Mr. TAYLOR. No; I did make contact with them after my separation--if
that's what you are alluding to. In the spring of 1963 I dropped by
this Elsbeth apartment building and, finding no one at home, I asked
someone who was sitting in the courtyard about them. And I think he was
the manager. And he told me that they had moved and he told me where
they had moved.
Mr. JENNER. What did he say?
Mr. TAYLOR. He told me that they had moved into a small apartment about
a block away. And I went there.
Mr. JENNER. What street was that?
Mr. TAYLOR. I don't remember.
Mr. JENNER. What town?
Mr. TAYLOR. Dallas--about a block away from Elsbeth. And, anyway, I
went to this--where I had been directed, and found Marina at home.
Mr. JENNER. Was Lee at home?
Mr. TAYLOR. No, he was not.
Mr. JENNER. What day of the week was this?
Mr. TAYLOR. I don't remember.
Mr. JENNER. Why did you go there?
Mr. TAYLOR. Just for a friendly visit.
Marina was at home. She--her English had improved enough for her to get
across to me a few ideas. She said that Lee was not home, that--uh--I
don't remember her saying where he was. She said that he was attending
night school, Crozier Tech here in Dallas--which is our technical high
school and----
Mr. JENNER. Was this occasion in the early evening?
Mr. TAYLOR. I think it was in midafternoon.
Mr. JENNER. Midafternoon?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Are you certain about that?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes; uh--because this apartment in question had a small
balcony on the front of it and I remember the door was open and I
thought what a nice place for the baby to play and some of the baby's
toys--a ball and something or other--were out there on this porch, and
I thought how much nicer this was than the apartment they had had.
Mr. JENNER. Was that what led you to suggest that it was in the
afternoon rather than the early evening? It doesn't get dark here in
Texas--and this was what? The spring, did you say?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. 1963?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes. No; you are trying to say that it may have been early
evening, although it was still quite light. My memory tells me that it
was midafternoon.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Was anything said about the fact he was working?
Mr. TAYLOR. I don't remember her saying what he was doing or if he was
working at all.
Mr. JENNER. I shouldn't have used the term "working"--whether he was
employed?
Mr. TAYLOR. Uh--I don't think at that time he was. Again, it's just a
very, very vague recollection.
Mr. JENNER. Was she able to communicate with you, or you to understand,
as to what studies he was pursuing at Crozier Tech?
Mr. TAYLOR. No; I don't believe that I remember what he was studying at
all at Crozier Tech.
I did inform Marina of my impending divorce and--uh--in other words,
telling her that Mrs. Taylor and I were no longer living together and
we had separated. Uh--and she said that she had been ill, I believe.
And--uh--she invited me to come back in the evening and I left. And I
would say the whole interview with her took certainly no longer than 10
minutes.
Mr. JENNER. Uh-huh. And this, as you recall, was in 1963?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Was anything said that his attendance at Crozier Tech was
in the night school?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes; it was in the night school.
Mr. JENNER. But your visit was in the midafternoon?
Mr. TAYLOR. That's right.
Mr. JENNER. Did she indicate to you that he was then at Crozier Tech or
that he would be at Crozier Tech that evening?
Mr. TAYLOR. She, I don't believe, indicated either thing to me. I
don't--I can't honestly say that she indicated where Lee was at the
time. She may have said he was at work or not at work.
Mr. JENNER. You just don't have enough recollection to know whether she
said he was employed and working and had work at that time?
Mr. TAYLOR. Uh--the general impression is that he was not working, but
it is not distinct enough to make a flat statement upon.
Mr. JENNER. Is that the last time you ever saw Marina?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. When was the last time you ever saw Lee?
Mr. TAYLOR. The previous occasion I have mentioned where I went to
visit them in the evening to return the manuscript. That was the last
time I saw Lee.
Mr. JENNER. That was prior to November 15, 1962?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes; I don't know why he wanted that manuscript at that
time. I know that he wanted it very badly.
Mr. JENNER. He called you for it?
Mr. TAYLOR. Uh--yes, he did. On two occasions. And, on the second one,
I think I got in the car and took it to him.
Mr. JENNER. Uh-huh. He called you on the telephone?
Mr. TAYLOR. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Now, before I go to the De Mohrenschildts, I'd like you
now to give me--now that we've had this discussion between us--your
impressions of the Oswalds individually.
(Off-the-record discussion followed.)
Mr. TAYLOR. Uh--my impression, first, of Lee would be that--uh--he was,
first, rather confused, particularly, politically. He wanted to be
well-informed and an idealist. He considered himself well-informed. I
don't think he was even very knowledgeable on the subject.
In our conversations, when I would take exception to something he had
said and argue a point with him, why, superficially, he could make a
statement or support an idea that is commonly regarded in some areas
as being true--such as, well, the Republican and Democratic Parties
have different ideas on how things should be done just as democracy and
communism have.
Mr. JENNER. Yes.
Mr. TAYLOR. And he could present Communist ideas to a point that it was
very superficial--and when you started digging down in to the meat of
the subject, why, Lee was through.
He seemed to have perhaps read quite a bit of political philosophy, but
when it came to really understanding it, he couldn't present a very
good case for it.
Mr. JENNER. Was he emotional in that respect?
Mr. TAYLOR. He would--uh--not any more so than anyone else you would
get into a political discussion with. This seems to be a fairly
emotional subject on everyone's part.
Mr. JENNER. You didn't regard him as a vicious type--as a man who would
think in terms of inflicting bodily harm if frustrated?
Mr. TAYLOR. Uh--well, I thought of him as a man who--uh--would kick
a dog or beat his wife, but--uh--I was never afraid of him because I
never felt like that he would attack anything his equal.
Mr. JENNER. You were a bigger man than he, weren't you?
Mr. TAYLOR. Well, even a person--even a grown human being, any male, I
wouldn't ever have expected this of him.
Mr. JENNER. Regardless of size?
Mr. TAYLOR. Regardless of size.
Anything that could present a forceful retaliation, why, I would not
have expected him to----