Mr. SNYDER. I guess there was. There was one or more welfare and
whereabouts inquiries concerning him from his mother, which I think was
the bulk, if not all, of the correspondence which we were engaged in
between those two periods.
Mr. COLEMAN. Well, one such memorandum which went from the State
Department to Moscow was a memorandum dated March 21, 1960, which
has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 922, which indicates that
Representative Wright of Texas had made inquiry with respect to the
whereabouts of Oswald.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 922 for
identification.)
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. And attached to the operations memorandum which was marked
as Commission Exhibit No. 922 is the letter sent to Congressman Wright,
which has been marked as Exhibit 923.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 923 for
identification.)
Mr. COLEMAN. And also a letter sent to Mrs. Marguerite Oswald, which
has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 924.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 924 for
identification.)
Mr. COLEMAN. In reply to Commission Exhibit No. 922, you prepared and
sent to the Department of State an operations memorandum under date of
March 28, 1960, which we have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 927.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 927 for
identification.)
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. In Commission Exhibit No. 927, you make the statement that
the Embassy has no evidence that Oswald has expatriated himself other
than his announced intention to do so "and the Embassy is, therefore,
technically in a position to institute an inquiry concerning his
whereabouts through a note to the Foreign Office."
Do you recall that statement in the operations memorandum?
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. Was it your thought, then, that based upon all the
documents you had and what transpired on October 31, 1959, and the
subsequent letter that Oswald sent, that in your judgment he had not
renounced his American citizenship?
Mr. SNYDER. The statement which I made in that letter--to be quite
accurate, as to its content--was made not for the--that is, the
statement wasn't directing itself to the question has Oswald lost his
citizenship or not, but rather to the question would we have the right
in Soviet eyes to ask about the whereabouts of this man. The Soviet
authorities took a very strict line that no foreign government had
the right to inquire about any resident of the Soviet Union unless he
was their citizen. So that my statement was merely--was meant there
to support my conclusion that the Embassy, as far as we could see,
would have the right in Soviet eyes to ask about the whereabouts of
Oswald--because we had no reason to believe he was not our citizen,
and, therefore, we had a perfect right to ask about where he might be.
Representative FORD. In other words, in your own mind, at that point,
he had not renounced his citizenship?
Mr. SNYDER. There is no question he had not renounced his citizenship;
yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. You considered that he was still an American citizen as of
March 28----
Mr. SNYDER. No evidence to the contrary.
Mr. DULLES. That is, he hadn't taken the procedures required under the
law to renounce his citizenship?
Mr. SNYDER. He had not renounced his citizenship, and there was no
evidence that he had acquired Soviet citizenship. These were the two
things under which I think he could possibly have lost his citizenship
at that time.
So, for lack of evidence to the contrary, he was an American citizen.
Mr. COLEMAN. On April 5, 1960--you received an operations memorandum
from the Department of State, dated March 28, 1960, which we have had
marked as Commission Exhibit No. 929. Do you recall receiving that?
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 929 for
identification.)
Mr. COLEMAN. The second paragraph of that memorandum indicates that a
lookout card or file has been opened or prepared.
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. What does that mean?
Mr. SNYDER. Never having worked in this end of the Department of
State, I can say only what it would mean in general terms--when one
says a lookout card has been prepared, it means that an entry has been
made in the file in such fashion that should someone look in the file
for--under this name or this category, that there would be--that their
attention would be flagged by this entry, and their attention would
be called to the fact that there is something that they ought to look
into. In other words, it is kind of a red flag placed--perhaps red flag
is not the word to use here--but it is a flag placed in the file to
attract the attention of anyone looking in the file under that.
Mr. COLEMAN. Then on May 10, 1960, and again on June 22, 1960, you
received two operations memorandums from the State Department making
inquiries with respect to Mr. Oswald. Can you identify those?
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. You remember receiving those?
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. The operations memorandum dated May 10, 1960, was given
Commission Exhibit No. 928, and the operations memorandum dated June
22, 1960, has been given Commission Exhibit No. 925.
