Mrs. OSWALD. No, sir, we cannot. I am sorry. This is my life. I cannot
survive in this world unless I know I have my American way of life and
can start from the very beginning. I have to work into this. I cannot
answer these questions like in a court, yes or no. And I will not
answer yes or no. I want to tell you the story. And that is the only
way you can get a true picture. I am the accused mother of this man,
and I have family and grandchildren, and Marina, my daughter-in-law.
And I am going to do everything I can to try and prove he is innocent.
Mr. RANKIN. Well, now, Mrs. Oswald, you are not claiming before this
Commission that there was anything back at the beginning, at the early
childhood of your son, in which you thought he was an agent?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, sir--at age 16.
Mr. RANKIN. Well, why don't you start with age 16, then.
Mrs. OSWALD. Well, aren't you gentlemen--I have a letter from you, Mr.
Rankin. Aren't you gentlemen interested in my son's life from the very
beginning? I think you should, because it has been exploited in all the
magazines and papers. And this is not my son is what I am trying to
say. He is not a perfect boy, and I am not a perfect woman. But I can
show a different side of Lee Harvey Oswald, which I hope to do to this
Commission.
Mr. RANKIN. Well, I plan to ask you about his early life and these
other parts. But I thought it would be helpful if you would be willing
to do it to tell the Commission, while Mr. Dulles is here, what you
base this claim upon that your son was an agent of the Government.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, and I would be happy to do it.
Mr. RANKIN. If you have to go to when he was 16 years old as the first
point, that will be fine.
But if you could cover that--then we will go on to the other things.
Mrs. OSWALD. All right. I have your word that you will let me have
my life story from early childhood and Lee's life story from early
childhood.
Now, I will start from age 16. Is that satisfactory?
Mr. RANKIN. Would you do that?
Mrs. OSWALD. Thank you very much. We were in New Orleans, La., at this
particular time. On or about October 5th or 7th--and you have this,
gentlemen, as my proof, that I am telling a true story, and I will have
witnesses that will be called--is a letter----
Mr. DULLES. What year, Mrs. Oswald?
Mrs. OSWALD. I said 1959--I am sorry. 1955. No, wait now. 1956--when we
left New Orleans is 1956. Am I not correct? I am a little excited now,
because of what happened before. The note----
Mr. RANKIN. He joined the Marines in 1956. Does that help you?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, sir. Wait. We have a note from the Beauregard School
by me that I was going to San Diego. Do you have the note?
Mr. RANKIN. We do.
Mrs. OSWALD. May I see that note, please? And that is approximately
October 5th or the 7th, I think it is, 1955.
Mr. DULLES. I think you moved to Fort Worth with Lee in September 1956.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, sir. So it was in '55. I think that is correct. Let
me see.
Mr. RANKIN. We are handing you this book that we received from the
State of Louisiana that is Commission's Exhibit No. 365, and turn to
page 11 and you will find the note you referred to.
Mrs. OSWALD. To the school. All right, gentlemen, this is a surprise.
This is my note, isn't, to the school, that I am moving to San Diego.
And it has been blasted in all the papers how I moved around, and I was
going to San Diego.
Gentlemen, I had nothing to do with this note, nothing whatsoever.
Lee, my son, wrote the note--on or about October 5th or the
7th--October 7th. And now comes the story why he wrote the note.
If you will see here, this is Lee's handwriting, to the letters.
Mr. RANKIN. We offer in evidence that note on page 11.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 199, and
received in evidence.)
Mrs. OSWALD. I had nothing to do with this note.
Now, I am working at Kreeger's Specialty Shop, 800 and something
Canal Street in New Orleans, La. I received a telephone call from the
principal of the Beauregard School saying. "Mrs. Oswald, I understand
you are going to leave town, and we are awfully sorry to lose Lee."
Of course now, gentlemen, I am working and this is news to me.
So I said--I kind of went along with it a little bit.
Lee came into this shop later on that day. Miss Lillian New, I think
her name was, who is manager of Kreeger's Shop, and has been for
years--she will witness this.