Chapter VI: Investigation of Possible Conspiracy (2)

Oswald appeared at the American Embassy in Moscow on October 31, 1959, 3 days after his release from the Botkinskaya Hospital.[C6-153] He did not give the officials at the Embassy any indication that he had recently received medical treatment.[C6-154] Oswald’s appearance was the first notification to the American Government that he was in Russia, since he had failed to inform the Embassy upon his arrival,[C6-155] as most American tourists did at the time.[C6-156] In appendix XV, Oswald’s dealings with the Embassy in 1959 until his return to the United States in 1962 are described in full, and all action taken by the American officials on his case is evaluated. His conduct at the Embassy has also been considered by the Commission for any indication it may provide as to whether or not Oswald was then acting under directions of the Soviet Government.

NOTE HANDED BY OSWALD TO THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW ON OCT. 31, 1959]

At the Embassy, Oswald declared that he wished to renounce his U.S. citizenship,[C6-157] but the consul to whom he spoke, Richard E. Snyder, refused to accept his renunciation at that time, telling him that he would have to return to complete the necessary papers.[C6-158] However, Oswald did give the consul his passport[C6-159] and a handwritten statement requesting that his American citizenship be “revoked” and “affirm[ing] [his] * * * allegiance” to the Soviet Union.[C6-160] (See Commission Exhibit No. 913, p. 261.) The FBI has confirmed that this statement is in Oswald’s handwriting,[C6-161] and Snyder has testified that the letter’s phrases are consistent with the way Oswald talked and conducted himself.[C6-162] During the approximately 40-minute interview, Oswald also informed Snyder that he had been a radar operator in the Marine Corps, intimating that he might know something of special interest, and that he had informed a Soviet official that he would give the Soviets any information concerning the Marine Corps and radar operation which he possessed.[C6-163] Although Oswald never filed a formal renunciation, in a letter to the Embassy dated November 3, 1959, he again requested that his American citizenship be revoked and protested the refusal to accept his renunciation on October 31.[C6-164] (See Commission Exhibit No. 912, p. 263.)

While at the Embassy,[C6-165] and in a subsequent interview with an American journalist,[C6-166] Oswald displayed familiarity with Communist ideological arguments, which led those with whom he spoke to speculate that he may have received some instruction from Soviet authorities. Oswald’s familiarity with the law regarding renunciation of citizenship, observed by both Embassy officials,[C6-167] could also be construed as a sign of coaching by Soviet authorities. However, Oswald is known to have been an avid reader[C6-168] and there is evidence that he had read Communist literature without guidance while in the Marine Corps and before that time.[C6-169] After his arrival in Moscow, Oswald most probably had discussions with his Intourist guide and others,[C6-170] but none of the Americans with whom he talked in Moscow felt that his conversations necessarily revealed any type of formal training.[C6-171] The “Historic Diary” indicates that Oswald did not tell his guide that he intended to visit the Embassy because he feared she would disapprove.[C6-172] (See Commission Exhibit No. 24, p. 264.) Though Oswald gave Snyder the impression “of an intelligent person who spoke in a manner and on a level, which seemed to befit his apparent level of intelligence,”[C6-173] correspondent Priscilla Johnson, who spent about 5 hours talking with him,[C6-174] received a much less favorable impression:

He liked to create the pretense, the impression that he was
attracted to abstract discussion and was capable of engaging in
it, and was drawn to it. But it was like pricking a balloon.
I had the feeling that if you really did engage him on this
ground, you very quickly would discover that he didn’t have
the capacity for a logical sustained argument about an abstract
point on economics or on noneconomic, political matters or any
matter, philosophical.[C6-175]

LETTER MAILED BY OSWALD TO THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW.]

OSWALD’S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS MEETING AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW OCT. 31, 1959

Excerpts from his “Historic Diary”]

A comparison of the formal note Oswald handed Snyder[C6-176] and his letter of November 3[C6-177] with the provisions of section 349(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act[C6-178] suggests that Oswald had read the statute but understood it imperfectly; he apparently was trying to use three out of the four ways set out in the statute to surrender his citizenship, but he succeeded in none.

Moreover, persuasive evidence that Oswald’s conduct was not carefully coached by Soviet agents is provided by some of his actions at the Embassy. The single statement which probably caused Oswald the most future trouble was his declaration that he had already volunteered to a Soviet official that he would, if asked, tell the Soviet Government all that he knew about his job in radar as a Marine. Certainly a statement of this type would prejudice any possibility of his being an effective pro-Communist agent.

Further, though unquestionably evidencing anti-American sentiments, Oswald’s behavior at the Embassy, which brought him exceedingly close to expatriation, was unlikely to have increased his value in any capacity to the Soviet Union. Richard E. Snyder, the official who interviewed Oswald on October 31, testified that he “had every reason to believe” that Oswald would have carried through a formal--and therefore effective--renunciation of his American citizenship immediately if he had let him.[C6-179] However, as a defector, Oswald could have had considerable propaganda value without expatriating himself; and if he had expatriated himself his eventual return to the United States would have been much more difficult and perhaps impossible. If Snyder’s assessment of Oswald’s intentions is accurate, it thus tends to refute the suggestion that Oswald was being coached by the Soviets. In addition, reporters noticed Oswald’s apparent ambivalence in regard to renouncing his citizenship--stormily demanding that he be permitted to renounce while failing to follow through by completing the necessary papers[C6-180]--behavior which might have detracted from his propaganda value.

