leaflets. Bringuier and his companions became angry and a dispute
resulted. Oswald and the three Cuban exiles were arrested for
disturbing the peace.[A13-1080] Oswald spent the night in jail and was
interviewed the next day by a lieutenant of the New Orleans Police
Department. At Oswald’s request, an FBI agent also interviewed him.
Oswald maintained that he was a member of the New Orleans branch of
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee which, he claimed, had 35 members.
He stated also that he had been in touch with the president of that
organization, A. J. Hidell.[A13-1081] Oswald was in fact the only
member of the “New Orleans branch,” which had never been chartered by
the National Fair Play for Cuba Committee.[A13-1082] Later that day
Oswald was released on bail, and 2 days later he pleaded guilty to the
charges against him and paid a $10 fine. The charges against the Cuban
exiles were dismissed.[A13-1083] Marina testified that the arrest upset
Lee and that he “became less active, he cooled off a little” after
it.[A13-1084]
On August 16, Oswald, assisted by at least one other person who was
a hired helper, again passed out Fair Play for Cuba literature, this
time in front of the International Trade Mart. That night, television
newscasts ran pictures of Oswald’s activities.[A13-1085] (This
hindered Oswald’s subsequent attempts to obtain employment in New
Orleans.)[A13-1086] Bringuier sent one of his friends to Oswald’s home
to pose as a Castro sympathizer and attempt to obtain information about
Oswald, but Oswald apparently saw through the ruse.[A13-1087]
William Stuckey, a radio broadcaster with a program called “Latin
Listening Post,” had long been looking for a member of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee to appear on his program. He learned about Oswald
from Bringuier, and visited Oswald on August 17. Later that day,
Stuckey recorded an interview with Oswald which was cut to about 5
minutes and played back on the show that evening.[A13-1088] Two days
later, Stuckey asked the news director of the station if he could run
the entire tape, but the director felt that a debate with a local
opponent of Castro would be of greater public interest. Consequently,
Stuckey arranged for a debate between Oswald and Bringuier on a
25-minute daily public affairs program called “Conversation Carte
Blanche,” which took place on August 21.[A13-1089] Oswald defended
the Castro regime and discussed Marxism. He was put on the defensive
when his defection to Russia was brought up,[A13-1090] and Stuckey
later testified that he thought that the program had finished the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans.[A13-1091] However, Stuckey
also testified that Oswald seemed to be a clean-cut and intelligent
person who conducted himself very well during the interviews and
debates.[A13-1092]
Oswald wrote several times to V. T. Lee, then national director of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, telling him, sometimes in exaggerated
terms, of his activities.[A13-1093] He wrote also to the Communist
Party and asked whether, in view of his prior defection, he should
“continue to fight, handicapped as it were, by * * * [his] past record,
[and] compete with anti-progressive forces, above-ground or * * *
should always remain in the background, i.e., underground.” [A13-1094]
The Party replied that “often it is advisable for some people to remain
in the background, not underground.” [A13-1095] And although Oswald
wrote four letters to V. T. Lee during the summer,[A13-1096] there is
no evidence that Oswald heard from him after May 29.
Ruth Paine arrived in New Orleans on September 20, and spent three
nights with the Oswalds. During this stay, Mrs. Paine found relations
between them much improved. Nonetheless, it was decided that Marina
would go back with her to Irving for the birth of the baby. Marina and
Mrs. Paine toured Bourbon Street while Oswald stayed home and did some
packing for Marina’s return to Texas.[A13-1097] On Sunday, September
22, Oswald and Mrs. Paine finished loading the station wagon with the
Oswalds’ household belongings.[A13-1098]
MEXICO CITY
Marina Oswald testified that sometime in August her husband first
told her of his plan to go to Mexico and from there to Cuba, where he
planned to stay; he had given up a plan to hijack an airplane and fly
directly to Cuba, which plan Marina consistently opposed.[A13-1099]
On September 17, he obtained from the Mexican consulate general in
New Orleans a “Tourist Card,” FM-8 No. 24085, good for one journey
into Mexico for no longer than 15 days. Typed in the blank, “Appelidos
y nombre,” was “Lee, Harvey Oswald,” “Fotogrofo”; the intended
destination was shown as Mexico City.[A13-1100] (The comma between
“Lee” and “Harvey” seems to have been an error.)[A13-1101] On the
application Oswald stated that he was employed at “640 Rampart”; he was
in fact unemployed.[A13-1102] (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 2478, 2481,
p. 300.)
Marina and June departed with Mrs. Ruth Paine for Irving on the morning
of September 23.[A13-1103] Before she left, Oswald told Marina that she
should not tell anyone about his impending trip to Mexico.[A13-1104]
Marina kept this secret until after the assassination.[A13-1105] On the
previous day, Oswald’s landlord had seen Mrs. Paine’s car being packed
and had asked Oswald, whose rent was about 15 days overdue, whether
he was leaving. Oswald told him that Marina was leaving temporarily
but that he would remain.[A13-1106] A neighbor testified that on
the evening of September 24, he saw Oswald, carrying two pieces of
luggage, hurriedly leave the Magazine Street apartment and board a
bus.[A13-1107] Though uncertain of the exact date, a city busdriver
recalls that at the same time of day and at the same location he picked
up a man who was carrying two suitcases of different sizes and helped
him place them so that they would not disturb the other passengers. The
driver remembers that the man asked directions to the Greyhound bus
station. He discharged the passenger at an intersection where he could
board a Canal Street car and transfer to another bus which would go
past the Greyhound and Continental Trailways stations.[A13-1108] The
landlord found Oswald’s apartment vacant on September 25.[A13-1109]
Oswald appears to have taken with him a Spanish-English
dictionary;[A13-1110] his address book;[A13-1111] his 1963 passport
and old passport;[A13-1112] his correspondence with the Communist
Party and with the Soviet Embassy in Washington, some of which was in
Russian;[A13-1113] proof of his marriage;[A13-1114] newspaper clippings
concerning his arrest and his interest in the activities of the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee[A13-1115] (activities which, Marina testified,
he had undertaken because he thought that they would help him when he
got to Cuba);[A13-1116] evidence that he was the “Director” of the New
Orleans chapter of the Committee;[A13-1117] and various other cards,
such as a work card, which he had obtained in Russia.[A13-1118] He took
also several sheets of notepaper on which he had written a summary of
important events in his life which he presumably intended to call to
the attention of Cuban and Soviet officials in Mexico City to convince
them to let him enter Cuba. On these sheets he had recorded facts
about his Marine service, including the dates of his enlistment and
discharge, the places where he had served, and the diplomas that he
had received from military school. Recorded also were notes on his
stay in the Soviet Union, his early interest in Communist literature,
his ability to speak Russian, his organization of the New Orleans
chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, his contact with police
authorities in connection with his work for the Committee, and his
experience in “street agitation,” as a “radio speaker and lecturer,”
and as a photographer.[A13-1119] The two pieces of luggage which
Oswald took with him were a small, blue, zipper bag[A13-1120] and a
large, olive-colored bag,[A13-1121] both made of cloth. He carried
the smaller bag with him throughout the trip, but, at least from
Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City, checked the larger one through to his
destination.[A13-1122]
Oswald remained in New Orleans until September 25. His precise
whereabouts on the night of September 24 are uncertain, but in view
of his limited finances, he probably returned to the apartment to
sleep after checking his luggage at a bus station or spent the night
at an inexpensive hotel or roominghouse. Some time after 5 a.m. on
September 25, he collected a Texas unemployment compensation check for
$33 at his New Orleans post office box. He cashed the check between
8 a.m. and noon at a store about six blocks from his apartment on
Magazine Street.[A13-1123] This gave him about $200 for the trip to
Mexico.[A13-1124]
He left New Orleans by bus,[A13-1125] probably on Continental Trailways
Bus No. 5121, departing New Orleans at 12:20 p.m. on September 25, and
scheduled to arrive in Houston at 10:50 p.m.; that bus is the only one
on which Oswald could have left New Orleans after noon on September
25[A13-1126] and arrived in Houston before midnight.[A13-1127] Sometime
in the evening he called the home of Horace Elroy Twiford, a member
of the Socialist Labor Party who had received Oswald’s name from the
party’s headquarters in New York and sent him a copy of its official
publication, the “Weekly People.”[A13-1128] Mrs. Twiford, who answered
the telephone,[A13-1129] believes that the call was made locally,
before 10 p.m. It may have been made from Beaumont or some other
stop on the route; however, in view of the bus schedule, it probably
was made in Houston later than Mrs. Twiford remembered.[A13-1130]
Oswald told Mrs. Twiford that he was a member of the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee and that he hoped to see her husband for a few hours
that evening before he flew to Mexico. He wanted also to find out how
Twiford had obtained his name and address. Mrs. Twiford told Oswald
that her husband, a merchant seaman, was at sea but would be happy to
see him at some other time; she offered to take a message. Oswald said
that he could not await her husband’s return because he was flying
to Mexico.[A13-1131] The Twifords have stated that they had no other
contact with Oswald.[A13-1132]
An employee of the U.S. Selective Service System has stated that an
individual calling himself “Harvey Oswald” appeared at her office in
Austin, Tex., immediately after lunch on September 25, and discussed
with her the possibility of rectifying his undesirable discharge from
the Marine Corps.[A13-1133] Despite the employee’s reputability and
apparent sincerity, all of the information which she furnished with
respect to Oswald’s appearance and conversation could have been derived
from news media, consciously or unconsciously, by the time she told the
FBI her story. Other persons in Austin who, according to the employee’s
testimony, should also have observed Oswald failed to corroborate her
testimony.[A13-1134] No other evidence tending to show that Oswald was
in Austin at this time has been discovered.
The telephone call which Oswald made to the Twifords on the evening of
September 25, indicates that he was either in Houston or on his way
there when he made it, since the purpose of the call was to make an
appointment to see Twiford in Houston that evening. Oswald could not
have left New Orleans on September 25, been in Austin 521 miles away
by early afternoon, and returned 162 miles to Houston by night unless
he traveled by air; airline records contain no indication that Oswald
was on such flights.[A13-1135] It is very unlikely that he had with
him enough money beyond what he needed for the trip to Mexico City to
take such flights, and the poor state of his finances at this time
plus his well-established frugality make it extremely unlikely that he
would have considered it worthwhile to do so even if he could. There
is no evidence that Oswald was in such a hurry to reach Mexico that he
would have felt it necessary to travel by airplane rather than a less
expensive means of travel. He took a bus from Houston to Mexico City,
lived very inexpensively there, and took a bus back to Dallas; there is
no apparent reason why he would have interrupted such an inexpensive
trip to fly to Austin and then to Houston. He told a passenger whom he
met on the next leg of his trip that he had come from New Orleans, and
made no reference to Austin.[A13-1136]
On September 26, Oswald boarded Continental Trailways bus No. 5133
in Houston and departed at 2:35 a.m. for Laredo, Tex., via Corpus
Christi and Alice.[A13-1137] Two British tourists, Dr. and Mrs. John B.
