So the next morning I am on my way home. I have no purpose to be there.
I was helping my daughter-in-law, and helping the children. But now I
am out of everything, so I insist on going home.
Before going home, I asked to tell Marina goodby, and my grandchildren,
and what they have done this morning--they have taken her out of these
quarters and brought her next door, to the other quarters of the
Inn--it is just one door and a little courtyard to the other door.
Mr. RANKIN. What day is this?
Mrs. OSWALD. This is the 28th. So the agent that was taking me
home--I'm sorry, but I'm very bad at names, and there were so many
agents, it is awfully hard for me to remember it all. I told him that
I wanted to tell Marina that I was going. He knocked on the door. The
Russian interpreter from the State Department, Mr. Gopadze, came to the
door, and the agent said, "Mrs. Oswald is going home and wants to tell
Marina and the children goodby."
He said, "Well, we are interviewing her, and she is on tape. She will
get in touch with you."
So I never saw Marina after that time.
Now, what worried me so was what did Marina think. What did Marina know
of this, and what did she think? Did she think I deserted her? Did they
think I left without telling her goodby? This worried me very much. I
could picture the girl. What did she think? I didn't even get to tell
her goodby.
So I tried in vain to see Marina. I have called Mr. F. V. Sorrels over
and over and over, and he has never told me that Marina did not want to
see me. And this, gentlemen, I have proof of. He always said, "Well,
Mrs. Oswald, I am not able to divulge where she is" and the regular
push-around. He is not telling me plainly I am not going to see Marina,
he is being very courteous to me, but not letting me see Marina--if I
am making this plain. And I have publicly blasted that. Over and over I
have tried unsuccessfully.
Mr. Mark Lane, who is representing my son, talked with Mr. Jim Martin
and Mr. Thorne--Jim Martin is Marina's business manager, and Mr. Thorne
is her attorney. And Mr. Jim Martin and Thorne have stated to Mr. Mark
Lane that Marina did not want to talk to me.
Now, this is approximately a month ago, I would say, when I first
engaged Mr. Mark Lane. And Mr. Mark Lane said to me that he was not
satisfied, when he gave me the information. I said, "No, I want Marina
to tell me that." How did I know it was Marina's quote?
Mr. Sorrels never told me that Marina did not want to talk to me. But
this was told to Mr. Mark Lane. But I would not take that as a quote. I
wanted to hear it from Marina.
So we persistently tried to see Marina. When I say we, almost every
reporter in the city of Fort Worth and Dallas has tried to see Marina.
Mr. Mark Lane has tried to see Marina. Mr. Olds, who is head of the
Civil Liberties Association--I don't know if that's the proper name--in
Fort Worth has tried to see Marina. And there have been many prominent
people trying to see Marina, because they could not understand how
Marina could be under such strict surveillance that no one could be
allowed to see Marina. There have been many, many people question
this. It has been questioned, why Marina would be under strict
seclusion for 6 weeks, with not a soul seeing Marina. I say not a soul.
My son saw Marina at Christmas time, and probably had seen her before
then.
His family went with him--I checked with my daughter-in-law, Vada, and
she said she went with Robert for Christmas time. It came over the news
in Fort Worth that Marina's brother-in-law, Lee's brother, would be
with her at Christmas time, and Mrs. Marguerite Oswald was unavailable
for news.
Gentlemen, I stayed home crying, hoping against hope that the Secret
Service would come and let me be with my family for Christmas time,
waiting there patiently. I was available for news. I had blasted this
in the paper over and over. I waited for them to come get me. But there
again, I am excluded.
Do you know the answers to all these exclusions? I do not.
The first time Marina ever made any statement or public appearance
was approximately 2 weeks ago, or maybe not that long. She was on an
exclusive television program. Channel 4 in Fort Worth, Tex., when she
stated publicly that in her mind she thought that Lee shot President
Kennedy. What an awful thing for this 22-year-old foreign girl to
think. She thinks in her mind. She doesn't know. But she thinks,
gentlemen. That tape can be sent back to you. That was her quote. I
watched every television program, and I took it down in black and
white. "In my mind, I think Lee shot President Kennedy."
She doesn't know our American way of life. Lee Harvey Oswald will be
the accused assassin of President Kennedy when this information is over
with, believe me.
She is a Russian girl, and maybe they do this in Russia. But what
I am going to say is that Marina Oswald was brainwashed by the
Secret Service, who have kept her in seclusion for 8 weeks--8 weeks,
gentlemen, with no one talking to Marina.
Marina does not read English. Marina knows none of the facts from
newspaper account. The only way Marina can get facts is through what
the FBI and the Secret Service probably are telling her, or some of the
facts that Marina has manufactured since.