According to Oswald’s “Historic Diary”[C6-181] and the documents furnished to the Commission by the Soviet Government,[C6-182] Oswald was not told that he had been accepted as a resident of the Soviet Union until about January 4, 1960. Although on November 13 and 16 Oswald informed Aline Mosby[C6-183] and Priscilla Johnson[C6-184] that he had been granted permission to remain in the country indefinitely, the diary indicates that at that time he had been told only that he could remain “until some solution is found with what to do with me.”[C6-185] The diary is more consistent with the letter Oswald wrote to his brother Robert on December 17, saying that he was then, more than a month after he saw Johnson and Mosby, about to leave his hotel,[C6-186] and with some later correspondence with his mother. Oswald mailed a short note to his mother which she received in Texas on January 5; that same day she mailed a money order to him in Moscow, but it apparently got there too late, because she received it back, unopened, on February 25.[C6-187] Oswald’s conflicting statement to the correspondents also seems reconcilable with his very apparent desire to appear important to others. Moreover, so long as Oswald continued to stay in a hotel in Moscow, the inference is that the Soviet authorities had not yet decided to accept him.[C6-188] This inference is supported by information supplied by the CIA on the handling of other defectors in the Soviet Union.[C6-189]

Thus, the evidence is strong that Oswald waited at least until November 16, when he saw Miss Johnson, and it is probable that he was required to wait until January 4, a little over 2½ months from October 16, before his application to remain in Russia was granted. In mid-November Miss Johnson asked Oswald whether the Russians were encouraging his defection, to which Oswald responded: “The Russians are treating it like a legal formality. They don’t encourage you and they don’t discourage you.”[C6-190] And, when the Soviet Government finally acted, Oswald did not receive Soviet citizenship, as he had requested, but merely permission to reside in Russia on a year-to-year basis.[C6-191]

Asked to comment upon the length of time, 2 months and 22 days, that probably passed before Oswald was granted the right to remain in the Soviet Union, the CIA has advised that “when compared to five other defector cases, this procedure seems unexceptional.”[C6-192] Similarly, the Department of State reports that its information “indicated that a 2-month waiting period is not unusual.”[C6-193] The full response of the CIA is as follows:

Oswald said that he asked for Soviet citizenship on 16 October
1959. According to his diary, he received word a month later
that he could stay in the USSR pending disposition of his
request, but it was another month and a half before he was
given his stateless passport.

When compared to five other defector cases, this procedure
seems unexceptional. Two defectors from US Army intelligence
units in West Germany appear to have been given citizenship
immediately, but both had prior KGB connections and fled as
a result of Army security checks. Of the other three cases,
one was accepted after not more than five weeks and given a
stateless passport apparently at about the same time. The
second was immediately given permission to stay for a while,
and his subsequent request for citizenship was granted three
months later. The third was allowed to stay after he made his
citizenship request, but almost two months passed before he was
told that he had been accepted. Although the Soviet Ministry of
Foreign Affairs soon after told the US Embassy that he was a
Soviet citizen, he did not receive his document until five or
six months after initial application. We know of only one case
in which an American asked for Soviet citizenship but did not
take up residence in the USSR. In that instance, the American
changed his mind and voluntarily returned to the United
States less than three weeks after he had requested Soviet
citizenship.[C6-194]

The Department of State has commented as follows:

The files of the Department of State reflect the fact that
Oswald first applied for permission to remain in Russia
permanently, or at least for a long period, when he arrived in
Moscow, and that he obtained permission to remain within one or
two months.

A. Is the fact that he obtained permission to stay within this
period of time usual?

_Answer_--Our information indicates that a two months waiting
period is not unusual. In the case of [name withheld] the
Supreme Soviet decided within two months to give Soviet
citizenship and he was thereafter, of course, permitted to stay.

B. Can you tell us what the normal procedures are under similar
circumstances?

_Answer_--It is impossible for us to state any “normal”
procedures. The Soviet Government never publicizes the
proceedings in these cases or the reasons for its action.
Furthermore, it is, of course, extremely unusual for an
American citizen to defect.[C6-195]

The information relating to Oswald’s suicide attempt indicates that his application to remain in the Soviet Union was probably rejected about 6 days after his arrival in Moscow. Since the KGB is the Soviet agency responsible for the initial handling of all defectors,[C6-196] it seems likely that the original decision not to accept Oswald was made by the KGB. That Oswald was permitted to remain in Moscow after his release from the hospital suggests that another ministry of the Soviet Government may have intervened on his behalf. This hypothesis is consistent with entries in the “Historic Diary” commenting that the officials Oswald met after his hospital treatment were different from those with whom he had dealt before.[C6-197] The most plausible reason for any such intervention may well have been apprehension over the publicity that would follow the rejection of a devout convert to the Communist cause.

_Oswald’s Life in Minsk._--According to the “Historic Diary”[C6-198] and documents received from the Soviet Government,[C6-199] Oswald resided in the city of Minsk from January 1960 until June 1962. Oswald’s life in Minsk is the portion of his life concerning which the least is known. The primary sources of information are Oswald’s own writings and the testimony of Marina Oswald. Other evidence, however, establishes beyond doubt that Oswald was in fact located in Minsk on at least two occasions. The Commission has obtained two photographs which were taken by American tourists in Minsk in August 1961 in which Oswald appears.[C6-200] The tourists did not know Oswald, nor did they speak with him; they remembered only that several men gathered near their car.[C6-201] (See Kramer Exhibit 1, p. 268.) In addition, Oswald was noticed in Minsk by a student who was traveling with the University of Michigan band on a tour of Russia in the spring of 1961.[C6-202] Oswald corresponded with the American Embassy in Moscow from Minsk,[C6-203] and wrote letters from Minsk to his family in the United States.[C6-204] Oswald and his wife have many photographs taken of themselves which show Minsk backgrounds and persons who are identifiable as residents of Minsk.[C6-205] After he returned to the United States, Oswald conversed about the city with Russian-born American citizens who were familiar with it.[C6-206] Marina Oswald is also familiar with the city.[C6-207] The Commission has also been able independently to verify the existence in Minsk of many of the acquaintances of Oswald and his wife whom they said they knew there.[C6-208] (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 1392, 1395, 2606, 2609, 2612 and 2623, pp. 270-271.)