McFarland, who boarded No. 5133 in Houston, noticed Oswald when they
awoke at about 6 a.m. Oswald told them that he was going to Cuba via
Mexico City, and they inferred from conversation with him that he had
left New Orleans early in the afternoon of September 25 and that he was
going to Cuba via Mexico City. He said also that he was secretary of
the New Orleans branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and that he
hoped to see Fidel Castro in Cuba. The bus was scheduled to arrive in
Laredo at approximately 1:20 p.m.[A13-1138]
Oswald crossed the border from Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, between
1:30 and 2 p.m.[A13-1139] From Nuevo Laredo, he traveled to Mexico City
aboard bus No. 516 of the Flecha Roja Bus Line, which departed at 2:15
p.m. and was scheduled to arrive in Mexico City at 9:45 a.m. on the
following day; he held baggage claim check No. 320435.[A13-1140] He
was seen on the bus by the McFarlands and by two Australian girls who
boarded the bus on the evening of September 26 at Monterrey.[A13-1141]
He occupied the seat next to an elderly Englishman, who told the girls
that the young man sitting next to him apparently had been to Mexico
before.[A13-1142] The man next to Oswald was probably Albert Osborne,
a native of the British Isles who has worked as an itinerant preacher
in the Southern United States and Mexico for many years. Osborne denied
that he sat beside Oswald; but in view of his inconsistent and untrue
responses to Federal investigators concerning matters not directly
related to Oswald, the Commission believes that his denial cannot be
credited. It appeared to the other passengers on the bus that Osborne
and Oswald had not previously met; extensive investigation has revealed
no other contact between them.[A13-1143]
In the course of the 20-hour bus trip, Oswald initiated two
conversations with the Australian girls, during which he mentioned
his visit to Russia and recommended the Hotel Cuba in Mexico City as
a “clean and cheap” hotel; he told them, apparently falsely, that he
had stayed there on previous occasions. He said that when he had seen
them board the bus with their heavy suitcases, he had been under the
impression that they were Mexican and had therefore asked the man next
to him how to say “How can I help you?” in Spanish. From this they
inferred that Oswald did not speak Spanish, an impression which is
shared by every witness who met Oswald on his trip and is supported
by notations which he made on documents that he carried.[A13-1144] He
got off the bus at every stop and ate large meals, always eating by
himself; the girls thought he ate so much because he could not make
himself understood in Spanish and had to order by pointing at the
menu.[A13-1145] The bus arrived in Mexico City 15 minutes late, at 10
a.m.[A13-1146] Oswald left the bus station by himself and had no known
further contact with any of the people with whom he had spoken on the
bus.[A13-1147]
Oswald registered at the Hotel del Comercio within an hour of his
arrival in Mexico City. He stayed there throughout his visit.[A13-1148]
The hotel, located not far from the commercial heart of the city and
within four blocks of the bus station, is one of a group of hotels
located near the intercity bus terminals and has perhaps the best
appearance of the group.[A13-1149] It is known by personnel in other
hotels that the owner of the Hotel del Comercio can understand and
speak a little English.[A13-1150] Oswald registered as “Lee, Harvey
Oswald,” and gave his occupation as “photo.”[A13-1151] He had room 18
which cost $1.28 per day.[A13-1152]
After he had registered, Oswald turned promptly to the task of
obtaining permission to enter Cuba. Mexican officials would not permit
a U.S. citizen without a Cuban visa to board a plane for Cuba even
if he had an American passport, but would permit passage if he had a
visa even though the passport proscribed travel to Cuba.[A13-1153]
Oswald had a 1963 American passport (stamped invalid for travel to
Cuba)[A13-1154] but had neither a regular Cuban visa nor an intransit
visa which would permit a short stay in Cuba on his way to Russia or
some other country. His address book contained the telephone number and
address of a Cuban airline, but there is evidence that he never visited
its office.[A13-1155]
He visited the Cuban Embassy on Friday, September 27 and spoke with
Senora Silvia Tirado de Duran, a Mexican citizen employed there. Senora
Duran later made a signed statement to the Mexican police that Oswald:
* * * applied for a visa to Cuba in transit to Russia and based
his application on his presentation of his passport in which
it was recorded that he had been living in the latter country
for a period of three years, his work permit from that same
country written in the Russian language and letters in the same
language, as well as proof of his being married to a woman of
Russian nationality and being the apparent Director in the city
of New Orleans of the organization called “Fair Play for Cuba”
with the desire that he should be accepted as a “friend” of the
Cuban Revolution * * * [A13-1156]
He apparently also stated that he was a member of the Communist
Party and displayed documents which he claimed to be evidence of
his membership.[A13-1157] He said that he intended to go to Cuba on
September 30 and to remain there for 2 weeks, or longer if possible,
and then go on to Russia.[A13-1158] Senora Duran took down the relevant
date and filled out the appropriate application. Oswald left the
Embassy but was to return in the afternoon.[A13-1159]
Then, or possibly even before his initial visit to the Cuban Embassy
Oswald went to the Soviet Embassy where he spoke with either Pavel
Antonovich Yatskov or Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov.[A13-1160]
They are both consular officials serving also as agents of
the KGB.[A13-1161] Oswald later said that he had dealt with
“Kostin,”[A13-1162] undoubtedly a reference to Kostikov. He was unable
to obtain a Soviet visa then. Marina said that the officials at the
Soviet Embassy “refused to have anything to do with him.”[A13-1163]
Oswald returned to the Cuban Embassy later that afternoon, this time
bringing with him passport photographs which he may have obtained in
the United States.[A13-1164] Senora Duran telephoned the Soviet Embassy
to inquire about the status of Oswald’s Russian visa and was told that
there would be a delay of about 4 months.[A13-1165] Oswald became
“highly agitated and angry,” particularly when he learned that he could
not obtain an intransit visa to Cuba before he acquired a Russian visa.
Senora Duran called the Cuban consul, then Eusibio Azque, to speak to
him. The discussion between Oswald and Azque developed into a heated
argument, which ended when Azque told Oswald that in his opinion people
like Oswald were harming the Cuban Revolution and that so far as Azque
was concerned, he would not give Oswald a visa.[A13-1166] Senora Duran
wrote her name and the phone number of the Embassy on a piece of paper
which she gave to Oswald in case he wished to contact her again. He
copied this information into his address book.[A13-1167] Senora Duran
forwarded the Cuban visa application to Havana;[A13-1168] the Cuban
Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied on October 15 that the visa could
be issued only after Oswald had obtained a Russian visa.[A13-1169] (See
Commission Exhibit No. 2564, p. 303.)
Oswald contacted the Russian and Cuban Embassies again during his stay
in Mexico.[A13-1170] He had no greater success than he had before.
Marina testified that when he returned to Texas, he was convinced
that his trip had been a failure and disappointed at having been
unable to go to Cuba.[A13-1171] A month later, in a painstakingly
composed[A13-1172] letter to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, Oswald
ascribed his failure to “a gross breach of regulations” on the part of
the Cuban Embassy. “Of corse,” he wrote, “the Soviet Embassy was not at
fault, they were, as I say unprepared.”[A13-1173]
The hotel maid said that Oswald generally was gone by the time she
arrived at 9 a.m. The night watchman said he usually returned at about
midnight,[A13-1174] which is not unusual, in view of the late hour at
which Mexico City’s evening activities begin. He ate several lunches
at a small restaurant immediately adjacent to the hotel, coming to the
restaurant shortly after 2 p.m., and ordering food by pointing to the
menu, apparently with some consideration of cost; he spent between
40 and 48 cents for each meal. He ate the soup of the day, rice, and
either meat or eggs, but refused dessert and coffee; the waitress
concluded that Oswald did not realize that the items which he refused
were included in the price of the lunch.[A13-1175] He was seen with
no other person either at his hotel or at the restaurant.[A13-1176] A
hotel guest stated that on one occasion he sat down at a table with
Oswald because there was no empty table in the restaurant, but that
neither spoke to the other because of the language barrier.[A13-1177]
Although the Soviet and Cuban Embassies are within two blocks of
each other, they are some distance from Oswald’s hotel.[A13-1178] He
must, therefore, have traversed a substantial portion of the city on
more than one occasion. Marina testified that he told her that he
had seen a bullfight,[A13-1179] which would normally have been on
Sunday afternoon, and that he had visited museums[A13-1180] and done
some sightseeing.[A13-1181] He apparently also saw one or more motion
pictures, either American with Spanish subtitles or Mexican with
English subtitles.[A13-1182] From notations in his Spanish-English
dictionary and on his guide map of Mexico City, it appears that Oswald
intended to attend a jai alai game[A13-1183] but he almost certainly
did not do so.[A13-1184]
He purchased several postcards depicting bullfights and tourist
attractions, which he brought back to Marina.[A13-1185] She had told
him before he left that she would like Mexican silver bracelets as
a souvenir, and he brought her a silver bracelet inscribed with her
name.[A13-1186] Marina suspected, almost certainly correctly, that
the bracelet, of Japanese origin, did not come from Mexico.[A13-1187]
No such jewelry is known to be sold in or around Mexico City, because
of a high duty[A13-1188] but the bracelet is of a type commonly sold
in 5-and-10-cent stores in Dallas.[A13-1189] Oswald did not buy the
Mexican phonograph records which Marina had requested, despite the
notation, “records,” which he had placed in his dictionary.[A13-1190]
On Monday, September 30, Oswald began to prepare for his return to
the United States. He appeared at the Agencia de Viages, Transportes
Chihuahuenses,[A13-1191] and purchased international exchange orders
costing $20.30 for travel on a Transportes del Norte bus from Mexico
City to Laredo and by Greyhound bus directly from Laredo to Dallas. The
travel agency made a reservation for him on Transportes del Norte bus
No. 332, departing Mexico City at 8:30 a.m. on October 2. The seat,
No. 12, was reserved in the name of the travel agency, which recorded
the reservation in the name of “H. O. Lee.”[A13-1192] The employee who
made the reservation testified that he probably wrote the name that way
because he was copying from Oswald’s tourist card, which read “Lee,
Harvey Oswald.”[A13-1193] (The manifest for Transportes Frontera bus
No. 340, leaving Mexico City for Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo at 1 p.m.
on Wednesday, October 2, 1963, contains the name “Oswld” [sic], which
apparently was added to the manifest after the trip;[A13-1194] in any
event, Oswald did not take bus 340.)[A13-1195]
On October 1, Oswald paid his hotel bill through that night.[A13-1196]
The hotel night watchman remembers helping Oswald obtain a taxicab at
about 6:30 or 7 on the following morning.[A13-1197] Transportes del
Norte bus No. 332 left as scheduled at about 8:30 a.m.; at Monterrey
the passengers were shifted to a relief bus, No. 373, scheduled to
depart for Laredo at 10 p.m. that evening.[A13-1198] Fellow passengers
recall that Oswald was pulled off the bus by Mexican officials at the
border, because of some alleged irregularity in his Mexican tourist
papers; one passenger overheard him mumbling complaints about the
Mexican immigration officials when he returned to the bus.[A13-1199]
They remember also that Oswald was hurriedly “gulping” down a banana
after the bus reached customs, perhaps because he believed that
he could not take fruit into the United States.[A13-1200] (Marina
has testified that her husband liked bananas and frequently ate
them.)[A13-1201] One of the passengers testified that Oswald annoyed
him by keeping his overhead light on to read after 10 p.m.[A13-1202]
He may have conversed with an elderly woman on the bus, but he was not
traveling with her.[A13-1203]
At about 1:35 a.m. on October 3, Oswald crossed the International
Bridge from Nuevo Laredo into Texas.[A13-1204] He traveled from Laredo
to Dallas via San Antonio, on Greyhound bus No. 1265, substantially
following Interstate Route 35 for the entire trip[A13-1205] leaving
Laredo at 3 a.m. and arriving in Dallas at about 2:20 p.m. on the same
day.[A13-1206]
DALLAS
Oswald did not contact his wife immediately when he returned to
Dallas. He went to the office of the employment commission, where he
filed an unemployment compensation claim[A13-1207] and announced that
he was again looking for work.[A13-1208] He spent the night at the
YMCA, where he registered as a serviceman in order to avoid paying
the membership fee.[A13-1209] On the following day, he applied for
a job as a typesetter trainee at the Padgett Printing Co. He made
a favorable impression on the department foreman, but the plant
superintendent called Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall and decided not to hire
Oswald because of the unfavorable responses which his inquiries
produced.[A13-1210] Later that day, Oswald telephoned Marina and asked
her to have Mrs. Paine pick him up in Dallas. Marina refused, and he
hitchhiked out to the Paine home,[A13-1211] where he spent part or all
of the weekend.[A13-1212] Marina testified that although her husband
“changed for the better” and treated her better after his Mexican
trip,[A13-1213] she did not want to live with him because she was
pregnant and thought it would be better “to be with a woman who spoke
English and Russian.”[A13-1214] On Monday, October 7, Mrs. Paine drove
Oswald to the bus station, and he returned to Dallas to look for a job
and a place to live.[A13-1215]
Oswald thought that the YMCA was too expensive for him, and intended
to rent a room.[A13-1216] He inquired about a room at 1026 North
Beckley, where he lived later, but on October 7 there were no
vacancies.[A13-1217] He next responded to a “For Rent” sign at a
rooming house at 621 Marsalis Street. He obtained a room, for which
he paid the weekly rent of $7 in advance, and moved in on the same
day.[A13-1218] He immediately resumed his job-hunting, relying
partially on referrals by the employment commission.[A13-1219] He
spent much of the time when he was not looking for work in his
room.[A13-1220] He telephoned his wife daily.[A13-1221] She wrote:
“Lee called twice a day, was worried about my health and about
June.”[A13-1222] On Friday, Oswald told his landlady, Mrs. Mary
Bledsoe, that he was going to Irving for the weekend but would return
the following week. She refused to rent the room to him for another
week because she didn’t like him.[A13-1223]
Oswald spent the weekend of October 12-13 at Mrs. Paine’s home, during
which time she gave him a driving lesson.[A13-1224] He told her that
he had received the last of the unemployment checks due him, and that
it had been smaller than the previous ones. Mrs. Paine testified that
Oswald was extremely discouraged because his wife was expecting a baby,
he had no job prospects in sight, and he no longer had any source of
income.[A13-1225]
On Monday, Mrs. Paine drove Oswald into Dallas, since she had other
business there.[A13-1226] He picked up his bag from Mrs. Bledsoe’s
roominghouse[A13-1227] and later that day rented a room at 1026 North
Beckley Avenue from Mrs. A. C. Johnson for $8 a week. He registered as
O. H. Lee and moved in immediately.[A13-1228] Oswald felt that this
room was more comfortable than the previous one, particularly because
he had television and refrigerator privileges.[A13-1229] He apparently
continued to spend most of his evenings in his room.[A13-1230] He
borrowed books from the library[A13-1231] and had subscriptions to
various periodicals, including Time, the Worker, the Militant, and some
Russian periodicals.[A13-1232]
On that Monday, Mrs. Paine mentioned the Oswalds’ financial and
employment problems to neighbors whom she was visiting. Mrs. Linnie
Mae Randle, who was also present, remarked that she thought that her
younger brother, Buell Wesley Frazier, who worked at the Texas School
Book Depository, had said that there was a job opening there. When
Marina heard of this, she asked Mrs. Paine to call the Depository to
see if there was an opening.[A13-1233] Mrs. Paine called Roy S. Truly,
superintendent of the Depository, who indicated that he would talk to
Oswald if he would apply in person.[A13-1234] When Oswald telephoned
the Paine house on Monday evening, Mrs. Paine told him about this
possibility.[A13-1235] On the next day, Oswald was interviewed by Truly
and hired in a temporary capacity. He began work on Wednesday, October
16. His duties were to fill book orders; his hours were 8 a.m. to 4:45
p.m., for which he received $1.25 an hour.[A13-1236]
Both the Oswalds were elated with the new job,[A13-1237] although
it apparently required little skill or experience[A13-1238] and he
indicated that he still hoped to obtain a better job.[A13-1239] He did
a satisfactory job at the Depository,[A13-1240] but he kept to himself
and very few of his fellow employees got to know him.[A13-1241]
During his first week at work, Oswald became acquainted with Frazier,
with whom he arranged to ride to Irving on weekends.[A13-1242]
On Friday, October 18, Frazier drove him from work to the Paine
home;[A13-1243] since it was his birthday, Marina and Ruth Paine had
arranged a small celebration.[A13-1244] On Sunday, he stayed with June
and the Paine children, while Mrs. Paine drove Marina to Parkland
Hospital where she gave birth to a second daughter, Rachel.[A13-1245]
He went to work on Monday, but that evening visited Marina in the
hospital and spent the night in Irving.[A13-1246] Marina wrote:
Monday evening Lee visited me in the hospital. He was very
happy at the birth of another daughter and even wept a little.
