Mr. LIEBELER. Did he seem to be satisfied with his job?
Miss MURRET. He said it was all right.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he impress you as having strong feelings about things
or not?
Miss MURRET. He didn't talk that much when he was over here, he really
didn't. I mean once, when I asked him several things about Russia, he
said nothing other than what I told you, in very general terms. I asked
him how he liked his job, and he said it was all right, that it wasn't
any different from any other factory. Most people seem to think that he
had a desire to do something that would show that he was somebody. But
he didn't strike me as being that way. I think he really thought he was
somebody.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he strike you as being a person of integrity?
Miss MURRET. Perfectly content--I mean he thought he was extremely
intelligent.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you think he was?
Miss MURRET. I thought that he was very articulate, but I mean I never
discussed anything with him in any great length to know whether or not
he knew what he was talking about.
Mr. LIEBELER. How did you form the impression that he was very
articulate? You had the impression that he didn't talk very much?
Miss MURRET. No; but I mean his accent was very good. I mean he
pronounced every syllable and the word endings were always pronounced,
and he didn't talk very--he was just very quiet. If he didn't want to
answer something, he didn't answer. You could be with somebody like
that a year, and you would get no answers--if he didn't care to give
them.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever feel particularly close to him, or that you
had any peculiar or any real rapport with the man at all?
Miss MURRET. Well, I regarded him because he was my cousin, I guess. I
mean I wanted to see him settled and happy, naturally; and if I could
have helped him in any way, just as my mother, we all would have. I
mean he didn't have too easy a life. I liked Lee. He didn't strike me
as being violent or definitely not one who could commit such an act.
Mr. LIEBELER. Do you think that Lee would be liked by most people?
Miss MURRET. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Why not?
Miss MURRET. Because he wasn't friendly. He would be liked by a certain
type of person and hated by other types.
Mr. LIEBELER. Well, that is the thing I am trying to bring out, and
it is a difficult thing to come at, and I wish you would tell me what
you think about this, how this strikes you, because it is difficult to
frame a question with regard to it. We all know that sometimes people
respond differently to different human beings, since each person is
different and may have an entirely different response to the same thing
many times. According to some of the information we have Lee was not
liked by all kinds of people, and as you indicated, you did like him,
but you didn't think Lee would be liked by people generally. I wish you
would just tell us really what you think about this, and why.
Miss MURRET. Well, because of his manner--I think people thought
that he thought he was somebody, you know, and they wanted to knock
him down a peg. And his entire presentation, I mean his walk--he was
very erect--he minded his own business, and I don't think he liked
petty gossip and things like that, and, of course, those people are
varied in mind, and it would take a perverted mind, if he did this
(assassination). Anyway, just like the way in the Army; they said
that the ones who came up through the ranks used to lead the college
graduates, and so forth, a dog's life, because they had a certain
manner about them, you know, where they just automatically thought
they knew more just because they had a degree. Lee didn't have a
degree or anything like that, but I think he was much more intelligent
than the grades obviously indicated, although, as I said, I never
really discussed anything with him. My theory of it was that he was
intelligent, and so that type of person is usually disliked by this
other group. And I don't know if that--that is as clear as mud, I
guess, or actually he stayed with a certain class because his finances
only allowed him to be with that particular group, probably, and he
didn't like them.
Mr. LIEBELER. And you thought that was very much of a problem?
Miss MURRET. Right; and even though he didn't have any money, he was a
different type child, you know. I mean, like I am saying, he was not a
rough type of child, or anything like that, since certainly on Exchange
Alley he had a lot of opportunity to deviate from the right path, you
know. But he never went into any of those barrooms or pool halls, or
anything like that, you know. I guess, the other ones, he just didn't
have the money to keep up with, but his mother reared him to be like
that. And I guess he could live within himself, because he trained
himself like that. I mean he never played with the other kids, and when
he came home from school he read, and whether he was always reading
this stuff, I don't know, but, anyway, he read everything.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever have any knowledge or had you heard that he
was reading anything on Marxism or communism?
Miss MURRET. I don't know anything about that unless--anyhow, he was
trained, and he would read encyclopedias like somebody else would read
a novel, and that is how he was trained.
Mr. LIEBELER. And you think now, with the information that you have,
both from reading newspapers and also coupled with the knowledge of Lee
Oswald, do you think Lee Oswald actually did kill the President?