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN MINSK, U.S.S.R. BY AN AMERICAN TOURIST IN AUGUST, 1961.

(KRAMER DEPOSITION 1)]

Once he was accepted as a resident alien in the Soviet Union, Oswald was given considerable benefits which ordinary Soviet citizens in his position in society did not have. The “Historic Diary” recites that after Oswald was informed that he could remain in the Soviet Union and was being sent to Minsk he was given 5,000 rubles[C] ($500) by the “Red Cross, * * * for expenses.” He used 2,200 rubles to pay his hotel bill, and another 150 rubles to purchase a train ticket. With the balance of slightly over 2,500 rubles, Oswald felt, according to the diary, like a rich man.[C6-209] Oswald did not receive free living quarters, as the diary indicates the “Mayor” of Minsk promised him,[C6-210] but about 6 weeks after his arrival he did receive an apartment, very pleasant by Soviet standards, for which he was required to pay only 60 rubles ($6.00) a month. Oswald considered the apartment “almost rent free.”[C6-211] Oswald was given a job in the “Byelorussian Radio and Television Factory,” where his pay on a per piece basis ranged from 700 to 900 rubles ($70-$90) a month.[C6-212] According to his wife, this rate of pay was average for people in his occupation but good by Soviet standards generally.[C6-213] She explained that piecework rates throughout the Soviet Union have generally grown out of line with compensation for other jobs.[C6-214] The CIA has confirmed that this condition exists in many areas and occupations in the Soviet Union.[C6-215] In addition to his salary, Oswald regularly received 700 rubles ($70) per month from the Soviet “Red Cross.”[C6-216] The well-paying job, the monthly subsidy, and the “almost rent-free” apartment combined to give Oswald more money than he needed. The only complaint recorded in the “Historic Diary” is that there was “no place to spend the money.”[C6-217]

[C] About a year after Oswald received this money, the ruble
was revalued to about 10 times its earlier value.

The Commission has found no basis for associating Oswald’s preferred income with Soviet undercover activity. Marina Oswald testified that foreign nationals are commonly given special treatment in the Soviet Union,[C6-218] and the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that it is standard practice in the Soviet Union for Americans and other foreign defectors from countries with high standards of living to be “subsidized.”[C6-219] Apparently it is Soviet practice to attempt to make life sufficiently pleasant for a foreign defector so that he will not become disillusioned and return to his native country. The Commission has also assumed that it is customary for Soviet intelligence agencies to keep defectors under surveillance during their residence in the Soviet Union, through periodic interviews of neighbors and associates of the defector.[C6-220] Oswald once mentioned that the Soviet police questioned his neighbors occasionally.[C6-221]

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1392)

OSWALD AND MARINA ON A BRIDGE IN MINSK

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2623)

UNCLE VASILY AKSIONOV AND AUNT LUBOVA AKSIONOVA, WITH THE OSWALDS

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1395)

MARINA WAITING FOR BUS]

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 2609)

ROSA KUZNETSOVA, ELLA GERMAN, LEE HARVEY OSWALD, AND PAVEL GOLOVACHEV

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 2612)

OSWALD AND ALFRED (LAST NAME UNKNOWN), A HUNGARIAN FRIEND OF ANITA ZIGER

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 2606)

VIEW OVERLOOKING THE SYISLOCH RIVER FROM THE BALCONY OF THE OSWALDS’ APARTMENT IN MINSK]

Moreover, it is from Oswald’s personal writings alone that the Commission has learned that he received supplementary funds from the Soviet “Red Cross.” In the notes he made during the return trip to the United States Oswald recognized that the “Red Cross” subsidy had nothing to do with the well-known International Red Cross. He frankly stated that the money was paid to him for having “denounced” the United States and that it had come from the “MVD.”[C6-222] Oswald’s papers reveal that the “Red Cross” subsidy was terminated as soon as he wrote the American Embassy in Moscow in February 1961 asking that he be permitted to return.[C6-223] (See Commission Exhibit No. 25, p. 273.) Marina Oswald’s testimony confirmed this; she said that when she knew Oswald he no longer was receiving the monthly grant but still retained some of the savings accumulated in the months when he had been receiving it.[C6-224] Since she met Oswald in March and married him in April of 1961, her testimony was consistent with his records.

The nature of Oswald’s employment while in Minsk has been examined by the Commission. The factory in which he worked was a large plant manufacturing electronic parts and radio and television sets. Marina Oswald has testified that he was an “apprentice machinist” and “ground small metallic parts for radio receivers, on a lathe.”[C6-225] So far as can be determined, Oswald never straightforwardly described to anyone else in the United States exactly what his job was in the Soviet Union.[C6-226] Some of his acquaintances in Dallas and Fort Worth had the impression that he was disappointed in having been given a menial job and not assigned to an institution of higher learning in the Soviet Union.[C6-227] Marina Oswald confirmed this and also testified that her husband was not interested in his work and not regarded at the factory as a very good worker.[C6-228] The documents furnished to the Commission by the Soviet government were consistent with her testimony on this point, since they included a report from Oswald’s superior at the factory which is critical of his performance on the job.[C6-229] Oswald’s employment and his job performance are thus consistent with his known occupational habits in this country and otherwise afford no ground for suspicion.