He said that two daughters were better for each other--two
sisters. He stayed with me about two hours.[A13-1247]
Oswald returned to Dallas the next morning.[A13-1248]
Oswald wrote to Arnold Johnson of the Communist Party, U.S.A., that on
the evening of October 23, he had attended an “ultra right” meeting
headed by Gen. Edwin A. Walker.[A13-1249] Two evenings later, he
accompanied Michael Paine to a meeting of the American Civil Liberties
Union, held at Southern Methodist University.[A13-1250] At this
meeting, a statement was made to the effect that members of the John
Birch Society should not be considered anti-Semitic; Oswald rose and
stated that at the meeting which he had attended 2 days earlier, he
had heard a number of anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic statements. Later
in the evening, Oswald became involved in a discussion with several
people, including Frank Krystinik, who was employed with Paine at the
Bell Helicopter plant. During this conversation, Oswald expressed
Marxist views and declared that he was a Marxist, although denying that
he was a Communist. He admitted that the United States was superior to
the Soviet Union in the area of civil liberties and praised President
Kennedy for his work in that connection.[A13-1251] Krystinik testified
that he got the impression that Oswald did not fully understand the
views he was expounding.[A13-1252]
Throughout that week Oswald telephoned his wife to inquire about her
health and that of the baby. He spent the weekend at the Paine home,
to which Marina and Rachel had returned during the week.[A13-1253]
On Friday, November 1, he obtained post office box No. 6225 at the
Terminal Annex Post Office Station. He indicated that the box would
also be used to receive mail for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and
the American Civil Liberties Union.[A13-1254] Once again he spent the
weekend in Irving.[A13-1255]
Throughout this period, the FBI had been aware of the whereabouts
of the Oswalds. There was a record in the Dallas office of the FBI
that Oswald subscribed to the Worker, engaged in Fair Play for Cuba
Committee activities and had traveled to Mexico.[A13-1256] An FBI
agent visited the Paine home on November 1 and, accompanied by another
agent, again on November 5, and spoke briefly with Mrs. Paine. On
neither occasion was Oswald present.[A13-1257] Ruth Paine noted
the agent’s name and telephone number and, in accordance with her
husband’s instructions, Marina noted the license number of the agent’s
automobile, all of which was subsequenty reported to Oswald.[A13-1258]
Both Mrs. Paine and Marina testified that Oswald was troubled by the
FBI’s interest in him.[A13-1259] He declared that the FBI was “trying
to inhibit” his activities,[A13-1260] and wrote the Soviet Embassy in
Washington:
The Federal Bureu of Investigation is not now interested in
my activities in the progressive organization “Fair Play for
Cuba Committee” of which I was secretary in New Orleans (state
Louisiana) since I no longer reside in that state. However, the
F.B.I. has visted us here in Dallas, Texas, on November 1st.
Agent James P. Hasty warned me that if I engaged in F.P.C.C.
activities in Texas the F.B.I. will again take an “interest” in
me.
This agent also ‘suggested’ to Marina Nichilayeva that she
could remain in the United States under F.B.I. ‘protection’,
that is, she could defect from the Soviet Uion, of couse, I and
my wife strongly protested these tactics by the notorious F.B.I.
Please inform us of the arrival of our Soviet entrance visa’s
as soon as they come.[A13-1261] (See Commission Exhibit 15, p.
311.)
Marina testified that the statements, both by and to the FBI agents,
to which her husband referred in this letter, were in fact never
made.[A13-1262]
The following Friday, November 8, Oswald as usual drove to the Paine
house with Frazier.[A13-1263] On Saturday Mrs. Paine took him to
the Texas Drivers’ License Examining Station, but because it was an
election day the station was closed. Oswald stayed at the Paines
through Monday, November 11, which was Veterans Day. During the
weekend, Mrs. Paine gave Oswald a second driving lesson.[A13-1264]
Oswald did not go to Irving on the next weekend. His wife had asked
him not to come because Michael Paine, with whom Oswald did not get
along, would be there to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. Also, she
felt that because he had stayed for 3 days the preceding weekend, he
would abuse Mrs. Paine’s hospitality if he returned so soon. Oswald
telephoned Marina on Saturday afternoon and said that he had returned
to the drivers’ license examining station that morning but had not
waited because there was a long line.[A13-1265]
On Sunday, November 17, at Marina’s request, Ruth Paine telephoned
Oswald at the Beckley Avenue number, which he had given to Marina.
When she asked for him, she was told that no one by that name lived
at the address, which greatly surprised her. On the next day, Oswald
telephoned his wife. When she indicated that she had been upset by the
fact that there had been no Lee Oswald at the number which she had
asked Mrs. Paine to call, Oswald became angry; he said that he was
using a fictitious name and that she should not have called the Beckley
Avenue number.[A13-1266] He did not telephone on the following day,
which was unusual.[A13-1267]
On the morning of Thursday, November 21, Oswald asked Frazier to take
him to Irving when he went home that evening, saying that he wanted
to pick up some curtain rods.[A13-1268] His arrival was a surprise
because he generally asked Mrs. Paine’s permission before arriving
for a visit.[A13-1269] The women thought that he had come to Irving
because he felt badly about arguing with his wife about the use of the
fictitious name.[A13-1270] He said that he was lonely, because he had
not come the preceding weekend, and told Marina that he “wanted to make
his peace” with her.[A13-1271] He spent the time before dinner on the
lawn playing with his daughter.[A13-1272] However, when he attempted
to talk to his wife she would not answer, which upset him. He asked
her to live with him in Dallas, and she refused.[A13-1273] After
supper, Oswald watched television while the women cleaned the house
and prepared their children for bed.[A13-1274] He retired early in the
evening at about 9.[A13-1275]
APPENDIX XIV
Analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Finances From June 13, 1962, Through
November 22, 1963
The following analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald’s receipts and expenditures
for the period June 13, 1962, through November 22, 1963, contains a
complete record of all funds that he and his wife are reported to
have received and disbursed from all known sources. It also contains
an estimate for food, clothing, and incidental expenses, which
include telephone calls, money order and check cashing fees, postage,
local transportation costs, personal care goods and services, local
newspapers, and similar small items. Oswald’s expenditures for food,
clothing, and incidentals were estimated at $100 per month, except for
those months in which his wife and children resided with relatives or
acquaintances. The estimate reflects Oswald’s frugal living habits
during this period, as described in chapter VI of this report. The
Commission has been advised by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
U.S. Department of Labor that this estimate is a little higher than
would be normal for a family in Oswald’s income class residing in the
southern region of the United States. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1169.)
