President's Commission on the Assassination of - The Warren Commission (Complete Edition)

I am familiar with Marina N. Oswald's signature, and this is a copy of her signature, or is her signature. I am not familiar with Mr. Martin's signature or Mr. Thorne's signature.

Mr. Jenner. Directing your attention to that document, Mr. Oswald, are you familiar with any of the signatures it bears?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I am.

Mr. Jenner. Would you identify each signature and indicate those with which you are familiar?

Mr. Oswald. As they appear in order, the first signature is Mrs. Marina N. Oswald. I am familiar with this signature.

The second signature is Mr. James H. Martin. I am familiar with his signature.

Mr. Jenner. It is his signature?

Mr. Oswald. I would say yes, it is.

Mr. Jenner. All right.

Mr. Dulles. Is that under "Accepted"—is that first word there "John"?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir. And the last signature as appears on this Exhibit 279 is the signature of John M. Thorne.

Mr. Jenner. Do you know the day upon which that document was executed? It bears a date of December 5, which is a Thursday.

Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I do not.

Pardon me—the 5th day of December is the date purported—that this document was executed at. I am not familiar that it was executed on that date.

Mr. Jenner. Are you familiar with the date when it was in fact executed?

Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I am not. I might further state I was not present when this document was signed, and I was not aware of this document until Thursday, February 13th.

Mr. Jenner. 19——

Mr. Oswald. 1964.

Mr. Jenner. May I inquire of you, Mr. McKenzie, whether you have seen the original of the document of which this purports to be a Xerox copy?

Mr. McKenzie. I have not, sir. But I have seen a duplicate copy, an original copy.

Mr. Jenner. A duplicate executed copy?

Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir.

Mr. Jenner. That was furnished to you by whom?

Mr. McKenzie. By Marina N. Oswald.

Mr. Jenner. And this is a photostatic copy of what, with respect to an original, carbon copy or otherwise?

Mr. McKenzie. It is a photocopy of a carbon copy.

Mr. Jenner. And have you personally seen the carbon copy of which this is a photo?

Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir; I have.

Mr. Jenner. And is the document now identified as Commission Exhibit No. 279 in the same condition now as it was when you first saw it?

Mr. McKenzie. Exactly.

Mr. Jenner. And to the best of your recollection, is it a duplicate of the original?

Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir.

The next exhibit is Commission Exhibit No. 280 entitled "The Oswald Trust," and bearing a heading, "The State of Texas, County of Dallas, Know all men by these presents," and it is a trust agreement dated December 30, 1963, by and between Marina Nikolaevna Oswald "a widow, hereinafter called grantor, and John M. Thorne and James H. Martin of Dallas County, Texas, co-trustees, hereinafter called the trustee" in which it describes certain funds described on Schedule A attached to this exhibit, which consists of some six pages, plus the Schedule A, Schedule A describing the trust funds as cash, $25,000. And I might add, in my opinion, Mr. Jenner, for whatever it may be worth, that this trust grants to John Thorne and James Martin purportedly grants unto those two men as co-trustees absolute discretion as to the distribution of the trust funds.

In fact, on page 2 it says, "as the trustee shall in either case in its uncontrolled discretion deem advisable."

Mr. Dulles. Who is the beneficiary of this trust?

Mr. McKenzie. Marina Oswald and her children, in the discretion of John Thorne and James Martin.

Representative Ford. Is that $25,000 the same $25,000 referred to in a previous exhibit?

Mr. McKenzie. Mr. Ford, I presume so. But that is only a presumption on my part. I do not know.

I might further add, for the benefit of counsel and the Commission, that Marina Oswald has informed me, and I think Robert Oswald can testify as to this, which I leave to your discretion, that at no time have these, up until February 14—have these——

Mr. Jenner. 1964?

Mr. McKenzie. 1964—have these exhibits, numbered consecutively from 276 through 280, been read to her in Russian. And at the time of execution, they were not interpreted, nor did they show of the contents—what the contents were, except as explained to her in English.

Mr. Jenner. Mr. McKenzie, the document is identified as Commission Exhibit No. 280, directing your attention to page 5, has blanks for signatures, and names of grantor and co-trustees under those lines.

Could I ask you whether you have seen the original of this document?

Mr. McKenzie. I have not, sir. I have seen a copy.

Mr. Jenner. An executed copy?

Mr. McKenzie. To the best of my recollection, it was an executed copy, yes, sir.

Mr. Jenner. And from what source did you obtain or was the document exhibited to you?

Mr. McKenzie. The document was given to me by Marina Oswald.

Mr. Jenner. And you observed that it was executed?

Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir.

Mr. Jenner. By the persons whose names appear on page 5 of the Exhibit 280?

Mr. McKenzie. Yes, sir.

I have made these exhibits available to the Commission for whatever purpose they may serve the Commission, and for no other purpose.

Mr. Dulles. Yes. I think we might want to reserve on that until the whole Commission can get together. We want to examine everything within the mandate we have been given by the President. We don't want to go afield, quite naturally. And we cannot tell at this stage what bearing these particular papers might have. So I think I would like to reserve judgment on these.

Mr. McKenzie. Well, Mr. Dulles, I made that statement in view of that fact. I felt that that would be true.

Mr. Jenner. Mr. McKenzie, for the purpose of our record, would you be offended if we had you sworn, so you could then state that the statements you have made to the Commission are true and correct?

Mr. McKenzie. I would not be offended in any way.

Mr. Dulles. Do you, Mr. McKenzie, swear that what you have stated, is the full truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. McKenzie. I do, Mr. Dulles.

Mr. Jenner. Mr. Chairman, I offer in evidence as Commission Exhibits 276 through 280, inclusive, the documents that have been so identified.

Mr. Dulles. They may be accepted.

(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibits Nos. 276 through 280, inclusive, for identification, and received in evidence.)

Mr. Dulles. I wish to state, in accepting these documents, the Commission does not want to pass on or assume any responsibility with respect to the financial or other arrangements described in these documents.

Mr. Jenner. I sought to identify them, Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen, and to tender them in evidence because of events of the past few days, and to confirm Mr. McKenzie's authority to speak on behalf of Mr. Oswald.

Mr. Dulles. Very well.

Mr. Jenner. At the recess, Mr. Oswald, we were dealing with—excuse me.

We were dealing with the period of time that you and your mother and your two brothers lived in Benbrook, Tex. This brought us through the summer of 1948, I believe.

Am I correct?

Mr. Oswald. That is correct, sir.

Mr. Jenner. Mr. Liebeler has determined that the divorce of Mr. Ekdahl and your mother took place in 1948. We cannot give you the month and the day in 1948, but it was during the year 1948.

We had reached the point in which you related to us that, I believe, following the divorce of Mr. Ekdahl and your mother, she purchased a small home.

Mr. Oswald. That is correct.

Mr. Jenner. And refresh my recollection, please—was that in Benbrook, Tex.?

Mr. Oswald. That was in Benbrook, Tex.

Mr. Jenner. Have we reached a point now at which your brother, Lee, had entered elementary school?