Miss JOHNSON. That is interesting: "until some solution." The way he
put it to me was, and he put it more than once, it is in the notes,
"even if they refuse that, I won't have to leave."
I imagine that his talking to me for so long, however, could be partly
because he did feel the heat was off him in some way. That might be one
reason. Another thing is that leads me to date my own interview the
17th, because for some reason I have the feeling that that information
has been conveyed to him on the day before I talked to him.
Mr. SLAWSON. I don't think this is a basis for your dating your
interview on the 17th, because I think he has everything moved up a day
here. He puts the Mosby interview on the 15th which we know was on the
14th, so he probably puts the Russian officials coming to his room on
the 16th when it probably occurred on the 15th.
Miss JOHNSON. That would be a Sunday. But Soviet officials do do things
on Sundays. They definitely do. But even so, it is more likely that
that happened on the 14th, Mosby on the 13th. That is possible, too.
Mr. SLAWSON. Yes.
Miss JOHNSON. So they had just simply said until--in other words, he
is inexact for all his legalism. Either he is confused and inexact, or
he was misleading purposely. He may have misunderstood the official,
thought the official was promising more than he was.
Mr. SLAWSON. It could be, except that this of course is his diary
entry, so he must have known what he was writing there, unless he wrote
it down much later. In other words, it is possible that he made the
entry in the diary at a much later time when he then realized that the
promise had been qualified, and was under the impression when he spoke
to you that he had received an unconditional promise. But the reason
I brought this up was whether with the insight that he may have known
when he spoke to you, that he had not quite received the unconditional
promise he purported to have received, does this give you any further
insight on him? I don't want you to just speculate here.
Miss JOHNSON. Well, whether he viewed publicity as actually perhaps
helping his case, or whether enjoying the sense of importance that
publicity gave him, he was rationalizing it by thinking that he was
manipulating the situation to his advantage by having a little more
publicity.
This is the only thing I wonder. Or possibly it was simply relief. He
did use the word "safe," that he felt it would be safe.
Mr. SLAWSON. I think we have about got out all on that point we can.
Could you elaborate a little more on Oswald's attitude toward the
Embassy's reluctance to permit him to renounce his citizenship, on what
he felt the Embassy was doing here, and what your impression was what
the Embassy was doing?
Miss JOHNSON. My impression from talking to John McVickar was that the
Embassy had tried to give him a cooling off period, to be sure he knew
what he was doing, but that it had also written him, informed him in
writing that he could renounce his citizenship and he had a perfect
right to come in and do so. The Embassy's behavior had been correct,
and on the side it was trying to be humane, giving him time to think
out what he was doing.
Mr. SLAWSON. Did he show you the letter the Embassy had written him?
Miss JOHNSON. He showed me two letters, and I think he asked me
something about them. I was very amused, because the Embassy was his
scapegoat, and he did keep bringing it up. But this contrasted with
really the correctness of the letters that he showed me from them, and
it contrasted with the rather kindly attitude that Mr. McVickar had.
And then on top of that he kept saying he shouldn't be too mad at them,
but he indicated that he was very very mad at them indeed.
He said November 1 he had written a letter of protest to the Ambassador
protesting the way Snyder had carried out his duties, and had received
a letter back, and he then gave me, showed me the letter. But my
impression is that he showed me two letters.
Mr. SLAWSON. Perhaps I can refresh your recollection a little. I am now
on page 6 of your exhibit No. 5, in which you quote from a letter from
the State Department which he showed you.
Miss JOHNSON. This is Mr. Thompson's letter. He did show it to me. I
remember now that he showed me the letter.
Mr. SLAWSON. A letter from Mr. Thompson?
Miss JOHNSON. From Ambassador Thompson. Well, I am not sure. He said he
wrote a letter of protest to the U.S. Ambassador, and he received this
letter back. But it may have been that the letter was signed by Mr.
Snyder.
Mr. SLAWSON. Yes. Do you think that your recollection of two letters
may be that one he wrote and the other he received, or do you
distinctly remember that he received two which he showed you?
Miss JOHNSON. I thought he showed me two things, but the only one I
wrote anything about was the Embassy's reply, and either my memory
has miscarried and he only showed me one letter, or I simply don't
recollect what the other one was.
Mr. SLAWSON. Is it correct that the Embassy reply you are referring to
is the one that is quoted on page 6?
Miss JOHNSON. Right.
Mr. SLAWSON. Of your exhibit No. 5?
Miss JOHNSON. Right.
Mr. SLAWSON. Did he show you any communications he had received from
his family or anybody else?
Miss JOHNSON. No. He told me that--again there is a little more here
than is in the notes but it is partly a matter of impression. He was
avoiding hearing from them, and they called him, and he said it was to
ask him to come back, and he wouldn't answer. How did he know they were
asking him to come back if he didn't answer? He was full of those kinds
of contradictions, but that he was avoiding them. As far as I recollect
he didn't show me anything from his family.
Mr. SLAWSON. Did he tell you why he was avoiding communications with
his family?
Miss JOHNSON. No.