Lee Harvey Oswald Receipts and Expenditures June 13, 1962, to Nov. 22,
1963
_Expendi- _Bal-
_Receipts_ tures_ ance_
June 1962:
On hand on arrival, New York City[A14-1] $63.00
Received from Robert Oswald[A14-2] 200.00
Received from Marguerite Oswald[A14-3] 10.00
Transportation in New York City[A14-4] $10.35
Plane fare, New York City to Dallas,
including luggage[A14-5] 201.04
Hotel bill, New York City[A14-6] 15.21
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-7] 5.00
Public stenographer[A14-8] 10.00
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald[A14-9] 30.00
------ ------
Total 273.00 271.60
====== ======
Cash on hand, June 30, 1962 $1.40
July 1962:
Net salary[A14-10] 46.82
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald[A14-11] 10.00
Subscription for Time magazine[A14-12] 3.87
------ ------
Total 46.82 13.87
====== ======
Cash on hand, July 31, 1962 34.35
August 1962:
Net salary[A14-13] $207.31
Repayment, State Department loan[A14-14] $10.00
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald[A14-15] 50.00
Rent and utilities[A14-16] 71.50
Subscription for the Worker[A14-17] 2.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-18] 75.00
------ ------
Total 207.31 208.50
====== ======
Cash on hand, Aug. 31, 1962 $33.16
September 1962:
Net salary[A14-19] 187.59
Received from Paul Gregory[A14-20] 35.00
Rent and utilities[A14-21] 71.50
Repayment, State Department loan[A14-22] 9.71
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald[A14-23] 50.00
Subscription for the Russian humor magazine
“Krokodil”[A14-24] 2.20
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 222.59 233.41
====== ======
Cash on hand, Sept. 30, 1962 22.34
October 1962:
Net salary[A14-25] 228.22
Received from George Bouhe[A14-26] 5.00
Repayment, State Department loan[A14-27] 10.00
Rent, room in YMCA[A14-28] 9.00
Post office box rental[A14-29] 4.50
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald[A14-30] 60.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-31] 50.00
------ ------
Total 233.22 133.50
====== ======
Cash on hand, Oct. 31, 1962 122.06
November 1962:
Net salary[A14-32] 315.71
Rent[A14-33] 73.00
Rental of U-Haul Trailer[A14-34] 5.00
Repayment, State Department loan[A14-35] 10.00
Bus fare, Dallas to Fort Worth and
return[A14-36] 4.60
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-37] 50.00
------ ------
Total 315.71 142.60
====== ======
Cash on hand, Nov. 30, 1962 295.17
December 1962:
Net salary[A14-38] $243.13
Rent[A14-39] $68.00
Post office box rental[A14-40] 4.50
Repayment, State Department loan[A14-41] 190.00
Subscription for the Militant[A14-42] 1.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 243.13 363.50
====== ======
Cash on hand, Dec 31, 1962 $174.80
January 1963:
Net salary[A14-43] 247.12
Rent and utilities[A14-44] 75.13
Repayment, State Department loan[A14-45] 206.00
Deposit, Smith & Wesson revolver[A14-46] 10.00
Fee paid Crozier Tech High School[A14-47] 9.00
Subscription for Ogonek, Agitator,
Sovetskaya Belorussiya[A14-48] 13.20
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 247.12 413.33
====== ======
Cash on hand, Jan. 31, 1963 8.59
February 1963:
Net salary[A14-49] 256.95
Rent and utilities[A14-50] 71.64
Subscription for the Worker[A14-51] 7.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 256.95 178.64
====== ======
Cash on hand, Feb. 28, 1963 86.90
March 1963:
Net salary[A14-52] 327.55
Rent and utilities[A14-53] 78.76
Post office box rental[A14-54] 4.50
Cost of rifle[A14-55] 21.45
Subscription for Time magazine[A14-56] 3.82
Balance due on revolver and freight
charge[A14-57] 21.22
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 327.55 229.75
====== ======
Cash on hand, Mar. 31, 1963 184.70
April 1963:
Net salary[A14-58] $108.86
Income Tax refund[A14-59] 57.40
Rent and utilities[A14-60] $62.97
Bus fare from Dallas to New Orleans[A14-61] 13.85
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-62] 100.00
------ ------
Total 166.26 176.82
====== ======
Cash on hand, Apr. 30, 1963 $174.14
May 1963:
Net salary[A14-63] 107.44
Unemployment compensation check[A14-64] 33.00
Rent and utilities[A14-65] 75.00
Subscription for the Militant[A14-66] 1.00
Dues and printing--Fair Play for
Cuba[A14-67] 9.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-68] 100.00
------ ------
Total 140.44 185.00
====== ======
Cash on hand, May 31, 1963 129.58
June 1963:
Net salary[A14-69] 216.00
Rent and utilities[A14-70] 67.85
Post office box rental[A14-71] 4.00
Printing--Fair Play for Cuba[A14-72] 15.23
New alien registration card[A14-73] 5.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 216.00 192.08
====== ======
Cash on hand, June 30, 1963 153.50
July 1963:
Net salary[A14-74] 224.97
Rent and utilities[A14-75] 72.22
Printing--Fair Play for Cuba[A14-76] 3.50
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 224.97 175.72
====== ======
Cash on hand, July 31, 1963 202.75
August 1963:
Unemployment compensation payments[A14-77] 165.00
Rent and utilities[A14-78] 73.54
Fine[A14-79] 10.00
Distribution, Fair play for Cuba
circulars[A14-80] 2.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses 100.00
------ ------
Total 165.00 185.54
====== ======
Cash on hand, Aug. 31, 1963 182.21
Sept. 1-24, 1963:
Unemployment compensation payments[A14-81] $132.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-82] $100.00
------ ------
Total 132.00 100.00
====== ======
Cash on hand, Sept. 24, 1963 [A14-83]$214.21
Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 1963:
Mexican trip:
Estimated transportation cost[A14-84] 50.55
Hotel plus estimated food cost[A14-85] 18.70
Estimated cost of entertainment and
miscellaneous items[A14-86] 15.20
------
Total 84.45
======
Cash on hand, Oct. 2, 1963 [A14-87]129.76
Oct. 3-31, 1963:
Unemployment compensation payments[A14-88] 39.00
Net salary[A14-89] 104.41
Rent, rooms and YMCA[A14-90] 33.25
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-91] 75.00
------ ------
Total 143.41 108.25
====== ======
Cash on hand, Oct. 31, 1963 164.92
Nov. 1-22, 1963:
Net salary[A14-92] 104.41
Room rent[A14-93] 24.00
Post office box rental[A14-94] 3.00
American Civil Liberties Union dues[A14-95] 2.00
Bus and taxi fares Nov. 22, 1963[A14-96] 1.23
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and
incidental expenses[A14-97] 75.00
------ ------
Total 104.41 105.23
Cash on hand, Nov. 22, 1963 164.10
======== ======== ======
Grand total, June 13, 1962-
Nov. 22, 1963 3,665.89 3,501.79 164.10
======== ======== ======
Contents of Oswald’s wallet 170.00
Cash taken from Oswald when arrested 13.87
------
Total [A14-98]183.87
APPENDIX XV
Transactions Between Lee Harvey Oswald and Marina Oswald, and the U.S.
Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service of
the U.S. Department of Justice
From September 4, 1959, when he applied for his first passport, until
shortly before the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald had numerous
dealings with the U.S. Department of State in Washington and with the
American Embassy in Moscow. In connection with Marina Oswald’s entry
into the United States, the dealings also extended to the Immigration
and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice. During the
course of these dealings, the Department of State and the Immigration
and Naturalization Service were called upon to decide a series of
legal and administrative questions which arose under the laws of this
country. In order to determine whether Lee Harvey Oswald or his wife
received any treatment not accorded others in similar positions, the
Commission has examined the manner in which the transactions with
the Oswalds were handled and the manner in which the relevant legal
questions were resolved. In light of the facts then available and the
applicable statutes, regulations, and practices in force at the time,
the Commission has found no indication that the treatment accorded the
Oswalds was illegal or different in any respect from the treatment that
other persons similarly situated would have received.
ISSUANCE OF PASSPORT IN 1959
On September 4, 1959, while on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps,
Oswald applied for a passport before a clerk of the superior court
at Santa Ana, Calif.[A15-1] On the application Oswald stated that he
intended to leave the United States for 4 months on approximately
September 21, 1959, by ship from New Orleans, La., and that the
purposes of his trip would be to attend the Albert Schweitzer College
in Switzerland[A15-2] and the University of Turku in Finland, and to
visit Cuba, the Dominican Republic, England, France, Switzerland,
Germany, Finland and Russia as a tourist. With the application, Oswald
submitted a statement signed by a Marine officer that he was to be
discharged from the Corps on September 10, 1959.[A15-3] The passport,
No. 1733242, was routinely issued on September 10, 1959.[A15-4] At the
time, the United States proscribed travel to none of the countries
named in Oswald’s application.
OSWALD’S ATTEMPTS TO RENOUNCE HIS U.S. CITIZENSHIP
American officials in Moscow had no knowledge that Oswald was in
Russia until October 31, 1959,[A15-5] more than 2 weeks after he
had arrived, since he failed to register at the U.S. Embassy, as
Americans traveling through Russia normally did.[A15-6] However, on
October 31, 1959, a Saturday, Oswald presented himself at the American
Embassy in Moscow.[A15-7] He placed his passport on the receptionist’s
desk and informed her that he had come to “dissolve his American
citizenship.”[A15-8] She immediately summoned the consul, Richard
E. Snyder, who invited Oswald into his office.[A15-9] In the room
with Snyder was his assistant, John A. McVickar, who observed what
ensued.[A15-10] Snyder recalled Oswald as “neatly and very presentably
dressed,”[A15-11] but he also remembered his arrogance. Oswald seemed
to “know what his mission was. He took charge, in a sense, of the
conversation right from the beginning.”[A15-12]
Oswald stated at once that he was there to renounce his
citizenship[A15-13] and that “his allegiance was to the Soviet
Union.”[A15-14] He said he had already applied for Soviet
citizenship.[A15-15] He said he knew the provisions of American law
on loss of citizenship and did not want to hear them reviewed by
Snyder.[A15-16] Having taken his passport back from the receptionist,
Oswald put it on Snyder’s desk.[A15-17] Snyder noticed that Oswald had
inked out the portion which would have shown his address in the United
States.[A15-18] Oswald also presented Snyder with a note[A15-19] which
he had prepared in advance, which reads:
I Lee Harey Oswald do herby request that my present citizenship
in the United States of america, be revoked.
I have entered the Soviet Union for the express purpose of
appling for citizenship in the Soviet Union, through the means
of naturalization.
My request for citizenship is now pending before Suprem Soviet
of the U.S.S.R.
I take these steps for political reasons. My request for the
revoking of my American citizenship is made only after the
longest and most serious considerations.
I affirm that my allegiance is to the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.[A15-20]
Oswald told Snyder that he had not mentioned his intent to remain in
the Soviet Union to the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki at the time he had
applied for his tourist visa.[A15-21] Oswald’s passport, upon which
his Soviet visa was stamped, shows that by the 31st of October he had
already overstayed his visa, despite a 1-day extension which he had
received.[A15-22]
Oswald gave as his “principal reason” for wanting to renounce his
citizenship, “I am a Marxist.”[A15-23] He stated that he admired the
system and policies of the Soviet Union and desired to serve the Soviet
State, and that his intent to defect to the Soviet Union had been
formed long before he was discharged from the Marine Corps.[A15-24]
Shortly after the interview, Snyder observed that Oswald had “displayed
all the airs of a new sophomore partyliner.”[A15-25] At one point,
Oswald alluded to hardships endured by his mother as a “worker” and
said he did not intend to let this happen to him.[A15-26] He stated
that his Marine service in Okinawa and elsewhere had given him a chance
“to observe American imperialism,” and he displayed some resentment at
not having been given a higher rank in the Marine Corps.[A15-27] Oswald
stated to Snyder that he had voluntarily told Soviet officials that he
would make known to them all information concerning the Marine Corps
and his specialty therein, radar operation, as he possessed.[A15-28]
Snyder did not permit Oswald to renounce his citizenship at that
time. He told Oswald that his renunciation could not be effected on a
Saturday, but that if he would return on a day when the Embassy was
open for business, the transaction could then be completed.[A15-29]
Snyder testified that his real reason for delaying Oswald was that
he believed, as a matter of sound professional practice, that no one
should be permitted to renounce his American citizenship precipitously;
such an act has extremely serious consequences, and, once accomplished,
it is irrevocable.[A15-30] Snyder noticed that Oswald was young,
apparently not well educated and obviously in a highly emotional
state.[A15-31] Snyder testified: “particularly in the case of a minor,
I could not imagine myself writing out the renunciation form, and
having him sign it, on the spot, without making him leave my office
and come back at some other time, even if it is only a few hours
intervening.”[A15-32] Snyder’s decision was also influenced by his
familiarity with a recent unfavorable incident in which an American
citizen by the name of Petrulli had been allowed to renounce his
citizenship hastily, without awareness that Petrulli was mentally
ill at the time.[A15-33] Snyder was able to persuade Oswald to tell
him his home address and the name of his mother, however, by saying
that no progress on his renunciation could be made without this
information.[A15-34] The State Department has advised that Snyder’s
treatment of Oswald “was in line * * * with the general policy of the
Department to discourage expatriation of American citizens.”[A15-35]
The same day, the Embassy sent a telegram to the Department of State,
advising that Oswald had appeared there in an attempt to renounce
his American citizenship, and setting out most of the details of
the interview with Snyder.[A15-36] Copies were immediately furnished
to the FBI[A15-37] and the CIA.[A15-38] The telegram was followed on
November 2, 1959, by an Embassy report addresed to the Department of
State,[A15-39] which concluded:
* * * in view of the Petrulli case and other considerations,
the Embassy proposes to delay action on Oswald’s request to
execute an oath of renunciation to the extent dictated by
developments and subject to the Department’s advice.[A15-40]
Copies of this memorandum were also furnished both Federal security
agencies.[A15-41]
After having received the telegram of October 31, 1959,[A15-42] but
not the Embassy Despatch of November 2, 1959, the State Department on
November 2, 1959, sent a telegram to the Moscow Embassy which read in
part:
If Oswald insists on renouncing U.S. citizenship, Section 1999
Revised Statutes precludes Embassy withholding right to do so
regardless status his application pending Soviet Government and
final action taken Petrulli case.[A15-43]
This telegram, like most of the communications from the Department
regarding Oswald, was prepared in the Passport Office and cleared by
the Office of Eastern European Affairs and the Office of Soviet Union
Affairs.[A15-44]
Oswald never returned to the Embassy.[A15-45] On November 6, 1959,
the Embassy received[A15-46] a handwritten letter from Oswald on the
stationery of the Metropole Hotel, dated November 3, 1959, which read:
I, Lee Harvey Oswald, do hereby request that my present United
States citizenship be revoked.
I appeered in person, at the consulate office of the United
States Embassy, Moscow, on Oct. 31st, for the purpose of
signing the formal papers to this effect. This legal right I
was refused at that time.
