This is on a Saturday morning and she is in the courthouse.
I said, "Do you mean to tell me you are in charge of the Red Cross and
you don't have a key?"
"No, I don't."
"Well, young lady, you have delayed me 4 days, and I don't like your
attitude. I am going to ask you especially to make a point to come to
the office and get this in the mail for me. It is very important."
So, reluctantly, after much persuasion, she came.
So she wrote the letter to the International Rescue Committee, and
handed it to me, and I mailed that letter--I mailed the letter.
This is dated January 22, 1962.
So she called me--her name--Mrs. Harwell. She is the only woman in the
Red Cross office in Vernon, Tex.
She called me and told me she had received word from the International
Rescue Committee. She read me this letter. So I said to Mrs. Harwell,
"Do you mind if I take the letter, because I am very forgetful?"
So she took a scissors, gentlemen, and she cut this part out, which was
her title and her address--it was addressed to her. This lady wanted no
part of anybody in Russia--understand? So she cut this out.
But on the back page was the name. But that is why this space is
here--she cut it out.
Now, the letter reads: "Since we had a call from the State Department
on Mr. Oswald's case, your communication of January 14th did not come
as a surprise."
So this young lady has followed up with a letter of her own to the
International Rescue Committee.
"Since we have had a call from the State Department, your letter does
not come as a surprise."
I mailed the first letter, and it was just--so she followed up her
feelings about a boy in Russia.
Now, why does the State Department dicker with me--that is not the
word--and then see fit to put in a personal call to the International
Rescue Committee?
I would like to know who from the State Department called the
International Rescue Committee.
There is my information there that I requested. Why is a call necessary?
Mr. RANKIN. You think that shows there was a conspiracy?
Mrs. OSWALD. I am wondering and questioning why a call is necessary,
a call, when they had contacted--and I am showing you what I have
here. I don't see any necessity of the State Department to call the
International Rescue Committee.
And, gentlemen, you have a copy of this--Lee will not be helped.
I would like to know who called the International Rescue Committee from
the State Department--yes, sir, I would.
Mr. RANKIN. Yes, but you don't think that shows there is a conspiracy?
Mrs. OSWALD. Well, no--now. Mr. Rankin, don't pin me down everything I
say to the word conspiracy. I am trying to analyze a whole condensed
program of things that are not correct. I am telling you about this. It
could be just a simple thing, that he called. But I would like to know
who called when it wasn't necessary to make a call, and Lee was not
going to get the money. Read the letter.
Mr. RANKIN. The reason I ask you about the conspiracy is because that
is such a serious charge. And, as you say, if you could prove that,
that would decide everything around here.
Mrs. OSWALD. That is right. And I am going to see if I cannot show you
these things.
Mr. RANKIN. If you are speculating, which you have a right to do, that
is something different.
Mrs. OSWALD. Well, I have explained that I am speculating, that I have
all these documents, that some of them don't make sense. That is what I
am trying to tell you. I mentioned that before.
Mr. RANKIN. You are not trying to say to the Commission that you have
the proof that there was a conspiracy?
Mrs. OSWALD. I have emphatically stated that I do not have the proof,
because if I had the proof I would have an affidavit and give you
gentlemen the proof. I made that clear two or three times. I wish I did
have the proof, sir.
I think I said yesterday--it doesn't surprise me that there may be
someone in our State Department or some official who would have part in
this. He is a human being just like we are. He may have a title, but
that doesn't make him a man back of the title.
Mr. DULLES. What is this conspiracy now, Mr. Rankin? Is this the
conspiracy to do away with the President, or is this a different
conspiracy?
Mr. RANKIN. The conspiracy I was asking about was the conspiracy, she
said, about the assassination of President Kennedy.
And she said that it involved the two Secret Service agents and her
daughter-in-law and her son. That is the one I was asking about.
The CHAIRMAN. And Mrs. Paine.
Mrs. OSWALD. And Mrs. Paine. I feel like the facts have come from this
particular source.
Mr. RANKIN. Now, as I understand she says now that she is speculating
as to that being a possibility.
Mrs. OSWALD. Well, now, Mr. Rankin. I have not changed my testimony,
if you are implying that. I may not have put it in a position you
understood. Because as I say, I certainly did not mean to imply that I
had proof, because if I had proof I would not be sitting here taking
all my energy and trying to show you this little by little. I would
have had an affidavit and show you the proof. So if you want to call it
speculation, call it speculation. I don't care what you call it. But I
am not satisfied in my mind that things are according to Hoyle. And I
believe that my son is innocent. And I also realize that my son could
be involved. But I have no way of knowing these things unless I analyze
the papers that I have, sir.
Mr. RANKIN. The Commission would like to know what you base your
assumption that your son was an agent on. Could you help us?
Mrs. OSWALD. Would you like me to go into this story--I will start with
my son's life from the very beginning.