state of expectation about
going back to the U.S.," and adds that a friend had approved his plans but
warned him not to discuss them with others. (The Soviet authorities had
undoubtedly intercepted and read the correspondence between Oswald and the
Embassy and knew of his plans. Soon after the correspondence began, his monthly
payments from the "Red Cross" were cut off.) Having informed Washington, the
Embassy wrote to Oswald on March 24, stating again that he would have to come to
Moscow. Later, the Department of State decided that Oswald's passport should be
returned to him only if he appeared at the Embassy for it and the Embassy was
satisfied, after exploring the matter with him, that he had not renounced his
citizenship.
Sometime in the second week of March, Miss Katherine Mallory, who was on tour
in Minsk with the University of Michigan symphonic band, found herself
surrounded by curious Russian citizens. A young man who identified himself as a
Texan and former marine stepped out of the crowd and asked if she needed an
interpreter; he interpreted for her for the next 15 or 20 minutes. Later he told
her that he despised the United States and hoped to stay in Minsk for the rest
of his life. Miss Mallory is unable to swear that her interpreter was Oswald,
but is personally convinced that it was he.
A few days later, probably on March 17, Oswald attended a trade union dance
with a friend, Erik Titovyets, at the Palace of Culture for Professional Workers
in Minsk. The dance followed a lecture by a Russian woman who had recently
returned from a trip to the United States. Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova arrived
too late to hear the lecture but was at the dance. Oswald noticed her and asked
Yuriy Merezhinskiy, the son of the lecturer and a friend of both Oswald and
Marina, to introduce him to her. Oswald asked her to dance. According to the
diary, they liked each other immediately and he obtained her telephone number
before she left. Marina testified that she told Oswald that she might see him at
another dance, but did not give him her telephone number. Oswald was smitten.
Marina Prusakova was 19 years old when she met Oswald. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 1395, p. 270.) She was born on July 17, 1941, at Severodvinsk
(formerly Molotovsk), Arkhangel Oblast', Russia. A few years later, her mother,
Klavdiya Vasilievna Prusakova, married Aleksandr Ivanovich Medvedev, who became
the only father Marina knew. While she was still a young girl, Marina went to
Arkhangel'sk, Arkhangel Oblast', to live with her maternal grandparents, Tatyana
Yakovlevna Prusakova and Vasiliy Prusakov. Her grandfather died when Marina was
about 4 years old; she continued to live with her grandmother for some time.
When she was not more than 7, she moved to Zguritva, Moldavian SSR (formerly
called Bessarabia) to live with her mother and stepfather, who was an electrical
worker. In 1952, the family moved to Leningrad, where her stepfather obtained a
job in a power station. Marina testified that neither he nor her mother was a
member of the Communist Party.
In Leningrad, Marina attended the Three Hundred and seventy-fourth Women's
School. After she had completed the seventh grade at the school in 1955, she
entered the Pharmacy Teknikum for special training, which she had requested on
the ground that her mother was ill and Marina might need to have a specialty in
order to support herself. While she was the Teknikum, she joined the Trade Union
for Medical Workers and, in her last year there, worked part time in the Central
Pharmacy in Leningrad. She graduated from the Teknikum with a diploma in
pharmacy in June 1959.
Marina's mother had died in 1957, during Marina's second year at the
Teknikum; she continued to live with her stepfather, but had little contact with
him. She testified that she did not get along with her stepfather, whom she
displeased by her fresh conduct; she said that she was not easily disciplined
and was a source of concern to him. Because of the friction between them, Marina
regarded her childhood as an unhappy one.
After her graduation, Marina was assigned to a job preparing and packing
orders in a pharmaceutical warehouse in Leningrad; as a new employee she had the
right to leave this job within 3 days after the assignment, and she did so after
the first day. She took no job for the next 2 months, at the end of which she
went to live in Minsk with an aunt and uncle, the Prusakova, who had no
children. She had known them since she was a child and there was a mutual
affection between her and them. Her uncle, a member of the Communist Party, was
assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and headed the local bureau
concerned with lumber. The Prusakova had one of the best apartments in a
building reserved for MVD employees.
Marina was 18 when she arrived in Minsk. She had boyfriends in Leningrad but
was not interested in marriage. In October 1960 she started work in the drug
section of the Third Clinical Hospital where she earned about 450 rubles per
month; at about the same time she became a member of the local Komsomol, the
Communist youth organization.
Her friends were mostly students, whose social life consisted of meeting in
cafes to sip coffee, read newspapers, gossip, and carry on discussions. The
group of friends "ran together," and Marina did not attach herself to a
particular boyfriend. She enjoyed this life, which she had been leading for
about 7 months when she met Oswald at the dance at the Palace of Culture in
March 1961.
When Marina met Oswald, she thought he was from one of the Russian-speaking
Baltic countries because he spoke with an accent; later that same evening she
]earned that he was an American. She met him again at another dance a week
later. They danced together most of the evening, at the end of which he walked
home with her. They arranged to meet again the following week. Before the
scheduled time, Oswald called to say that he was in the hospital and that Marina
should visit him there. Medical records furnished to the Commission by the
Russian Government show that Oswald was admitted to the Clinical Hospital Ear,
Nose, and Throat Division, on Thursday, March 30, 1961. Marina visited him
often, taking advantage of her uniform to visit him outside regular visiting
hours, which were only on Sunday. On Easter Sunday, the first Sunday after his
admission to the hospital, she brought him an Easter egg. On a subsequent visit,
he asked her to be his fiancee, and she agreed to consider it. He left the
hospital on April 11.
During these visits, Marina apparently discussed with Oswald his reasons for
coming to Russia and his current status. According to her later account, he told
her that he had surrendered his American documents to the Embassy in Moscow and
had told American officials that he did not intend to return to the United
States. He did not say definitely that he was no longer an American citizen, but
said in answer to a question about his citizenship that he could not return to
the United States.
Oswald visited Marina regularly at her aunt and uncle's apartment; they were
apparently not disturbed by the fact that, he was an American and did not
disapprove of her seeing him. He continued to ask her to marry him and,
according to her recollection, she accepted his proposal on April 20; Oswald's
diary puts the date 5 days earlier. Marina testified that she believed that
Oswald could not return to the United States when she agreed to marry him, and
that she had not married him in hope of going to the United States.
After filing notice of their intent to marry at the registrar, obtaining the
special consent necessary for an alien to marry a citizen, and waiting the usual
10 days, they were married on April 30. The diary entry for the wedding day
reads:
two of Marinas girl friends act as bridesmaids. We are married. At her
aunts home we have a dinner reception for about 20 friends and neboribos who
wish us happiness (in spite of my origin and accept [accent?] which was in
general rather disquieting to any Russian since for are very rare in the soviet
Union even tourist. After an evening of eating and drinking in which ...
[Marina's uncle] started a fright [fight?] and the fuse blow on an overloaded
circuit we take our leave and walk the 1-5 minutes to our home. We lived near
each other, at midnight we were home.
They both took 3 days off from their jobs, which they spent in Minsk.
Oswald wrote in his diary for May 1, 1 day after the wedding: "In spite of
fact I married Marina to hurt Ella I found myself in love with Marina." The next
entry, marked simply "May," reads
The transition of changing full love from Ella to Marina was very painful
esp. as I saw Ella almost every day at the factory but as the days & weeks
went by I adjusted more and more [to] my wife mentally ... She is madly in love
with me from the very start. Boat rides on Lake Minsk walks through the parks
evening at home or at Aunt Valia's place mark May."
And in June: "A continuance of May, except that; we draw closer and
closer, and I think very little now of Ella."
Sometime within the first month or two after they were married Oswald told
his wife that he was anxious to return to the United States. The diary says that
he told her "in the last days" of June and that she was "slightly startled" but
encouraged him to do as he wished. Marina's recollection is that she learned of
his plan between May and July. Embassy records show that Oswald notified the
Embassy in a letter received on May 25 that he was married and his wife would
seek to accompany him to the United States. At about this time, the Oswalds
began to make inquiries in Soviet offices about exit visas.
While these preparations were being made, the Oswalds apparently enjoyed
their new life. They ate most of their meals in cafes or at restaurants where
they worked. For amusement, they went boating, attended the opera, concerts, the
circus, and films; occasionally, they gathered with a group of friends for a
cooperative meal at someone's apartment. His Russian improved, but he retained
an accent and never learned to speak grammatically or to write well. He read the
English language edition of the Daily Worker and books, also in English, on
Marxism and Leninism; he also read some Russian newspapers.
Before he married Marina (and presumably before February, when he had begun
his efforts to return to the United States) Oswald had applied for admission to
the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow. He received a letter dated
May 3 apologizing for the delay in responding to his application and turning it
down on the ground that the university had been established exclusively for
students from the underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Oswald expressed his disappointment at having been turned down to Marina.
Oswald reopened his correspondence with his family on May 5, with a friendly
letter to his brother Robert. He said nothing about, his contacts with the
American Embassy, but mentioned that he had married, and that he had a job as a
"metal-smith" and was living well. He asked his brother for their mother's
address, and encouraged him to come to Minsk for a visit. Robert answered the
letter quickly. On May 31, Oswald wrote again and expressed his pleasure at
having heard from Robert after so long. Apparently in response to an offer to
send him whatever he needed, Oswald wrote that he needed nothing and thanked
Robert for the thought; he suggested, however, that Marina might like a small
wedding present. At the end of the letter he said that he did not know whether
he would ever return to the United States; he said that before he could return
he would have to obtain the permission of the Soviet Union for him and Marina to
leave and insure that no charges would be lodged against him in the United
States. In this letter, he mentioned that he was in touch with the Embassy in
Moscow. At about this time, Oswald wrote also to his mother.
On May 25, the Embassy received a letter mailed in Minsk about 10 days
before, in which Oswald asked for assurances that he would not be prosecuted if
he returned to the United States, and informed the Embassy that he had married a
Russian woman who would want to accompany him. The Embassy communicated this
development to Washington and did not answer Oswald immediately. In addition, he
had no word since March concerning the return of his passport. Impatient for
action, he appeared without warning at the Embassy on July 8; it was a Saturday
and the offices were closed. He used the house telephone to reach Snyder, who
came to the office, talked with him briefly, and suggested that he return on the
following Monday. Oswald called Marina and asked her join him in Moscow. She
arrived on Sunday, July 9, a room at the Hotel Berlin, where he had stayed when
he first arrived in Russia.
Oswald returned to the Embassy on Monday. Marina waited outside during his
interview with Snyder, who asked to see Oswald's Soviet papers and questioned
him closely about his life in Russia and possible expatriating acts. Oswald
stated that he was not a citizen of the Soviet Union and had never formally
applied for citizenship, that he had never taken an oath of allegiance to the
Soviet Union, and that he was not a member of the factory trade union
organization. He said that he had never given Soviet officials any confidential
information that he had learned in the Marines, had never been asked to give
such information, and "doubted" that he would have done so had he been asked.
Some of Oswald's statements during this interview were undoubtedly false. He had
almost certainly applied for citizenship in the Soviet Union and, at least for a
time, been disappointed when it was denied. He possessed a membership card in
the union organization. In addition, his assertion to Snyder that he had never
been questioned by Soviet authorities concerning his life in the United States
is simply unbelievable.
Oswald showed anxiety, already displayed in his letters, that he might be
prosecuted and imprisoned if he returned to the United States. Snyder told him
informally that he did not know any grounds on which he would be prosecuted but
that he could give no assurances in this regard. Snyder testified that Oswald
seemed to have matured while he was in Russia and did not show the bravado and
arrogance which characterized his first contacts with the Embassy. Oswald told
him that he had "learned a hard lesson the hard way" and had acquired a new
appreciation of the United States and the meaning of freedom.
Since Oswald's passport would expire on September 10, 1961, before which date
he probably would not be able to obtain Russian exit papers, he filled out an
application for its renewal. On a questionnaire attached to the application, he
reiterated his oral statements that he had obtained only a residence permit in
the Soviet Union and was still an American national. On the basis of Oswald's
written and oral statements, Snyder concluded that he had not expatriated
himself and returned his passport, stamped valid only for direct travel to the
United States, to him. Accompanied by his wife, Oswald came to the Embassy again
on the following day, to initiate procedures for her admission to the United
States as an immigrant; they had a routine interview with McVickar, Snyder's
assistant. Three days later, they returned to Minsk.
On the same day, Oswald wrote to his brother. He told Robert that he had his
passport again and that he and Marina were doing everything possible to leave
the Soviet Union. Apparently referring to his initial reappearance at the
Embassy in quest of his passport, he wrote: "I could write a book about how many
feeling have come and gone since that day." The letter closed with an
affectionate greeting to his brother and his family. The letter's tone of firm
purpose to return to the United States in the face of heavy odds reflected
Oswald's attitude thereafter.
