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

Mr. Redlich. You mean incognito or incommunicado?

Mr. Martin. Incommunicado.

Representative Ford. Press releases by whom?

Mr. Martin. The Civil Liberties Union, and so they sent this letter to her and she answered it with a two-page letter in Russian.

Representative Ford. In Russian?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Do you have a copy of that two-page letter?

Mr. Martin. No. She wrote it, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and I mailed it. I didn't open it or look in it in any way. And that seemed to be the end of it, but they still persisted they wanted to see her.

Mr. Redlich. And the reason Marina did not see them was entirely her own volition?

Mr. Martin. Her own.

Mr. Dulles. She never talked to you about what was in the letter?

Mr. Martin. No, she said she just told them she didn't want to see them.

Mr. Dulles. In two pages?

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir; This was quoted, a portion of the letter was quoted, in the Worker.

Representative Ford. I suggest, Mr. Chairman, that we get, if possible, a copy of the original of that letter.

Mr. Martin. You probably can get it from Greg Olds.

Mr. Dulles. Would you make a note of that. I think we should do that.

That was dated sometime in the middle of January?

Mr. Martin. I believe so. The letter you have—she wadded the letter up that was written to her in Russian and threw it away, and I got it back out, and asked her to go ahead and write them a letter so it would quiet them. So she said she would and she wrote a letter, I think, that night, so it would be within a couple of days of the date of that letter, the English copy of which you have.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Chairman, if you would like, we could take a 3- or 4-minute recess and I could get the American Civil Liberties Union letter to Marina Oswald and introduce it at this time for the sake of clarity in the record.

Mr. Dulles. Good. It is a good time for a breather.

(Short recess.)

The Chairman. All right, gentlemen, the Commission will be in order.

You are familiar with, Mr. Dulles, you are familiar with, the hearing up to date. You go right ahead and preside, if you will.

Mr. Dulles. Mr. Redlich will you go right ahead with your questions?

Mr. Redlich. I believe Congressman Ford, you said you wanted to ask your questions prior to your leaving.

Representative Ford. Do you wish to have that letter entered as an exhibit at this point before I ask several questions?

Mr. Redlich. The witness has produced before this Commission a letter which I now mark Commission Exhibit No. 331 on the Dallas Civil Liberties Union stationery, addressed to Mr. John Thorne, James Martin, Mr. Sorrels, Secret Service, Mrs. Lee H. Oswald, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I ask that it be introduced in evidence.

Mr. Dulles. Any objection?

Mr. Leech. No.

Mr. Dulles. It will be introduced.

(The letter referred to was marked for identification as Commission Exhibit No. 331 and received in evidence.)

The Chairman. Have you seen it?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Chief Justice, we have introduced that because just prior to the recess we were discussing it and Congressman Ford indicated he had to leave I believe and I wanted to ask some questions.

The Chairman. Go ahead.

Mr. Dulles. Could I ask one question on this letter for clarification? It is my understanding it is your belief that Mrs. Oswald received a copy of this letter in Russian?

Mr. Martin. Well, she received a letter on this letterhead written in Russian. Now whether it was an exact copy, I don't know.

Mr. Dulles. About the length of this letter as far as you could tell?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. At about the same time?

Mr. Martin. Yes, it was the same day.

Mr. Dulles. That was the letter she crumpled up and put in the wastepaper basket?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. But you retrieved it from the wastepaper basket, did you not say?

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir, and asked her to answer it.

Mr. Dulles. Where is that copy that you retrieved from the wastepaper basket?

Mr. Martin. I don't know.

Mr. Dulles. Maybe reassigned to the wastepaper basket?

Mr. Martin. It may have been, yes.

Representative Ford. I believe that was the letter that Mr. Redlich indicated he would get a copy from the Dallas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Martin. Her answer is what he wanted to get.

Mr. Redlich. I think Congressman Ford is right. We might be able to get both a copy of the letter and their answer.

Mr. Dulles. Their statement in this letter is the English of the Russian translation which they sent to her. I think it would be adequate, wouldn't it?

Mr. Redlich. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. It seems to me it would be adequate for our purposes.

Mr. Redlich. We will contact the Dallas Division on that.

Representative Ford. Marina testified here, and she has said elsewhere, that based on the facts as she now knows them, she believes that Lee was guilty of the assassination of President Kennedy.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Representative Ford. Was that her attitude when you first met her?

Mr. Martin. Well, when I first met her, we didn't converse very well at all. There was lack of communication because of the language barrier, and I didn't discuss it with her probably until the latter part of December, although she was speaking fairly good English by the 15th of December.

Representative Ford. When you first discussed it with her, what was her attitude?

Mr. Martin. Well, she said she thought he was crazy.

Representative Ford. But did she indicate when you first discussed the question of guilt or not being guilty, what was her attitude?

Mr. Martin. She thought he was guilty.

Representative Ford. The first time you discussed the matter?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Representative Ford. Did she indicate why?

Mr. Martin. No. I asked her why, and she said it was just a feeling.

Representative Ford. At that point had she——

Mr. Martin. A woman's feeling.

Representative Ford. At that point had she been given or shown the evidence that had been accumulated by various agencies of the Federal Government?

Mr. Martin. I don't know. I assume she had through the FBI. The FBI were showing her pictures and numerous things. I was not in on any of the questioning at all.

Mr. Dulles. Had she read the papers or had them read to her as far as you know at that period?

Mr. Martin. Some of them, yes.

Mr. Dulles. Newspapers, I mean.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Representative Ford. From that first conversation you had with her about this matter, the guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald, she has never changed her mind?

Mr. Martin. No, and I have never heard her say anything other than he was guilty.

Representative Ford. Did you ever discuss with Marina the conversation she had with Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas police station the day he was apprehended or the day following. Or at any time prior to his death?

Mr. Martin. The only time she said anything about it was that he told her not to worry and to make sure and get the—get June a pair of shoes.

Representative Ford. She told you that is what he said to her?

Mr. Martin. That is what he said, yes.

Representative Ford. There was nothing extraordinary that she told you about the conversation?

Mr. Martin. No, sir.

Representative Ford. Other than what you have indicated?

Mr. Martin. Yes. He said not to worry. Everything would be all right.

Representative Ford. Did you ever ask her about this conversation that she had with Lee Harvey Oswald while he was at the Dallas police station?

Mr. Martin. No.

Representative Ford. As her manager, as the manager of Marina, did you have anything to do with the change of her appearance? Many people have said to me the first picture they saw of her and the subsequent pictures they saw of her she was wearing different kind of clothes. She had a different hair-do, and so forth. Did you have anything to do with that?