(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibits Nos. 925 and
928, respectively, for identification.)
Mr. COLEMAN. In response to those two operations memorandums, you,
then, on July 6, 1960, sent forth an operations memorandum which has
been given Commission Exhibit No. 926, which states that until you get
other instructions, you are not going to make any further inquiry or
do anything further in connection with Oswald, is that correct?
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 926 for
identification.)
Mr. SNYDER. That is correct.
Mr. COLEMAN. Then, sir, on February 1, 1961, you received a Department
of State instruction which was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 930,
which requested the Embassy to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs--to
inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr. Oswald's mother was
worried about his personal safety, and was anxious to hear from him.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 930 for
identification.)
Mr. COLEMAN. Did you ever make such an inquiry of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs?
Mr. SNYDER. No, I think I did not.
Mr. COLEMAN. Do you know just when that Department instruction reached
the Embassy in Moscow?
Mr. SNYDER. The date should be stamped on the document.
Mr. COLEMAN. Well, on the copy we have, sir, there is no date. I take
it you have no independent recollection?
Mr. SNYDER. No; it should have been within a week, though.
Mr. COLEMAN. I take it, though, you would say that Commission Exhibit
No. 930 went by diplomatic pouch.
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. This didn't go by cable?
Mr. SNYDER. No, that is not a telegraphic form.
Mr. COLEMAN. On February 13, 1961, you received a letter from Mr.
Oswald, did you not?
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. I show you a copy of a letter which has been marked as
Commission Exhibit No. 931, and I ask you whether that is a copy of a
letter you received from Mr. Oswald.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 931 for
identification.)
Mr. SNYDER. Yes, sir.
Representative FORD. Mr. Chairman, it would be helpful, I think, if we
would pass these around, or if copies would be available to us at the
time. Otherwise--at least I am not able to know what is transpiring
between the counsel and the witness.
Are there extra copies of these we could have to examine as the exhibit
is submitted to the witness?
Mr. SLAWSON. We could have them made up, Mr. Ford. I don't think there
are any extra ones right now.
The CHAIRMAN. Well, suppose before you pass it to the witness you pass
it to me, and I will pass it to Congressman Ford, and then over to
Commissioner Dulles.
Mr. SNYDER. This letter is presumably the reason why no action was
taken on the previous operations memorandum. It was overtaken,
presumably, by Oswald's letter.
Mr. COLEMAN. Could you indicate for the record what Oswald said in his
letter which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 931?
Mr. SNYDER. Perhaps I might just read the letter into the record.
The letter is dated February, no date.
"Dear sirs"----
Mr. DULLES. What year?
Mr. SNYDER. 1961.
"Since I have not received a reply to my letter of December 1960, I am
writing again asking that you consider my request for the return of my
American passport.
"I desire to return to the United States, that is if we could come to
some agreement concernig [sic] the dropping of any legal proceedings
against me. If so, then I would be free to ask the Russian authorities
to allow me to leave. If I could show them my American passport, I am
of the opinion they would give me an exit visa.
"They have at no time insisted that I take Russian citizenship. I am
living here with non-permanent type papers for a foreigner.
"I cannot leave Minsk without permission, therefore I am writing rather
than calling in person.
"I hope that in recalling the responsibility I have to America that you
remember your's in doing everything you can to help me since I am an
American citizen.
"Sincerely Lee Harvey Oswald."
Mr. DULLES. That is addressed to the American Embassy in Moscow?
Mr. SNYDER. It is simply "Dear sirs:" As near as I can recall, it came
by mail, through the Soviet mail, addressed to the Embassy.
Mr. COLEMAN. Had you received a letter from Mr. Oswald at a date of
December 1960, the way he mentioned in the first paragraph of his
letter?
Mr. SNYDER. No, sir; we did not.
Mr. COLEMAN. This is the first letter you received?
Mr. SNYDER. This is the first communication since he left Moscow.
Mr. COLEMAN. I would next like to mark as Commission Exhibit No. 933
the reply which you made to Mr. Oswald, which is dated February 28,
1961.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 933 for
identification.)