As soon as they returned to Minsk, the Oswalds began to work with local
authorities for permission to leave the country. His diary entry for July 16
through August 20 reads,
We have found out which blanks and certificates are necessary to apply
for a exit visa. They number about 20 papers; birth certificates, affidavit,
photos, etc. On August 20th we give the papers out they say it will be 3.5
months before we know whether they let us go or not. In the meantime Marina has
had to stade 4 different meeting at the place of work held by her boss's at the
direction of "someone" by phone. The Young Comm. league headquarters also called
about her and she had to go see them for 1 1/2 hours. The purpose (expressed) is
to dissuade her from going to the U.S.A. Net effect: Make her more stubborn
about wanting to go. Marina is pregnant. We only hope that the visas come
through soon.
In a letter dated July 15, he reported their efforts to the Embassy, and
said that he would keep it informed "as to the overall picture." The letter
mentioned that Marina was having difficulties at work because of her decision to
leave but added that such "tactics" were "quite useless" and that Marina had
"stood up well, without getting into trouble." For August 21 through September
1, the diary reads:
I make repeated trips to the passport & visa office, also to Ministry
of For. Affairs in Minsk, also Min. of Internal Affairs, all of which have a say
in the granting of a visa. I extracted promises of quick attention to U.S.
For September through October 18, "No word from Min. ('They'll call
us.')."
Marina testified that when the news of her visit to the American Embassy in
July reached Minsk, she was dropped from membership in "Komsomol," the Communist
Youth Organization, and that "meetings were arranged" at which "members of the
various organizations" attempted to dissuade her from leaving the Soviet Union.
Her aunt and uncle did not speak to her for "a long time." Paul Gregory, to whom
Marina taught Russian in the United States, testified that she once referred to
this period of her life in Minsk as "a very horrible time."
Oswald wrote to the Embassy again on October 4, to request that the U.S.
Government officially intervene to facilitate his and his wife's applications
for exit visas. He stated that there had been "systematic and concerted attempts
to intimidate [Marina] ... into withdrawing her application for a visa" which
had resulted in her being hospitalized for a 5-day period on September 22 for
"nervous exhaustion." Marina has denied that she was hospitalized for a nervous
disorder and he made no mention of it in his diary or letters to his family; he
probably lied to the Embassy. The Embassy replied to his letter on October 12,
saying that it had no way of influencing Soviet conduct on such matters and that
its experience had been that action on applications for exit visas was "seldom
taken rapidly."
In October 1961 Marina took her annual vacation. She and Oswald agreed that
she should get a "change of scenery," and she spent about 3 weeks with an aunt
in Kharkov. It is possible that they were not getting along well together during
this period. A dairy entry after her return indicates that they were having some
quarrels and that she was wavering in her decision to go to the United States,
which Oswald attributed to anxiety about their applications for visas and the
fact that she was pregnant; he in turn dreaded the approach of the "hard Russian
winter." He noted in his dairy that he was lonely while she was gone, but that
he and his friend "Erich," presumably Erik Titovyets, went to some dances and
other public amusements. On his 22nd birthday he went alone to see his favorite
opera, "The Queen of Spades." Marina sent him a gold and silver cup, inscribed
"To my dear husband on his birthday, 18/x/61" and other gifts, for which he
wrote to thank her. She returned on November 12, in Oswald's words, "radiant,
with several jars of preserves for me from her aunt."
Sometime after Marina's return Oswald applied for an interview with Col.
Nicolay Aksenov, an official in the local MVD, in an effort to expedite their
application for exit visas; he was told by the colonel's subordinates that they
were competent to handle the matter. Oswald then insisted that Marina seek an
interview; she agreed reluctantly. The interview was granted; Marina thought
that this might have been due to the fact that her uncle was also a high-ranking
official in the Minsk MVD, but she did not believe that he would personally have
presumed on his official position to obtain special treatment. Colonel Aksenov
questioned her about her reasons for wanting to go to the United States and,
noticing that she was pregnant, suggested that she at least delay her departure
so that her child could be born in Russia, but did not otherwise try to
discourage her. He finally told her that there were many others seeking visas
and that she and her husband would have to wait their turn.
Throughout this period, Oswald continued to correspond with his mother and
brother. His letters contained the usual chatter among members of a family and
occasional references to the progress of the visa applications. He wrote to the
Embassy on November 1, saying that if, as he anticipated, his residence permit
were renewed in January for another year, it would be over his protest. On
November 13 the Embassy replied, telling Oswald that retention of his Soviet
passport, which was of the kind issued to persons considered to be stateless, or
an extension of it, would not prejudice his claim to American citizenship. The
letter added that he could discuss the renewal of his American passport whenever
he appeared in person at the Embassy to do so.
Late in December, Oswald wrote a letter to Senator John G. Tower of Texas,
which was received in Washington near the end of January. He stated that he was
an American citizen and that the Soviet Government refused to permit him and his
wife to leave the Soviet Union. He asked Senator Tower to raise "the question of
holding by the Soviet Union of a citizen of the U.S., against his will and
expressed desires." The letter was referred to the State Department and no
further action concerning it was taken. On December 25, Marina was called to the
Soviet Passport Office and told that exit visas would be granted to her and her
husband; she was surprised, having doubted that she would ever be permitted to
leave. Oswald wrote to the Embassy on December 27 that they would be given visas
and asked that his passport be extended without another trip to Moscow; he
added, however, that he would come to Moscow if this would expedite the
processing of his application. In his diary, he wrote, "It's great (I think?)."
Before the year ended, Marina went on maternity leave from her job. They spent
New Year's Eve at a dinner party given by the Zigers.
Oswald wrote to his mother on January 2, 1962, and told her that he and his
wife expected to arrive in the United States sometime around March. He asked her
to contact the local Red Cross and request that it put his case before the
International Rescue Committee or some other group which aids immigrants to the
United States. He told her that he would need about $800 and that she should
insist on a gift rather than a loan; he told her not to send any of her own
money. Despite his instructions, she requested a loan from the Red Cross. On
January 13, Oswald wrote to the International Rescue Committee himself; he asked
for $800 with which to purchase two tickets from Moscow to Texas. He wrote to
the Committee again on January 26, this time asking for $1,000.
In the meantime, letters of Oswald and the American Embassy, both dated
January 5, crossed in the mail. The Embassy's letter suggested that since there
might be difficulties in obtaining an American visa for Marina, he consider
returning alone and bringing her over later. He replied on the 16th that he
would not leave Russia without her. In his letter, Oswald requested that the
U.S. Government loan him the money for his and Marina's airplane tickets or
arrange a loan from another source. The Embassy replied on January 15 that
Marina had not yet obtained an American visa. and that no evidence had yet been
submitted that she would not become a public charge in the United States. It
suggested that Oswald's mother or some other close relative file an affidavit of
support in Marina's behalf. Before receiving this letter, Oswald wrote out such
a document himself and mailed it to the Embassy.
On January 23, after receiving the Embassy's letter, he wrote that his own
affidavit should be sufficient, since he had been away from the United States
for more than 2 years and could not be expected to obtain an affidavit from
someone else. But on the same day, he wrote to his mother asking that she file
an affidavit of support with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. On
January 24, the Embassy acknowledged receipt of his affidavit, but again
suggested that he obtain one from someone else.
Late in January, Oswald received a letter from his mother telling him that he
had been given a dishonorable discharge from the Marines. (The discharge had
actually been "undesirable," a less derogatory characterization.) This
apparently revived his fear of prosecution, and on January 30, he wrote to his
brother for more information. On the same day he wrote also to John B. Connally,
Jr., then Governor of Texas, who Oswald believed was still Secretary of Navy.
The letter read:
I wish to call your attention to a case about which you may have personal
knowledge since you are a resident of Ft. Worth as I am. The Department of State had notified Oswald's mother that it would need $900
to make the travel arrangements for her son and daughter-in-law. On February 1,
Oswald sent his mother a brief letter rejecting her suggestion that she try to
raise money by telling the newspapers about his financial plight. Five days
later, the Embassy wrote to Oswald and asked him to make formal application for
a loan. Oswald wrote to his mother again on February 9, reminding her to file an
affidavit of support and asking that she send him clippings from the Fort Worth
newspapers about his defection to Russia, a request which he later repeated to
his brother. He told her that he wanted to know what had been written about him,
so that he could be "forewarned."
Oswald took Marina to the hospital on the morning of February 15. A baby girl
was born at about 10 a.m. He had gone on to the factory where news of the birth
awaited him on his arrival. In accordance with regular hospital practice, he did
not see the baby until Marina left the hospital. He was excited by the child,
who was named "June Lee" in accordance with the Russian custom and law that a
child's second name must be the father's first name or a variation of it. He had
wanted to name his child "June Marina," and protested the application of the law
to her, since he had a United States passport. His diary contains the wry
comment, "Po-Russki." His coworkers at the factory gave the Oswalds "one summer
blanket, 6 light diapers, 4 warm diapers, 2 chemises, 3 very good warm chemises,
4 very nice suits and two toys" for the baby. Marina came home on February 23.
There was less urgency about the departure for the United States after June Lee
was born. Oswald wrote to his mother, and brother, that he would probably not
arrive for several months. The Embassy received a letter on March 3, in which
Oswald applied for a loan of $800; the Embassy replied that it was authorized to
loan him only $500. It had in the meantime decided that his own affidavit of
support for Marina would be sufficient under the circumstances.
On March 15, he received notification from the Immigration and Naturalization
Service that Marina's application for a visa had been approved. By March 28, he
had received an affidavit of support in Marina's behalf from his mother's
employer, Byron K. Phillips, which he filed although it was no longer necessary
to do so. A few days before, Marina, still on maternity leave, had quit her job.
Discussions with the Embassy to complete financial and travel arrangements
continued in April and May. In a letter to Robert on April 12, Oswald wrote that
only "the American side" was holding up their departure, but added that the
winter being over, he didn't "really ... want to leave until the beginning of
fall, since the spring and summer ... [in Russia] are so nice." On May 10, the
Embassy wrote that everything was in order and suggested that Oswald come to the
Embassy with his family to sign the final papers. At his request, he was
discharged from the factory on about May 18. His work had apparently never been
very good. Marina testified that he was rather lazy and resented having to take
orders. This estimate is confirmed by a report of the plant director and
personnel department chief, filed on December 11, 1961, which was apparently a
routine assessment of his work. The report noted that he did not, "display the
initiative for increasing his skill" in his job, that he was "over-sensitive ...
to remarks from the foremen, and ... careless in his work"; Oswald took "no part
in the social life of the shop" and kept "very much to himself."
Oswald picked up his Soviet, exit visa on May 22; at about this time, he also
had an interview with an official of the MVD to obtain final clearance for his
departure. He wrote to Robert that he and his family would leave for Moscow on
the following day and depart for England 10 to 14 days later. He expected to
cross the Atlantic by ship, probably docking in New Orleans. Returning to a
point which he had made in an earlier letter to his mother, he commented that he
knew from the newspaper clippings what Robert had said about him when he left
for Russia; he thought that Robert had talked too much at that time, and asked
that Robert say nothing to the newspapers now.
The Oswalds arrived in Moscow by May 24 and on that date filled out various
documents at the American Embassy; Marina was given her American visa. Final
arrangements for their emigration were made with Soviet officials. On June 1,
Oswald signed a promissory note at the Embassy for a repatriation loan of
$435.71. He and his family boarded a train for Holland, which passed through
Minsk that night. They crossed the Soviet frontier at Brest on June 2. Two days
later, they departed from Holland on the SS Maasdam. Onboard ship, the Oswalds
stayed by themselves; Marina testified that she did not often go on deck because
she was poorly dressed and Oswald was ashamed of her.
Probably while he was on board the Maasdam Oswald wrote some notes on ship
stationery, which appear to be a summary of what he thought he had learned by
living under both the capitalist and Communist systems. The notes reflect his
unhappy and deepening feeling of disillusionment with both the Soviet Union and
the United States. Oswald observed that although reform groups may oppose the
government in power, they always declare that they are for their people and
their country, and he asked what "would happen if somebody was to stand up and
say he was utterly opposed not, only to the governments, but to the people, too
the entire land and complete foundations" of his society. He condemned existing
political groups and proposed the formation of a third choice between communism
and capitalism neither of which was acceptable to him. "I have lived," he said,
"under both systems, I have sought the answers and although it would be very
easy to dupe myself into believing one system is better than the other, I know
they are not." In these notes, he acknowledged that his "Red Cross" subsidy had
been paid by the Soviet Government rather than the international organization,
and said, "I shall never sell myself intentionally, or unintentionally to anyone
again. (Commission Exhibit No. 25, p. 273.) It was probably also onboard ship
that Oswald wrote two sets of answers to questions which he anticipated about
his decision to go to Russia and later to return to the United States. Although
the sets of answers are somewhat similar, but the tone of one is apologetic,
while the other suggests that Oswald went to Russia to study the Soviet system,
but remained a loyal American and owed no apologies.