I wish to protest against this action, and against the conduct
of the official of the United States consular service who acted
on behalf of the United States government.
My application, requesting that I be considered for citizenship
in the Soviet Union is now pending before the Surprem Soviet
of the U.S.S.R.. In the event of acceptance, I will request
my government to lodge a formal protest regarding this
incident.[A15-47]
The Embassy immediately informed the Department of the receipt of
this letter and advised that it intended to reply to Oswald by letter
telling him that, if he wished, he could appear at the Embassy on
any normal business day and request that the necessary expatriation
documents be prepared.[A15-48] On the same day, November 6, the
Embassy sent Oswald a letter so advising him.[A15-49] From then until
November 30 the Embassy attempted to communicate with Oswald on several
occasions to deliver messages from his relatives in the United States
urging him to reconsider, but he refused to receive the messages or
talk to anyone from the Embassy.[A15-50] The messages were therefore
sent to him by registered mail.[A15-51]
On November 16, 1959, Priscilla Johnson, an American newspaperwoman
stationed in Moscow, interviewed Oswald at the Metropole Hotel.[A15-52]
On November 17, 1959, she informed the Embassy of her interview, and
the information was recorded in a file memorandum.[A15-53] Oswald
told Miss Johnson that he was scheduled to leave Moscow within a few
days. She thought that Oswald “may have purposely not carried through
his original intent to renounce [citizenship] in order to leave a
crack open.”[A15-54] The Embassy accordingly informed the Department
of State about 2 weeks later that Oswald had departed from the Hotel
Metropole within the last few days.[A15-55] According to his “Historic
Diary”[A15-56] and other records available to the Commission,[A15-57]
however, Oswald probably did not in fact leave Moscow for Minsk until
about January 4, 1960. Miss Johnson’s report of her interview with
Oswald was the last information about him which the U.S. Government was
to receive until February 13, 1961.[A15-58]
On March 6, 1960, Oswald’s mother asked Representative James C.
Wright, Jr., of Texas to help her locate her son. The Congressman
forwarded her inquiry to the Department of State, which in turn sent
it to the Embassy.[A15-59] In response, the Embassy in Moscow informed
the Department on March 28, 1960, that they had had no contact with
Oswald since November 9, 1959.[A15-60] The Embassy went on to say
that it had no evidence that Oswald had expatriated himself “other
than his announced intention to do so.” It believed, therefore, that
since Oswald was presumably still an American citizen, the American
Government could properly make inquiry concerning him through a note
to the Soviet Foreign Office. The Embassy went on to suggest, however,
that it would be preferable if Oswald’s mother wrote a letter to her
son which could then be forwarded by the Department to the Soviet
Government.[A15-61]
The Department replied on May 10, 1960, that no action should be
taken in the case other than on a request voluntarily submitted by a
member of Oswald’s family.[A15-62] On June 22, a second communication
was dispatched, asking whether the Embassy had been able to contact
Oswald.[A15-63] On July 6, 1960, the Embassy replied that it had
received no further communication with anyone on the subject of Oswald
and that in view of the Department’s memorandum of May 10, 1960, it
intended to take no further action in the matter.[A15-64] Mrs. Oswald
apparently took no steps to follow up on her original inquiry.
Under the procedures in effect in 1960, a “refusal sheet” was prepared
in the Department of State Passport Office whenever circumstances
created the possibility that a prospective applicant would not be
entitled to receive an American passport.[A15-65] The records section
of the Passport Office, on the basis of the refusal sheet, would
prepare what was known as a lookout card[A15-66] and file it in the
lookout file in the Passport Office. Whenever anyone applied for a
passport from any city in the world, his application was immediately
forwarded to this office, and his name and date of birth checked
against the lookout file.[A15-67] If a lookout card was found,
appropriate action, including the possible refusal of a passport,
was taken.[A15-68] Passport Office procedures also provided that the
lookout card would be removed from a prospective applicant’s file
whenever facts warranted an unquestioned passport grant.[A15-69]
On March 25, 1960, the Passport Office had made up a “refusal sheet”
on Lee Harvey Oswald, typed across which was the explanation that
Oswald “may have been naturalized in the Soviet Union or otherwise * *
* expatriated himself.”[A15-70] An Operations Memorandum stating the
reasons for which the card had been prepared was drawn up on March 28
and also put on file[A15-71] and a copy sent to the Embassy. It advised
the Embassy to take no further action on the Oswald case unless it
came into possession of evidence upon which to base the preparation
of a certificate of loss of nationality. Included in the operations
memorandum was the following:
An appropriate notice has been placed in the lookout card
section of the Passport Office in the event that Mr. Oswald
should apply for documentation at a post outside the Soviet
Union.[A15-72]
Despite these indications that a lookout card was prepared, the
Department of State on May 18, 1964, informed the Commission that
“investigations, to date, failed to reveal any other indication or
evidence that a lookout card was ever prepared, modified or removed.”
No such card was ever located, and certain file entries indicate that
such a card was never prepared.[A15-73]
The State Department has advised the Commission that as of October
1959 the Department had “developed information which might reasonably
have caused it to prepare * * * a lookout card for Lee Harvey
Oswald.”[A15-74] The Passport Office employee who prepared the refusal
sheet for Oswald has suggested as a possible explanation of the failure
to prepare a lookout card that between the day she prepared the refusal
sheet and the time the records section would normally have prepared
the lookout card, Oswald’s file was temporarily pulled from its place
because the Department received some additional correspondence from the
Embassy. When the file was returned, she suggested, it may have been
assumed that the card had already been prepared.[A15-75]
Had a lookout card been prepared on the ground of possible
expatriation, it would have been removed and destroyed after the
decision was made in 1961 that Oswald had not expatriated himself and
thus prior to the time that he applied for a second passport in June
1963. Hence, the Department’s apparent failure to prepare a lookout
card on Oswald had no effect on its future actions. As of February
20, 1964, the Department issued additional regulations regarding the
manner in which the lookout file is to be handled.[A15-76] On March
14, 1964, a category was established for returned defectors, so
that these persons automatically have lookout cards in their files,
and on July 27, 1964, the Office of Security of the Department of
State issued a procedural study of the lookout-card system, with
recommendations.[A15-77]
RETURN AND RENEWAL OF OSWALD’S 1959 PASSPORT
Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy
On February 1, 1961, as a result of a visit by Oswald’s mother to the
Department of State on January 25, 1961,[A15-78] the Department sent a
request to the Moscow Embassy as follows:
The Embassy is requested to inform the [Soviet] Ministry of
Foreign Affairs that Mr. Oswald’s mother is worried as to his
present safety, and is anxious to hear from him.[A15-79]
The inquiry went to the Embassy by diplomatic pouch and was received in
Moscow on February 10 or 11.[A15-80] On February 13, before the Embassy
had acted on the Department’s request,[A15-81] the Embassy received an
undated letter from Oswald postmarked Minsk, February 5. The letter
stated:
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 concerning the dropping of any legal
proceedings against me. If so, than 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.[A15-82]
Despite Oswald’s reference to his letter of December 1960, there is
no indication that he had written to the Embassy previously.[A15-83]
Furthermore, his diary refers to his February 1 letter as his “first
request” concerning his return to the United States.[A15-84]
On February 28, 1961, the Embassy wrote Oswald that he would
have to come to Moscow to discuss the passport and expatriation
matters.[A15-85] Then on March 20, 1961, a second letter from Oswald,
dated March 12, was received by the Embassy. It read:
In reply to your recent letter. I find it inconvenient to come
to Moscow for the sole purpose of an interview.
In my last letter I believe I stated that I cannot leave the
city of Minsk without permission.
I believe there exist in the United States also a law in
regards to resident foreigners from Socialist countries,
traveling between cities.
I do not think it would be appropriate for me to request to
leave Minsk in order to visit the American Embassy. In any
event, the granting of permission is a long drawn out affair,
and I find that there is a hesitation on the part of local
officials to even start the process.
I have no intention of abusing my position here, and I am sure
you would not want me to.
I see no reasons for any preliminary inquires not to be put in
the form of a questionnaire and sent to me.
I understand that personal interviews undobtedly make to work
of the Embassy staff lighter, than written correspondence,
however, in some cases other means must be employed.[A15-86]
After receiving the first letter postmarked February 5, the Embassy
on February 28 forwarded a despatch to the Department informing it of
Oswald’s letter and its reply to Oswald. At that time, the Embassy
also inquired of the Department whether Oswald would be subject to
prosecution on any grounds if he should return to the United States
and, if so, whether Oswald should be so informed. The Department was
also asked whether there was any objection to returning Oswald’s 1959
passport to him by mail, since that might facilitate his application
for a Soviet exit visa.[A15-87] Upon receiving Oswald’s March 20
letter, the Embassy again consulted with Washington. The Embassy
proposed that it write Oswald repeating that he must come to Moscow
if he wanted to discuss reentering the United States and pointing
out that the Soviet government did not object to such visits by
American citizens.[A15-88] Such a letter was mailed to Oswald on March
24.[A15-89]
In the meantime, the State Department was considering the Embassy
despatch of February 28, 1961.[A15-90] Although a different response
was originally recommended by a staff member in the Passport
Office,[A15-91] the Department instructed the Embassy on April 13
that for security reasons Oswald’s passport should be given to him
only if he personally appeared at the Embassy and that even then he
was to receive the document only after a full investigation had been
made and the Embassy was satisfied that he had not renounced his
American citizenship. Also, he was to present evidence that he had made
arrangements to depart from the Soviet Union to travel to the United
States, and his passport was to be stamped valid for direct return
to the United States only. The Department also told the Embassy that
Oswald could not be advised whether or not he would be prosecuted for
any possible offenses should he return to the United States.[A15-92]
Matters remained in this posture for over a month. During the interim,
Oswald met and married Marina Nikolaevna Prusakova.[A15-93]
On May 26, 1961, the Embassy sent a despatch to the Department[A15-94]
advising that on May 25, 1961, it had received a letter from Oswald
postmarked Moscow, May 16, 1961.[A15-95] In his latest letter Oswald
said he wanted “to make it clear” that he was asking for full
guarantees that he would not be prosecuted “under any circumstances”
should he return to the United States. Oswald went on to say that if
the Embassy could not give him these assurances, he would “endeavor to
use my relatives in the United States, to see about getting something
done in Washington.” He also informed the Embassy that he was married
to a Russian woman who would want to accompany him back to his native
country, and he once again repeated his reluctance to come to Moscow.
The Embassy suggested that it reply to Oswald by repeating that the
question of citizenship could only be made on the basis of a personal
interview, and by advising Oswald of the requirements and procedures
pertaining to his wife’s immigration. The despatch noted that Oswald’s
letter referred to his present Soviet internal passport in which he
claimed to be designated as “without citizenship,” and observed: “It
would appear on this basis that Oswald has not yet expatriated himself
under Section 349(a) (1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.” The
Embassy inquired whether the Department considered Oswald entitled “to
the protection of the United States Government while he continues to
reside abroad under present circumstances in the absence of reasonable
evidence that he has committed an expatriating act?”
The Department answered the despatch under date of July 11, 1961. It
said that it was not entirely clear what the description “without
citizenship” means, i.e., “whether he is without Soviet citizenship or
without any citizenship.” The instructions continued:
In any event in the absence of evidence showing that Mr. Oswald
has definitely lost United States citizenship he apparently
maintains that technical status. Whether he is entitled to
the protection of the United States pending any further
developments concerning his precise status is a matter which
will be left to the Embassy’s discretion in the event an
emergency situation should arise. In a situation of this kind,
not of an emergency nature, the facts should be submitted to
the Department.
It is noted that the Embassy intends to seek the Department’s
prior advice before granting Mr. Oswald documentation as a
United States citizen upon any application he may submit.
The Embassy’s careful attention to the involved case of Mr.
