Miss JAMES. Twenty-five.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, after you received a copy, what did you do?
Miss JAMES. I have no exact remembrance of that, but I can tell you
what my practice is. In receiving a document like this, and we have
many cases similar, I keep it some place handy, and I will check with
the Visa Office and see what they are going to do about it, and are
they going to--are they handling it. Then we follow through to see if
she is passed by the various security offices. We are aware when these
come in that a person has an exit visa. This time it was before the
exit visa, I think. Yes--well, we were trying to get this case prepared
so it wouldn't be held up in Moscow because of investigations that
might be delayed on this side.
Mr. COLEMAN. Why would you do that?
Miss JAMES. Only because it is our regular practice to expedite these
matters.
Mr. COLEMAN. Wouldn't that depend upon whether the case was meritorious
or not?
Miss JAMES. Yes; but I mean as a general thing we would expedite,
hoping it would be expedited until it its turned down. Then if it is
turned down, that is the end of it.
Mr. COLEMAN. What you are saying is that SOV just wants to make sure
that all the paperwork gets done, that you are really not making the
decisions but you don't want any decision held up on the ground that
the papers aren't there, but you have no particular interest which way
the decision would be made?
Miss JAMES. Yes; we have an interest in that. We know from our policy
what we think is good for the U.S. Government, and we would hope that
cases are handled in that framework.
Mr. COLEMAN. Would you say that there was a decision in the Oswald case
that the best thing for the United States was to get Oswald out of
Moscow, Russia, and back to the United States, even if he had renounced
his citizenship?
Miss JAMES. I can't go on that because that is a supposition, but
on the basis of the case we felt that it was better for the U.S.
Government to bring Oswald back.
Mr. COLEMAN. Who made that decision?
Miss JAMES. Again, that is our general policy. When we received this
OMV asking for an advisory opinion on Mrs. Oswald's visa application,
we already knew that the Passport Office had approved her husband's
citizenship.
Mr. COLEMAN. So you say, therefore, that once it was clear that Oswald
was still an American citizen, that you felt it was to the interests of
the United States?
Miss JAMES. Of the United States?
Mr. COLEMAN. To get him out of Russia?
Miss JAMES. To get him out of the Soviet Union, and also to bring his
family.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, could you look in file No. VIII of the State
Department, Document No. 21. Is that a telegram?
Miss JAMES. No; that is a wire.
Mr. COLEMAN. Would you read what it says? Will you describe to whom it
is sent and tell me what it means?
Miss JAMES. It says, it is addressed to the American Embassy in Moscow
and refers to this request for an advisory opinion----
Mr. COLEMAN. It has typed thereon: SOV, Miss James. You signed it,
didn't you?
Miss JAMES. No; this was the Visa Office telegram, and in fact I didn't
initial that telegram. It has my name on it, but Mr. Owen initialed it.
Mr. COLEMAN. Does it have your name?
Miss JAMES. It has my name typed on it, but Mr. Owen initialed it.
Mr. COLEMAN. On October 3, 1961, a cable was sent to the Embassy in
Moscow having something to do with Oswald. Would you indicate for the
record what the cable said?
Miss JAMES. As I understand it, the cable authorized the American
Embassy in Moscow to issue a visa to Mrs. Oswald if when she appeared
there was nothing against her otherwise derogatory, and the cable also
indicated that her membership in the Trade Union would not affect the
issuance of a visa, that such membership did not indicate that she was
a Communist.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, the cable or the copy that I have seen indicates that
it was typed by you, at least your name appears on it.
Miss JAMES. No; it was drafted by the Visa Office, drafted by V. Smith,
typed by initials RLC, signed in the Visa Office by Frank L. Auerbach,
and sent to the Soviet Desk, Office of Soviet Union Affairs, for
clearance, typed "SOV Miss James" and in parentheses "(in substance),"
and I apparently was out that day and it has Mr. Owen's initials on it,
and there is another initial which I don't identify, but mine are not
on that.
Mr. COLEMAN. But to the best of your recollection you never saw that or
had anything to do with it?
Miss JAMES. Never saw that cable, but I was aware that they approved it.
Mr. COLEMAN. Had there been some discussion of the operation memorandum
of August 28, 1961, Commission Exhibit No. 944, in your office as to
whether Mrs. Marina Oswald was eligible for a nonquota immigrant visa?
Miss JAMES. I don't recall any special detailed discussion, except
that this was a case, an unusual case, which we would be interested in
following.
Mr. COLEMAN. Were you the one in the office who had the initial contact
with the INS, in connection with the waiver of section 243(g)?
Miss JAMES. As I recall, I had no contact with INS at that time.
I never remember discussing these cases directly with INS. Our
conversations were all with the Visa Office.
Mr. COLEMAN. You dealt directly with the Visa Office?
Miss JAMES. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. Is Mr. Crump in your office?
Miss JAMES. I was going to say I dealt with Mr. Crump in the Visa
Office at that time.
Mr. COLEMAN. But he is not in your office?
Miss JAMES. No; he was in the Visa Office, now assigned abroad.
Mr. COLEMAN. Did you know that the Visa Office had made a request of
INS to get it to, (1) determine whether Mrs. Oswald was eligible to
come into the country, and, (2) whether it would waive the section
243(g) provision? I just asked you, Miss James, what you knew. When was
the first time you knew that----
Miss JAMES. When Mr. Crump told me that INS had approved the petition
of the husband but had not approved the request for waiver of section
No. 243(g).
Mr. COLEMAN. Prior to that time, you had nothing to do with the visa
request or the section 243(g) waiver?
Miss JAMES. No; I don't recall having anything to do with it.