The Maasdam landed at Hoboken, N.J., on June 13. The Oswalds were met by Spas
T. Raikin, a representative of the Traveler's Aid Society, which had been
contacted by the Department of State; Raikin had the impression that Oswald was
trying to avoid meeting anyone. He told Raikin that he had only $63 and had no
plans either for that night or for travel to Fort Worth, and accepted the
society's help, according to Raikin, "with confidence and appreciation." They
passed through the immigration office without incident, and Raikin helped them
through customs.
The society referred the Oswalds to the New York City Department of Welfare,
which helped them find a room at the Times Square Hotel. Oswald told both Raikin
and representatives of the welfare department that he had been a marine
stationed at the American Embassy in Moscow, had married a Russian girl,
renounced his citizenship, and worked in Minsk; he soon found out, he said, that
the Russian propaganda was inaccurate but had not been able to obtain an exit
visa for his wife and child for more than 2 years. He said also that he had paid
the travel expenses himself.
The welfare department called Robert Oswald's home in Fort Worth. His wife
answered and said that they would help. She contacted her husband who sent $200
immediately. Oswald refused to accept the money and insisted that the department
itself should pay the fare to Texas; he threatened that they would go as far as
they could on $63 and rely on local authorities to get them the rest of the way.
In the end he accepted the money. On the afternoon of June 14, the Oswalds left
New York by plane for Fort Worth.
Robert drove the Oswalds to his home at 7313 Davenport Street. For a few
days, Lee seemed tense, but the brothers got along well, and to Robert it was
"more or less ... [as if Lee] had not been to Russia"; they were "just together
again." They did not discuss politics, according to Robert because of a "tacit
agreement" between them. Lee indicated to his brother that he hoped to have his
undesirable discharge from the Marines corrected. Robert and his wife "took to
Marina and June," and enjoyed showing Marina "things that she had never seen
before." Marina rested and took care of her baby, and when she could, helped in
the household. She testified that, apart from a trip to the library, Lee spent
about a week "merely talking. "
On June 18, 4 days after he arrived in Fort Worth, Oswald went to the office
of Mrs. Pauline Virginia Bates, a public stenographer whose name he had found in
the telephone directory, and asked her to type a manuscript from the "scraps of
paper," on which he had recorded his impressions of the Soviet Union. Intrigued
by his tale that he had just returned from the Soviet Union and had smuggled his
notes out of that country, she agreed to type the notes for $1 per page or $2 an
hour, 50 cents less than her usual hourly rate. On that day and the succeeding 2
days, Mrs. Bates spent 8 hours typing for Oswald while he remained in her office
helping her with the notes and translating portions of them which were in
Russian. At the end of each session he collected his notes and as much of the
manuscript as she had done and took them away with him. On June 20, he gave Mrs.
Bates $10 for the 10 completed pages; he told her that he had no more money and
refused to accept her offer to postpone payment or continue the work for
nothing.
Oswald told Mrs. Bates that there was an engineer in Fort Worth who wanted to
help him publish his notes. On June 19, he had called Peter Gregory, a petroleum
engineer who was born in Siberia and taught Russian at the Fort Worth Public
Library as a "civic enterprise." He asked if Gregory could give him a letter
testifying to his ability to read and speak Russian, so that he could obtain
work as an interpreter or translator. Gregory suggested that Oswald come to his
office, where Gregory opened a Russian book at random and asked Oswald to read
from it. Oswald read well, and Gregory gave him the letter he wanted. Gregory
and Oswald had lunch together and discussed Oswald's life in the Soviet Union,
but, according to Gregory's testimony, nothing was said about publishing
Oswald's manuscript. About a week later, Gregory and his son Paul, a college
student, visited the Oswalds at Robert Oswald's home and arranged for Marina to
give Paul lessons in Russian during the Summer.
On June 26, Oswald was interviewed by FBI agents in Fort Worth. One of the
agents who interviewed him described him as tense and "drawn up"; he said that
Oswald "exhibited an arrogant attitude ... and [was] inclined to be just a
little insolent." Oswald declined to say why he had gone to Russia, saying that
he refused to "relive the past." He said that he had not attempted to obtain
Soviet citizenship, had not been approached by Soviet officials for information
about his experiences in the Marines, and had not offered them such information.
Marina's Soviet passport required her to notify the Soviet Embassy in Washington
of her address in this country, and Oswald told the agents that he planned to
contact the Embassy for this purpose within a few days. He promised to notify
the FBI if he were contacted by Soviet agents "under suspicious circumstances or
otherwise." Oswald told his brother about the interview, saying that it had been
"just fine. "
Oswald and his family remained with Robert for about a month. While they were
there his mother moved to Fort Worth from Crowell, Tex., and sometime in July
they moved into her apartment at 1501 West Seventh Street. Mrs. Oswald testified
that she had visited them at Robert's house in June and moved to Fort Worth
because she thought that the house was too crowded and wanted to help them. Mrs.
Oswald described the period when her son and his family lived with her as "a
very happy month"; according to her testimony, she and her son and
daughter-in-law got along well. She mentioned that she not only helped Marina
keep house and care for the baby but also aided her son in his efforts to find
employment. Marina testified, however, that Lee did not get along well with his
mother and that he decided after several weeks that they should move to their
own apartment. He did not file a change-of-address card at the post office when
the family moved to West Seventh Street, as he did when they made their next
move, so he may have contemplated from the beginning that they would stay with
his mother for only a short while. Around the middle of August, the Oswalds
moved to a one-bedroom furnished apartment at 2703 Mercedes Street, for which
they paid $59. 50 in advance for 1 month's rent.
In the third week in July, Oswald had obtained a job as a sheet metal worker
with the Louv-R-Pak Division of the Leslie Welding Co., a manufacturer of
louvers and ventilators, to which he had been referred by the Texas Employment
Commission. On his application for employment, filled out several days before,
he wrote falsely that he had experience as a sheet metal worker and machinist in
the Marines and had been honorably discharged. He usually worked 8 or 9 hours a
day, for which he was paid $1. 25 an hour. Marina testified that Oswald did not
like his work, but he was regarded as a good employee and remained with the
company until October, when he quit. On the job, he kept to himself and was
considered uncommunicative.
Mrs. Oswald visited her son and his family at their apartment and tried to
help them get settled; she testified that she bought some clothes for Marina and
a highchair for the baby but that Oswald told her that he did not want her to
buy "things for his wife that he himself could not buy." Finally, Oswald
apparently decided that he did not want his mother to visit the apartment
anymore and he became incensed when his wife permitted her to visit despite his
instructions. After he moved to Dallas in October, Oswald did not see his mother
or communicate with her in any way until she came to see him after the
assassination. Witnesses have described the Mercedes Street apartment as
"decrepit" and very poorly furnished; there was no telephone service.
Acquaintances observed that Marina and the baby were poorly clothed, that the
Oswalds had little food, and that at first there was not a bed for the baby.
On August 16, the FBI again interviewed Oswald. This interview took place in
the back seat of a car in front of his home and covered substantially the same
material as the previous interview. Oswald again denied having made any deal
with representatives of the Soviet Union. He protested his undesirable discharge
from the Marines, and stated that his wife was registered at the Soviet Embassy.
He still refused to discuss why he had gone to the Soviet Union, but he was less
hostile than he had been during the previous interview. According to his wife,
however, he was very upset by the interest the FBI showed in him.
The Oswalds became acquainted with a growing number of people of the
Russian-speaking community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, who were tied together
socially by a common origin, language, and religion. The group was not
restricted to people from Russia but was composed primarily of people from
Eastern European countries. The Oswalds' initial contact with this group was
through Peter Gregory. Marina gave conversational Russian lessons to Paul
Gregory 2 days a week during August and early September, for which she was paid
$35. Most of the lessons took place at the Mercedes Street apartment and Oswald
was generally present. In addition, Paul Gregory occasionally took the Oswalds
shopping; after they became friendly, he had a number of discussions with
Oswald, some of them politically oriented.
Sometime around August 25, Peter Gregory invited the Oswalds and several
members of the Russian community to his house for dinner. One of the guests was
George Bouhe, a Dallas accountant. and a leader of the Russian community. He was
very interested in meeting and conversing with Marina, because she had spent
much of her life in Leningrad, which was his birthplace. Also present was Mrs.
Anna Meller, the Russian-born wife of a Dallas department store employee. Near
the end of August, the Oswalds met Declan Ford, a consulting geologist in the
Dallas area, and his Russian-born wife at Mrs. Meller's home. The Oswalds were
also introduced to Mrs. Elena Hall, who was born in Tehran, Iran, of Russian
parentage. She worked in a dental laboratory and at this time was divorced from
her former husband John Hall, whom she subsequently remarried. In order to
obtain dental aid for Marina, George Bouhe had brought her to Mrs. Halls house.
In early September, the Oswalds met Alexander Kleinlerer, another member of the
Russian group, who was then courting Mrs. Hall. Mrs. Max Clark was introduced to
Marina during this period by George Bouhe and Anna Me]let. Max Clark met the
Oswalds at a later time. At about the same time, they were visited by George De
Mohrenschildt, a petroleum engineer born in Russia. who had heard of them from
one of the Russian-speaking group. Later on, the Oswalds met his wife, Jeanne,
and his daughter and son-in-law, Gary and Alexandra Taylor.
Most of the members of the Russian community were interested in the Oswalds
not only because they needed help, but also because they could provide the
latest information about what was happening in Russia. Some members of the group
were at first apprehensive about them because the apparent ease with which they
had left Russia seemed suspicious. Nevertheless, many of the group provided
small amounts of money, groceries, clothing, and furniture for the Oswalds;
George Bouhe, Anna Meller, and Elena Hall were the primary contributors,
although others provided help in the form of transportation and groceries. These
acquaintances occasionally visited the Oswalds, and the Oswalds in turn visited
some of them in Dallas.
It was evident that Oswald did not appreciate the help of the Russian
community. At least once he flew into a rage and shouted that he did not need
any of the things that people were giving to him. Some felt that he resented the
gifts because he could not give his wife what the others were providing; he
apparently was critical of them also because he felt that they were overly
concerned with improving themselves economically.
Oswald became increasingly unpopular with his Russian-speaking acquaintances,
partly because of his resentment of their assistance. Alexander Kleinlerer
stated that none of them cared for Oswald "because of his political philosophy,
his criticism of the United States, his apparent lack of interest in anyone but
himself and because of his treatment of Marina." Some of them believed that
Oswald was mentally disturbed. However, they felt sorry for Marina and the child
and continued to help.
On a weekend afternoon early in October, the Oswalds were visited by his
mother and a number of people from the Russian community, including George
Bouhe, Anna Meller, the Halls, the De Mohrenschildts, and the Taylors. Oswald
had apparently decided to look for a new job, and discussed his lack of job
prospects and the fact that his rent was overdue. He was advised to seek
employment in the Dallas area. Elena Hall invited Marina to move into her house
in Fort Worth until Oswald found a job in Dallas. She accepted the proposal, and
Mrs. Hall moved Marina, her daughter June, and the Oswalds' few household goods
in a pickup truck belonging to the dental laboratory where she was employed.
Oswald worked at the Leslie Welding Co. on Monday, October 8, but failed to
appear on the following day. He was already in Dallas. He falsely told his wife
that he had been discharged, and told George Bouhe that the job had been a
temporary one. Sometime later, the company received an undated letter from him
stating that he had "moved permanently to Dallas," and asking that the wages due
him be forwarded to him at box 2915 in Dallas. He did not tell his mother that
he was leaving Fort Worth.
While they were in Fort Worth, the Oswalds were having marital problems.
