Mrs. OSWALD. Excuse me. Simply I would be busy, and I didn't listen to
the conversation.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you recall anything else about the conversation or the
substance of it?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. When did you first consider the possibility of returning to
the Soviet Union?
Mrs. OSWALD. I never considered that, but I was forced to because Lee
insisted on it.
Mr. RANKIN. When you considered it, as you were forced to, by his
insistence, do you know when it was with reference to your first
request to the Embassy, which was February 17, 1963?
Mrs. OSWALD. February 17?
Mr. RANKIN. Yes.
Mrs. OSWALD. I think it was a couple of weeks before that, at the
beginning of February.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your husband know about the letter you sent to the
Embassy on February 17?
Mrs. OSWALD. Of course. He handed me the paper, a pencil, and said,
"Write."
Mr. RANKIN. Did he tell you what to put in the letter, or was that your
own drafting?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I knew myself what I had to write, and these were my
words. What could I do if my husband didn't want to live with me? At
least that is what I thought.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ever have arguments with your husband about smoking
and drinking wine, other things like that?
Mrs. OSWALD. About drinking wine, no. But he didn't like the fact that
I smoked, because he neither smoked nor drank. It would have been
better if he had smoked and drank.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us approximately when you first met Ruth Paine?
Mrs. OSWALD. Soon after New Years--I think it was in January.
Mr. RANKIN. Would that be 1963?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you describe the circumstances when you met her?
Mrs. OSWALD. We were invited, together with George De Mohrenschildt
and his wife, to the home of his friend, an American. And Ruth was
acquainted with that American. She was also visiting there. And there
were a number of other people there, Americans.
Mr. RANKIN. Who was this friend? Do you recall?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember his last name. If you would suggest,
perhaps I could say.
Mr. RANKIN. Was that Mr. Glover?
Mrs. OSWALD. What is his first name?
Mr. RANKIN. Everett.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. I don't know his last name.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you talk to Mrs. Paine in Russian at that time?
Mrs. OSWALD. A little, yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Did Mrs. Paine ever visit you at Elsbeth Street?
Mrs. OSWALD. At Neely, on Neely Street.
Mr. RANKIN. But not at Elsbeth?
Mrs. OSWALD. We moved soon after that acquaintance.
Mr. RANKIN. How did your husband treat June? Was he a good father?
Mrs. OSWALD. Oh, yes, very good.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you notice any difference in his attitude towards your
child after you saw this change in his personality?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you describe to the Commission how your husband
treated the baby, and some of his acts, what he did?
Mrs. OSWALD. He would walk with June, play with her, feed her, change
diapers, take photographs--everything that fathers generally do.
Mr. RANKIN. He showed considerable affection for her at all times, did
he?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. If I would punish June, he would punish me.
Mr. RANKIN. When did you first meet Michael Paine?
Mrs. OSWALD. After I became acquainted with Ruth and she visited me for
the first time, she asked me to come for a visit to her. This was on a
Friday. Her husband, Michael, came for us and drove us to their home in
Irving.
Mr. RANKIN. They were living together at that time, were they?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Did Michael Paine know Russian?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. At the time of the Walker incident, do you recall whether
your husband had his job or had lost it?
Mrs. OSWALD. You had said that this had happened on a Wednesday, and
it seems to me that it was on a Friday that he was told that he was
discharged. He didn't tell me about it until Monday.
Mr. RANKIN. But it was on the preceding Friday that he was discharged,
was it not?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, not the preceding Friday--the Friday after the
incident. That is what he told me.
Mr. RANKIN. If he had lost his job before the Walker incident, you
didn't know it then?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. On the day of the Walker shooting did he appear to go to
work as usual?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And when did he return that day, do you recall?
Mrs. OSWALD. Late at night, about 11.
Mr. RANKIN. He did not come home for dinner then, before?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, he had come home, and then left again.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you notice any difference in his actions when he
returned home and had dinner?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he appear to be excited, nervous?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, he was quite calm. But it seemed to me that inside he
was tense.
Mr. RANKIN. How could you tell that?
Mrs. OSWALD. I could tell by his face. I knew Lee. Sometimes when some
thing would happen he wouldn't tell me about it, but I could see it in
his eyes, that something had happened.
Mr. RANKIN. And you saw it this day, did you?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. When did he leave the home after dinner?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think it was about 7. Perhaps 7:30.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you observe whether he took any gun with him?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. He went downstairs. We lived on the second floor. He
said, "Bye-bye."
Mr. RANKIN. Did you look to see if the gun had been taken when he did
not return?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I didn't look to see.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, we have gone our hour.
The CHAIRMAN. Yes. I think we will take a 10 minute recess now, so you
might refresh yourself.
Mrs. OSWALD. Thank you.
(Brief recess.)
The CHAIRMAN. The Commission will be in order. Mr. Rankin, you may
continue.
Mr. RANKIN. Mrs. Oswald, you told us about your knowledge about the
trip to Mexico and said that you were under oath and were going to tell
us all about what you knew.
Did your husband ever ask you not to disclose what you knew about the
Mexican trip?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And when was that?
Mrs. OSWALD. Before he left. I had remained and he was supposed to
leave on the next day, and he warned me not to tell anyone about it.
