The President's Commission reconvened at 2 p.m.
The CHAIRMAN. The Commission will convene.
Mr. Rankin, you may continue.
Mr. RANKIN. Mrs. Oswald, I will now give you Exhibit 12 to examine and
ask you to compare the Russian with the English translation.
Mrs. OSWALD. The translation is correct.
Mr. RANKIN. I offer in evidence Exhibit 12, being the Russian letter,
and the English translation.
The CHAIRMAN. The documents are admitted under that number.
(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibit No. 12, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Now, this Exhibit 13 that you have just examined in
Russian, is that your letter, Mrs. Oswald, to the Embassy?
Mrs. OSWALD. Is that No. 12?
Mr. RANKIN. Yes.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, it is.
Mr. RANKIN. And is it in your handwriting?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you find any date on the letter? I didn't.
Mrs. OSWALD. I probably didn't date it. No. I wrote this from New
Orleans.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell the Commission the approximate date you wrote
it?
Mrs. OSWALD. What was the date of the preceding letter, No. 11--Exhibit
No. 11?
Mr. RANKIN. June 4, 1963.
Mrs. OSWALD. This was probably in July, but I don't know the date.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you notice there was a "P.S." on Exhibit 12?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Referring to an application by your husband?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And was an application for your husband for a visa included
or enclosed with Exhibit 12 when you sent it?
Mrs. OSWALD. Lee told me that he had sent an application, but it was he
who put this letter in an envelope and addressed it, so I don't know
whether it was there or not.
Mr. RANKIN. And when you say that it was he that put the letter into
the envelope and addressed it, you mean this Exhibit 12, that was a
letter that you had written?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do I understand you correctly that you do not know whether
his application was included because he handled the mailing of it?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. I will hand you Exhibit 13 and ask you if you recall that?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember this. He did not write this in my
presence. But it is Lee's handwriting.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Krimer, will you please translate it for her so she
will know the contents.
Mrs. OSWALD. Why "separately"--the word "separately" here is underlined.
Mr. RANKIN. I was going to ask you. But since you have not seen it
before, I guess you cannot help us.
Is this the first time that you knew that he had ever asked that his
visa be handled separately from yours?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, I didn't know this. Because I hadn't seen this letter.
Mr. RANKIN. I offer in evidence Exhibit 13.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 13, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Is the word "separately" the last word of the letter that
you are referring to--that is the word that you asked about?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. Was that underlined by Lee?
Mr. RANKIN. That is the way we received it, Mrs. Oswald. We assume it
was underlined by your husband. We know that it was not underlined by
the Commission, and no one in the Government that had anything to do
with it has ever told us that they had anything to do with underlining
it.
Mrs. OSWALD. I think that perhaps he asked for that visa to be
considered separately because the birth of the child might complicate
matters, and perhaps he thought it would speed it up if they do
consider it separately.
Mr. RANKIN. In connection with that thought, I will hand you Exhibit
14, and ask you to examine that and tell us whether you have seen that
before.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you please compare the translation in English?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, the translation is all right.
Mr. RANKIN. I offer in evidence the letter in Russian, Exhibit 14, and
the English translation.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted under that number.
(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibit No. 14, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have any impression that your husband may not have
planned to go back to Russia himself, but was merely trying to arrange
for you and your daughter to go back?
Mrs. OSWALD. At that time I did not think so, but now I think perhaps.
Because he planned to go to Cuba.
Mr. RANKIN. By that you mean you think he may have planned to go to
Cuba and never go beyond Cuba, but stay in Cuba?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think that in time he would have wanted to come and see
me.
Mr. RANKIN. I hand you Exhibit 15 and ask you whether you remember
having seen that before.
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell whether your husband's handwriting is on that
exhibit?
Mrs. OSWALD. The signature is his, yes. I would like to have it
translated.
Mr. RANKIN. Would you translate it for her, please, Mr. Krimer?
Mrs. OSWALD. A crazy letter. Perhaps from this I could conclude that he
did want to go to the Soviet Union--but now I am lost, I don't know.
Because--perhaps because nothing came out of his Cuban business,
perhaps that is why he decided to go to the Soviet Union. The letter is
not too polite, in my opinion.
Mr. RANKIN. I offer in evidence Exhibit 15.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 15, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chief Justice, I think in the examination about this
letter, if I would circulate it to the Commission it would be a
little clearer what it is all about--if you could have a moment or
two to examine it, I think it would help in your understanding of the
examination.
Mrs. OSWALD. This was typed on the typewriter belonging to Ruth.
Mr. RANKIN. You can tell that by the looks of the typing, can you, Mrs.
Oswald?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I don't know, but I know that he was typing there. I
don't know what he was typing.
Mr. RANKIN. And it is Ruth Paine's typewriter that you are referring
to, when you say Ruth?
Mrs. OSWALD. Ruth Paine. Because Lee did not have a typewriter, and it
is hardly likely that he would have had it typed somewhere else.
Mr. RANKIN. I hand you Exhibit 16, which purports to be the envelope
for the letter, Exhibit 15. Have you ever seen that?
Mrs. OSWALD. The envelope I did see. I did not see the letter, but I
did see the envelope. Lee had retyped it some 10 times or so.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall or could you clarify for us about the date on
the envelope--whether it is November 2 or November 12?
Mrs. OSWALD. November 12.
Mr. RANKIN. I offer in evidence Exhibit 16.
The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 16, and
received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. I might call your attention, Mrs. Oswald, to the fact that
Exhibit 15, the letter, is dated November 9. Does that help you any?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. Then this must be 12.
Mr. RANKIN. That is the only way you can determine it, is it?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you have anything to do with the mailing of this
letter, Exhibit 15?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Yesterday you testified to the fact that your husband told
you about his trip to Mexico when he returned, is that right?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Where were you when he told you about it?
Mrs. OSWALD. In the home of Mrs. Paine, in my room.
Mr. RANKIN. Was there anyone other than yourself and your husband
present when he told you about it?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Will you tell us in as much detail as you can remember just
what he said about the trip at that time?
Mrs. OSWALD. Everything that I could remember I told you yesterday. I
don't remember any more about it.