Several people noted that Marina had a blackened eye when they visited her at
the Mercedes Street apartment. She told her mother-in-law and George Bouhe that
her husband had struck her, but said to Anna Meller that she had walked into a
door. It seems clear that Oswald had in fact hit her. People observed friction
between the Oswalds on various occasions, although their disputes became more
apparent later. Marina has written that this was a difficult period for them and
that her husband was "very irritable" and sometimes some completely trivial
thing would "drive him into a rage. "
She testified that:
...immediately after coming to the United States Lee changed. I did not
know him as such a man in Russia... He helped me as before, but he became a
little more of a recluse... He was very irritable, sometimes for a trifle...*
She has denied, however, that their separation was the result of
quarrels between them. Marina spent the first few weeks after Oswald's departure
at Elena Hall's house in Fort Worth, except for a brief stay at Gary Taylor's
house in Dallas after one of her appointments at the Baylor Dental Clinic. While
she was in Dallas, Mrs. De Mohrenschildt brought her to the clinic on October 8,
October 10, and October 15; George Bouhe had given Mrs. De Mohrenschildt the
money to cover the expense of Marina's dental care.
Even before Oswald went to Dallas, some of his acquaintances were helping him
in his effort to find a job there. George De Mohrenschildt directed him to
Samuel B. Ballen, a Dallas financial consultant, but no employment resulted.
George Bouhe recommended that Oswald go to the Texas Employment Commission in
Dallas; and Anna Meller had her husband ask Mrs. Helen Cunningham, a counselor
in the clerical and sales division of the Dallas office of the employment
commission, to help Oswald find a job. Oswald first came into the office of the
employment commission on October 9. He was reluctant to accept industrial
employment, and was placed in the clerical category and turned over to Mrs.
Cunningham for counseling. He indicated that he had an interest in writing. The
results of general aptitude tests which he had taken at the Fort Worth
employment office had been transmitted to the Dallas office, and indicated that
he had some aptitude in this direction and for clerical work. It was noted on
his application form that he had "outstanding verbal-clerical potential." He
demonstrated ability to perform many skilled and semi-skilled jobs, and there
was some indication that he could do college work. Mrs. Cunningham gave him
three special tests: for general clerical work, work as an insurance claims
examiner, and drafting work. He scored high on all three. His application form
indicated that he did not have a driver's license, and noted: "well-groomed and
spoken, business suit, alert repliesexpresses self extremely well." He told Mrs.
Cunningham that he hoped to develop qualifications for responsible junior
executive employment by a work-study program at a local college but that this
must be delayed because of his immediate financial needs and responsibilities.
Mrs. Cunningham concluded that although Oswald would be classified for
clerical work, she should try to get him any available job, since he badly
needed money. He was referred to an architect for an opening as a messenger but
was not hired. On October 11, he was referred to Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall Co., a
graphic arts company, in response to a call from John Graef, head of the
photographic department of the company, who had told the employment commission
that he needed a photoprint trainee. Oswald was enthusiastic about his prospects
and apparently made a good impression; Graef picked him over several other
applicants. On the following day he began working in his new position as a
trainee making prints of advertising material. He worked a 40-hour week at
approximately $1. 35 per hour; his take-home pay varied from $49 to $74 a week.
According to his wife, "he liked his work very much. "
Oswald moved into the YMCA on October 15, and stayed there until October 19,
paying $2. 25 a night. He had used the Taylors' address and telephone number as
a place where he could be reached, but on October 9 had also rented post office
box 2915 under his own name at the main post office on Ervay Street. On October
10, he filed a change-of- address form indicating that mail for 2703 Mercedes
Street should be forwarded to the box. Marina has written that Oswald wrote her
letters and telephoned her during the separation.
On October 16, Mrs Hall brought Marina and June to Dallas to have June
baptized. Marina apparently did this surreptitiously, because her husband
opposed baptism; they did not contact him in Dallas, but left birthday gifts for
him at the Taylors. Oswald did not appear very disturbed when he found out about
the baptism.
Two days later, Mrs. Hall had an automobile accident and went to the
hospital, where she remained until October 26; Marina remained in the Hall
house. Mrs. Max Clark and Alexander Kleinlerer, a friend of Mrs. Hall, checked
up to make sure that she was getting along without too much trouble. After
Oswald left the YMCA on October 19, he moved to a room or apartment somewhere in
Dallas, which has not been located. It seems likely, however, that during that
time he spent several weekends with Marina at the Hall house.
Four days after Mrs. Hall returned from the hospital, she left for New York
to visit friends. By the time she returned, Marina had moved to a three-room
apartment at 604 Elsbeth Street in Dallas, which Oswald had rented on Saturday,
November 3; the landlady stated that he had looked at the apartment about a week
before. The monthly rent was $68, in addition to which he had to pay several
dollars a month for utilities. He paid the rent plus a $5 deposit on November 3,
but probably spent that night with Marina at the Hall house. On Sunday the
Taylors helped the Oswalds move their belongings to the Elsbeth Street apartment
with a rented trailer. Oswald had asked Kleinlerer to help them move, and
Kleinlerer also was present when they departed.
Soon after the Oswalds were reunited, their marital difficulties started
again. While they were moving to Elsbeth Street, Kleinlerer noticed that Oswald
slapped his wife for not having the zipper on her dress completely closed. They
argued over his refusal to allow her to smoke. There was a quarrel also when he
told the landlady that Marina was from Czechoslovakia; he was angered when
Marina, who disapproved of this deception, told the landlady the truth.
Although several people tried to help Marina improve her scanty knowledge of
English, Oswald discouraged this, perhaps because he wanted to keep up his
Russian. Some witnesses testified that she commented about his sexual abilities.
He apparently continued to beat her, and once she suggested to George De
Mohrenschildt that she should "get away" from Oswald. When De Mohrenschildt
criticized Oswald's conduct, Oswald replied, "It is my business." Marina
testified that when they moved into the Elsbeth Street apartment, her husband
became "nervous and irritable" and was very angry over "trifles." She said that
it was sometimes her fault that he beat her, for example when she wrote to an
old boyfriend in Russia that she wished she had married him; the letter was
returned for postage due, and Oswald read it.
Because of this quarreling, a few of their acquaintances felt that Marina
would be better off alone. George Bouhe offered to help her if she promised to
leave Oswald permanently. Finally, in early November, Marina, helped by the De
Mohrenschildts, moved into Anna Meller's house with the intention not to return
to Oswald. He was apparently quite upset and did not want Marina to leave him.
Oswald did not visit his wife at Anna Meller's house, and for a short time did
not even know where she was. According to Marina, he called her after she moved
and they met at De Mohrenschildt's house. He asked her to return home. She
insisted that he stop quarreling and that he change his ways. He said that he
could not change. Marina would not agree to return home with him and he left.
Marina was uncomfortable at the Meller house, where there was very little room.
She moved to Katherine Ford's house where she apparently stayed from November 11
to 17. She indicated that she had decided never to return to her husband; it was
Mrs. Ford's impression that Marina was going to stay at other people's houses
until a permanent place could be found for her. When Mr. Ford returned from a
business trip on November 17, Marina and June moved to the home of Mrs. Frank
Ray, where they spent the day. Mrs. Ray, the wife of a Dallas advertising man,
was also of Russian origin. Since Mrs. Ray had no baby bed, Marina returned to
the Fords that evening. On the next day, however, Marina moved her belongings to
the Rays' house. That same day, Oswald called and asked to visit his wife, whom
he had called and written. Mr. Ray picked him up and took him to Marina.
Marina testified that at this meeting Oswald professed his love for her. She
stated: "I saw him cry... [he] begged me to come back, asked my forgiveness, and
promised that he would try to improve, if only I would come back." On another
occasion she said: "...he cried and you know a woman's heartI went back to him.
He said he didn't care to live if I did not return? That same day she decided to
return to him. Mr. Ray packed her belongings and took her back to the Elsbeth
Street apartment.
Members of the Russian community who had taken care of Marina so that she
would not have to live with Oswald felt that their efforts had been in vain.
George Bouhe was so irritated that he never again tried to help either of the
Oswalds. Contacts between them and members of the Russian community diminished
markedly. Oswald did not care for most of these people and made his feelings
apparent. Even the De Mohrenschildts, whom he liked most, saw much less of them.
Lydia Dymitruk, another Russian born woman in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,
testified that she saw the Oswalds on only one occasion, and did not care to see
them again. She drove Marina and June, who had a high fever, to the hospital;
Oswald told the hospital that he was unemployed in order to avoid paying for
June's treatment and later left Mrs. Dymitruk without thanking her. Mrs. Ford
testified that Marina had told her that she contemplated suicide during this
period because Oswald was treating her badly and she had no friends; she felt
that she had "no way out." Marina acknowledged to the Commission that she had
such thoughts.
In an effort to renew family ties, Robert Oswald wrote to Lee and John Pic on
November 17, inviting them and their families to Thanksgiving dinner. Lee
accepted the invitation. He and Marina traveled to Fort Worth by bus on
Thanksgiving Day, and John Pic and Robert met them at the station. Pic had not
seen his half-brother for 10 years. He observed, as many others have also
attested, that Lee seemed to be a good father and to take an active interest in
June. After dinner, Marina phoned Paul Gregory, who later drove the Oswalds to
his house for sandwiches and then took them to . the bus station for the return
trip to Dallas. Thereafter, Robert spoke to his brother once by telephone and
received a post card and a letter from him, but he eventually lost contact with
Lee and did not see him again until after the assassination.
Despite his disillusionment with Soviet life, Oswald kept up his interest in
Russia. He wrote to the Soviet Embassy in Washington for information on how to
subscribe to Russian periodicals and for "any periodicals or bulletins which you
may put out for the benefit of your citizens living, for a time, in the U. S.
A." He subsequently subscribed to several Russian journals. In December 1962,
the Soviet Embassy received a card in Russian, signed "Marina and Lee Oswald,"
which conveyed New Year's greetings and wishes for "health, success and all of
the best" to the employees at the Embassy. The Oswalds continued to correspond
with acquaintances in Russia.
Soon after his return to this country, Oswald had started to correspond with
the Communist Party, U. S. A., and the Socialist Workers Party. He subscribed to
the Worker in August 1962. He wrote for additional literature from these
organizations, and attempted to join the Socialist Workers Party, which,
however, had no branch in Texas. He sent samples of his photographic work to the
Socialist Workers Party, the Worker, and the Hall-Davis Defense Committee, and
offered to aid them in printing and photographic work in connection with
posters; these offers were not accepted.
He continued to read a great deal on a variety of subjects. George Bouhe
testified that Oswald's fare consisted of books by Marx, Lenin, "and similar
things." Marina said that he read books of a historical nature, including H. G.
Wells' two volume "Outline of History," and biographies of Hitler, Kennedy, and
Khrushchev.
Despite the Oswalds' break with the Russian community, De Mohrenschildt,
knowing that they would be alone during the Christmas season, asked the Fords
whether he could bring the Oswalds to a party celebrating the Russian Christmas
at the Fords' home; the Fords assented. The party was attended by many members
of the Russian community. Oswald spoke at length with Yaeko Okui, a Japanese
woman who had been brought to the party by Lev Aronson, first cellist of the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra; she told Federal investigators that she never saw
Oswald again. The Oswalds were not invited to three other Russian Christmas
season gatherings which occurred during the next few days.
Marina visited the De Mohrenschildts several times after Christmas. They
invited both Lee and Marina to a small dinner party in February 1963; also
present were Everett Glover, a chemist employed in Dallas, and his roommate
Volkmar Schmidt. On February 22, Glover had a gathering at his house, one of the
purposes of which was to permit his friends, many of whom were studying Russian,
to meet the Oswalds. They were the objects of much attention. Marina conversed
at length with another guest named Ruth Paine, who had recently separated from
her husband, Michael Paine, a research engineer at the Bell Helicopter plant in
Fort Worth. Mrs. Paine, who was studying Russian, obtained Marina's address and
shortly thereafter wrote Marina asking to see her. Marina responded by inviting
Mrs. Paine to visit her.
The Oswalds moved out of their Elsbeth Street apartment on March 3, 1963, to
an upstairs apartment several blocks away at 214 West Neely Street. Oswald
inquired about the apartment in response to a "For Rent" sign; the rent was $60
per month, not including utilities. They moved without assistance, carrying
their belongings in their hands and in a baby stroller. Marina preferred the
Neely Street apartment because it had a porch and was, she felt, more suitable
for June.
Aware of Oswald's difficulties in obtaining employment, George Bouhe had
advised him as early as October 1962 to attend a night school in Dallas. On
January 14, Oswald enrolled in a typing course in the night school of Crozier
Technical High School, and started attending on January 28. The class ran from
6:15 to 7:15 p. m. on Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays. Although Oswald reviewed
a typing textbook at home, he attended the course irregularly and stopped going
altogether on about March 28.
