Mr. FAIN. Robert had not let me know, and Mrs. Oswald had not let me
know, so I thought I had better make an independent check, and so I
inquired of them, and she told me that he and his wife and child had
arrived in Fort Worth on June 14, and I asked her, "Why hadn't you let
me know about it?" And she said, "Well, actually the whole family had
been so harassed and that he just didn't feel like letting his face be
shown outside of the house." In other words, he was afraid that the
newspapers would come and harass him again, I guess.
Mr. STERN. Were there newspaper stories about his arrival, do you
recall?
Mr. FAIN. There were some that appeared in the paper which I have set
out on page 8 and page 9. Yes; I refer to them on page 8 where they
report his having gone to Russia.
Mr. STERN. Had these come to your attention before June 26?
Mr. FAIN. Yes, sir; yes, sir. I kept up with these and was careful to
clip them and put them in the file.
Mr. STERN. So that is it true that you knew before June 26 that he had
returned?
Mr. FAIN. No; I didn't know until that morning. I had no way of knowing
that. There were some verifying communications which I set out on page
10 showing when he actually came in; page 10, you will notice, shows
a check of records again back here showing when he actually left over
there and when he arrived here. He arrived in New York City June 13 and
then took a plane to Dallas, where he arrived on the 14th.
Mr. STERN. Yes; I thought I had understood you to say that the
newspapers reflected his arrival in Fort Worth.
Mr. FAIN. No; they were over there on pages 8 and 9. June 8, 1962, in
the Fort Worth Star Telegram, daily newspaper of Fort Worth, there
appeared a photograph of the subject, Lee Oswald, and the headline
"Ex-Marine Reported On Way Back From Russia."
Mr. STERN. But there was no news story actually reporting his arrival?
Mr. FAIN. No; he was staying in, apparently that was the reason, I
guess he didn't want to get out because he was afraid he would be
harassed by the neighbors or somebody and, at least, that is what Mrs.
Oswald said. He just----
Mr. STERN. The harassment by newspaper reporters you referred to,
probably did not mean reporters at the time of his arrival in Fort
Worth.
Mr. FAIN. Well, she was--I suppose she indicated or she said that he
just hadn't gotten out of the house. In other words, he came in there
on the 14th and apparently, according to her story, he didn't show his
face outside that house.
Mr. STERN. Then what did you do when you learned he had arrived?
Mr. FAIN. Well, I told her I would like to talk to him, he was there,
and I made arrangements for him to come to the office and he said he
could make it by 1 o'clock. I requested B. Tom Carter, my senior agent,
to assist if he would me in interviewing Oswald, who came in about 10
minutes before 1. He came in the office like he said he would, and we
talked to him on June 26, 1962.
Mr. STERN. Before you interview any subject, Mr. Fain, do you have a
practice of giving him any cautionary statement, any warning?
Mr. FAIN. It was always my policy, and I am sure I did in this case,
to tell them this substantially, that, "You don't have to furnish us
any information. Any information you furnish can be used against you in
court, and you have a right to consult with an attorney before giving
us any information or statements."
Mr. STERN. Can you actually recall that you said this to Oswald?
Mr. FAIN. I don't recall specifically, but I know it was my religious
practice to do it because we are always instructed to do that.
Mr. STERN. Fine.
Was the interview with Mr. Oswald recorded mechanically in any way?
Mr. FAIN. It was not.
Mr. STERN. How did you record what he was telling you, in your usual
fashion?
Mr. FAIN. I was sitting behind the desk. He came up and sat down in
front of the desk, and Mr. Carter was sitting to my left. We explained
to him, we wanted to talk to him. I took the notes, and from my notes I
dictated this, which we call an FD-302.
Mr. STERN. This is your memorandum and not Agent Carter's?
Mr. FAIN. That is right; I was more familiar with the case. I took the
notes and did the dictation.
Mr. STERN. And the dictation was when?
Mr. FAIN. July 2, 1962; transcribed July 6, 1962.
Mr. STERN. These dates appear where?
Mr. FAIN. The date of dictation is shown on the lower right-hand
corner; date of interview at the left, and date of transcription or
typing was on July 6, upper right-hand corner.
Mr. STERN. What was Lee Harvey Oswald's demeanor in the course of this
interview?
Mr. FAIN. He was tense, kind of drawn up, and rigid. He is a wiry
little fellow, kind of waspy.
Mr. STERN. Did he answer all of your questions?
Mr. FAIN. No; he didn't. As indicated there in the fourth paragraph,
he was a little insolent in his answers. He was the type of individual
who apparently doesn't want to give out information about himself, and
we asked him why he had made this trip to Russia, and he looked like
it got under his skin, and I noticed he got white around the lips and
tensed up, and I understood it to be a show of a temper, and in a show
of temper he stated he did not care to relive the past. He didn't want
to go into that at all.
We asked him, I think I asked him, in various ways, three or four
times, trying to ascertain just what the situation was, and he finally
stated, that Soviet officials had asked him upon his arrival why he had
come to Russia, and he told us, "I came because I wanted to." That is
what he said he told the Soviet People, "I came because I wanted to,"
and he said, he told them, "I came over here to see the country." That
is the kind of answers he gave.
Mr. STERN. Do you remember any other details of this interview that
you haven't set forth here? I can't stress too greatly that we are
interested in any detail, any fragment of this interview that you
recall that isn't set forth here, any elaboration you want to make.