Oswald’s membership in a hunting club while he was in the Soviet Union has been a matter of special interest to the Commission. One Russian emigre testified that this was a suspicious circumstance because no one in the Soviet Union is permitted to own a gun for pleasure.[C6-230] The Commission’s investigation, however, has established that this is not so. The Central Intelligence Agency has advised the Commission that hunting societies such as the one to which Oswald belonged are very popular in the Soviet Union.[C6-231] They are frequently sponsored by factories for their employees, as was Oswald’s.[C6-232] Moreover, Soviet citizens (or foreigners residing in the Soviet Union) are permitted to own shotguns, but not rifles, without joining a society; all that is necessary is that the gun be registered at the local militia office immediately after it has been purchased.[C6-233] Experts from the Central Intelligence Agency have examined Oswald’s club membership certificate and gun permit and expressed the opinion that its terms and numbers are consistent with other information the CIA has about the Soviet Union.[C6-234]

EXCERPTS FROM A SPEECH OSWALD NEVER DELIVERED, WHICH HE PROBABLY WROTE ABOARD THE SHIP WHILE RETURNING FROM THE U. S. S. R. WITH HIS FAMILY]

Marina Oswald testified that her husband went hunting only on one occasion during the time of their marriage.[C6-235] However, Oswald apparently joined the Byelorussian Society of Hunters and Fishermen in the summer of 1960[C6-236] and did not marry until April 30, 1961,[C6-237] so he could have been more active while he was still a bachelor. Oswald made no secret of his membership in the hunting club. He mentioned it on occasion to friends after he returned to the United States;[C6-238] discussed it at some length in a speech at a Jesuit Seminary in Mobile, Ala., in the summer of 1962;[C6-239] included it in his correspondence with his brother Robert;[C6-240] and kept his membership certificate[C6-241] and gun permit[C6-242] until the day he was killed. In view of these facts, it is unlikely that Oswald’s membership in a hunting club was contrived to conceal some sort of secret training. Moreover, the CIA has informed the Commission that it is in possession of considerable information on the location of secret Soviet training institutions and that it knows of no such institution in or near Minsk during the time Oswald was there.[C6-243]

Oswald’s marriage to Marina Prusakova on April 30, 1961,[C6-244] is itself a fact meriting consideration. A foreigner living in Russia cannot marry without the permission of the Soviet Government.[C6-245] It seems unlikely that the Soviet authorities would have permitted Oswald to marry and to take his wife with him to the United States if they were contemplating using him alone as an agent. The fact that he had a Russian wife would be likely, in their view, to increase any surveillance under which he would be kept by American security agencies, would make him even more conspicuous to his neighbors as “an ex-Russian,” and would decrease his mobility. A wife’s presence in the United States would also constitute a continuing risk of disclosure. On the other hand, Marina Oswald’s lack of English training and her complete ignorance of the United States and its customs[C6-246] would scarcely recommend her to the Soviet authorities as one member of an “agent team” to be sent to the United States on a difficult and dangerous foreign enterprise.

_Oswald’s departure from the Soviet Union._--On February 13, 1961, the American Embassy in Moscow received a letter from Oswald postmarked Minsk, February 5, asking that he be readmitted to the United States.[C6-247] This was the first time that the Embassy had heard from or about Oswald since November 16, 1959.[C6-248] The end of the 15-month silence came only a few days after the Department of State in Washington had forwarded a request to the Moscow Embassy on February 1, 1961, informing the Embassy that Oswald’s mother was worried about him, and asking that he get in touch with her if possible.[C6-249] The simultaneity of the two events was apparently coincidental. The request from Marguerite Oswald went from Washington to Moscow by sealed diplomatic pouch and there was no evidence that the seal had been tampered with.[C6-250] The officer of the Department of State who carried the responsibility for such matters has testified that the message was not forwarded to the Russians after it arrived in Moscow.[C6-251]

Oswald’s letter does not seem to have been designed to ingratiate him with the Embassy officials. It starts by incorrectly implying that he had written an earlier letter that was not answered, states that he will return to the United States only if he can first “come to some agreement” on there being no legal charges brought against him, and ends with a reminder to the officials at the Embassy that they have a responsibility to do everything they can to help him, since he is an American citizen.[C6-252]

The Embassy’s response to this letter was to invite Oswald to come personally to Moscow to discuss the matter.[C6-253] Oswald at first protested because of the difficulty of obtaining Soviet permission.[C6-254] He wrote two more protesting letters during the following 4 months,[C6-255] but received no indication that the Embassy would allow him to handle the matter by mail.[C6-256] While the Department of State was clarifying its position on this matter,[C6-257] Oswald unexpectedly appeared in Moscow on Saturday, July 8, 1961.[C6-258] On Sunday, Marina Oswald flew to Moscow,[C6-259] and was interviewed by officials in the American Embassy on Tuesday.[C6-260]

The Commission asked the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency to comment on whether the Oswalds’ travel to Moscow without permission signified special treatment by the Soviet Union. From their responses, it appears that since Marina Oswald possessed a Soviet citizen’s internal passport, she did not require prior approval to make the trip.[C6-261] Although Soviet law did require her husband, as the holder of a “stateless passport,” to obtain advance permission for the trip, his failure to do so would not normally have been considered a serious violation. In this respect, the CIA has advised the Commission as follows:

OSWALD’S travel from Minsk to Moscow and return in July 1961
would normally have required prior authorization. Bearers of a
Soviet “passport for foreigners” (_vid na zhitelstov v. SSSR
dlya innostrantsa_) are required to obtain travel authorization
from the Visa and Registration Department (OVIR) (or Passport
Registration Department (PRO) in smaller towns) if they desire
to leave the city (or oblast) where they are domiciled.
This same requirement is believed to apply to persons, such
as OSWALD, holding Soviet “stateless passports” (_vid na
zhitelstvo_ v. _SSSR dlya lits bez grazhdanstva_).

