Mr. JENNER. Instead of saying as she described it tell us what she
said, if you can.
Mrs. PAINE. She said that she had written to the Soviet Embassy to ask
about papers to go back, and received a reply from them saying, "Why do
you want to go back?" And she said she just didn't answer that letter
because she didn't want to go back, and that that was where the matter
stood at that time.
Mr. JENNER. She had not answered the letter?
Mrs. PAINE. The inquiry from the Embassy. She did not answer it.
Mr. DULLES. Did she say whether or not she showed that answer from the
Soviet Embassy to her husband?
Mrs. PAINE. No; she didn't say.
Mr. JENNER. Did I understand you to say that Marina said to you that
she thought that meant a divorce?
Mrs. PAINE. I will state again that she felt she was being sent back to
stay back, that he would stay here, that this amounted to the end of
the marriage for them, but not legally done.
Mr. JENNER. I see. And did she express any opinion of opposition to
that?
Mrs. PAINE. She particularly was opposed to going back. It was leaving
the United States that she was opposed to.
Mr. JENNER. She wanted to stay here, did she?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes; very much so.
Mr. JENNER. I ask you this general question, then, Mrs. Paine: During
all of your contact with Marina Oswald, did she ever express any view
other than that one of wanting to remain in America?
Mrs. PAINE. No; she did not.
Mr. JENNER. What did she? Was she affirmative about it?
Mrs. PAINE. Very.
Mr. JENNER. Of wanting to stay in this country?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Now, what did you say when she related that her husband
wanted her to return to Russia, and she thought to remain in Russia.
Did it elicit some curiosity from you?
Mrs. PAINE. Curiosity? It elicited anger at Lee that he would presume
to drop his responsibilities so preemptorily.
Mr. JENNER. Did you discuss it with her?
Mrs. PAINE. I wrote a letter to her in an effort to gather my words.
I couldn't just discuss it with her. My language was not that good.
What I wanted to do was offer her an alternative to being sent back,
an economic alternative, and I thought for some time and thought over
a week about inviting her to live with me. I was alone with my two
children at the time, as an alternative to being sent back. If he
thought he couldn't support her or didn't care to or whatever reason he
had, I simply wanted to say there was an alternative to her going back,
that she could stay and live with me if she wanted to. I wrote such a
letter, really, to gather----
Mr. JENNER. Do you have it?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes; I do. This letter was never sent.
Mr. JENNER. Is that also at the hotel?
Mrs. PAINE. I don't know. It may be here. I can look if you want. This
letter was never sent and never mentioned to her. I wrote it so that
I would have the words before me to use if it seemed appropriate to
me to make the invitation, you see, a way of gathering enough of the
language, enough Russian, and to say what I wanted to say. And this
letter is dated the 7th of April.
Mr. JENNER. The 7th of April?
Mrs. PAINE. And I know I spent at least a week thinking about it. I
talked it over with Michael before I wrote it, and it is plainly marked
"never sent" on the letter. I carried it with me, as I recall I carried
it once to the apartment so that if----
Mr. JENNER. To what apartment?
Mrs. PAINE. To their apartment on Neely Street, so that if it seemed
appropriate I could hand it to her, you see. I could make this
invitation at home with time and a dictionary in hand, and then let her
read it. It was ever so much easier than just trying to say it.
Mr. McCLOY. Though you never delivered it, did you ever speak from it
to her?
Mrs. PAINE. When she was staying with me the last few days of April and
the first week of May, I made, yes, a verbal invitation of that sort,
and in the April 7 letter, I have just gone over this correspondence or
I wouldn't recall what it said, but----
Mr. JENNER. Excuse me, Mrs. Paine. I think we can take the time to see
if you have the letter in your bag.
Mrs. PAINE. I am sorry that I feel precipitated into a discussion
of this correspondence, and I would rather--no, it is not here--go
at it--there are several things I want to say about it. I began to
mention it to Mr. Jenner this morning and thought we would have a whole
afternoon to talk more.
Mr. JENNER. We will have time tonight, Mrs. Paine.
Mrs. PAINE. You will have time tonight?
Mr. JENNER. I thought Mr. Redlich might look at the letter. I didn't
want to delay the Commission. You do have it at hand?
Mrs. PAINE. It is not here. It is at the hotel.
Mr. JENNER. I would like to return to something else for the moment,
then, first.
What reasons did Marina give, if she gave any, as to why her husband
wished her to return to Russia? What did she say on that subject?
Mrs. PAINE. She didn't say.
Mr. JENNER. Nothing at all?
Mrs. PAINE. No.
Mr. JENNER. No explanation?
Mrs. PAINE. No.
Mr. JENNER. On that occasion?
Mrs. PAINE. No.
Mr. JENNER. I meant by that last question to imply that there might
have been another occasion subsequently in which the subject was
discussed again in which she did state what Mr. Oswald's reasons were,
if any?
Mrs. PAINE. She never stated any reasons.
Mr. JENNER. Never?
Mrs. PAINE. She implied that it was because he didn't want her.
Mr. JENNER. He didn't what?
Mrs. PAINE. Want her.
Mr. JENNER. What is the date of this letter, April 7?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. McCLOY. We will take a brief recess.
(Brief recess.)
Mr. JENNER. Now, would you turn to your calendar, please. What is the
next day, date, in your calendar, in which you have an entry?
Mrs. PAINE. Regarding the Oswalds?
Mr. JENNER. Regarding the Oswalds.
Mrs. PAINE. It is April 2, Tuesday.
Mr. JENNER. What is the entry?