The testimony of Virginia H. James was taken at 2:15 p.m., on June
17, 1964, at 200 Maryland Avenue NE., Washington, D.C., by Messrs.
William T. Coleman, Jr., and W. David Slawson, assistant counsel of the
President's Commission. Thomas Ehrlich, Special Assistant to the Legal
Adviser, Department of State, was present.
Mr. COLEMAN. Miss James, would you state your name for the record?
Miss JAMES. Virginia H. James.
Mr. COLEMAN. Do you mind raising your right hand?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give is the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Miss JAMES. I do.
Mr. COLEMAN. Miss James, as you know, you are the International
Relations Officer, Office of Soviet Affairs, in the Department of
State. You will be asked to testify about your actions with respect to
Oswald concerning his attempt to return to the United States commencing
in 1961, and his attempt to secure a visa for his wife, Marina.
You will also be questioned concerning your actions in connection with
obtaining a waiver of Section 243(g) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act for Marina, and what part, if any, you had in getting the Bureau
of Immigration and Naturalization to reverse its initial decision to
refuse such waiver. And I will also ask you a few questions on whether
you have any knowledge concerning actions taken by the Department in
1959 when Oswald first attempted to renounce his American citizenship.
Would you state for the record your present address?
Miss JAMES. 2501 Q Street NW.
Mr. COLEMAN. Are you presently employed by the Federal Government?
Miss JAMES. I am employed by the Department of State in the Office of
Soviet Union Affairs.
Mr. COLEMAN. What is your official title?
Miss JAMES. International Relations Officer.
Mr. COLEMAN. Did you occupy that position from 1959 through to date?
Miss JAMES. I did; and do still.
Mr. COLEMAN. I have shown you, and I take it you are generally familiar
with, the resolution of Congress which was adopted by Congress in
connection with this Commission.
Miss JAMES. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. To the best of your present knowledge, Miss James, could
you tell me the first time you heard the name Oswald?
Miss JAMES. When I read a copy of the telegram from the American
Embassy at Moscow, dated, as I recall, October 30, 1959, saying that
Oswald had called at the Embassy and had attempted to renounce his
American citizenship.
Mr. COLEMAN. Would you accept my suggestion if I told you that that
telegram was dated October 31 rather than the 30th?
Miss JAMES. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. Why did you receive, obtain or see a copy of the telegram?
Miss JAMES. To begin with, it is my function in the Department of State
in the Office of Soviet Union Affairs, to handle matters relating to
visas, issuance of visas and passport matters from the political angle
only.
Mr. COLEMAN. For what area?
Miss JAMES. For the Office of Soviet Union Affairs, and it is part of
our responsibility to know what goes on in the American Embassy in
Moscow, and to see how it is handled in order that we can continue
our function of advising, helping and assisting so it is routine for
our office to get a copy of all these telegrams. Practically every
telegram that goes back and forth between the Embassy in Moscow and the
Department, both ways, comes through our office.
Mr. COLEMAN. What did you do after you received the telegram, or saw a
copy of the telegram?
Miss JAMES. I think we took no action at that time. We read it with
a great deal of interest, as we do all of this type of case of a
potential defector, and a person who is an American citizen who is
renouncing American citizenship is very unusual. I don't recall any
action except that I know it was a source, I mean the subject of
unhappy conversation in the office, to see this man carrying on this
type of action.
Mr. COLEMAN. You knew, didn't you, that within 2 or 3 days after the
telegram was received, that the State Department sent a reply to the
Embassy?
Miss JAMES. I must have seen it. I notice from the file copy I cleared
it, but I don't remember that exact telegram.
Mr. COLEMAN. I show you Commission Exhibit No. 916, which is a copy of
the telegram.
Miss JAMES. I recall this.
Mr. COLEMAN. You do recall it?
Miss JAMES. I do.
Mr. COLEMAN. Do you recall clearing the text of it?
Miss JAMES. I can't recall clearing the text of it, but I am perfectly
sure that it was a natural thing for me to clear the text.
Mr. COLEMAN. They normally would clear it with your office?
Miss JAMES. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. And so, therefore, when it is recorded in the lower
left-hand corner that it had been cleared with you, you have no doubt
of the accuracy of that statement?
Miss JAMES. I have no reason to doubt.
Mr. COLEMAN. The accuracy of that statement?
Miss JAMES. Because we, the Office of Soviet Union Affairs, try to get
all offices in the Department to clear everything that is going to
Moscow.
Mr. COLEMAN. After clearing the telegram, what was the next time that
you had anything to do with the name Oswald, to the best of your
knowledge?
Miss JAMES. As I recall, we had a copy of the report that came in from
the Embassy telling more in detail about his appearance at the Embassy,
and I also read it in the Washington papers.
Mr. COLEMAN. Could we mark as James Exhibit No. 1, and I show you--a
reference sheet from Bernice Waterman to EE:SOV, Virginia James, under
date of November 25, 1959, and I ask you do you remember seeing that
reference sheet?
(The document referred to was marked James Exhibit No. 1 for
identification.)
Miss JAMES. Yes; I remember seeing it in this form [pointing to
document in the file].
Mr. COLEMAN. That [James Exhibit No. 1] is a photostatic copy?
Miss JAMES. Yes; I mean the yellow [copy in the file] I recall.
Mr. COLEMAN. Do you know why you asked them to send you a copy of the
telegram of November 2?
Miss JAMES. Again, it is in accordance with my continuing
responsibility to follow these cases of visa and passport matters,
and the only way we can be informed is to have all the incoming and
outgoing correspondence.