The practicality of even “unauthorized” travel was demonstrated
by events related by a United States citizen who defected
in 1960, and subsequently was sent to Kiev to study. After
repatriating this defector told U.S. authorities he had made
a total of seven unauthorized trips from Kiev during his stay
in the USSR. He was apprehended on two of his flights and was
returned to Kiev each time, the second time under escort. On
both occasions he was merely reprimanded by the deputy chief
of the institute at which he was studying. Since Marina had a
Soviet citizen’s internal passport there would have been no
restrictions against her making the trip to Moscow.[C6-262]

The answers of the Department of State, together with the Commission’s specific questions, are as follows:

B. Could resident foreigners normally travel in this manner
without first obtaining such permission?

_Answer_--There are only a few U.S. nationals now living in the
Soviet Union. They include an American Roman Catholic priest,
an American Protestant minister, a number of correspondents,
some students and technical advisers to Soviet businesses. We
know that the priest, the minister, the correspondents and the
students must obtain permission from Soviet authorities before
taking any trips. The technical advisers notify officials of
their project before they travel and these officials personally
inform the militia.

C. If travel of this type was not freely permitted, do you
believe that Oswald normally would have been apprehended during
the attempt or punished after the fact for traveling without
permission?

_Answer_--Based on the information we have, we believe that
if Oswald went to Moscow without permission, and this was
known to the Soviet authorities, he would have been fined or
reprimanded. Oswald was not, of course, an average foreign
resident. He was a defector from a foreign country and the
bearer of a Soviet internal “stateless” passport * * * during
the time when he was contemplating the visit to Moscow to come
to the Embassy * * *

The Soviet authorities probably knew about Oswald’s trip
even if he did not obtain advance permission, since in most
instances the Soviet militia guards at the Embassy ask for the
documents of unidentified persons entering the Embassy grounds
* * *

An American citizen who, with her American citizen husband,
went to the Soviet Union to live permanently and is now trying
to obtain permission to leave, informed the Embassy that she
had been fined for not getting permission to go from Odessa to
Moscow on a recent trip to visit the Embassy.

D. Even if such travel did not have to be authorized, do you
have any information or observations regarding the practicality
of such travel by Soviet citizens or persons in Oswald’s status?

_Answer_--It is impossible to generalize in this area. We
understand from interrogations of former residents in the
Soviet Union who were considered “stateless” by Soviet
authorities that they were not permitted to leave the town
where they resided without permission of the police. In
requesting such permission they were required to fill out a
questionnaire giving the reason for travel, length of stay,
addresses of individuals to be visited, etc.

Notwithstanding these requirements, we know that at least
one “stateless” person often traveled without permission of
the authorities and stated that police stationed at railroad
stations usually spotchecked the identification papers of
every tenth traveler, but that it was an easy matter to avoid
such checks. Finally, she stated that persons who were caught
evading the registration requirements were returned to their
home towns by the police and sentenced to short jail terms
and fined. These sentences were more severe for repeated
violations.[C6-263]

When Oswald arrived at the Embassy in Moscow, he met Richard E. Snyder, the same person with whom he had dealt in October of 1959.[C6-264] Primarily on the basis of Oswald’s interview with Snyder on Monday, July 10, 1961, the American Embassy concluded that Oswald had not expatriated himself.[C6-265] (See app. XV, pp. 752-760.) On the basis of this tentative decision, Oswald was given back his American passport, which he had surrendered in 1959.[C6-266] The document was due to expire in September 1961,[C6-267] however, and Oswald was informed that its renewal would depend upon the ultimate decision by the Department of State on his expatriation.[C6-268] On July 11, Marina Oswald was interviewed at the Embassy and the steps necessary for her to obtain an American visa were begun.[C6-269] In May 1962, after 15 months of dealings with the Embassy, Oswald’s passport was ultimately renewed and permission for his wife to enter the United States was granted.[C6-270]

The files on Oswald and his wife compiled by the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service contain no indication of any expert guidance by Soviet authorities in Oswald’s dealings with the Department or the Service. For example, the letters from Minsk to the Embassy in Moscow,[C6-271] which are in his handwriting,[C6-272] display the arrogant attitude which was characteristic of him both before and after he lived in Russia, and, when compared with other letters that were without doubt composed and written by him,[C6-273] show about the same low level of sophistication, fluency, and spelling. The Department officer who most frequently dealt with Oswald when he began negotiations to return to the United States, Richard E. Snyder, testified that he can recall nothing that indicated Oswald was being guided or assisted by a third party when he appeared at the Embassy in July 1961.[C6-274] On the contrary, the arrogant and presumptuous attitude which Oswald displayed in his correspondence with the Embassy from early 1961 until June 1962,[C6-275] when he finally departed from Russia, undoubtedly hindered his attempts to return to the United States. Snyder has testified that although he made a sincere effort to treat Oswald’s application objectively, Oswald’s attitude made this very difficult.[C6-276]

In order to leave Russia, it was also necessary for the Oswalds to obtain permission from the Soviet Government. The timing and circumstances under which the Oswalds obtained this permission have also been considered by the Commission. Marina Oswald, although her memory is not clear on the point, said that she and Oswald first made their intentions to go to the United States known to Soviet officials in Minsk in May, even before coming to Moscow in July for the conference at the American Embassy.[C6-277] The Oswalds’ correspondence with the Embassy and the documents furnished the Commission by the Soviet Government show that the Oswalds made a series of formal applications to the Soviets from July 15 to August 21.[C6-278] Presumably the most difficult question for the Soviet authorities was whether to allow Marina Oswald to accompany her husband. She was called to the local passport office in Minsk on December 25, 1961, and told that authority had been received to issue exit visas to her and Oswald.[C6-279] Obtaining the permission of the Soviet Government to leave may have been aided by a conference which Marina Oswald had, at her own request, with a local MVD official, Colonel Aksenov, sometime in late 1961. She testified that she applied for the conference at her husband’s urging, after he had tried unsuccessfully to arrange such a conference for himself.[C6-280] She believed that it may have been granted her because her uncle with whom she had lived in Minsk before her marriage was also an MVD official.[C6-281]

