The President's Commission reconvened at 1:15 p.m.
Mr. DULLES. You may proceed, Mr. Jenner.
Mr. JENNER. Mr. Oswald, I have asked you--may I inquire of you whether
during the noon hour recess you have read Commission Exhibit 295, which
is a letter of November 26, 1959, from your brother to you?
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir; I have.
Mr. JENNER. And have you also read the letter that preceded that one,
to wit, the letter of November 8, 1959, which is to you from your
brother, which is Commission Exhibit No. 294?
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir; I have.
Mr. JENNER. Now, Mr. Chairman, the letter of November 8, which is the
earlier of these two letters--this was written by Lee Harvey Oswald
shortly after he arrived in Moscow in 1959. In substance, he said in
the letter that he supposed his brother Robert, the witness here, did
not wish to speak of his decision, that is, of Lee Harvey Oswald's
decision to remain in the Soviet Union and apply for citizenship there,
since Robert would not be able--and now I quote--"to comprehend my
reasons"--that is Lee Harvey Oswald's reasons. "You really don't know
anything about me. Do you know for instance, that I have wanted to do
this for well over a year? Do you know that I speak a fair amount of
Russian, which I have been studying for months?"
The letter also said that he would not leave the Soviet Union under
any conditions, and would never return to the United States, "which
is a country I hate." He made reference to the fact that he received
a telegram from Robert in which Robert had apparently said that he
thought Lee "was making a mistake."
Now, directing your attention to the November 8 letter first, would you
please state your reaction when you read that letter?
(At this point the letters of November 8, 1959 and November 26, 1959
were physically set forth in the transcript of testimony. In order to
achieve consistency in the handling of the exhibits upon the printing
of the testimony, those letters are not reproduced in the printed
transcript. They are reproduced in the exhibit section as Commission
Exhibits Nos. 294 and 295.)
Mr. OSWALD. I recall my reactions to this letter, sir. It was something
I more or less expected in general, since this was, more or less in
general what the newspapers had been publishing.
Mr. JENNER. Is that the only reason you make that remark--that you
had expected it in general solely because of what you read in the
newspapers, or had there been any other factor that led you to have
that expectation?
Mr. OSWALD. No, sir; there was no other factor that led be to believe
that anything like this was going to happen prior to the happening.
My reaction to the letter, as I have stated, was solely in general
expecting from what I read in the newspaper that the letter would be
something of this nature when I did hear from him.
Mr. JENNER. Had you had any conversation prior thereto during your
lifetime and that of your brother Lee in which he expressed his views
of the character that he wrote in this letter of November 8, 1959?
Mr. OSWALD. No, sir; I most certainly did not.
Mr. JENNER. Had you ever discussed with him, in any conversation
between you and your brother Lee, with or without your brother John
present or your mother, in which his feeling toward or reaction to the
government of the United States had been discussed?
Mr. OSWALD. No, sir; at no time, as I stated yesterday, have we ever
discussed politics, and most assuredly I did not have any inclination
in any degree that anything of this nature was in his mind.
Mr. JENNER. So the views expressed by your brother in the letter of
November 8 came to you as a complete surprise?
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir; with the qualification that this is what I
expected after reading the newspapers.
Mr. DULLES. May I ask one question there.
When your brother left, after that short stay following his service in
the Marine Corps, did you know that he was going to Russia--did he say
anything to you about going to Russia at that time?
Mr. OSWALD. No, sir; he did not.
Mr. JENNER. What did he say to you as to his plans?
Mr. OSWALD. That he was going to New Orleans, Louisiana, to visit my
Aunt Lillian.
Mr. JENNER. Your Aunt Lillian whom?
Mr. OSWALD. Murret.
Mr. JENNER. The family you identified yesterday--the Murret branch of
your family?
Mr. OSWALD. I don't recall identifying them.
Mr. JENNER. There was one occasion yesterday.