Oswald is appreciated * * *[A15-96]
However, on Saturday, July 8, 1961, before the Embassy had received
the response from Washington, Oswald appeared without warning at the
Embassy in Moscow. Snyder came down to meet Oswald after Oswald called
him on the house telephone, and after a brief talk, asked Oswald to
return on Monday, July 10.[A15-97] Later that day Oswald telephoned
his wife and told her to come to Moscow, which she did the next
day.[A15-98] Oswald returned alone to the American Embassy on Monday,
where Snyder questioned him about his life in Russia. According to a
memorandum which Snyder prepared shortly afterwards:
Twenty months of the realities of life in the Soviet Union have
clearly had a maturing effect on Oswald. He stated frankly that
he learned a hard lesson the hard way and that he had been
completely relieved about his illusions about the Soviet Union
* * * Much of the arrogance and bravado which characterized
him on his first visit to the Embassy appears to have left
him.[A15-99]
Oswald told Snyder that despite the statement he had given him in
October 1959, he had never applied for Soviet citizenship, but only
for permission to reside in the Soviet Union. He presented his Soviet
internal passport, which described him as without citizenship of any
kind. Oswald said that he had been employed since January 13, 1960,
as a metal worker in the research shop in the Byelorussian Radio and
Television Factory in Minsk. He claimed that he had taken no oath of
allegiance of any kind, and that he had not been required to sign any
papers in connection with this employment. He added that he was not a
member of the factory trade union organization. Oswald said that he
was earning 90 rubles ($90) a month and that he had saved about 200
rubles ($200) toward travel expenses to the United States. He denied
that he had made any derogatory statements concerning the United States
to radio, press, or TV in the Soviet Union, and he denied that he had
turned over any information to the Russians as he had threatened to do
in the 1959 interview with Snyder.[A15-100]
During the course of the interview Oswald filled out an application for
renewal of his American passport.[A15-101] The renewal application was
required since Oswald’s existing passport would expire on September 10,
1961,[A15-102] and it was extremely unlikely that he would be able to
obtain the requisite Soviet departure documents before that time. The
renewal application contained a printed statement which set forth, in
the disjunctive, a series of acts which, if committed by the applicant,
would either automatically disqualify him from receiving a passport on
the ground that he had lost his American citizenship, or would raise
a question whether he might be so disqualified. The printed statement
was preceded by two phrases, “have,” and, “have not,” the first
phrase being printed directly above the second. One carbon copy of
the application indicates Oswald signed the document after the second
phrase, “have not,” had been typed over, thereby apparently admitting
that he had committed one or more of the acts which would at least
raise a question as to whether he had expatriated himself. Snyder was
not able to remember with certainty to which of the acts listed on the
statement Oswald’s mark was intended to refer, but believed it may have
been to “swearing allegiance to a foreign state.” [A15-103] He points
out that the strikeout of “have not” may also have been a clerical
error.[A15-104] On the actual signed copy of the application kept in
the files of the Moscow Embassy, which is not a carbon copy of the copy
sent to the Department, the strikeout is slightly above the “have;”
therefore, since the “have” is itself printed above the “have not,” the
strikeout may have been intended to obliterate the “have.”[A15-105]
In any event, Oswald filled out the supplementary questionnaire
which was required to be completed if the applicant admitted he had
performed one or more of the possibly expatriating acts. He signed
the questionnaire under oath.[A15-106] Snyder testified that it was
routine for any kind of “problem case” to fill out the supplementary
questionnaire.[A15-107] The Passport Office employee who processed the
Oswald case in Washington testified that she routinely regarded the
questionnaire rather than the application itself as the controlling
document for expatriation purposes, so that she probably paid no
attention to the strikeout.[A15-108]
The pertinent questions included on the questionnaire, with Oswald’s
answers, read as follows:
2.(a) Are you known or considered in your community to be a
national of the country in which you are residing? _No._ (Yes
or No)
(b) If your answer to 2(a) is “No,” explain why not. _On my
document for residence in the USSR my nationality is American._
3.(a) Have you ever sought or obtained registration as a
national of a foreign country, applied for or obtained a
passport, certificate, card document or other benefit therefrom
in which you were described as a national of a country other
than the United States? _No._ (Yes or No)
(b) If your answer to 3(a) is “Yes,” did you voluntarily seek
or claim such benefits? (Yes or No) If “No,” please explain.
_I recived a document for residence in the USSR but I am
described as being “Without citizenship.”_
4.(a) Have you ever informed any local or national official of
a foreign state that you are a national of the United States?
_No._ * * *
(b) If your answer to 4(a) is “No,” explain why not. _On
my document for residence in the USSR, my nationality is
American._
6.(a) Have you ever taken an oath or made an affirmation or
other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state?
_No._ * * *
8. Have you ever accepted, served in, or performed the duties
of any office, post or employment under the government of a
foreign state or political subdivision thereof? _No._ * * * _I
do not regard factory employment as state employment, as is
meant in the question above._[A15-109]
On the basis of these answers, and on the basis of the statements
Oswald made orally during the interview, Snyder concluded that Oswald
had not lost his citizenship. Snyder therefore handed him back his
passport. Pursuant to the instructions from Washington, it was
stamped, “This passport is valid only for direct travel to the United
States.”[A15-110]
In a despatch dated July 11, 1961,[A15-111] the Embassy informed the
Department of State of its conclusion that Oswald had not lost his
American citizenship and requested that, if Washington agreed with
the conclusion, “the Embassy be authorized to renew Oswald’s passport
at its discretion.” The despatch, with which Oswald’s application
and supplemental questionnaire[A15-112] were enclosed, informed the
Department that Oswald was questioned at length at the Embassy and that
no evidence was revealed of any act which might be considered as having
caused the loss of his American citizenship.
The Embassy added in the despatch--
It is our intention not to renew it [the passport] without
the Department’s prior approval of the enclosed renewal
application, and then only upon evidence of a present need for
the renewal in connection with his efforts to return to the
United States.[A15-113]
Oswald appeared at the Embassy once again on July 11, 1961, this time
accompanied by Marina, in order to complete the papers necessary to
obtain permission for his wife to enter the United States.[A15-114]
In a letter dated July 16, 1961, Oswald informed the American
Embassy about his and Marina’s application to the Soviet officials
for permission to leave Russia, and described the harassment which
Marina was allegedly undergoing because of her attempts to leave the
country.[A15-115]
Based upon Snyder’s recommendation and the information in its files,
the Passport Office on August 18, 1961, concluded that Oswald had not
expatriated himself.[A15-116] Therefore, on that date, the Department
of State sent a despatch to the Embassy in Moscow stating that they
concurred in the Embassy’s recommendation of July 11, 1961, with
respect to Oswald’s citizenship:
We concur in the conclusion of the Embassy that there is
available no information and/or evidence to show that Mr.
Oswald has expatriated himself under the pertinent laws of the
United States.
The renewal of Mr. Oswald’s passport, issued on September 10,
1959, is authorized upon his referenced application if no
adverse reason is known, to take place upon his presentation
of evidence that he needs such renewal in connection with his
efforts to return to the United States as indicated in the
final sentence on page 2 of Despatch 29. As requested in the
final paragraph of the Despatch the Embassy may perform this
citizenship function for Mr. Oswald at its discretion.
Any passport renewal granted to Mr. Oswald should be limited
to his passport needs and, as stated in the second paragraph
of the Department’s A-173, April 13, 1961 his passport should
be made valid for direct return to the United States. The
additional precaution set forth in the same paragraph should
be observed and his passport should be delivered to him
on a personal basis only. When available, a report of his
travel data should be submitted, as well as a report of any
intervening developments.[A15-117]
On October 12, 1961, the Embassy wrote the Department to inform it of
four letters it had received from Oswald dated July 15, August 8, and
October 4, and an undated letter received in August. With reference to
these letters, the despatch noted:
* * * that Oswald is having difficulty in obtaining exit visas
for himself and his Soviet wife, and that they are subject
to increasing harassment in Minsk. In replying to Oswald’s
latest letter, the Embassy pointed out that it has no way of
influencing Soviet action on exit visas. It informed him that
the question of his passport renewal could be discussed with
him personally at the Embassy. In answer to Oswald’s question,
the Embassy notified him that the petition to classify his
wife’s status had not yet been approved.[A15-118]
The Department on December 28, 1961, informed the Embassy that
the Passport Office approved the manner of the Embassy’s reply
to Mr. Oswald with respect “to his receiving further passport
facilities.”[A15-119] After a further exchange of correspondence
between Oswald and the Embassy, dealing primarily with Oswald’s
difficulties in obtaining the necessary Soviet clearance, his
impatience in receiving American approval for Marina’s entry into the
United States, and his efforts to obtain a repatriation loan,[A15-120]
the passport problem was finally concluded on May 24, 1962, when the
Embassy renewed Oswald’s passport for 30 days, stamped it valid for
direct return to the United States only and handed it to him.[A15-121]
A week later he used it to return to the United States.[A15-122]
The decision that Oswald was entitled to a new passport because he
had not expatriated himself was made for the Embassy by the consul,
Richard E. Snyder.[A15-123] For the Department it was made initially
by Miss Bernice L. Waterman, a worker in the Passport Office for 36
years, and was then approved by her area chief, by the head of the
Foreign Operations Division, and by the Legal Division of the Passport
Office.[A15-124] Snyder and Miss Waterman have both testified that
they reached their decisions independently and without influence from
any other person.[A15-125] The Director of the Passport Office and the
Legal Adviser to the State Department both stated that after a review
of the record they concluded that Oswald had not expatriated himself
and that Snyder and Waterman, therefore, acted correctly.[A15-126]
Legal Justification for the Return and Reissue of Oswald’s Passport
Since he was born in the United States, Oswald was an American
citizen.[A15-127] However, Congress has provided that by performing
certain acts, a person may forfeit his American citizenship. Thus
Oswald would have become expatriated while in Russia if he obtained
naturalization in the Soviet Union, renounced U.S. nationality, took an
oath of allegiance to the Soviet Union, or voluntarily worked for the
Soviet Government in a post requiring that the employee take an oath of
allegiance.
_Naturalization in a foreign state._--Section 349(a)(1) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 provides that a U.S. citizen
shall lose his nationality by “obtaining naturalization in a foreign
state upon his own application * * *.”[A15-128] Although Oswald applied
for Soviet citizenship, he never received it.[A15-129] Thus, Oswald did
not expatriate himself under section 349(a)(1).
_Formal renunciation of U.S. nationality._--Section 349(a)(6) of the
act provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his citizenship by:
* * * making a formal renunciation of nationality before
a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in
a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the
Secretary of State.[A15-130]
In accordance with this statute, the Secretary has promulgated
regulations prescribing the manner in which renunciation is to be
effected.[A15-131] The regulations provide, among other things, that 4
copies of the renunciation form are to be executed and the original and
one copy sent to the Department. The Department must then approve the
form and advise the appropriate consular official, who may then furnish
a copy of the form to the person to whom it relates. The form itself
requires the person to subscribe it in the presence of a consular
official, and it must also be signed by this official.[A15-132]
Though in 1959 Oswald clearly stated to officials at the American
Embassy, both orally and in writing, that he desired to renounce his
U.S. citizenship, he at no time took the steps required by the statute
and regulations to effect his renunciation. Oswald did not execute the
proper forms, he did not sign his letter of October 31 or November
3, 1959, in the presence of a consular official, and neither letter
was signed by such an official.[A15-133] Because section 349(a)(6) in
terms requires compliance with the form prescribed by the Secretary of
State, Oswald did not expatriate himself under that section.
_Oath of allegiance to a foreign state._--Section 349(a)(2) of the act
provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his nationality by:
* * * taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal
declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political
subdivision thereof.[A15-134]
In his letter of October 31, 1959, Oswald wrote: “I affirm that my
allegiance is to the union of Soviet Socialist Republics.”[A15-135]
Both in this letter and in his letter of November 3, 1959, he stated
that his application for citizenship in the Soviet Union was pending
before the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.[A15-136]
Oswald’s letters no doubt were intended to express allegiance to the
Soviet Union in a manner inconsistent with continued allegiance to
the United States, as the statute has been held to require.[A15-137]
However, since 1940, it has been well established that in order for an
oath of allegiance to a foreign state to work an expatriation from the
United States, it must be given to an official of the foreign state,
and not to a party unconnected with the foreign state.[A15-138] This
requirement can be viewed as a necessary corollary of the broader,
but less clearly established, principle that the oath must be taken
in accord with the requirements of the foreign state.[A15-139]
Although Lee Harvey Oswald wrote that his allegiance was to the Soviet
Union,[A15-140] there is no indication that he had ever actually taken
an oath or declaration or that any such oath was taken before an
official of the Soviet Government. He, therefore, did not expatriate
himself under section 349(a)(2).