The correspondence with the American Embassy at this time reflected that the Oswalds did not pick up their exit visas immediately.[C6-282] On January 11, 1962, Marina Oswald was issued her Soviet exit visa. It was marked valid until December 1, 1962.[C6-283] The Oswalds did not leave Russia until June 1962, but the additional delay was caused by problems with the U.S. Government and by the birth of a child in February.[C6-284] Permission of the Soviet authorities to leave, once given, was never revoked. Oswald told the FBI in July 1962, shortly after he returned to the United States, that he had been interviewed by the MVD twice, once when he first came to the Soviet Union and once just before he departed.[C6-285] His wife testified that the second interview did not occur in Moscow but that she and her husband dealt with the MVD visa officials frequently in Minsk.[C6-286]

Investigation of the circumstances, including the timing, under which the Oswalds obtained permission from the Soviet Government to leave Russia for the United States show that they differed in no discernible manner from the normal. The Central Intelligence Agency has informed the Commission that normally a Soviet national would not be permitted to emigrate if he might endanger Soviet national security once he went abroad.[C6-287] Those persons in possession of confidential information, for example, would constitute an important category of such “security risks.” Apparently Oswald’s predeparture interview by the MVD was part of an attempt to ascertain whether he or his wife had access to any confidential information. Marina Oswald’s reported interview with the MVD in late 1961, which was arranged at her request, may have served the same purpose. The Commission’s awareness of both interviews derives entirely from Oswald’s and his wife’s statements and letters to the American Embassy, which afford additional evidence that the conferences carried no subversive significance.

It took the Soviet authorities at least 5½ months, from about July 15, 1961, until late December, to grant permission for the Oswalds to leave the country. When asked to comment upon the alleged rapidity of the Oswalds’ departure, the Department of State advised the Commission:

* * * In the immediate post-war period there were about fifteen
marriages in which the wife had been waiting for many years
for a Soviet exit permit. After the death of Stalin the Soviet
Government showed a disposition to settle these cases. In the
summer of 1953 permission was given for all of this group
of Soviet citizen wives to accompany their American citizen
husbands to the United States.

Since this group was given permission to leave the Soviet
Union, there have been from time to time marriages in the
Soviet Union of American citizens and Soviet citizens. With
one exception, it is our understanding that all of the Soviet
citizens involved have been given permission to emigrate to the
United States after waiting periods which were, in some cases
from three to six months and in others much longer.[C6-288]

Both the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency compiled data for the Commission on Soviet wives of American citizens who received exit visas to leave the Soviet Union, where the relevant information was available. In both cases the data were consistent with the above conclusion of the State Department. The Department of State had sufficient information to measure the timespan in 14 cases. The Department points out that it has information on the dates of application for and receipt of Soviet exit visas only on those cases that have been brought to its attention. A common reason for bringing a case to the attention of the Department is that the granting of the exit visa by the Soviet Union has been delayed, so that the American spouse seeks the assistance of his own government. It therefore appears that the sampling data carry a distinct bias toward lengthy waiting periods. Of the 14 cases tested, 6 involve women who applied for visas after 1953, when the liberalized post-Stalin policy was in effect. The approximate waiting periods for these wives were, in decreasing order, 13 months, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, and 10 days.[C6-289] Of the 11 cases examined by the Central Intelligence Agency in which the time period is known or can be inferred, the Soviet wives had to wait from 5 months to a year to obtain exit visas.[C6-290]

In his correspondence with the American Embassy and his brother while he was in Russia,[C6-291] in his diary,[C6-292] and in his conversations with people in the United States after he returned,[C6-293] Oswald claimed that his wife had been subjected to pressure by the Soviet Government in an effort to induce her not to emigrate to the United States. In the Embassy correspondence, Oswald claimed that the pressure had been so intense that she had to be hospitalized for 5 days for “nervous exhaustion.”[C6-294] Marina Oswald testified that her husband exaggerated and that no such hospitalization or “nervous exhaustion” ever occurred.[C6-295] However, she did testify that she was questioned on the matter occasionally and given the impression that her government was not pleased with her decision.[C6-296] Her aunt and uncle in Minsk did not speak to her “for a long time”; she also stated that she was dropped from membership in the Communist Youth Organization (Komsomol) when the news of her visit to the American Embassy in Moscow reached that organization.[C6-297] A student who took Russian lessons from her in Texas testified that she once referred to the days when the pressure was applied as “a very horrible time.”[C6-298] Despite all this Marina Oswald testified that she was surprised that their visas were granted as soon as they were--and that hers was granted at all.[C6-299] This evidence thus indicates that the Soviet authorities, rather than facilitating the departure of the Oswalds, first tried to dissuade Marina Oswald from going to the United States and then, when she failed to respond to the pressure, permitted her to leave without undue delay. There are indications that the Soviet treatment of another recent defector who left the Soviet Union to return to the United States resembled that accorded to the Oswalds.[C6-300]

On the basis of all the foregoing evidence, the Commission concluded that there was no reason to believe that the Oswalds received unusually favorable treatment in being permitted to leave the Soviet Union.

Associations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Community

_The Russian-speaking community._--Shortly after his return from Russia in June 1962, Oswald and his family settled in Fort Worth, Tex., where they met a group of Russian-born or Russian-speaking persons in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.[C6-301] The members of this community were attracted to each other by common background, language, and culture. Many of them were well-educated, accomplished, and industrious people, several being connected with the oil exploration, production, and processing industry that flourishes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.[C6-302] As described more fully in chapter VII and in appendix XIII, many of these persons assisted the Oswalds in various ways. Some provided the Oswalds with gifts of such things as food, clothing, and baby furniture.[C6-303] Some arranged appointments and transportation for medical and dental treatment, and assumed the cost in some instances.[C6-304] When Oswald undertook to look for employment in Dallas in early October of 1962 and again when marital difficulties arose between the Oswalds in November of the same year, Marina Oswald and their child were housed at times in the homes of various members of the group.[C6-305] The Commission has examined the background of many of these individuals and has thoroughly investigated Oswald’s relationship with them.

