Representative FORD. What is the difference?
Mr. SNYDER. This simply tells the Department that the press is onto
the case, and that they can expect something from Moscow on it. The
Department hates to be caught by surprise, they hate to read something
in the newspapers before they have gotten it back home. And I am simply
telling them that the Moscow press corps is aware of Oswald's presence,
and that there would likely be some dispatches from the press from
Moscow on the case.
Representative FORD. That doesn't mean the Embassy informed the press?
Mr. SNYDER. Oh, no.
Representative FORD. How did you know the press had been informed?
Mr. SNYDER. Again right at the moment, I cannot say. At what
stage--Priscilla Johnson, I think, was one of the first to be aware of
Oswald. Just how she became aware of him, and just where I became aware
of her knowledge of him, I don't quite know. But this, I think, was
quite early in the game.
Representative FORD. Was he given much attention by the press in
Moscow?
Mr. SNYDER. I cannot really speak with great authority on the point. I
don't think so. This is based on several things.
One, there was very little about Oswald, I think, at the time other
than what was sent in by Priscilla Johnson.
Secondly, I believe that Oswald himself had declined to talk to some
other press persons of the American press corps.
Priscilla, as I recall, was the only one who seemed to have an entree
to him.
Representative FORD. But you did not inform the American press in
Moscow of Oswald?
Mr. SNYDER. No.
Representative FORD. Did you ever talk to any of the American press or
any other of the press, about Oswald at this time?
Mr. SNYDER. No; not that I recall, Mr. Ford. It was my normal practice
not to discuss cases of this kind. They were occurring all the time in
Moscow. If it wasn't one kind it was another. And it was my practice
not to discuss the details of such cases with the press simply because
the cases--each one being different in any event--the cases were always
ticklish. And every little bit helped or hurt in a case of this kind.
And the consul needed, to the extent possible, to minimize the forces
acting on the case, so that--and the press understood this very well.
Representative FORD. Were you familiar with his interview with Miss
Mosby?
Mr. SNYDER. I don't recall that I was. I knew that Priscilla Johnson
had seen him and had been seeing him.
But I don't recall that I was aware that Ellie Mosby had seen him.
Representative FORD. You were acquainted with Miss Mosby as well as
Priscilla Johnson?
Mr. SNYDER. Oh, yes; very well.
Representative FORD. Are any of these stories that these correspondents
write on these defector cases ever checked out with your office, or
people, in corresponding position?
Mr. SNYDER. Normally not, I would say.
Representative FORD. Were you at all aware of the 5,000 rubles that
Oswald was given by Soviet authorities or by an agency of the Soviet
Union which is sometimes called, I guess, the Red Cross? Are you at all
aware of that?
Mr. SNYDER. No.
Representative FORD. Are you aware of that organization in the Soviet
Union?
Mr. SNYDER. Oh, yes.
Representative FORD. Would you describe it for us, as far as you know
what it is?