Ruth Paine and Marina started to exchange visits in March. Mrs. Paine invited
the Oswalds for dinner, and on April 20 she took them on a picnic. When Oswald
was not present, the two women frequently discussed their respective marital
problems, and Marina disclosed to Mrs. Paine that she was pregnant. Marina wrote
of these meetings:
One day we were invited to a friend's house, where I met Ruth Paine, who
was studying Russian here in America and wanted to improve her conversational
knowledge. We began to see each other. Ruth would come to see me with her
children. This was very good for both me and for June. She was growing up alone
and becoming terribly wild, so the company of other children was good for her.
Sometimes we went out on picnics at a nearby lake. Lee loved to fish, and we
would look and rejoice if he caught a little fish. Several times we went to
visit Ruth who lived in Irving.
Using the name of A. J. Hidell, Oswald had ordered a Smith & Wesson
.38 revolver from Los Angeles on a form which he dated January 27. On March 12,
he ordered a rifle from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago under the name of A.
Hidell. Oswald used the name "Alek James Hidell" on identification cards which
he probably produced at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. One of his fellow employees
taught him various photographic techniques, which he could have used to prepare
not only these cards, but also the samples of his work which he sent to various
organizations.
Both weapons were shipped on March 20. Oswald kept the rifle in a small
storeroom at the Neely Street apartment. He spent long periods of time in the
storeroom, which he told Marina she was not to enter. He told her that he
intended to use the rifle for hunting and that he practiced with it. She saw him
leave with it once, and clean it several times.
He also posed for two pictures, taken by Marina in the backyard of the Neely
apartment, in which he held his rifle and copies of the Worker and the Militant
and the revolver was strapped to his belt. He gave one of the pictures to his
wife and asked her to keep it for June.
Over the weekend of March 9-10, Oswald photographed the alley which runs
behind the home of Gen. Edwin Walker, and probably at about the same time he
photographed the rear of Walker's home and a nearby railroad track and
right-of-way. He prepared and studied a notebook in which he outlined a plan to
shoot General Walker, and he looked at bus schedules. He went to the Walker
residence on the evening of April 6 or 7, planning to make his attack. However,
he changed his plans, hid his rifle nearby, and determined to act on the
following Wednesday, April 10, when a nearby church was planning a meeting
which, Oswald reasoned, would create a diversion that would help him escape. On
Wednesday, Oswald left a note for Marina telling her what to do if he were
apprehended. He retrieved his rifle and fired at Walker, but the bullet narrowly
missed Walker's head. Oswald secreted his rifle again and took the bus home.
When Oswald told Marina what he had done, she became angry and made him
promise never to repeat such an act. She testified that she kept his letter,
intending to give it to the authorities if he repeated his attempt. He told
Marina that he was sorry he had missed Walker and said that the shooting of
Walker would have been analogous to an assassination of Hitler. Several days
later, the De Mohrenschildts visited the Oswalds, bringing an Easter present for
June. During the visit, Jeanne De Mohrenschildt saw the rifle and told her
husband about it. Without any knowledge of the truth, De Mohrenschildt jokingly
intimated that Oswald was the one who had shot at Walker. Oswald apparently
concluded that Marina had told De Mohrenschildt of his role in the attempt and
was visibly shaken.
On April 6, Oswald was dropped by Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall because, in his
supervisor's opinion, he could not do the work, although he was trying; in
addition, he did not get along with his fellow employees. The fact that he
brought a Russian newspaper to work may also have been of some significance.
Marina testified that her husband, who had always worried about his job security
at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, was quite upset by the loss of his job since he had
liked the work.
Oswald again resorted to the Texas Employment Commission. On April 8, he
informed the Commission that he was seeking employment but was referred to no
employers. He stated that he had been laid off at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall due to
lack of work." On April 12, he made a claim for unemployment benefits; 4 days
later the commission mailed him a determination disapproving his claim because
of insufficient wage credits.
For a while after the Oswalds moved into the Neely Street apartment they got
along well, but they soon began to quarrel. Oswald was apparently still
preventing Marina from learning English, and there is some indication that he
continued to beat her. Since February, he had been urging her to return to
Russia. Marina wrote several letters to the Russian Embassy requesting a visa to
return to Russia.; she testified, however, that Oswald forced her to write them,
and that she never wanted to return to Russia.
When Ruth Paine visited the Oswalds at their apartment on April 24, she was
surprised to learn that Oswald was packed and ready to leave for New Orleans by
bus. He explained that he had been unable to find employment in or around
Dallas, and that Marina had suggested that he go to New Orleans since he had
been born there. Marina has testified that the real reason behind her suggestion
was that she wanted to get him out of town because of the Walker incident.Mrs.
Paine offered to drive Marina to New Orleans at a later date, and also to have
Marina and June stay with her rather than at the apartment in the meantime.
Oswald helped the women pack Mrs. Paine's car, and the two women moved
everything from the Neely Street apartment to the Paine house in Irving.
When he arrived at the bus station in New Orleans, Oswald telephoned his
aunt, Lillian Murret, to ask if he could stay at her home at 757 French Street
while he looked for employment. She had been unaware that he had returned from
Russia or that he was married and had a child and was surprised to hear from
him. She said that she did not have room to accommodate three guests, but that
since he was alone he was welcome.
Oswald had been born in New Orleans, and on his return showed great interest
in finding out what had happened to the other members of his father's family. He
visited the cemetery where his father was buried and called all the Oswalds in
the telephone book. By this method he located one relative, Mrs. Hazel Oswald of
Metairie, La., the widow of William Stout Oswald, his father's brother. He
visited her at her home; she gave him a picture of his father and told him that
as far as she knew the rest of the family was dead.
On April 26, Oswald began his search for employment. He went to the
employment office of the Louisiana Department of Labor and stated that he was
qualified as a commercial photographer, shipping clerk, or "darkroom man." The
interviewer noted on Oswald's application card: "Will travel on limited basis.
Will relocate. Min. $1.25 hr. Neat. Suit. Tie. Polite." Although the employment
commission made a few referrals, Oswald relied primarily upon newspaper
advertisements, and applied for a number of positions. Mrs. Murret testified
that he would spend the day job hunting, return to her home for supper, watch
television, and go to bed.
On April 29, he filed a request for reconsideration of the employment
commission's disapproval of his unemployment compensation claim. His complaint
that he had not been credited for his employment at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall was
ruled valid on May 8, and he was granted maximum benefits of $369, payable at
the rate of $33 per week. He filed interstate claims on May 7 and 15, and
received $33 in response to the latter; the former claim was filed before the
expiration of the prescribed waiting period. Not only had Oswald in fact been
working since May 10, but he included on his claim sheet, as concerns with which
he had sought work, fictitious employers and employers whom he apparently had
not contacted.
Oswald wrote to Marina: "All is well. I am living with Aunt Lillian. She has
very kindly taken us in. I am now looking for work. When I find it I will write
you." And on May 3, he wrote to Marina and Ruth Paine: "Girls, I still have not
found work, but receive money from the unemployment office in the amount 15 to
20 dollars. They were mistaken in the Dallas office when they refused, but I
straightened everything out. Uncle 'Dyes' offered me a loan of $200.00 if
needed. Great, eh?!" On May 9, responding to a newspaper advertisement, Oswald
completed an application for employment with William B. Reily Co., Inc., at 640
Magazine Street, an enterprise engaged in the roasting, grinding, canning,
bagging, and sale of coffee. On his application form, Oswald listed as
references in addition to John Murret, "Sgt. Robert Hidell" and "Lieut. J.
Evans," both apparently fictitious names. His application was approved and he
began work on May 10, at the rate of $1.50 per hour. His task was the
lubrication of the company's machinery. Oswald did not enjoy this work, and told
his wife and Mrs. Paine that he was working in commercial photography.
Also on May 9, Oswald obtained an apartment at 4905 Magazine Street with the
help of Myrtle Evans, who had known him when he was a child. The rent was $65 a
month. Oswald moved in on May 10, after telephoning Marina on the ninth and
asking her to come to New Orleans. Ruth Paine testified that the invitation
dated: "Papa nas lubet""Daddy loves us," she repeated again and again. Mrs.
Paine drove Marina and June to New Orleans; they left Dallas on May 10, spent
the night in Shreveport, and arrived on the 11th. Mrs. Paine stayed with the
Oswalds for 8 days; the three of them, with June and Mrs. Paine's children,
toured the French Quarter. On May 14, Mrs. Paine left New Orleans to return to
her home.
The Murrets and the Oswalds exchanged visits from time to time; Marina
testified that the Murrets were very good to them. Mrs. Murret's daughter,
Marilyn, took the Oswalds on an outing. But, according to Marina's testimony,
aside from Ruth Paine and Ruth Kloepfer and her daughters, the Murrets were the
only social visitors the Oswalds had.
Ruth Kloepfer was a clerk of the Quaker Meeting in New Orleans whom Ruth
Paine had written in the hope that she might know some Russian-speaking people
who could visit Marina. Mrs. Kloepfer herself visited the Oswalds but made no
attempt to direct any Russian-speaking people to them.
On July 19, Oswald was dismissed by Reily because of inefficiency and
inattention to his work. He had spent many of his working hours next door at the
Crescent City Garage, where he read gun magazines and discussed guns with one of
the owners, Adrian Alba. On the following Monday, July 22, Oswald again visited
the Louisiana employment office to seek new employment and file a claim for
unemployment compensation. Thereafter, he collected unemployment compensation
weekly and, although apparently making some effort to obtain another job, again
listed a number of fictitious job applications on his unemployment compensation
claim forms. He soon gave up his search for employment, and began to spend his
days at home reading. He received another setback on July 25, when he was
notified that in response to the request for review which he had made in 1962,
his undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps had been affirmed.
During this period, Oswald began to evidence thoughts of returning to the
Soviet Union or going to Cuba. On June 24 he applied for a new passport., which
he received on the following day. Apparently at Oswald's request, Marina wrote
to the Russian Embassy, expressing a desire to return to Russia and indicating
that she would be accompanied by her husband. She explained that she wanted to
return because of family problems, including the impending birth of her second
child. Accompanying her letter was a letter written by Oswald dated July 1, in
which he asked the Embassy to rush an entrance visa for his wife and requested
that his visa be considered separately. Marina believed that Oswald was really
planning to go only to Cuba. She testified that "his basic desire was to get to
Cuba by any means, and that all the rest of it was window dressing for that
purpose."
During the early days of the New Orleans period, the Oswalds' marriage was
more harmonious than it had been previously. Marina wrote:
...our family life in New Orleans was more peaceful. Lee took great
satisfaction in showing me the city where he was born. We often went to the
beach, the zoo, and the park. Lee liked to go and hunt crabs. It is true, that
he was not very pleased with his job ... We did not have very much money, and
the birth of a new child involved new expenses ... As before, Lee spent a great
deal of time reading.
Marina testified, however, that after they had been in New Orleans for a
while, Oswald became depressed and that she once found him alone in the dark
crying. She wrote to Ruth Paine that his "love" had ceased soon after Mrs. Paine
had left New Orleans. Mrs. Paine testified, however, that she had noticed
friction between the Oswalds before she left. On July 11, Mrs. Paine wrote
Marina that if Oswald did not wish to live with her any more and preferred that
she return to the Soviet Union, she could live at the Paines' house. Although
Mrs. Paine had long entertained this idea, this was the first time she
explicitly made the invitation. She renewed the invitation on July 12, and again
on July 14; she attempted to overcome any feeling which Marina might have that
she would be a burden by stating that Marina could help with the housework and
help her learn Russian, and that she would also provide a tax advantage.
Marina replied that she had previously raised the subject of a separation and
that it had led to arguments. She stated that she was happy and that for a
considerable period of time Oswald had been good to her. She attributed this
improved attitude to the fact that he was anticipating their second child.
Marina turned down Mrs. Paine's invitation but said that she would take
advantage of it if things became worse. Mrs. Paine replied that she was taking a
trip north to visit her parents and would visit Marina in New Orleans about
September 18. She also suggested that Marina come to her house for the birth of
the baby.
On July 6, Eugene Murret, a cousin of Oswald who was studying to be a Jesuit
Priest in Mobile, Ala., wrote and asked if Oswald could come to Mobile and speak
at the Jesuit House of Studies about "contemporary Russia and the practice of
Communism there." Oswald accepted, and on July 27 he and his family, joined by
some of the Murrets, traveled to Mobile; Charles Murret paid the expenses.
Oswald spoke concerning his observations in Russia and conducted a question and
answer period; he impressed his listeners as articulate. He indicated that he
had become disillusioned during his stay in Russia, and that in his opinion the
best political system would be one which combined the best points of capitalism
and communism. While he left his listeners with the impression that he was an
atheist, he avoided a direct discussion of religion. The group returned to New
Orleans on July 28.