There is no basis to suppose that Oswald came to Fort Worth upon his return from Russia for the purpose of establishing contacts with the Russian-speaking community located in that area. Oswald had spent several of his grammar-school years in Fort Worth.[C6-306] In 1962, his brother Robert lived in Fort Worth and his mother resided in nearby Vernon, Tex. In January of that year, Oswald indicated to American officials in Russia that he intended to stay with his mother upon his return to the United States; however, sometime after mid-February, he received an invitation to stay with Robert and his family until he became settled, and he did spend the first several weeks after his return at Robert’s home.[C6-307] In July, Oswald’s mother moved to Fort Worth and Oswald and his wife and child moved into an apartment with her.[C6-308] While in that apartment, Oswald located a job in Fort Worth and then rented and moved with his family into an apartment on Mercedes Street.[C6-309]

Upon his arrival in 1962, Oswald did not know any members of the relatively small and loosely knit Russian-speaking community.[C6-310] Shortly after his arrival Oswald obtained the name of two Russian-speaking persons in Fort Worth from the office of the Texas Employment Commission in that city.[C6-311] Attempts to arrange a prompt visit with one of them failed.[C6-312] The second person, Peter Paul Gregory, was a consulting petroleum engineer and part-time Russian-language instructor at the Fort Worth Public Library. Oswald contacted him in order to obtain a letter certifying to his proficiency in Russian and Marina Oswald later tutored his son in the Russian language.[C6-313] Gregory introduced the Oswalds to George Bouhe and Anna Meller, both of whom lived in Dallas and became interested in the welfare of Marina Oswald and her child.[C6-314] Through them, other members of the Russian community became acquainted with the Oswalds.[C6-315]

The Oswalds met some 30 persons in the Russian-speaking community, of whom 25 testified before the Commission or its staff; others were interviewed on behalf of the Commission.[C6-316] This range of testimony has disclosed that the relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and the Russian-speaking community was short lived and generally quite strained.[C6-317] During October and November of 1962 Marina Oswald lived at the homes of some of the members of the Russian-speaking community.[C6-318] She stayed first with Elena Hall while Oswald was looking for work in Dallas.[C6-319] In early November, Marina Oswald and the baby joined Oswald in Dallas, but soon thereafter, she spent approximately 2 weeks with different Russian-speaking friends during another separation.[C6-320] Oswald openly resented the help Marina’s “Russian friends” gave to him and his wife and the efforts of some of them to induce Marina to leave him.[C6-321] George Bouhe attempted to dissuade Marina from returning to her husband in November 1962, and when she rejoined him, Bouhe became displeased with her as well.[C6-322] Relations between the Oswalds and the members of the Russian community had practically ceased by the end of 1962. Katherine Ford, one of the members of the group, summed up the situation as it existed at the end of January 1963: “So it was rather, sort of, Marina and her husband were dropped at that time, nobody actually wanted to help. * * *”[C6-323]

In April of 1963, Oswald left Fort Worth for New Orleans, where he was later joined by his wife and daughter, and remained until his trip to Mexico City in late September and his subsequent return to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in early October of 1963.[C6-324] With only minor exceptions,[C6-325] there is no evidence that any member of the Russian-speaking community had further contact with Oswald or his family after April.[C6-326] In New Orleans, Oswald made no attempt to make new Russian-speaking acquaintances for his wife and there is no evidence that he developed any friendships in that city.[C6-327] Similarly, after the return from New Orleans, there seems to have been no communication between the Oswalds and this group until the evening of November 22, 1963, when the Dallas Police enlisted Ilya Mamantov to serve as an interpreter for them in their questioning of Marina Oswald.[C6-328]

George De Mohrenschildt and his wife, both of whom speak Russian as well as several other languages, however, did continue to see the Oswalds on occasion up to about the time Oswald went to New Orleans on April 24, 1963. De Mohrenschildt was apparently the only Russian-speaking person living in Dallas for whom Oswald had appreciable respect, and this seems to have been true even though De Mohrenschildt helped Marina Oswald leave her husband for a period in November of 1962.[C6-329]

In connection with the relations between Oswald and De Mohrenschildt, the Commission has considered testimony concerning an event which occurred shortly after Oswald shot at General Walker. The De Mohrenschildts came to Oswald’s apartment on Neely Street for the first time on the evening of April 13, 1963, apparently to bring an Easter gift for the Oswald child.[C6-330] Mrs. De Mohrenschildt testified that while Marina Oswald was showing her the apartment, she saw a rifle with a scope in a closet. Mrs. De Mohrenschildt then told her husband, in the presence of the Oswalds, that there was a rifle in the closet.[C6-331] Mrs. De Mohrenschildt testified that “George, of course, with his sense of humor--Walker was shot at a few days ago, within that time. He said, ‘Did you take a pot shot at Walker by any chance?’”[C6-332] At that point, Mr. De Mohrenschildt testified, Oswald “sort of shriveled, you see, when I asked this question. * * * made a peculiar face * * * [and] changed the expression on his face” and remarked that he did targetshooting.[C6-333] Marina Oswald testified that the De Mohrenschildts came to visit a few days after the Walker incident and that when De Mohrenschildt made his reference to Oswald’s possibly shooting at Walker, Oswald’s “face changed, * * * he almost became speechless.”[C6-334] According to the De Mohrenschildts, Mr. De Mohrenschildt’s remark was intended as a joke, and he had no knowledge of Oswald’s involvement in the attack on Walker.[C6-335] Nonetheless, the remark appears to have created an uncomfortable silence, and the De Mohrenschildts left “very soon afterwards.” They never saw either of the Oswalds again.[C6-336] They left in a few days on a trip to New York City and did not return until after Oswald had gone to New Orleans.[C6-337] A postcard from Oswald to De Mohrenschildt was apparently the only contact they had thereafter.[C6-338] The De Mohrenschildts left in early June for Haiti on a business venture, and they were still residing there at the time they testified on April 23, 1964.[C6-339]

