Mr. CHAYES. But it would also have had the determination that he had
failed to expatriate himself and that he was an American citizen. I,
myself, doubt that an abortive attempt at expatriation would, certainly
without more, warrant the denial of a passport to a person who was in
fact a citizen.
Representative FORD. And a person who in his application in June of
1963, indicated he wanted to return to the Soviet Union?
Mr. CHAYES. One of the places he wanted to travel to was Russia. I
think if you add those two together, and all you have is his intention
to travel to Russia, and the fact that he made an abortive attempt
to expatriate himself in Russia sometime before, I don't think you
have the basis for a finding in terms of the regulation that persons,
activities abroad would "violate the laws of the United States, be
prejudicial to the orderly conduct of foreign relations or otherwise be
prejudicial to the interests of the United States."
I think you have got the basis for a finding that this is not a very
attractive fellow, but I don't see how you can bring him within any of
those categories on the basis of the evidence in the file.
Mr. DULLES. Is it not correct though that when you were trying to
get the visa for Mrs. Oswald, you made a very strong case that his
continued residence in the Soviet Union was harmful to the foreign
policy of the United States, or words to that effect?
Mr. CHAYES. Well, we were very anxious to get him back and I think
that is right. In a sense we had him on our hands then. We were in
discussion with him. He was in the Embassy and he was very directly
our responsibility, so that anything that he did or that went wrong
during that period, he was under our protection and we were necessarily
involved.
If he went back as a tourist and got into some trouble of some kind or
another, we would then have the choice I think to get involved, and
we might or might not. The situation it seems to me is different when
a fellow is already in trouble and you have taken steps to put the
U.S. Embassy in the picture. Then you have a special responsibility
if anything goes off the track and you want to take whatever steps
you can to shorten the time in which you are bearing that special
responsibility.
Representative FORD. I think, Mr. Chayes, however, you are saying or
you are inferring that it was a clear-cut decision back when it was
determined that he had not given up his United States citizenship.
Mr. CHAYES. It was in July of 1961, when his passport was renewed.
We couldn't have had a passport renewal if there weren't such a
determination, and in fact there was such a determination.
Representative FORD. There was such a determination?
Mr. CHAYES. Yes, sir.
Representative FORD. That is correct, but it was not a clear-cut case
when you look at the steps that he, Lee Harvey Oswald, tried to take.