Miss MURRET. All the evidence points to him, but he just never struck
me as capable of that particular act. I never thought he would be--I
never thought he was that maladjusted to want to prove to the world
that he could commit such an act for any personal gratification,
unless, as I am saying, somebody else was with him. But then, I don't
think he was--well, he was such a quiet type, that probably nobody else
could ever get through to him.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did this impression that you have of Lee change any when
you heard he had been involved in this street fracas in connection with
the Fair Play for Cuba pamphlets that he was giving out, leaflets, and
had some difficulty out in the street?
Miss MURRET. Well, then, after that, I said, this kid--well, I just
thought he was probably harmless, and just then I said, well, he is
just doing this because why would he go marching, exposed all over
Canal Street, and he voluntarily goes to be interviewed. So, I mean,
that type, I probably thought he was harmless. And he was just shooting
his mouth off. I mean, he didn't deny anything----
Mr. LIEBELER. And that didn't seem inconsistent with the proposition
that he was a loner, and it doesn't, really, but it didn't seem
inconsistent to you?
Miss MURRET. I don't understand what you mean.
Mr. LIEBELER. You said the fellow was pretty quiet?
Miss MURRET. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. And he stayed pretty much to himself?
Miss MURRET. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. And then here you find him in the street handing out
leaflets in connection with Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and did you
hear that he was a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee here in
New Orleans?
Miss MURRET. No; he said that after on television, or all of that came
out after. He must have been interviewed by WDSU shortly thereafter;
however----
Mr. LIEBELER. You don't know?
Miss MURRET. I don't know whether they showed that the first time, and
they reran all of that after the assassination, but, you know, it was
because my family had told me--well, the policeman had told my sister,
well, that a lot of these people do that around here, and it is not
against the law, just the fact that they are disturbing the peace. I
mean these are just boys--that's what he said, "they are just boys,
and I handle a lot of them like that." And then after I saw it on
television, he didn't deny anything, and he said out and out that he
was a Marxist.
Mr. LIEBELER. My question is basically, did this surprise you, based
on the past experiences that you had with him? And did it surprise you
that all of a sudden he was in the street handing out leaflets?
Miss MURRET. Yes; it did, because he didn't say anything, but then,
after something happens, then you start formulating your opinions, of
course. But I mean he seemed to be perfectly content, and particularly
after he met Marina. But then in other theories that were expounded,
that perhaps because he was turned down by Russia and then turned down
by Fidel, that perhaps he wanted to show them that he could commit such
a great act without the help of any others, and still they didn't want
him to work for them, you know----
Mr. LIEBELER. This is the theory that you have thought of since the
assassination?
Miss MURRET. I beg your pardon?
Mr. LIEBELER. This is a theory that you have thought up since the
assassination?
Miss MURRET. Well, because everybody yells--it just didn't strike me,
so if there was any reason, that just seemed to be the most logical
one. But then, on the other hand, and I know now that I am looking back
on all this, and I don't think that Khrushchev really turned him down
at first, and then let him have access to all of Russia, you know. I
don't think he was just turned down immediately, like that, and then
being allowed to work in the factories, and go from one city to the
other.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did Lee ever indicate to you that he didn't receive the
kind of treatment that he expected to receive when he went to Russia?
Miss MURRET. Nothing. I didn't press him on that, because I figured
even if somebody didn't like it, that they, after they had done such
a thing, they wouldn't probably want to come back and just, you know,
do nothing but knock it. He wouldn't anyway, since everybody was so
horrified that he left, that he, you know, that he wouldn't admit that
big of a mistake. I don't think he could have realized that, because,
I mean, as I am saying, he liked to do what he wanted to do. And as an
individual he never did really seek company. But then, no Communist
lives like the Communists, anyway--they live like capitalists, and just
preach the doctrine.
Mr. LIEBELER. I think you indicated in response to my question as to
whether or not you thought that Lee had done it, that it all looks very
much that way and that the evidence points that way, but what do you
believe? Do you believe he did it?
Miss MURRET. On circumstantial evidence, but I don't--there have been
so many conflicting reports, you know, as to two guns, and one person
supplying the telescope, and another stating that that telescope had
already been mounted; so, if there were, I--it could have been more
than one shot actually, or I mean shot from more than one place.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever see Lee in possession of a weapon of any
kind when he was here in New Orleans?
Miss MURRET. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you see any rifle in his apartment?
Miss MURRET. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ever mention that he had a rifle?
Miss MURRET. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Can you think of anything else that you can remember
about Lee that I didn't ask you about that you think the Commission
should know? If you can, I would like to have you put it in the record.
Miss MURRET. I don't know of any.
Mr. LIEBELER. Were you interviewed by the FBI?
Miss MURRET. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. How many times?