Extensive investigation has been conducted into the background of both De Mohrenschildts.[C6-340] The investigation has revealed that George De Mohrenschildt is a highly individualistic person of varied interests. He was born in the Russian Ukraine in 1911 and fled Russia with his parents in 1921 during the civil disorder following the revolution. He was in a Polish cavalry military academy for 1½ years. Later he studied in Antwerp and attended the University of Liege from which he received a doctor’s degree in international commerce in 1928. Soon thereafter, he emigrated to the United States; he became a U.S. citizen in 1949.[C6-341] De Mohrenschildt eventually became interested in oil exploration and production; he entered the University of Texas in 1944 and received a master’s degree in petroleum geology and petroleum engineering in 1945.[C6-342] He has since become active as a petroleum engineer throughout the world.[C6-343] In 1960, after the death of his son, he and his wife made an 8-month hike from the United States-Mexican border to Panama over primitive jungle trails. By happenstance they were in Guatemala City at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion.[C6-344] A lengthy film and complete written log was prepared by De Mohrenschildt and a report of the trip was made to the U.S. Government.[C6-345] Upon arriving in Panama they journeyed to Haiti where De Mohrenschildt eventually became involved in a Government-oriented business venture in which he has been engaged continuously since June 1963 until the time of this report.[C6-346]

The members of the Dallas-Fort Worth Russian community and others have variously described De Mohrenschildt as eccentric, outspoken, and a strong believer in individual liberties and in the U.S. form of government, but also of the belief that some form of undemocratic government might be best for other peoples.[C6-347] De Mohrenschildt frankly admits his provocative personality.[C6-348]

Jeanne De Mohrenschildt was born in Harbin, China, of White Russian parents. She left during the war with Japan, coming to New York in 1938 where she became a successful ladies dress and sportswear apparel designer. She married her present husband in 1959.[C6-349]

The Commission’s investigation has developed no signs of subversive or disloyal conduct on the part of either of the De Mohrenschildts. Neither the FBI, CIA, nor any witness contacted by the Commission has provided any information linking the De Mohrenschildts to subversive or extremist organizations.[C6-350] Nor has there been any evidence linking them in any way with the assassination of President Kennedy.

The Commission has also considered closely the relations between the Oswalds and Michael and Ruth Paine of Irving, Tex. The Paines were not part of the Russian community which has been discussed above. Ruth Paine speaks Russian, however, and for this reason was invited to a party in February of 1963 at which she became acquainted with the Oswalds.[C6-351] The host had met the Oswalds through the De Mohrenschildts.[C6-352] Marina Oswald and Ruth Paine subsequently became quite friendly, and Mrs. Paine provided considerable assistance to the Oswalds.[C6-353] Marina Oswald and her child resided with Ruth Paine for a little over 2 weeks while Oswald sought a job in New Orleans in late April and early May 1963.[C6-354] In May, she transported Marina Oswald to New Orleans, paying all of the traveling and other expenses.[C6-355] While the Oswalds were in New Orleans, the two women corresponded.[C6-356] Mrs. Paine came to New Orleans in late September and took Marina Oswald and her child to her home in Irving.[C6-357]

Since Oswald left for Mexico City promptly after Mrs. Paine and his family departed New Orleans,[C6-358] the Commission has considered whether Ruth Paine’s trip to New Orleans was undertaken to assist Oswald in this venture, but the evidence is clear that it was not. In her letters to Ruth Paine during the summer of 1963, Marina Oswald confided that she was having continuing difficulties with her husband, and Mrs. Paine urged Marina Oswald to live with her in Irving; the letters of the two women prior to Mrs. Paine’s arrival in New Orleans on September 20, 1963, however, contain no mention that Oswald was planning a trip to Mexico City or elsewhere.[C6-359] In New Orleans, Mrs. Paine was told by Oswald that he planned to seek employment in Houston, or perhaps Philadelphia. Though Marina Oswald knew this to be false, she testified that she joined in this deception.[C6-360] At no time during the entire weekend was Mexico City mentioned.[C6-361] Corroboration for this testimony is found in a letter Mrs. Paine wrote her mother shortly after she and Marina Oswald had returned to Irving on September 24, in which she stated that Marina Oswald was again living with her temporarily and that Oswald was job-hunting.[C6-362] When Oswald arrived at the Paine home on October 4, he continued his deception by telling Mrs. Paine, in his wife’s presence, that he had been unsuccessful in finding employment.[C6-363] At Oswald’s request, Marina Oswald remained silent.[C6-364]

Marina Oswald lived with Ruth Paine through the birth of her second daughter on October 20, 1963, and until the assassination of President Kennedy.[C6-365] During this period, Oswald obtained a room in Dallas and found employment in Dallas, but spent weekends with his family at the Paine home.[C6-366] On November 1 and 5, Ruth Paine was interviewed by agents of the FBI who were investigating Oswald’s activities since his return from the Soviet Union, as set forth in greater detail in chapter VIII. She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367] She was not asked for, nor did she volunteer, Oswald’s telephone number in Dallas, which she did know.[C6-368] She advised the Bureau agent to whom she spoke of Oswald’s periodic weekend visits, and she informed him that Oswald was employed at the Texas School Book Depository Building.[C6-369]