_Employment under the government of a foreign state._--Section
349(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 provides that
a U.S. citizen shall lose his nationality by:
(a) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any
office, post, or employment under the government of a foreign
state or a political subdivision thereof, if he has or acquires
the nationality of such foreign state; or (b) accepting,
serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post
of employment under the government of a foreign state or a
political subdivision thereof, for which office, post, or
employment an oath, affirmation, or declaration of allegiance
is required. * * *[A15-141]
While Oswald was employed in a state-owned factory in Minsk, he did
not acquire Russian nationality, and there is no indication that
he had to take any oath when he obtained this employment.[A15-142]
Furthermore, prior judicial decisions indicate that merely working
in a government-owned factory does not result in expatriation
even if an oath was required to be taken in connection with such
employment.[A15-143] Several cases decided under an earlier but
similar statutory provision held that where a person took a government
job in order to subsist, such employment was considered involuntary
since it was based on economic duress, and thus it did not result in
expatriation.[A15-144] Thus, Oswald did not expatriate himself under
section 349(a)(4).
The Commission therefore concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald had not
expatriated himself by any acts performed between October 16, 1959,
and May 1962, and concurs in the opinion of the State Department that
his passport was properly returned to him in July 1961 and properly
reissued in May 1962.
AUTHORIZATION FOR MARINA OSWALD TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES
Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy
On July 11, 1961, Oswald and his wife appeared at the Embassy in Moscow
before John A. McVickar.[A15-145] Together they executed papers to
set in motion the procedures for her admittance to the United States
as a nonquota immigrant under the provisions applicable to the wife
of an American citizen.[A15-146] The interview was routine. McVickar
asked Marina whether she was a member of any Communist organization
and she replied that she was a member of the Trade Union of Medical
Workers[A15-147] but she denied she was or ever had been a member of
the Komsomol,[A15-148] the Communist youth organization, or any other
Communist organization.[A15-149] Marina Oswald has since admitted to
the Commission that at one time she was a member of The Komsomol, but
was expelled, according to her testimony, when it was learned that she
intended to accompany her husband to the United States.[A15-150] The
Embassy forwarded the papers pertaining to her application to the State
Department on August 28, 1961.[A15-151]
Marina Oswald’s ability to obtain a nonquota immigrant visa depended
on the favorable resolution of 3 questions. First, it had to be
determined that she was the wife of an American citizen,[A15-152]
which depended on whether her husband had expatriated himself. Second,
it was necessary to determine that she was not and had not been
affiliated with a Communist organization on other than an involuntary
basis.[A15-153] Third, it had to be determined that she was not
likely to become a public charge after she was admitted to the United
States.[A15-154] Section 243(g) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act[A15-155] presented a fourth issue. This section of the act
prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas by American Consuls stationed
in countries which have refused to accept or have unduly delayed
accepting the return of persons sought to be deported from the United
States. The Soviet Union had been designated as such a country in 1953.
However, the sanctions of section 243(g) are often waived; and even if
they were not waived in Marina’s case, she could obtain her visa at
an American Embassy in some other country on her way from the Soviet
Union to the United States, if she were otherwise entitled to the
visa.[A15-156]
In a despatch dated August 28, 1961, the Embassy requested from the
Department a security advisory opinion on Marina Oswald’s application
to enter the United States. The Embassy wrote:
A favorable advisory opinion and approval of * * * [Mrs.
Oswald’s] petition is recommended together with a waiver of the
sanctions imposed by section 243(g) of the Act. * * *
In connection with her employment and her professional
training, she has been a member of the Soviet Trade Union
for Medical Workers since 1957. Such membership is routinely
considered to be involuntary. * * *[A15-157]
The Department initiated a check on Marina Oswald with the CIA,
the FBI, the Department’s own Office of Security, and Passport
Office.[A15-158] The security check turned up no derogatory information
on her, so that in early October 1961 the Department cabled Moscow that
the available information concerning the applicant established her
eligibility to enter the country as a nonquota immigrant.[A15-159]
The Department’s decision assumed that prior to obtaining her visa to
enter the United States, Marina Oswald would provide some reasonable
assurance that she was not likely to become a public charge after she
had arrived there. The Department later encountered some difficulty
in deciding that she had met this requirement. She knew no one in the
United States other than the members of her husband’s family, and they
lacked the means to furnish any substantial financial guarantees. After
considerable correspondence on the matter with Oswald[A15-160] and with
the Department,[A15-161] the Embassy decided to accept Oswald’s own
affidavit to support his wife as sufficient assurance that she would
not become a public charge. The Embassy’s reasons were set forth in a
memorandum dated March 16, 1962:
It appears that * * * [Oswald] can find no one in the United
States who is able and willing to execute an affidavit of
support for his wife. Furthermore, Oswald has been able to
obtain no concrete offer of employment in the United States.
On the other hand, he is trained in a trade which should make
him readily employable and he and his family will be able to
live with his mother in Texas until he has found work and
become otherwise settled. Taking into consideration the latter
factors, Oswald’s legal obligation to support his wife, and the
unusual circumstances of the case which make it difficult for
Oswald to provide the usual financial evidence, the responsible
consular officer * * * [is] willing to accept Oswald’s
unsubstantiated affidavit as sufficient to overcome the public
charge provisions of the law.[A15-162]
The necessity of relying solely upon Oswald’s own affidavit, however,
was eliminated somewhat later when the Department received an affidavit
of support from the employer of Oswald’s mother in Vernon, Tex.[A15-163]
By law the Attorney General must also pass upon an applicant’s
eligibility, and this responsibility has been delegated to
the District Directors of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.[A15-164] The machinery to get approval of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service for Marina Oswald’s admission to the
United States was set in motion on October 6, 1961. On that date the
Visa Office of the Department of State sent a letter to the District
Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Dallas, Tex.,
requesting the Service to take action on her immigrant visa.[A15-165]
The letter transmitted her marriage certificate, a check for $10 from
Lee Harvey Oswald, and a “Petition to Classify Status of Alien For
Issuance of Immigrant Visa.” The petition was signed by Oswald and was
on behalf of Marina, asking that she be classified in “the status of
the alien beneficiary for issuance of an immigrant visa as * * * the
spouse of a United States citizen.”[A15-166] The letter from the Visa
Office stated:
Mrs. Oswald has been the object of an investigation by the
Department and has been found, in the Department’s opinion, not
ineligible to secure a visa.[A15-167]
On the basis of this communication, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service at its Dallas, Tex., office instituted a field investigation
on Lee Harvey Oswald.[A15-168] Routine checks with the Federal
Security agencies and with local law enforcement authorities turned
up no new derogatory information, and no evidence was uncovered that
Oswald was ever a member of the Communist Party or other subversive
groups.[A15-169] A record check was made in New Orleans, La., and a
birth certificate was found for Lee Harvey Oswald, proving that he
was an American citizen by birth.[A15-170] On October 17, 1961, an
investigator from the Dallas office interviewed Oswald’s brother,
Robert, who expressed the view that Lee was just a “mixed up kid” who
had emigrated to Russia because he had become embittered, possibly over
something that had happened while he was in the Marine Corps.[A15-171]
On January 25, 1962, the results of the field investigation in
Dallas were consolidated in a report[A15-172] which, with a covering
memorandum,[A15-173] was sent to the District Director of the Service
in San Antonio the next day. The accompanying memorandum noted that the
immigrant inspector who processed the case had endorsed it “approved,”
but the author of the memorandum overruled the decision of the
inspector on the grounds that the sanctions under section 243(g) should
not be waived.[A15-174] The reasons for denying the waiver were stated
as follows:
OI [Operations Instructions] 205.3, as you know, provides that
the District Director may waive sanctions in an individual
meritorious case for a beneficiary of a petition filed by a
reputable relative where no substantial derogatory security
information is developed. I am of the opinion that both of
these restrictions are present in this case.[A15-175]
On January 30, 1962, the District Director at San Antonio affirmed
the decision of the Dallas office, including the decision that the
sanctions imposed under section 243(g) not be waived.[A15-176] He
concluded that Oswald’s recent statements to the American Embassy in
Moscow to the effect that he had learned from his experiences in Russia
were not sufficient to relieve the doubts which were raised regarding
his loyalty to the United States by the arrogant, anti-American
statements he made when he entered Russia in 1959.[A15-177]
San Antonio forwarded its decision to Washington in a letter dated
January 31, 1962, in which Marina Oswald’s petition and all the
aforementioned memoranda and reports were included.[A15-178] However,
because Washington had previously indicated its impatience at not
yet having received anything on the Oswald case, the San Antonio
office also telegraphed its decision to Washington about a week
later,[A15-179] the telegram, presumably being received by Washington
before the letter of January 31. The Washington copy of this telegram
has a handwritten note on the lower portion which indicates that on
February 12 an officer in the Visa Office of the State Department
informed the Immigration and Naturalization Service by telephone:
“Political desk of opinion, we’re better off with subject in U.S. than
in Russia.”[A15-180]
Nonetheless, the Washington office of the Service concurred in the
field decision that the provisions of section 243(g) should not be
waived.[A15-181] However, the Washington office pointed out that the
correct disposition should be not to deny the visa petition as the
field offices had proposed, but to grant the petition and indorse it to
read, “Waiver of sanctions imposed under section 243(g) of the Act is
not authorized.”[A15-182]
On February 28, 1962, the Dallas office of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service notified the Department of State in Washington
and the American Embassy in Moscow of this disposition. The
communication from the Dallas office noted that Oswald “has been
notified at his Minsk, Russia, address of the approval of the petition
in his wife’s behalf.”[A15-183] Oswald later told the Embassy that he
had received the notice on March 15.[A15-184] On March 9, 1962, the
Department of State also notified the Embassy in Moscow that Oswald’s
wife was entitled to nonquota status but that the Immigration and
Naturalization Service would not waive section 243(g) of the Act. The
Embassy was told to inform Oswald of this fact if he asked about it.
The memorandum indicated that the Embassy might suggest that Marina
could proceed to some other country to file her visa application and
thus avoid the sanction.[A15-185]
The Moscow Embassy on March 16, 1962, asked the Embassy at Brussels if
Mrs. Oswald could obtain her visa in Brussels.[A15-186] The Brussels
Embassy replied affirmatively and said a visa could be issued to Marina
within 2 or 3 days of her arrival.[A15-187] The Marina Oswald file
accordingly was sent to the Embassy at Brussels.[A15-188]
The plan to obtain the visa in Belgium was rendered unnecessary,
however, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service reversed its
position regarding the waiver of section 243(g). On March 16, the
Soviet desk at the Department of State took initial action to attempt
to secure such a change by sending a memorandum to the Visa Office
within the Department, urging that the Immigration and Naturalization
Service be asked to reconsider its decision.[A15-189] According to this
memorandum:
SOV believes it is in the interest of the U.S. to get Lee
Harvey Oswald and his family out of the Soviet Union and on
their way to this country as soon as possible. An unstable
character, whose actions are entirely unpredictable, Oswald may
well refuse to leave the USSR or subsequently attempt to return
there if we should make it impossible for him to be accompanied
from Moscow by his wife and child.
Such action on our part also would permit the Soviet Government
to argue that, although it had issued an exit visa to Mrs.
Oswald to prevent the separation of a family, the United States
Government had imposed a forced separation by refusing to issue
her a visa. Obviously, this would weaken our Embassy’s position
in encouraging positive Soviet action in other cases involving
Soviet citizen relatives of U.S. citizens.[A15-190]
Soon thereafter, however, the Department of State notified its Moscow
Embassy that the decision was under review and instructed it to
withhold action pending the outcome of the reconsideration.[A15-191]
The Visa Office first contacted the Washington office of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service informally, and was advised,
according to a contemporaneous notation:
* * * that case had been carefully considered and decision made
at Assistant or Deputy Associate Commissioner level. Therefore,
although not wishing to comment on likelihood of reversal, [INS
officer] felt that any letter requesting a review of the case
should come from the Director or Acting Administrator.[A15-192]
On March 27, 1962, such a letter was written from an acting
administrator in the Department of State to the Commissioner of
Immigration and Naturalization. The letter read in part:
I appreciate the difficulty this case presents for your
Service, because of Mr. Oswald’s background, and the fact that
granting a waiver of the sanction makes it appear that this
Government is assisting a person who is not altogether entitled
to such assistance. However, if the Embassy at Moscow is unable
to issue Mrs. Oswald a visa, it would appear that she and
indirectly the Oswalds’ newborn child are being punished for
Mr. Oswald’s earlier indiscretions. I might also point out that
this Government has advanced Mr. Oswald a loan of $500.00 for
repatriation.