In late May and early June, 0swald had apparently begun to formulate plans
for creating a New Orleans branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Using the
name "Lee Osborne" he ordered a number of printed circulars demanding "Hands off
Cuba" in large letters, and application forms and membership cards for the
proposed chapter. On August 5, he visited a store managed by Carlos Bringuier, a
Cuban refugee and avid opponent of Castro and the New Orleans delegate of the
Cuban student directorate. Oswald indicated an interest in joining the struggle
against Castro. He told Bringuier that he had been a marine and was trained in
guerrilla warfare, and that he was willing not only to train Cubans to fight
Castro but also to join the fight himself. The next day Oswald returned to the
store and left his "Guidebook for Marines" for Bringuier.
On August 9, Bringuier saw Oswald passing out Fair Play for Cuba leaflets.
Bringuier and his companions became angry and a dispute resulted. Oswald and the
three Cuban exiles were arrested for disturbing the peace. Oswald spent the
night in jail and was interviewed the next day by a lieutenant of the New
Orleans Police Department. At Oswald's request, an FBI agent also interviewed
him. Oswald maintained that he was a member of the New Orleans branch of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee which, he claimed, had 35 members. He stated also
that he had been in touch with the president of that organization, A. J. Hidell.
Oswald was in fact the only member of the "New Orleans branch," which had never
been chartered by the National Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Later that day
Oswald was released on bail, and 2 days later he pleaded guilty to the charges
against him and paid a $10 fine. The charges against the Cuban exiles were
dismissed. Marina testified that the arrest upset Lee and that he "became less
active, he cooled off a little" after it.
On August 16, Oswald, assisted by at ]east one other person who was a hired
helper, again passed out Fair Play for Cuba literature, this time in front of
the International Trade Mart. That night, television newscasts ran pictures of
Oswald's activities. (This hindered Oswald's subsequent attempts to obtain
employment in New Orleans.) Bringuier sent one of his friends to Oswald's home
to pose as a Castro sympathizer and attempt to obtain information about Oswald,
but Oswald apparently saw through the ruse.
William Stuckey, a radio broadcaster with a program called "Latin Listening
Post," had long been looking for a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee to
appear on his program. He learned about Oswald from Bringuier, and visited
Oswald on August 17. Later that day, Stuckey recorded an interview with Oswald
which was cut to about 5 minutes and played back on the show that evening. Two
days later, Stuckey asked the news director of the station if he could run the
entire tape, but the director felt that a debate with a local opponent of Castro
would be of greater public interest. Consequently, Stuckey arranged for a debate
between Oswald and Bringuier on a 25-minute daily public affairs program called
"Conversation Carte Blanche," which took place on August 21. Oswald defended the
Castro regime and discussed Marxism. He was put on the defensive when his
defection to Russia was brought up, and Stuckey later testified that he thought
that the program had finished the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans.
However, Stuckey also testified that Oswald seemed to be a clean-cut and
intelligent person who conducted himself very well during the interviews and
debates.
Oswald wrote several times to V. T. Lee, then national director of the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee, telling him, sometimes in exaggerated terms, of his
activities. He wrote also to the Communist Party and asked whether, in view of
his prior defection, he should "continue to fight, handicapped as it were, by
... [his] past record, [and] compete with anti- progressive forces, above-ground
or ... should always remain in the background, i.e., underground." The Party
replied that "often it is advisable for some people to remain in the background,
not underground." And although Oswald wrote four letters to V. T. Lee during the
summer, there is no evidence that Oswald heard from him after May 29.
Ruth Paine arrived in New Orleans on September 20, and spent three nights
with the Oswalds. During this stay, Mrs. Paine found relations between them much
improved. Nonetheless, it was decided that Marina would go back with her to
Irving for the birth of the baby. Marina and Mrs. Paine toured Bourbon Street
while Oswald stayed home and did some packing for Marina's return to Texas. On
Sunday, September 22, Oswald and Mrs. Paine finished loading the station wagon
with the Oswalds' household belongings.
Oswald appears to have taken with him a Spanish-English dictionary; his
address book; his 1963 passport and old passport; his correspondence with the
Communist Party and with the Soviet Embassy in Washington, some of which was in
Russian; proof of his marriage; newspaper clippings concerning his arrest and
his interest in the activities of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (activities
which, Marina testified, he had undertaken-because he thought that they would
help him when he got to Cuba); evidence that he was the "Director" of the New
Orleans chapter of the Committee; and various other cards, such as a work card,
which he had obtained in Russia. He took also several sheets of note paper on
which he had written a summary of important events in his life which he
presumably intended to call to the attention of Cuban and Soviet officials in
Mexico City to convince them to let him enter Cuba.
On these sheets he had recorded facts about his Marine service, including the
dates of his enlistment and discharge, the places where he had served, and the
diplomas that he had received from military school. Recorded also were notes on
his stay in the Soviet Union, his early interest in Communist literature, his
ability to speak Russian, his organization of the New Orleans chapter of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, his contact with police authorities in connection
with his work for the Committee, and his experience in "street agitation," as a
"radio speaker and lecturer," and as a photographer. The two pieces of luggage
which Oswald took with him were a small, blue, zipper bag and a large,
olive-colored bag, both made of cloth. He carried the smaller bag with him
throughout the trip, but, at least from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City, checked the
larger one through to his destination.
Oswald remained in New Orleans until September 25. His precise whereabouts on
the night of September 24 are uncertain, but in view of his limited finances, he
probably returned to the apartment to sleep after checking his luggage at a bus
station or spent the night at an inexpensive hotel or rooming house. Some time
after 5 a. m. on September 25, he collected a Texas unemployment compensation
check for $33 at his New Orleans post office box. He cashed the check between 8
a. m. and noon at a store about six blocks from his apartment on Magazine
Street. This gave him about $200 for the trip to Mexico.
He left New Orleans by bus, probably on Continental Trailways Bus No. 5121,
departing New Orleans at 12:20 p. m. on September 25, and scheduled to arrive in
Houston at 10:50 p. m. ; that bus is the only one on which Oswald could have
left New Orleans after noon on September 25 and arrived in Houston before
midnight. Sometime in the evening he called the home of Horace Elroy Twiford, a
member of the Socialist Labor Party who had received Oswald's name from the
party's headquarters in New York and sent him a copy of its official
publication, the "Weekly People. "
Mrs. Twiford, who answered the telephone, believes that the call was made
locally, before 10 p. m. It may have been made from Beaumont or some other stop
on the route; however, in view of the bus schedule, it probably was made in
Houston later than Mrs. Twiford remembered. Oswald told Mrs. Twiford that he was
a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and that he hoped to see her
husband for a few hours that evening before he flew to Mexico. He wanted also to
find out how Twiford had obtained his name and address. Mrs. Twiford told Oswald
that her husband, a merchant seaman, was at sea but would be happy to see him at
some other time; she offered to take a message. Oswald said that he could not
await her husband's return because he was flying to Mexico. The Twifords have
stated that they had no other contact with Oswald.
An employee of the U. S. Selective Service System has stated that an
individual calling himself "Harvey Oswald" appeared at her office in Austin,
Tex., immediately after lunch on September 25, and discussed with her the
possibility of rectifying his undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps.
Despite the employee's reputability and apparent sincerity, all of the
information which she furnished with respect to Oswald's appearance and
conversation could have been derived from news media, consciously or
unconsciously, by the time she told the FBI her story. Other persons in Austin
who, according to the employee's testimony, should also have observed Oswald
failed to corroborate her testimony. No other evidence tending to show that
Oswald was in Austin at this time has been discovered.
The telephone call which Oswald made to the Twifords on the evening of
September 25, indicates that he was either in Houston or on his way there when
he made it, since the purpose of the call was to make an appointment to see
Twiford in Houston that evening. Oswald could not have left New Orleans on
September 25, been in Austin 521 miles away by early afternoon, and returned 162
miles to Houston by night unless he traveled by air; airline records contain no
indication that Oswald was on such flights. It is very unlikely that he had with
him enough money beyond what he needed for the trip to Mexico City to take such
flights, and the poor state of his finances at this time plus his
well-established frugality make it extremely unlikely that he would have
considered it worthwhile to do so even if he could. There is no evidence that
Oswald was in such a hurry to reach Mexico that he would have felt it necessary
to travel by airplane rather than a less expensive means of travel. He took a
bus from Houston to Mexico City, lived very inexpensively there, and took a bus
back to Dallas; there is no apparent reason why he would have interrupted such
an inexpensive trip to fly to Austin and then to Houston. He told a passenger
whom he met on the next leg of his trip that he had come from New Orleans, and
made no reference to Austin.
On September 26, Oswald boarded Continental Trailways bus No. 5133 in Houston
and departed at, 2:35 a. m. for Laredo, Tex., via Corpus Christi and Alice. Two
British tourists, Dr. and Mrs. John B. McFarland, who boarded No. 5133 in
Houston, noticed Oswald when they awoke at about 6 a. m. Oswald told them that
he was going to Cuba via Mexico City, and they inferred from conversation with
him that he had left New Orleans early in the afternoon of September 25 and that
he was going to Cuba via Mexico City. He said also that he was secretary of the
New Orleans branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and that he hoped to see
Fidel Castro in Cuba. The bus was scheduled to arrive in Laredo at approximately
1:20 p. m. Oswald crossed the border from Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico,
between 1:30 and 2 p. m. From Nuevo Laredo, he traveled to Mexico City aboard
bus No. 516 of the Flecha Roja Bus Line, which departed at 2:15 p. m. and was
scheduled to arrive in Mexico City at 9:45 a. m. on the following day; he held
baggage claim check No. 320435. He was seen on the bus by the McFarlands and by
two Australian girls who boarded the bus on the evening of September 26 at
Monterrey. He occupied the seat next to an elderly Englishman, who told the
girls that the young man sitting next to him apparently had been to Mexico
before. The man next to Oswald was probably Albert Osborne, a native of the
British Isles who has worked as an itinerant preacher in the Southern United
States and Mexico for many years. Osborne denied that he sat beside Oswald; but
in view of his inconsistent and untrue responses to Federal investigators
concerning matters not directly related to Oswald, the Commission believes that
his denial cannot be credited. It appeared to the other passengers on the bus
that Osborne and Oswald had not previously met; extensive investigation has
revealed no other contact between them.
In the course of the 20-hour bus trip, Oswald initiated two conversations
with the Australian girls, during which he mentioned his visit to Russia and
recommended the Hotel Cuba in Mexico City as a "clean and cheap" hotel; he told
them, apparently falsely, that he had stayed there on previous occasions. He
said that when he had seen them board the bus with their heavy suitcases, he had
been under the impression that they were Mexican and had therefore asked the man
next to him how to say "How can I help you?" in Spanish. From this they inferred
that Oswald did not speak Spanish, an impression which is shared by every
witness who met Oswald on his trip and is supported by notations which he made
on documents that he carried. He got off the bus at every stop and ate large
meals, always eating by himself; the girls thought he ate so much because he
could not make himself understood in Spanish and had to order by pointing at the
menu. The bus arrived in Mexico City 15 minutes late, at 10 a. m. Oswald left
the bus station by himself and had no known further contact with any of the
people with whom he had spoken on the bus.
Oswald registered at the Hotel del Comercio within an hour of his arrival in
Mexico City. He stayed there throughout his visit. The hotel, located not far
from the commercial heart of the city and within four blocks of the bus station,
is one of a group of hotels located near the intercity bus terminals and has
perhaps the best appearance of the group. It is known by personnel in other
hotels that the owner of the Hotel del Comercio can understand and speak a
little English. Oswald registered as "Lee, Harvey Oswald," and gave his
occupation as "photo." He had room 18 which cost $1 per day.
After he had registered, Oswald turned promptly to the task of obtaining
permission to enter Cuba. Mexican officials would not permit a U. S. citizen
without a Cuban visa to board a plane for Cuba even if he had an American
passport, but would permit passage if he had a visa even though the passport
proscribed travel to Cuba. Oswald had a 1963 American passport (stamped invalid
for travel to Cuba) but had neither a regular Cuban visa nor an intransit visa
which would permit a short stay in Cuba on his way to Russia or some other
country. His address book contained the telephone number and address of a Cuban
airline, but there is evidence that he never visited its office.
