Mrs. VOSHININ. Uh-huh.
Mr. JENNER. They related to you their views as to Oswald's political
inclinations?
Mrs. VOSHININ. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. What did they say and who said it--which of them?
Mrs. VOSHININ. First of all, we did not discuss it. It was rather
remarks on George's side--because we asked George definitely and Jeanne
not to bring him to our house and not to invite us when the Oswalds
are there because we had certain reasons--not evidence--but reasons to
believe that he might be a Soviet agent. Might be, you know. But not
sure at all whether he would be or not.
Mr. JENNER. Since there was in your mind a possibility, you didn't want
to have anything to do with them?
Mrs. VOSHININ. We wanted to stay away from them. Yes. And the De
Mohrenschildts argued with us about that. George would say always that
he was a very mild person, that he wouldn't hurt a fly. And, then,
later--that was at the beginning--that was at the very beginning--and
then later, somehow, I believe George started seeing through Oswald a
little bit. That's my own opinion--impression.
Mr. JENNER. Well, you go ahead and talk.
Mrs. VOSHININ. Because he told me on several occasions that, "You know,
I believe that he's just an idealistical Marxist." And he said, "You
know, he's one of those pure Marxists." You know, meaning a Marxist in
theory but not in practice.
And finally I remember a pretty good conversation--George mentioned the
possibility of Oswald being actually a Communist. Because, he said, you
know Natalie, I believed that he remained what he was."
And I remember definitely that conversation because Jeanne took George
right away and she was protesting vigorously against that statement.
And she said that she does not believe that he is a Communist because
he was very disappointed with Mr. Khrushchev and Russia--and then,
of course, for obvious reasons, that doesn't mean that he is not a
Communist if he is disappointed with Khrushchev and Russia, you know. I
remember that argument--but more than that, I just can't say, because I
just don't remember that far away the conversations. But we got, again,
you know--the picture was sort of shaping up about Oswald.
Mr. JENNER. You tell us in your own words what picture was shaping up
about Oswald. What did you mean by that?
Mrs. VOSHININ. By that, that we wanted to stay away from him,
definitely for a period. You know, that he was just--that he just was
a dangerous person. For this reason, first of all, Soviets seldom let
anybody in unless they have certain plans for that person--especially a
person of non-Russian descent. Yet they let him live there. Right?
Mr. JENNER. They let him in in the first place?
Mrs. VOSHININ. In the first place. So, they must have had some plans
for him. He stayed there for a length of time. Right? I believe, 2
years.
Mr. JENNER. Yes. He went there in September of 1959 and left
in--oh--the tail end of May or the first part of June 1962.
Mrs. VOSHININ. 1962? So, it's three years. Right?
Mr. JENNER. Uh-huh.
Mrs. VOSHININ. Then, for these 3 years--this is all our own theory, we
have no----
Mr. JENNER. Yes; I know.
Mrs. VOSHININ. You understand?
For these 3 years, he could have got his training? Right? Whatever it
is.
Thirdly, his exit from Russia was so easy. With wife and children--with
child, wife, and with suitcases--no problem there. Which is absolutely
unnatural. Usually, American boys have such trouble getting their
families out of Russia. You probably remember the cases.
And, thirdly, we believed that--we were expecting, rather, to hear
from Oswald publicly some anti-Communist declaration, some, you know,
reports, lectures, or a couple of articles in the newspaper, you know,
we expected from him to behave like a person who got disappointed in
communism, came here sincerely--like people we know. For example,
Eugene Lyons or Captain Khokhlov, you know.
Mr. JENNER. Spell that.
Mrs. VOSHININ. Let me write it (writes out name). So, his behavior
after he came here, from what we heard about his behavior, was
unnatural. He was sulky instead of being very happy that he is back.
Right?
Mr. JENNER. Yes.
Mrs. VOSHININ. According to George, he was a great--he had
great intellectual power; he was very clever person--definitely
intellectually inclined and very well-read person; and that he was--he
couldn't find a job. Now, wouldn't that be natural for an intellectual
person to go get his living lecturing against communism?