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

Mr. Jenner. Did the State Department or any agency of the United States, get in touch with you with respect to your supplying funds or the possibility of your supplying funds to your brother while he was still in Russia for the purpose of financing his return to the United States?

Mr. Oswald. No, sir; they did not.

Mr. Jenner. Did any agency of the United States or any public body located in New York City get in touch with you with respect to supplying him funds for his transportation from New York City to Fort Worth?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, they did.

Mr. Jenner. Was that the initial request or knowledge to you that you received that funds were necessary, or would be needed for that purpose?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, that is correct.

Mr. Jenner. Do you remember the name of the agency? Was it the one that you identified yesterday?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, it was.

Mr. Jenner. All right.

In his letter of November 30, 1961, he makes a request for a football.

Did you send the football to him?

Mr. Oswald. No, sir, I did not.

Mr. Jenner. In the letter of December 14, 1961, which is Commission Exhibit No. 311, he makes a reference to the fact that he had not received any letter with "certain" questions. Apparently questions that you had put to him.

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.

Mr. Jenner. Do you have that letter?

Mr. Oswald. The letter of July 14?

Mr. Jenner. No, this is December 14.

Mr. Oswald. Pardon me.

Mr. Jenner. That is Commission Exhibit 311. It is two pages.

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, I have the letter.

Mr. Jenner. Does that refresh your recollection as to some letter you had written him prior thereto?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, I do.

Mr. Jenner. Will you state what the letter was and whether it was in response to an earlier letter?

Mr. Oswald. No, sir, it was not in response—it was a response to an earlier letter from Lee. I did in an effort to determine whether or not all my letters——

Mr. Jenner. The last prior letter was the letter of November 30, 1961, Commission Exhibit 308, and then immediately prior to that was the letter of November 1, 1961, Commission Exhibit 309.

Mr. Oswald. In reference to the question regarding that letter of December 14, 1961, at which time he stated "I did not receive any letter with 'certain' questions."

I did write him a letter at which time I recall raising two political type questions to see whether or not he would receive——

Mr. Jenner. He would respond?

Mr. Oswald. Sir?

Mr. Jenner. To see whether he would respond, did you say?

Mr. Oswald. To see whether or not he would receive the letter itself.

Mr. Jenner. I am sorry, I thought you said to receive.

Mr. Oswald. I believe, sir; if my memory serves me correct in some earlier letters he refers there to some Russian censors he felt like were censoring his mail and my mail also and I wanted to find out in my own way whether this was so or not.

I might say that was the only time I attempted to raise any type of political questions in my response to any of his letters or any other letters that I sent him, because I did want the letters to go through rather than be destroyed or not received by him.

Mr. Jenner. We can draw our own inference as to whether he received your letter.

Was there any discussion of the subject after return to the United States, that is, the subject whether he had received your letter?

Mr. Oswald. Not to my recollection, sir.

Mr. Jenner. Did you have any discussion with your brother on the subject of his undesirable discharge after he returned to the United States?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I did.

Mr. Jenner. And when was that? Was it more than one occasion?

Mr. Oswald. I believe, sir, only on one occasion did we discuss that matter.

Mr. Jenner. When was that? Where was it?

Mr. Oswald. Approximately June 1962 at my home in Fort Worth, Tex.

Mr. Jenner. Who was present?

Mr. Oswald. I believe just Lee and I were present in this one room which was the living room of our home.

Mr. Jenner. In your home?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.

Mr. Jenner. What did he say?

Mr. Oswald. He said he wanted to go down the next day to the Marine Corps office in Fort Worth, Tex., and discuss with them and perhaps find out what action he needed to take to have this corrected to an honorable discharge.

Mr. Jenner. What did you say?

Mr. Oswald. My reply to him on that was that I thought that that was a good idea and that he might raise the question at the Marine Corps office in Fort Worth, Tex., if I could be of some assistance in writing the Marine Corps office directly on behalf of him. I do not recall if he made this trip to the Marine Corps office. I do not recall any further conversation in reference to his dishonorable discharge.

Mr. Jenner. Would you turn your attention now to the letter of May 22, 1962, shortly before he returned to the United States?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.

Mr. Jenner. Commission Exhibit 318.

As I recall that letter, he refers to some things that you had said when he departed for Russia. Do you find that portion of the letter?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I do.

Mr. Jenner. Would you read it aloud, please, just that portion?

Mr. McKenzie. May I interrupt you at this point, Mr. Jenner?

Please, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Dulles. Certainly, proceed.

Mr. McKenzie. The two letters of November 8 and November 26 which we should make copies of for the purposes of the record, if you will pull them out of your file there I will—do you want to take the originals?

Mr. Jenner. That will be the best way of doing it.

Mr. McKenzie. Except that yours are already marked with the exhibit number. I have no objection.

I will find out who I should see about making these.

Mr. Jenner. Why do you not make them on the Xerox machine?

I had asked you to read that portion of the letter so we can place the matter in context.

Mr. Oswald. "I know what was said about me when I left the United States as Mother sent me clippings from the newspapers. However, I realize it was just the shock of the news which made you say all those things. However, I will just remind you again not to make any statement or comments if you are approached by the newspapers between now and the time we actually arrive in the United States."

Mr. Jenner. Is he referring then to things that were reported in the newspaper clippings that you said or is he referring to something you said to him before he departed for Russia, or is he referring to something you said in a letter you may have written him when he was in Russia?

Mr. Oswald. He is referring, sir, to the clippings of newspapers that mother had sent him containing reportedly my statements to the newspapers at the time we were advised on October 31, 1959 that Lee was in Russia.

Mr. Jenner. Did you have occasion to make any comments to newspaper reporters when it became known that he was about to return to the United States?

Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I did.

Mr. Jenner. And did those come to your brother's attention?

Mr. Oswald. No, sir; they did not.

Mr. Jenner. Did you ever discuss them or he with you?

Mr. Oswald. When the newspaper reporters contacted me prior to his arrival in New York City, I did not divulge my knowledge of his departure as per this letter of May 22, 1962, the approximate date he would be in the United States. I did not give them any indication whatsoever at that time that he was leaving the Soviet Union.

Mr. Jenner. Did you ever respond to that particular letter?

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

Mr. Dulles. May I ask a question here?

You indicated that your brother was disappointed when he arrived at Love Airfield and the newspapermen were not there when he came back from Russia.