He visited the Cuban Embassy on Friday, September 27 and spoke with Senora
Silvia Tirado de Duran, a Mexican citizen employed there. Senora Duran later
made a signed statement to the Mexican police that Oswald:
...applied for a visa to Cuba in transit to Russia and based his
application on his presentation of his passport in which it was recorded that,
he had been living in the latter country for a period of three years, his work
permit from that same country written in the Russian language and letters in the
same language, as well as proof of his being married to a woman of Russian
nationality and being the apparent Director in the city of New Orleans of the
organization called "Fair Play for Cuba" with the desire that he should be
accepted as a "friend" of the Cuban Revolution...
He apparently also stated that he was a member of the Communist Party
and displayed documents which he claimed to be evidence of his membership. He
said that he intended to go to Cuba on September 30 and to remain there for 2
weeks, or longer if possible, and then go on to Russia. Senora Duran took down
the relevant date and filled out the appropriate application. Oswald left the
Embassy but was to return in the afternoon.
Then, or possibly even before his initial visit to the Cuban Embassy Oswald
went to the Soviet Embassy where he spoke with either Pavel Antonovich Yatskov
or Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov. They are both consular officials serving also
as agents of the KGB. Oswald later said that he had dealt with "Kostin,"
undoubtedly a reference to Kostikov. He was unable to obtain a Soviet visa then.
Marina said that the officials at the Soviet Embassy "refused to have anything
to do with him. "
Oswald returned to the Cuban Embassy later that afternoon, this time bringing
with him passport photographs which he may have obtained in the United States.
Senora Duran telephoned the Soviet Embassy to inquire about the status of
Oswald's Russian visa and was told that there would be a delay of about 4
months. Oswald became "highly agitated and angry," particularly when he learned
that he could not obtain an intransit visa to Cuba before he acquired a Russian
visa. Senora Duran called the Cuban consul, then Eusibio Azque, to speak to him.
The discussion between Oswald and Azque developed into a heated argument, which
ended when Azque told Oswald that in his opinion people like Oswald were harming
the Cuban Revolution and that so far as Azque was concerned, he would not give
Oswald a visa. Senora Duran wrote her name and the phone number of the Embassy
on a piece of paper which she gave to Oswald in case he wished to contact her
again. He copied this information into his address book. Senora Duran forwarded
the Cuban visa application to Havana; the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs
replied on October 15 that the visa could be issued only after Oswald had
obtained a Russian visa. (See Commission Exhibit, No. 2564, p. 303.) Oswald
contacted the Russian and Cuba Embassies again during his stay in Mexico. He had
no greater success than he had before. Marina testified that when he returned to
Texas, he was convinced that his trip had been a failure and disappointed at
having been unable to go to Cuba. A month later, in a painstakingly composed
letter to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, Oswald ascribed his failure to "a
gross breach of regulations" on the part of the Cuban Embassy. "Of course," he
wrote, "the Soviet Embassy was not at fault, they were, as I say unprepared. "
The hotel maid said that Oswald generally was gone by the time she arrived at
9 a. m. The night watchman said he usually returned at about midnight, which is
not unusual, in view of the late hour at which Mexico City's evening activities
begin. He ate several lunches at a small restaurant immediately adjacent to the
hotel, coming to the restaurant shortly after 2 p. m., and ordering food by
pointing to the menu, apparently with some consideration of cost; he spent
between 40 and 48 cents for each meal. He ate the soup of the day, rice, and
either meat or eggs, but refused dessert and coffee; the waitress concluded that
Oswald did not realize that the items which he refused were included in the
price of the lunch. He was seen with no other person either at his hotel or at
the restaurant. A hotel guest stated that on one occasion he sat down at a table
with Oswald because there was no empty table in the restaurant, but that neither
spoke to the other because of the language barrier.
Although the Soviet and Cuban Embassies are within two blocks of each other,
they are some distance from Oswald's hotel. He must, therefore, have traversed a
substantial portion of the city on more than one occasion. Marina testified that
he told her that he had seen a bullfight, which would normally have been on
Sunday afternoon, and that he had visited museums and done some sightseeing. He
apparently also saw one or more motion pictures, either American with Spanish
subtitles or Mexican with English subtitles. From notations in his
Spanish-English dictionary and on his guide map of Mexico City, it appears that
Oswald intended to attend a jai alai game but he almost certainly did not do so.
He purchased several postcards depicting bullfights and tourist attraction's,
which he brought back to Marina. She had told him before he left that she would
like Mexican silver bracelets as a souvenir, and he brought her a silver
bracelet inscribed with her name. Marina suspected, almost certainly correctly,
that the bracelet, of Japanese origin, did not come from Mexico. No such jewelry
is known to be sold in or around Mexico City, because of a high duty but the
bracelet is of a type commonly sold in 5-and-10-cent stores in Dallas. Oswald
did not buy the Mexican phonograph records which Marina had requested, despite
the notation, "records," which he had placed in his dictionary.
On Monday, September 30, Oswald began to prepare for his return to the United
States. He appeared at the Agencia de Viages, Transportes Chihuahuenses, and
purchased international exchange orders costing $20. 30 for travel on a
Transportes del Norte bus from Mexico City to Laredo and by Greyhound bus
directly from Laredo to Dallas. The travel agency made a reservation for him on
Transportes del Notre bus No. 332, departing Mexico City at 8:30 a. m. on
October 2. The seat, No. 12, was reserved in the name of the travel agency,
which recorded the reservation in the name of "H. O. Lee." The employee who made
the reservation testified that he probably wrote the name that way because he
was copying from Oswald's tourist card, which read "Lee, Harvey Oswald." (The
manifest for Transportes Frontera bus No. 340, leaving Mexico City for Monterrey
and Nuevo Laredo at 1 p. m. on Wednesday, October 2, 1963, contains the name
"Oswld" [sic], which apparently was added to the manifest after the trip; in any
event, Oswald did not take bus 340.) On October 1, Oswald paid his hotel bill
through that night. The hotel night watchman remembers helping Oswald obtain a
taxicab at about 6:30 or 7 on the following morning. Transportes del Norte bus
No. 332 left as scheduled at about 8:30 a. m. ; at Monterrey the passengers were
shifted to a relief bus, No. 373, scheduled to depart for Laredo at 10 p. m.
that evening. Fellow passengers recall that Oswald was pulled off the bus by
Mexican officials at the border, because of some alleged irregularity in his
Mexican tourist papers; one passenger overheard him mumbling complaints about
the Mexican immigration officials when he returned to the bus. They remember
also that Oswald was hurriedly "gulping" down a banana after the bus reached
customs, perhaps because he believed that he could not take fruit into the
United States. (Marina has testified that her husband liked bananas and
frequently ate them.) One of the passengers testified that Oswald annoyed him by
keeping his overhead light on to read after 10 p. m. He may have conversed with
an elderly woman on the bus, but he was not traveling with her.
At about 1:35 a. m. on October 3, Oswald crossed the International Bridge
from Nuevo Laredo into Texas. He traveled from Laredo to Dallas via San Antonio,
on Greyhound bus No. 1265, substantially following Interstate Route 35 for the
entire trip leaving Laredo at 3 a. m. and arriving in Dallas at about 2:20 p. m.
on the same day.
Oswald thought that the YMCA was too expensive for him, and intended to rent
a room. He inquired about a room at North Beckley, where he lived later, but on
October 7 there were no vacancies. He next responded to a "For Rent" sign at a
rooming house at 621 Marsalis Street. He obtained a room, for which he paid the
weekly rent of $7 in advance, and moved in on the same day. He immediately
resumed his job-hunting, relying partially on referrals by the employment
commission. He spent much of the time when he was not looking for work in his
room. He telephoned his wife daily. She wrote: "Lee called twice a day, was
worried about my health and about June." On Friday, Oswald told his landlady,
Mrs. Mary Bledsoe, that he was going to Irving for the weekend but would return
the following week. She refused to rent the room to him for another week because
she didn't like him.
Oswald spent the weekend of October 12-13 at Mrs. Paine's home, during which
time she gave him a driving lesson. He told her that he had received the last of
the unemployment checks due him, and that it had been smaller than the previous
ones. Mrs. Paine testified that Oswald was extremely discouraged because his
wife was expecting a baby, he had no job prospects in sight, and he no longer
had any source of income.
On Monday, Mrs. Paine drove Oswald into Dallas, since she had other business
there. He picked up his bag from Mrs. Bledsoe's rooming house and later that day
rented a room at North Beckley Avenue from Mrs. A. C. Johnson for $8 a week. He
registered as O. H. Lee and moved in immediately. Oswald felt that this room was
more comfortable than the previous one, particularly because he had television
and refrigerator privileges. He apparently continued to spend most of his
evenings in his room. He borrowed books from the library and had subscriptions
to various periodicals, including Time, the Worker, the Militant, and some
Russian periodicals.
On that Monday, Mrs. Paine mentioned the Oswalds' financial and employment
problems to neighbors whom she was visiting. Mrs. Linnie Mac Randle, who was
also present, remarked that she thought that her younger brother, Buell Wesley
Frazier, who worked at the Texas School Book Depository, had said that there was
a job opening there. When Marina heard of this, she asked Mrs. Paine to call the
Depository to see if there was an opening. Mrs. Paine called Roy S. Truly,
superintendent of the Depository, who indicated that he would talk to Oswald if
he would apply in person. When Oswald telephoned the Paine house on Monday
evening, Mrs. Paine told him about this possibility. On the next day, Oswald was
interviewed by Truly and hired in a temporary capacity. He began work on
Wednesday, October 16. His duties were to fill book orders; his hours were 8 a.
m. to 4:45 p. m., for which he received $1. 25 an hour.
Both the Oswalds were elated with the new job, although it apparently
required little skill or experience and he indicated that he still hoped to
obtain a better job. He did a satisfactory job at the Depository, but he kept to
himself and very few of his fellow employees got to know him. During his first
week at work, Oswald became acquainted with Frazier, with whom he arranged to
ride to Irving on weekends. On Friday, October 18, Frazier drove him from work
to the Paine home; since it was his birthday, Marina and Ruth Paine had arranged
a small celebration. On Sunday, he stayed with June and the Paine children,
while Mrs. Paine drove Marina to Parkland Hospital where she gave birth to a
second daughter, Rachel. He went to work on Monday, but that evening visited
Marina in the hospital and spent the night in Irving. Marina wrote:
Monday evening Lee visited me in the hospital. He was very happy at the
birth of another daughter and even wept a little. He said that two daughters
were better for each othertwo sisters. He stayed with me about two hours.
Oswald returned to Dallas the next morning. Oswald wrote to Arnold
Johnson of the Communist Party, U. S. A., that on the evening of October 23, he
had attended an "ultra right" meeting headed by Gen. Edwin A. Walker. Two
evenings later, he accompanied Michael Paine to a meeting of the American Civil
Liberties Union, held at Southern Methodist University. At this meeting, a
statement was made to the effect that members of the John Birch Society should
not be considered anti-Semitic; Oswald rose and stated that at the meeting which
he had attended 2 days earlier, he had heard a number of anti-Semitic and
anti-Catholic statements. Later in the evening, Oswald became involved in a
discussion with several people, including Frank Krystinik, who was employed with
Paine at the Bell Helicopter plant. During this conversation, Oswald expressed
Marxist views and declared that he was a Marxist, although denying that he was a
Communist. He admitted that the United States was superior to the Soviet Union
in the area of civil liberties and praised President Kennedy for his work in
that connection. Krystinik testified that he got the impression that Oswald did
not fully understand the views he was expounding.
Throughout that week Oswald telephoned his wife to inquire about her health
and that of the baby. He spent the weekend at the Paine home, to which Marina
and Rachel had returned during the week. On Friday, November 1, he obtained post
office box No. 6225 at the Terminal Annex Post Office Station. He indicated that
the box would also be used to receive mail for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
and the American Civil Liberties Union. Once again he spent the weekend in
Irving.
Throughout this period, the FBI had been aware of the whereabouts of the
Oswalds. There was a record in the Dallas office of the FBI that Oswald
subscribed to the Worker, engaged in Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities and
had traveled to Mexico. An FBI agent visited the Paine home on November 1 and,
accompanied by another agent, again on November 5, and spoke briefly with Mrs.
Paine. On neither occasion was Oswald present. Ruth Paine noted the agent's name
and telephone number and, in accordance with her husband's instructions, Marina
noted the license number of the agent's automobile, all of which was
subsequently reported to Oswald. Both Mrs. Paine and Marina testified that
Oswald was troubled by the FBI's interest in him. He declared that the FBI was
"trying to inhibit" his activities, and wrote the Soviet Embassy in Washington:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is not now interested in my
activities in the progressive organization "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" of
which I was secretary in New Orleans (state Louisiana) since I no longer reside
in that state. Please inform us of the arrival of our Soviet entrance visa's as soon as they
come. (See Commission Exhibit 15, p. 311.)