More important, however, is the possibility that if Mrs. Oswald
is not issued a visa by the Embassy, the Soviet Government
will be in a position to claim that it has done all it can to
prevent the separation of the family by issuing Mrs. Oswald the
required exit permission, but that this Government has refused
to issue her a visa, thus preventing her from accompanying her
husband and child. This would weaken the Embassy’s attempts to
encourage positive action by the Soviet authorities in other
cases involving Soviet relatives of United States citizens.
Because of these considerations and because I believe it is
in the best interests of the United States to have Mr. Oswald
depart from the Soviet Union as soon as possible, I request
that the section 243(g) sanction be waived in Mrs. Oswald’s
case.[A15-193]
The Immigration and Naturalization Service ultimately reversed its
original position and granted the waiver on May 9, 1962. The letter
reversing its initial decision states that the matter has been
“carefully reviewed in this office” and that “in view of the strong
representations” made in the letter of March 27, the sanctions imposed
pursuant to section 243(g) were thereby waived in behalf of Mrs.
Oswald.[A15-194]
Actually, the Office of Soviet Affairs had informally learned on
May 8 that the May 9 letter would be signed by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service.[A15-195] On the strength of the assurance
that a written reversal would be forthcoming immediately, the State
Department quickly telegraphed the Moscow Embassy reporting that
the waiver had been granted.[A15-196] Marina Oswald completed her
processing when she, her husband, and daughter came to Moscow in May
1962 on their way from Minsk to the United States.[A15-197]
Legal Justification for the Decisions Affecting Marina Oswald
_Wife of a citizen of the United States._--Section 205 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 provides for the admission into
the United States of persons married to American citizens.[A15-198]
Once it was determined that Lee Harvey Oswald was born in the United
States[A15-199] and had not expatriated himself, his American
citizenship was established. Marina Oswald submitted a marriage
certificate to show that she was his wife.[A15-200] This requirement
was, therefore, satisfied.
_Assurance that Marina Oswald would not become a public
charge._--Section 212(a)(15) of the act provides that aliens will not
be admitted to the United States if, in the opinion of the responsible
Government official, they “are likely at any time to become public
charges.”[A15-201] The pertinent Department of State regulations
provide that a determination to exclude an alien for this reason must
be “predicated upon circumstances which indicate that the alien will
probably become a charge upon the public after entry into the United
States.”[A15-202]
In 1962, Oswald was 22 years old and in good health. He had lived
in the United States for 17 years before joining the Marine Corps
and was, therefore, familiar with its language and customs. He had
gained job experience by working 2½ years in a factory which produced
electronic equipment. Under these circumstances the Department was not
unreasonable in concluding that Oswald’s own affidavit that he would
support his wife was sufficient assurance that she was not likely
to become a charge upon the public after her entry into the United
States. The receipt of the affidavit from Marguerite Oswald’s employer
provided a possible alternative basis for reaching this decision, but
since a favorable ruling had already been made on the basis of Oswald’s
affidavit, the Embassy had no reason to consider the sufficiency of the
second affidavit.
_Membership in a Communist organization._--Under section 212(a) (28) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act, an alien will not be admitted to
the United States if he is or was a member of, or affiliated with, a
Communist organization unless:
* * * such an alien establishes to the satisfaction of the
consular officer when applying for a visa and the consular
officer finds that (i) such membership or application is or
was involuntary, or is or was solely when under sixteen years
of age, by operation of law, or for purposes of obtaining
employment, food rations, or other essentials of living and
where necessary for such purposes * * *[A15-203]
At the time Marina Oswald applied for a visa she was a member of the
Soviet Trade Union for Medical Workers.[A15-204] According to the
Department of State, the
* * * long-standing interpretation [of the statute] concurred
in by the State and Justice Departments [is] that membership
in a professional organization or trade union behind the Iron
Curtain is considered involuntary unless the membership is
accompanied by some indication of voluntariness, such as active
participation in the organization’s activities or holding an
office in the organization.[A15-205]
Since there was no evidence that Marina Oswald actively participated in
the union’s activities or held an office in the organization, her union
membership was properly held not to bar her admission to this country.
Although Marina Oswald declared that she was not a member of the
Komsomol or any other Communist organization, she was in fact a member
of the Komsomol, the Communist youth organization.[A15-206] If this
fact had been known to the State Department, Marina Oswald would not
necessarily have been denied a visa, although a careful investigation
into the nature of the membership would have been required.[A15-207]
However, had her membership in the Komsomol become known to the
Department after her denial of such membership, it is possible that she
would have been excluded from the United States on the ground of having
willfully misrepresented a material fact.[A15-208]
Judicial decisions are not in agreement as to what constitutes
a “material fact” such that its intentional misrepresentation
warrants exclusion of the alien.[A15-209] Some cases indicate that a
misrepresentation in an application for a visa involves a material
fact even if the alien would not definitely have been excluded on the
true facts;[A15-210] others hold that a misstatement is material only
if it referred to such facts as would have justified refusing the visa
had they been disclosed.[A15-211] The Visa Office of the Department of
State has announced that it applies a “rule of probability” under which
a misstatement will be deemed material only if it concealed facts which
probably would have resulted in a denial of a visa.[A15-212]
_Waiver of the provisions of section 243(g)._--Section 243(g) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, by its terms, prevented
issuance of a visa to Marina Oswald by the Moscow Embassy. The section
provides that upon notification of the Secretary of State by the
Attorney General that a country has refused or unduly delayed the
acceptance of a deportable alien from the United States who is a
subject or was a resident of that country, consular officers in such
country are not to issue visas to citizens of the country. The section
had been invoked against Russia on May 26, 1953. Nonetheless, although
section 243(g) does not contain an express provision for waiver, the
Justice Department has concluded that the Attorney General possesses
such waiver powers.[A15-213] Pursuant to this decision, the Department
has granted waivers in over 600 cases from the Soviet Union since
1953.[A15-214] The waiver procedures followed in 1962 were prescribed
by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The relevant provision
reads:
Before adjudicating a petition for an eligible beneficiary
residing in the USSR, Czechoslovakia or Hungary, against which
sanctions have been imposed, the district director shall obtain
a report of investigation regarding the petitioner which shall
include an affiliation of a subversive nature disclosed by a
neighborhood investigation, local agency records and responses
to Form G-135a. * * * If no substantial derogatory security
information is developed, the district director may waive the
sanctions in an individual meritorious case for a beneficiary
of a petition filed by a reputable relative to accord status
under Section 101(a)(27) (A) or Section 203(a) (2), (3)
or (4). * * * If substantial adverse security information
relating to the petitioner is developed, the visa petition
shall be processed on its merits and certified to the regional
commissioner for determination whether the sanctions should be
waived. The assistant commissioner shall endorse the petition
to show whether the Waiver is granted or denied, and forward it
and notify the appropriate field office of the action taken. *
* *[A15-215]
State Department regulations are much less explicit.[A15-216] The State
Department’s visa instructions for the guidance of consular officers
provide, “The sanctions will be waived only in individual meritorious
cases in behalf of a beneficiary of a petition filed by a reputable
relative pursuant to [sections] of the act.”[A15-217]
Because Lee Harvey Oswald signed the petition on Marina’s behalf, his
character was relevant to whether the sanctions of section 243(g) could
be waived for her. The file on Lee Harvey Oswald which was maintained
by the Department of State and made available to the Department of
Justice for purposes of passing on his wife’s application contained the
facts relating to Oswald’s attempted expatriation. However, despite
the derogatory material in the Oswald file, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service regulations did not require automatic denial of
the waiver; they provided only that if adverse security information
were developed, “the visa petition shall be processed on its merits and
certified to the regional commissioner for determination whether the
sanctions should be waived.” This procedure was followed in Marina’s
case and the factors considered in reaching the decision do not appear
to be inappropriate. The State Department successfully urged that the
original decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service be
reversed because this would be in the best interests of future United
States dealings with the Soviet Union on behalf of American citizens,
and because it seemed unfair to punish Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife and
baby for his own earlier errors.[A15-218] Prevention of the separation
of families is among the most common reasons underlying the frequent
waivers of section 243(g).[A15-219]
OSWALD’S LETTER TO SENATOR TOWER
Sometime shortly before January 26, 1962, an undated letter from Lee
Harvey Oswald was received in the office of the U.S. Senator from
Texas, John G. Tower.[A15-220] The letter reads as follows:
My name is Lee Harvey Oswald, 22, of Fort Worth up till October
1959, when I came to the Soviet Union for a residenaul stay. I
took a residenual document for a non-Soviet person living for
a time in the USSR. The American Embassy in Moscow is familier
with my case
Since July 20th 1960, I have unsucessfully applied for a
Soviet Exit Visa to leave this country, the Soviets refuse to
permit me and my Soviet wife, (who applied at the U.S. Embassy
Moscow, July 8, 1960 for immigration status to the U.S.A.) to
leave the Soviet Union. I am a citizen of the United States
of America (passport No. 1733242, 1959) and I bessech you,
Senator Tower, to rise the question of holding by the Soviet
Union of a citizen of the U.S., against his will and expressed
desires.[A15-221]
The letter was read in Senator Tower’s office by a caseworker on his
staff. According to the caseworker and the Senator’s press secretary,
the letter was forwarded as a matter of routine on January 26 to
the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, Department of
State. The letter was forwarded with a cover letter, machine signed
by the Senator, stating that he did “not know Oswald, or any of the
facts concerning his reasons for visiting the Soviet Union; nor what
action, if any, this Government can or should take on his behalf.” The
cover letter pointed out that Oswald’s inquiry should have gone to the
executive branch of the Government and that for this reason the Senator
was forwarding it “for whatever action the Department may consider
appropriate.”[A15-222] On February 1 an officer at the Department
of State telephoned the Senator’s office and spoke briefly with the
caseworker on the Oswald case. She made a memorandum of the call which
notes, “Senator should not become involved in such case--therefore
State will report to us the course which they follow regarding Lee
Harvey Oswalt [sic].”[A15-223] About a week later the Department of
State forwarded to Senator Tower copies of some of the correspondence
which the Department had had with Oswald and informed the Senator that
if he wished to be kept informed on further developments regarding
Oswald he could contact the Department of State.[A15-224] Neither the
Senator nor any member of his staff contacted the Department again nor
did they take any other action in respect to the matter.[A15-225]
THE LOAN FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT
In a letter dated January 5, 1962, Oswald said that he would like
to make arrangements for a loan from the Embassy or some private
organization for part of the airplane fares.[A15-226] The Embassy
on February 6, 1962, replied that he would have to supply certain
personal and financial data.[A15-227] The letter also said that after
repatriation he would not be furnished a passport for travel abroad
until he had repaid the money.
Between February 6, 1962, and May 1, 1962, Oswald attempted to secure
a loan from the Red Cross[A15-228] and the International Rescue
Committee[A15-229] in the United States. The State Department on
February 1 wrote Oswald’s mother a letter asking whether she could
advance the money.[A15-230] Oswald later wrote both his mother and
the Department advising each that his mother should not be bothered
in reference to the loan.[A15-231] Ultimately, after an exchange
of communications between the Embassy and Washington,[A15-232] the
Department approved a loan to Oswald for passage to New York only,
directing the Embassy to “Keep cost minimum.”[A15-233] On June 1 Oswald
signed a promissory note for $435.71.[A15-234]
Statutory authority for making such a loan was conferred by title 5,
section 170(a), of the U.S. Code, which authorizes the Secretary of
State to “make expenditures, from such amounts as may be specifically
appropriated therefor, for unforeseen emergencies arising in the
diplomatic and consular service.” Since 1947, the Department of State’s
annual appropriation act has included a sum for expenses necessary “to
enable the Secretary of State to meet unforeseen emergencies arising in
the Diplomatic and Consular Service. * * *”[A15-235] In recent years,
the accompanying reports submitted by the Appropriations Committee of
the House of Representatives have stated, “These funds are used for
relief and repatriation loans to the U.S. citizens abroad and for other
emergencies of the Department.”[A15-236] Out of the amount appropriated
to meet unforeseen emergencies arising in the Diplomatic and Consular
Service, the Secretary of State has annually allotted approximately
$100,000 to meet the expenses of indigent U.S. nationals, including
those in the Soviet Union, who request repatriation loans. From 1959 to
1963, 2,343 such loans were granted.[A15-237]