Mrs. PAINE. She learned her own address.
Mr. JENNER. Did her command of the use of the English language, at
least from the writing standpoint, extend beyond those examples?
Mrs. PAINE. Not to my knowledge. I knew that she looked at signs and
had learned the sound value of the English letters. That she looked at
the Thursday supplement to the newspaper for the ads on vegetables and
things with pictures on a can or something that showed the English of
what it was, to try to determine what this word was and pronounce it.
Mr. JENNER. So she did acquire some command of English with respect to
reading newspapers?
Mrs. PAINE. It was not my impression that she could read a newspaper.
She could pick out the sound values. It was not until October that
I read with her a portion from Time magazine regarding Madam Nhu,
whenever that was news, she asked me to read this to her and translate
it. I read it.
Mr. JENNER. Did you read it in English first?
Mrs. PAINE. I read it in English, giving translation of some of the
words.
Mr. JENNER. As you went along?
Mrs. PAINE. As I went along.
Mr. JENNER. All right.
Mrs. PAINE. But many of the words, English words, were words she
understood, because they were either similar to the Russian or because
she had learned them.
I was surprised at how much she understood when I pronounced it and
read it to her.
Representative FORD. In English?
Mrs. PAINE. In English. Because she was very hesitant to speak English
with me, fearful that her pronunciation would not be correct. She would
ask me several times, "How do I pronounce this," although she didn't
think she was doing very well with the pronunciation, although she did
well.
Mr. JENNER. She was sensitive in this respect, Mrs. Paine, she was
hesitant to use the English language in the presence, say, of Americans
or even the Russian emigré groups?
Mrs. PAINE. I think most people are sensitive about using a language
when the person they are with can understand them in the language they
use better. She also talked with my immediate neighbor for a short
time, when only she and the neighbor were present. I went to see about
a child.
Mr. JENNER. Could your neighbor understand Russian?
Mrs. PAINE. No.
Mr. JENNER. But there was a measure of communication?
Mrs. PAINE. There was some communication, not a great deal. My neighbor
told me after she saw Marina on television in January, whatever it was,
"that girl has learned a great deal of English." She was amazed at the
change.
Representative FORD. The improvement from October to January?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. DULLES. How would you appraise her general intelligence, her level
of intelligence for a girl of that age in the early twenties?
Mrs. PAINE. I think she certainly had above average intelligence.
Representative FORD. What prompted her, if you know, to ask about Madam
Nhu?
Mrs. PAINE. She was interested in the family. She was worried about
what Madam Nhu would do. Madam Nhu and the children still in her
country. She wanted to know were these children going to come out
either in Paris or the United States. She was concerned, and her
concern for world affairs seemed to go this way, of what is this mother
and children going to do.
Mr. JENNER. Was she concerned about the conflict between the North
Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese?
Mrs. PAINE. No; this didn't interest her, it didn't appear to.
Mr. JENNER. It was the human side rather than the political side?
Mrs. PAINE. Strictly that.
Mr. JENNER. Thank you; that is what I wanted to bring out. I offer in
evidence, Mr. Chairman, as Exhibits with those numbers, the documents
marked Commission Exhibits 409, 409-A, and 409-B.
Mr. McCLOY. It may be admitted.
(The documents referred to previously, marked Commission Exhibits Nos.
409, 409-A, and 409-B, were received in evidence.)
(At this point, Representative Boggs entered the hearing room.)
Mr. JENNER. Now, Mrs. Paine, turning to this series of correspondence
which has now been admitted in evidence, have you made an
interpretation for the Commission of Exhibit 409-B?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes; I have.
Mr. JENNER. Where does that appear on your summary you furnished to me
last evening?
Mrs. PAINE. That begins in the middle of page 6, marked second letter
from New Orleans.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Your interpretation of the letter dealing with
the night club visit of the Oswalds, you have interpreted that for the
Commission, and that appears on page what of your summary?
Mrs. PAINE. That appears on page 3 marked first letter from New Orleans.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Were you concerned about Mrs. Oswald, about
Marina's condition and her receiving proper medical attention?
Mrs. PAINE. I was very concerned about it.
Mr. JENNER. Did you write her at any time about it?
Mrs. PAINE. I would like to refer you to my letter of June 1st which
was returned in the document you just admitted in evidence.
Mr. JENNER. You did write her about it?
Mrs. PAINE. I wrote particularly in that letter to Lee.
Mr. JENNER. You wrote both Lee and Marina?
Mrs. PAINE. In this letter I addressed each, and a particular portion
of that letter is in English.
Mr. JENNER. And that is Commission Exhibit No. 409?
Mrs. PAINE. That was to Lee, that particular portion.
Mr. JENNER. You incorporated, did you not, in that letter, a direct
communication to Lee Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE. I say in Russian a few words to Lee now about hospital and
money.
Mr. JENNER. But incorporated in your note in that letter to Lee Oswald
you used the English rather than the Russian language, did you not?
Mrs. PAINE. I wanted to speak of things I couldn't say in Russian. I
didn't have the vocabulary to do it with any ease in Russian.
Mr. JENNER. I see.
Mrs. PAINE. And further I particularly wanted to tell him I thought it
important she get to a doctor and have prenatal care and felt he would
be the one who actually got her there. It was his concern that would
produce a visit to the doctor.
Mr. JENNER. I see. That explains that portion of the letter which is
Commission Exhibit No. 409.
Mrs. PAINE. 409.
Mr. JENNER. I won't go into the details, Mr. Chairman, because these
are recommendations of Mrs. Paine for medical care of Marina Oswald.
Mr. McCLOY. Do I understand you are going to read all of these into the
record at the noon hour?
Mr. JENNER. At the noon hour I will read all of these into the record
rather than do it now. Now you, last night, Mrs Paine, suggested to me
you would like to make an explanation of this series of letters, and I
direct your attention to page 7 of your notes.