The following Friday, November 8, Oswald as usual drove to the Paine house
with Frazier. On Saturday Mrs. Paine took him to the Texas Drivers' License
Examining Station, but because it was election day the station was closed.
Oswald stayed at the Paines through Monday, November 11, which was Veterans Day.
During the weekend, Mrs. Paine gave Oswald a second driving lesson.
Oswald did not go to Irving on the next weekend. His wife had asked him not
to come because Michael Paine, with whom Oswald did not get along, would be
there to celebrate his daughter's birthday. Also, she felt that because he had
stayed for 3 days the preceding weekend, he would abuse Mrs. Paine's hospitality
if he returned so soon. Oswald telephoned Marina on Saturday afternoon and said
that he had returned to the drivers' license examining station that morning but
had not waited because there was a long line.
On Sunday, November 17, at Marina's request, Ruth Paine telephoned Oswald at
the Beckley Avenue number, which he had given to Marina. When she asked for him,
she was told that no one by that name lived at the address, which greatly
surprised her. On the next day, Oswald telephoned his wife. When she indicated
that she had been upset by the fact that there had been no Lee Oswald at the
number which she had asked Mrs. Paine to call, Oswald became angry; he said that
he was using a fictitious name and that she should not have called the Beckley
Avenue number. He did not telephone on the following day, which was unusual.
On the morning of Thursday, November 21, Oswald asked Frazier to take him to
Irving when he went home that evening, saying that he wanted to pick up some
curtain rods. His arrival was a surprise because he generally asked Mrs. Paine's
permission before arriving for a visit. The women thought that he had come to
Irving because he felt badly about arguing with his wife about the use of the
fictitious name. He said that he was lonely, because he had not come the
preceding weekend, and told Marina that. he "wanted to make his peace" with her.
He spent the time before dinner on the lawn playing with his daughter. However,
when he attempted to talk to his wife she would not answer, which upset him. He
asked her to live with him in Dallas, and she refused. After supper, Oswald
watched television while the women cleaned the house and prepared their children
for bed. He retired early in the evening at about 9.
Appendix XIII - Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald
Early Years
Marguerite Claverie, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, was
born in New Orleans in 1907, into a family of French and German extraction. Her
mother died a few years after Marguerite was born leaving her and five other
young children in the care of their father, a streetcar conductor. Although
Marguerite describes herself as "a child of one parent," she recalls being the
of the most popular young ladies in the [grammar] school," and thinks of her
childhood as a "very full happy" one. Her older sister, Mrs. Lillian Murret,
remembers Marguerite as "a very pretty child, a very beautiful girl," as does a
former acquaintance, Clem H. Sehrt, who knew the Claveries. The family was poor
but, according to Mrs. Murret, was a "happy family ... singing all the time."
Marguerite had 1 year of high school. Shortly before she was 17, she went to
work as a receptionist for a law firm in New Orleans
Mrs. M. Oswald
I am sixteen years of age and would like more information about
your youth League, I would like to know if there is a branch in my area, how to
join, etc., I am a Marxist, and have been studying socialist principles for well
over fifteen months I am very interested in your Y.P.S.L.
/s/ Lee Oswald
Marines
On October 26, 1956, Lee Harvey Oswald reported for duty at the
Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif., where he was assigned to the
Second Recruit Training Battalion. He Was 68 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds;
he had no physical defects. On October 30, he took a series of aptitude tests,
on which he scored significantly above the Marine Corps average in reading and
vocabulary and significantly below the average in tests in arithmetic and
pattern analysis. His composite general classification score was 105, 2 points
below the Corps average. He scored near the bottom of the lowest group in a
radio code test. His preference of duty was recorded as Aircraft Maintenance and
Repair, the duty assignment for which he was recommended.
Soviet Union
On September 4, the day on which he was transferred out of
MACS-9 in preparation for his discharge, Oswald had applied for a passport, at,
the Superior Court of Santa Ana, Calif. His application stated that he planned
to leave the United States on September 21 to attend the Albert Schweitzer
College and the University of Turku in Finland, and to travel in Cuba, the
Dominican Republic, England, France Germany, and Russia. The passport was
routinely issued 6 days later.
Well, I 'have booked passage on a ship to Europe, I would
of had to sooner or later and I think it's best I go now. Just remember above
all else that my values are very different from Robert's or yours. It is
difficult to tell you how I feel, Just remember this is what I must do. I did
not tell you about my plans because you could hardly be expected to understand.
I did not see aunt Lilian while I was here. I will write again as soon as I
land.
Lee
The Marion Lykes carried only four passengers. Oswald shared his cabin
with Billy Joe Lord, a young man who had just graduated from high school and was
going to France to continue his education. Lord testified that he and Oswald did
not discuss politics but did have a few amicable religious arguments, in which
Oswald defended atheism. Oswald was "standoffish," but told Lord generally about
his background, mentioning that his mother worked in a drug-store in Fort Worth
and that he was bitter about the low wages which she received. He told Lord that
he intended to travel in Europe and possibly to attend school in Sweden or
Switzerland if he had sufficient funds. The other two passengers were Lt. Col.
and Mrs. George B. Church, Jr., who also found Oswald unfriendly and had little
contact with him. Oswald told them that he had not liked the Marine Corps and
that he planned to study in Switzerland; they observed some "bitterness" about
his mother's difficulties, but did not discuss this with him. No one on board
suspected that he intended to defect to Russia.
Well, what shall we talk about, the weather perhaps?
Certainly you do not wish me to speak of my decision to remain in the Soviet
Union and apply for citizenship here, since I'm afraid you would not be able to
comprehend my reasons. You really don't know anything about me. Do you know for
instance that I have waited to do this for well over a year, do you know that I
... [phrase in Russian] speak a fair amount of Russian which I have been
studying for many months.
I will not speak to anyone from the United States over the telephone
since it may be taped by the Americans.
If you wish to correspond with me
you can write to the below address, but I really don't, see what we could take
about if you want to send me money, that I can use, but I do not expect to be
able to send it back.
I hope you and your family will always be in good health.
Lee
His mother mailed him a personal check for $20 dated December 18. It was
returned to her on January 5 with the notation that he could not "use this
check, of course"; he asked her to send him $20 in cash and added that he had
little money and needed "the rest," presumably a reference to the $100 he had
given her in September. Mrs. Oswald later sent him a money order for about $25.
On January 4, Oswald was summoned to the Soviet Passport Office and given
Identity Document for Stateless Persons No. 811479. He was told that he was
being sent to Minsk, an industrial city located about 450 miles southwest of
Moscow and with a population in 1959 of about 510,000. His disappointment that
he had not been granted Soviet citizenship was balanced by relief that the
uncertainty was ended; he told Rima Shirokova that he was happy. On the
following day, he went to a Government agency which the Russians call the "Red
Cross"; it gave him 5,000 rubles (about 500 new rubles, or $500 at the official
exchange rate). He used 2,200 rubles to pay his hotel bill and 150 rubles to
purchase a railroad ticket to Minsk.
In November 1959 an
event was well publicized in the Ft. Worth newspapers concerning a person who
had gone to the Soviet Union to reside for a short time, (much in the same way
E. Hemingway resided in Paris.) This person in answers to questions put to him
by reporters in Moscow criticized certain facets of American life. The story was
blown up into another "turncoat" sensation, with the result that the Navy
department gave this person a belated dishonorable discharge, although he had
received an honorable discharge after three years service on Sept. 11, 1959 at
El Toro, Marine corps base in California.
These are the basic facts of my
case.
I have and always had the full sanction of the U.S. Embassy, Moscow
USSR and hence the U.S. government. In as much as I am returning to the U.S.A.
in this year with the aid of the U.S. Embassy, bring with me my family (since I
married in the USSR) I shall employ all means to right this gross mistake or
injustice to a bonified U.S. citizen and ex-service man. The U.S. government has
no charges or complaints against me. I ask you to look into this case and take
the necessary steps to repair the damage done to me and my family. For
information I would direct you to consult the American Embassy, Chikovski St.
19/21, Moscow, USSR.
Connally referred the letter to the Department of the Navy, which sent
Oswald a letter stating that the Department contemplated no change in the
undesirable discharge. On March 22, Oswald wrote to the Department insisting
that his discharge be given a further, full review. The Department promptly
replied that it had no authority to hear and review petitions of this sort and
referred Oswald to the Navy Discharge Review Board. Oswald filled out the
enclosed application for review in Minsk but did not mail it until he returned
to the United States.
Fort Worth, Dallas, New Orleans
Oswald had originally indicated that he
and his family would stay with his mother in Vernon, Tex. His decision to stay
with Robert Oswald in Fort Worth apparently had been prompted by his brother's
invitation in a letter to him in Russia. Oswald listed only his brother as a
relative on an "Intake Interview" form which he prepared for the New York
Department of Welfare. Robert took his wife and children to Love Field, the
Dallas airport, to meet Lee and Marina and their baby, June Lee. He testified
that the most noticeable change in his brother's appearance was that he had
become rather bald; he seemed also to be somewhat thinner than he had been in
1959. Robert thought that his brother had picked up "something of an accent"
but, except for these changes was '"the same boy" whom he had known before. Lee
commented on the absence of newspaper reporters and seemed to Robert to be
disappointed that none had appeared. Later on, Lee was anxious to avoid
publicity.
Mexico City
Marina Oswald testified that sometime in August her husband
first told her of his plan to go to Mexico and from there to Cuba, where he
planned to stay; he had given up a plan to hijack an airplane and fly directly
to Cuba, which plan Marina consistently opposed. On September 17, he obtained
from the Mexican consulate general in New Orleans a "Tourist Card," FM-8 No.
24085, good for one journey into Mexico for no longer than 15 days. Typed in the
blank, "Appelidos y nombre" was "Lee, Harvey Oswald," "Fotogrofo"; the intended
destination was shown as Mexico City. (The comma between "Lee" and "Harvey"
seems to have been an error.) On the application Oswald stated that he was
employed at "640 Rampart"; he was in fact unemployed. (See Commission Exhibits
Nos. 2478, 2481, p. 300.) Marina and June departed with Mrs. Ruth Paine for
Irving on the morning of September 23. Before she left, Oswald told Marina that
she should not tell anyone about his impending trip to Mexico. Marina kept this
secret until after the assassination. On the previous day, Oswald's landlord had
seen Mrs. Paine's car being packed and had asked Oswald whose rent was about 15
days overdue, whether he was leaving. Oswald told him that Marina was leaving
temporarily but that he would remain. A neighbor testified that on the evening
of September 24, he saw Oswald, carrying two pieces of luggage, hurriedly leave
the Magazine Street apartment and board a bus. Though uncertain of the exact
date, a city bus driver recalls that at the same time of day and at the same
location he picked up a man who was carrying two suitcases of different sizes
and helped him place them so that they would not disturb the other passengers.
The driver remembers that the man asked directions to the Greyhound bus station.
He discharged the passenger at an intersection where he could board a Canal
Street car and transfer to another bus which would go past the Greyhound and
Continental Trailways stations. The landlord found Oswald's apartment vacant on
September 25.
Dallas
Oswald did not contact his wife immediately when he returned to
Dallas. He went to the office of the employment commission, where he filed an
unemployment compensation claim and announced that he was again looking for
work. He spent the night at the YMCA, where he registered as a serviceman in
order to avoid paying the membership fee. On the following day, he applied for a
job as a typesetter trainee at the Padgett Printing Co. He made a favorable
impression on the department foreman, but the plant superintendent called
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall and decided not to hire Oswald because of the unfavorable
responses which his inquiries produced. Later that day, 0swald telephoned Marina
and asked her to have Mrs. Paine pick him up in Dallas. Marina refused, and he
hitchhiked out to the Paine home, where he spent part or all of the weekend.
Marina testified that although her husband "changed for the better" and treated
her better after his Mexican trip, she did not want to live with him because she
was pregnant and thought it would be better "to be with a woman who spoke
English and Russian." On Monday, October 7, Mrs. Paine drove Oswald to the bus
station, and he returned to Dallas to look for a job and a place to live.
However, the F. B. I. has visited us here in Dallas, Texas,
on November 1st. Agent James P. Hasty warned me that if I engaged in F. P. C. C.
activities in Texas the F. B. I. will again take an "interest" in me.
This
agent also 'suggested' to Marina Nichilayeva that she could remain in the United
States under F. B. I. 'protection', that is, she could defect from the Soviet
Union, of course, I and my wife strongly protested these tactics by the
notorious F. B. I.