Mr. COLEMAN. After you received that document which has been marked as
James Exhibit No. 1, did you receive other material from Miss Waterman
in connection with Oswald during the period November 2, 1959, to July
1961?
Miss JAMES. I don't recall having received anything from Miss Waterman,
but I am sure that we would have had copies of anything coming back and
forth, back from the Embassy on the case which we would have read.
Mr. COLEMAN. So, therefore, you would say that you or someone in your
office should have received in the normal course every Embassy Despatch
dealing with Oswald that went to the Department of State?
Miss JAMES. Routine. In fact, it would have been out of order if we
hadn't gotten it.
Mr. COLEMAN. Did you early in December 1959 draft a letter for Mr.
Davis' signature to Mr. Snyder dealing with the general question of how
he should handle people who want to renounce their citizenship in the
Soviet Union?
Miss JAMES. May I ask is that the letter in which we tried to give him
helpful advice in handling cases of people who tried to renounce?
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.
Miss JAMES. Yes; and, as I recall--if it is the letter I think--it
included several paragraphs that had been contributed by Mr. Hickey in
the Passport Office. I am not sure that is the one. I would like to see
it, please.
Mr. COLEMAN. I show you a photostatic copy of a letter which has
already been marked Commission Exhibit No. 915. It is from Nathaniel
Davis to Richard E. Snyder, and it is under date of December 10, 1959,
and it is State Department File Document No. XIII-40. I ask you whether
you drafted that letter.
Miss JAMES. As I recall, I did. I am sure I did, in fact.
Mr. COLEMAN. You were replying to Mr. Snyder's letter to Mr. Boster,
under date of October 28, 1959, which has already been marked as
Commission Exhibit No. 914, is that correct?
Miss JAMES. As I read this letter, it didn't refer specifically to the
Oswald case.
Mr. COLEMAN. That is because the Oswald case hadn't yet occurred.
Miss JAMES. Yes; I mean the effect of renouncing. I mean it had no
relation; yes. He had called that in. Yes; I remember that. This isn't
the one, though. You just handed me one by Mr. Snyder to Mr. Davis.
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.
Miss JAMES. Now, you asked me if I drafted it. I did draft it.
Mr. COLEMAN. Miss James, I take it that after you drafted the letter of
December 10, Commission Exhibit No. 915, that from that time until some
time in July 1961 that you had no knowledge of any actions with respect
to Oswald.
Miss JAMES. As I recall, I did not, unless, as I say, there had been
something in from Moscow in the ordinary routine way it would have gone
across my desk.
Mr. COLEMAN. On July 11, 1961, or shortly thereafter, perhaps on July
12, the State Department received a Foreign Service Despatch dated July
11, 1961, from the American Embassy in Moscow, which has already been
marked as Commission Exhibit No. 935. I show you a photostatic copy
of Commission Exhibit No. 935 and ask you whether you have seen the
original or a copy of that document?
Miss JAMES. Yes; I recall this.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, after you saw that, what did you do?
Miss JAMES. As I recall, at that time, in 1961, through that period
there were several persons in the Soviet Union who attempted or could
be placed in the category of defectors. Webster was one, these various
people that Mr. Snyder mentioned, and this was a very serious question.
We discussed these matters in our office, and so when we saw this,
we immediately were interested in it, and the most important thing
to our mind was what answer is going to be made to it. So I think I
called Miss Waterman and wanted to know what the Passport Office, what
action they were going to take on the letter, and told her that SOV was
interested and we wanted to clear it, as I recall.
Mr. COLEMAN. Did you speak first to Mr. Boster about it?
Miss JAMES. Yes; I would have talked to Mr. Boster about this. He was
interested in it.
Mr. COLEMAN. Who is he?
Miss JAMES. He was officer in charge of our office at that time.
Mr. COLEMAN. Was he your superior?
Miss JAMES. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. What did you tell Miss Waterman?
Miss JAMES. As I recall, I would not have made any policy, any effort
to judge what they would do, but I would only say we want to know what
action you are going to take. That is the way I recall that I would
handle it.
Mr. COLEMAN. Did you say that the Passport Office was the only office
of the State Department whose communications to Moscow are not cleared
in the SOV?
Miss JAMES. Miss Waterman says I did, and I wouldn't be surprised if I
had said it. I know we all felt many times that we would like to have
had more of the communications cleared with us, and I have no doubt
that I must have said it if she said I did.
Mr. COLEMAN. Do you recall her replying that she had never heard
that----
Miss JAMES. Yes; I do remember at one time she said she didn't recall
that this was a necessity, that they had to clear everything with us.
Mr. COLEMAN. But she did tell you that she would put a memorandum in
the file to show that there was a special interest of the SOV in the
reply to the Embassy Despatch of July 11?
Miss JAMES. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. What was the special interest of the SOV?
Miss JAMES. Again, it is the same interest I outlined before, which
is our responsibility of advising and knowing what is going on in the
Embassy in Moscow. We are the political office. We are responsible for
the Embassy, and we work together very closely, and we want to be sure
that what they send in is answered, how it is answered, and it is our
routine way of working to be sure that any despatch is answered, and
especially one of this type where we are interested in the case because
of the nature of the case.
Mr. COLEMAN. I show you an operations memorandum from the Department of
State to the American Embassy in Moscow, dated August 18, 1961, which
has already been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 939, and I ask you
if you saw a copy of that memorandum at or around the time when it was
sent, namely in August 1961?
Miss JAMES. My reply is we should have seen it, but whether we did or
not I don't think we did according to this file.
Mr. COLEMAN. You are saying there is nothing on the file which
indicates that you got a copy.
Miss JAMES. Nothing on the file that indicates we had it.