Mrs. OSWALD. He did not tell me that he was with the FBI, but he was
with them.
Mr. RANKIN. Your ill feeling towards the FBI was due to the fact that
you thought they were trying to obtain evidence to show your husband
was guilty in regard to the assassination?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. But you have said since the assassination that you didn't
want to believe it, but you had to believe that your husband had killed
President Kennedy, is that right?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. There were some facts, but not too many, and I didn't
know too much about it at that time yet. After all, there are in life
some accidental concurrences of circumstances. And it is very difficult
to believe in that.
Mr. RANKIN. But from what you have learned since that time, you arrived
at this conclusion, did you, that your husband had killed the President?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. Unfortunately, yes.
Mr. RANKIN. And you related those facts that you learned to what you
already knew about your life with him and what you knew he had done and
appeared to be doing in order to come to that conclusion?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. When you saw your husband on November 23d, at the police
station, did you ask him if he had killed President Kennedy?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ask him at that time if he had killed Officer
Tippit?
Mrs. OSWALD. No. I said, "I don't believe that you did that, and
everything will turn out well."
After all, I couldn't accuse him--after all, he was my husband.
Mr. RANKIN. And what did he say to that?
Mrs. OSWALD. He said that I should not worry, that everything would
turn out well. But I could see by his eyes that he was guilty. Rather,
he tried to appear to be brave. However, by his eyes I could tell that
he was afraid.
This was just a feeling. It is hard to describe.
Mr. RANKIN. Would you help us a little bit by telling us what you saw
in his eyes that caused you to think that?
Mrs. OSWALD. He said goodbye to me with his eyes. I knew that. He said
that everything would turn out well, but he did not believe it himself.
Mr. RANKIN. How could you tell that?
Mrs. OSWALD. I saw it in his eyes.
Mr. RANKIN. Did your husband ever at any time say to you that he was
responsible or had anything to do with the killing of President Kennedy?
Mrs. OSWALD. After Kennedy--I only saw him once, and he didn't tell me
anything, and I didn't see him again.
Mr. RANKIN. And did he at any time tell you that he had anything to do
with the shooting of Officer Tippit?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ever ask your husband why he ran away or tried to
escape after the assassination?
Mrs. OSWALD. I didn't ask him about that.
Mr. RANKIN. On either November 22d, or Saturday, November 23d, did
anyone contact you and advise you that your husband was going to be
shot?
Mrs. OSWALD. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Where did you spend the evening of November 23d?
Mrs. OSWALD. After seeing Lee, we went with some reporters of Life
Magazine who had rented a room, but it turned out to be--in a
hotel--but it turned out to be inconvenient because there were many
people there and we went to another place. We were in a hotel in
Dallas, but I don't know the name.
Mr. RANKIN. Who was with you at that time?
Mrs. OSWALD. Lee's mother.
Mr. RANKIN. Anyone else?
Mrs. OSWALD. No--June and Rachel.
Mr. RANKIN. Was Robert with you at all?
Mrs. OSWALD. I saw Robert in the police--at the police station, but he
did not stay with us at the hotel.
Mr. RANKIN. Now, the evening of November 22d, were you at Ruth Paine's
house?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. At that time did the reporters come there and the Life
reporters, and ask you and your mother-in-law and Mrs. Paine about what
had happened?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. We have a report that there was quite a scene between Mrs.
Paine and your mother-in-law at that time. Was there such an event?
Mrs. OSWALD. I did not understand English too well, and I did not know
what they were quarreling about. I know that the reporters wanted to
talk to me, but his mother made a scene and went into hysterics, and
said I should not talk and that she would not talk.
Mr. RANKIN. Did she say why she would not talk?
Mrs. OSWALD. Perhaps she said it in English. I didn't understand. She
talked to the reporters.
Mr. RANKIN. Did she say anything about being paid if she was going to
tell any story?
Mrs. OSWALD. She has a mania--only money, money, money.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you understand that she was quarreling with Ruth Paine
about something concerning the interview?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes. It appeared to be a quarrel, but what they quarreled
about, I don't know.
Mr. RANKIN. And after the quarrel, did you leave there?
Mrs. OSWALD. I went to my room. But then I showed Lee's mother the
photograph, where he is photographed with a rifle, and told her he
had shot at Walker and it appeared he might have been shooting at the
President. She said that I should hide that photograph and not show it
to anyone.
On the next day I destroyed one photograph which I had. I think I had
two small ones. When we were in the hotel I burned it.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you say anything to her about the destruction of the
photographs when she suggested that?
Mrs. OSWALD. She saw it, while I was destroying them.
Mr. RANKIN. After the assassination, did the police and FBI and the
Secret Service ask you many questions?
Mrs. OSWALD. In the police station there was a routine regular
questioning, as always happens. And then after I was with the agents
of the Secret Service and the FBI, they asked me many questions, of
course--many questions. Sometimes the FBI agents asked me questions
which had no bearing or relationship, and if I didn't want to answer
they told me that if I wanted to live in this country, I would have to
help in this matter, even though they were often irrelevant. That is
the FBI.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know who said that to you?
Mrs. OSWALD. Mr. Heitman and Bogoslav, who was an interpreter for the
FBI.
Mr. RANKIN. You understand that you do not have to tell this Commission
in order to stay in this country, don't you, now?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. You are not under any compulsion to tell the Commission
here in order to be able to stay in the country.
Mrs. OSWALD. I understand that.
Mr. RANKIN. And you have come here because you want to tell us what you
could about this matter, is that right?
Mrs. OSWALD. This is my voluntary wish, and no one forced me to do this.
Mr. RANKIN. Did these various people from the police and the Secret
Service and the FBI treat you courteously when they asked you about the
matters that they did, concerning the assassination and things leading
up to it?
Mrs. OSWALD. I have a very good opinion about the Secret Service, and
the people in the police department treated me very well. But the FBI
agents were somehow polite and gruff. Sometimes they would mask a gruff
question in a polite form.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you see anyone from the Immigration Service during this
period of time?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know who that was?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember the name. I think he is the chairman of
that office. At least he was a representative of that office.
Mr. RANKIN. By "that office" you mean the one at Dallas?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was told that he had especially come from New York, it
seems to me.
Mr. RANKIN. What did he say to you?
Mrs. OSWALD. That if I was not guilty of anything, if I had not
committed any crime against this Government, then I had every right
to live in this country. This was a type of introduction before the
questioning by the FBI. He even said that it would be better for me if
I were to help them.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he explain to you what he meant by being better for you?
Mrs. OSWALD. In the sense that I would have more rights in this
country. I understood it that way.
Mr. RANKIN. Did you understand that you were being threatened with
deportation if you didn't answer these questions?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, I did not understand it that way.
You see, it was presented in such a delicate form, but there was a
clear implication that it would be better if I were to help.