Mr. RANKIN. After he returned to Dallas from his Mexico trip, did he
say anything to you then about not telling he had been to Mexico?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, he asked me whether I had told Ruth about it or
anyone else, and I told him no, and he said that I should keep quiet
about it.
Mr. RANKIN. I will hand you Exhibit 1 for identification, and ask you
if you recall seeing that document before.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, this is the note that I found in connection with the
Walker incident.
Mr. RANKIN. That you already testified about?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And there is attached to it a purported English translation.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you want that marked and introduced at this time, Mr.
Rankin?
Mr. RANKIN. Yes, I would like to offer the document.
The CHAIRMAN. The document may be marked Exhibit 1 and offered in
evidence.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 1, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us what your husband meant when he said on
that note, "The Red Cross also will help you."
Mrs. OSWALD. I understand that if he were arrested and my money would
run out, I would be able to go to the Red Cross for help.
Mr. RANKIN. Had you ever discussed that possibility before you found
the note?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know why he left you the address book?
Mrs. OSWALD. Because it contained the addresses and telephone numbers
of his and my friends in Russia and here.
Mr. RANKIN. And you had seen that book before and knew its contents,
did you?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. I will hand you Exhibit 2 for identification and ask you if
you know what that is.
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether or not that is a photograph of the
Walker house in Dallas?
Mrs. OSWALD. I didn't see it--at least--taken from this view I can't
recognize it. I know that the photograph of Walker's home which I saw
showed a two-story house. But I don't recognize it from this view. I
never saw the house itself at any time in my life.
Mr. RANKIN. Does Exhibit 2 for identification appear to be the picture
that you described yesterday of the Walker house that you thought your
husband had taken and put in his book?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. Perhaps this was in his notebook. But I don't remember
this particular one.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Rankin, do you want this in the record?
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, she hasn't been able to identify that
sufficiently.
Mrs. OSWALD. Excuse me. Perhaps there are some other photographs there
that I might be able to recognize.
Mr. RANKIN. I will present some more to you, and possibly you can then
pick out the Walker house.
Mrs. OSWALD. I know these photographs.
Mr. RANKIN. I now hand you a photograph which has been labeled Exhibit
4 for identification. I ask if you can identify the subject of that
photograph, or those photographs.
Mrs. OSWALD. All of them?
Mr. RANKIN. Whichever ones you can.
Mrs. OSWALD. I know one shows Walker's house. Another is a photograph
from Leningrad. P-3--this is probably New Orleans. P-4--Leningrad. It
is a photograph showing the castle square in Leningrad.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you point out by number the photograph of the Walker
house?
Mrs. OSWALD. P-2.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know whether the photographs on Exhibit 4 for
identification were part of your husband's photographs?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, I offer Exhibit 4 for identification in
evidence.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit 2, and received
in evidence.)
Mr. DULLES. What is being offered--the whole of it, or just P-2?
Mr. RANKIN. No, all of it--because she identified the others, too, as a
part of the photographs that belonged to her husband. And she pointed
out P-2 as being the Walker residence.
When did you first see this photograph of the Walker residence, P-2, in
this Exhibit 2?
Mrs. OSWALD. After the Walker incident Lee showed it to me.
Mr. RANKIN. And how did you know it was a photograph of the Walker
residence?
Mrs. OSWALD. He told me that.
Mr. RANKIN. I hand you Exhibit 3 for identification. I ask you if you
can identify the photographs there.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, these are all our photographs. P-1 is Walker's house.
P-4 and P-3 is a photograph showing me and a girlfriend of mine in
Minsk, after a New Year's party, on the morning, on January 1. Before I
was married. This was taken early in the morning, after we had stayed
overnight in the suburbs. P-5 shows Paul--Pavel Golovachev. He is
assembling a television set. He sent us this photograph. He is from
Minsk. He worked in the same factory as Lee did.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us which one is the picture of the Walker
house on that exhibit?
Mrs. OSWALD. P-1.
Mr. RANKIN. And when did you first see that exhibit, P-1, of Exhibit 3?
Mrs. OSWALD. Together with the other one. P-2 and P-6, I know that they
are Lee's photographs, but I don't know what they depict.
Mr. RANKIN. Were you shown the P-1 photograph of that Exhibit 3 at
the same time you were shown the other one that you have identified
regarding the Walker house?
Mrs. OSWALD. It seems to me that that is so. I don't remember exactly.
It is hard to remember.
Mr. RANKIN. And was that the evening after your husband returned from
the Walker shooting?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. This was on one of the succeeding days.
Mr. RANKIN. By succeeding, you mean within two or three days after the
shooting?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, I offer in evidence Exhibit 3.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 3, and was
received in evidence.)
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember the photograph, the first one that you
showed me. I only assumed that was Walker's house.
Mr. RANKIN. But the other ones, you do remember those photographs?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, the others I do.
Mr. RANKIN. When you say you do not remember the picture of the Walker
house, you are referring to the Exhibit 2 for identification that we
did not offer in evidence, that I will show you now?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall that your husband showed you any other
exhibits that were pictures of the Walker house at the time he
discussed the Walker shooting with you, beyond those that I have shown
you?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.