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

They came out to John Thorne's office and we sat and talked. They were of the opinion—what they were trying to do was find out who else was involved—this was right after the announcement was made in the paper about Lee Oswald shooting at Walker. They were trying to find out who else was involved because General Walker is still in fear of his life.

Mr. Dulles. This was some time before the 22d.

Mr. Martin. No, it was after.

Mr. Dulles. After November 22?

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir. This was after the announcement was made in the paper that——

Mr. Dulles. Oh, yes.

Mr. Martin. That Lee Oswald had attacked him.

Mr. Dulles. The actual attack was in April. This was after the newspaper announcement.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

The Chairman. After the newspaper announcements that Lee had tried to kill him which was after the assassination?

Mr. Martin. That is correct.

Mr. Dulles. Yes.

Mr. Martin. And they just wanted verification actually that or to try to get verification as to how many people were involved, and we told them that there was just one person involved.

Mr. Redlich. At the time did you ask Marina about this?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. And this is what she told you?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. The persons involved in the Walker incident?

Mr. Martin. Yes. She said that Lee did it alone without any help. There was no one with him.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Martin, I have at this time no further questions other than those which may be suggested by a perusal of the records which you have forwarded to this Commission.

As we indicated in the brief recess earlier, Mr. Dulles is able to be here at 9 o'clock this evening, and I would envisage then a very brief session at which time your testimony would be completed.

Mr. Martin. All right.

Mr. Redlich. Are there any questions that anyone would like to ask of Mr. Martin at this time?

The Chairman. Would you like to ask your client any questions?

Mr. Leech. No. I am not going to make that mistake.

(Laughter.)

The Chairman. All right.

Mr. Dulles. I have no questions. I will reserve them for tonight. I don't think I have any further questions.

The Chairman. Mr. Rhyne, do you have any questions you would like to ask. Mr. Rankin, are you through for the day?

Mr. Rankin. Until 9 o'clock.

The Chairman. Well then, gentlemen, we will adjourn until 9 o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 5:15 p.m., the President's Commission recessed.)

Table of Contents

The President's Commission reconvened at 9:20 p.m.

Mr. Dulles. The Committee will come to order.

Will you continue with the testimony?

Mr. Redlich. Thank you, Mr. Dulles.

Mr. Martin, at our last session I asked you whether you knew Jack Ruby, and you replied that you did. You indicated the brief contact that you have had with him and the two times, I believe, that you have been to his business establishment?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Apart from your own personal contact with Jack Ruby, do you have any other information about him and his activities which you would like to present before this Commission?

Mr. Martin. No, nothing that I definitely know about him. It is just he is a city character. He is very friendly to everyone.

Mr. Redlich. Please understand I am not asking you for rumors or that type of thing.

Mr. Martin. No, I know. Well, just what I know of him, he seems very friendly to everyone, and he is always around. You are liable to see him anywhere.

Mr. Redlich. Has he ever been to the motel that you have?

Mr. Martin. Yes, I mentioned that.

Mr. Redlich. Oh, yes.

Mr. Martin. He brought that twist board out there one time.

Mr. Redlich. Never been there as a guest?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Redlich. I hand you a copy of an invoice for a Revere recorder and a 1,200-foot reel of recording tape, and ask you if you have ever seen this?

Mr. Martin. Yes. That is a tape recorder that I rented and recorded the——

Mr. Redlich. I will ask you about it shortly. I would just like to know if you are familiar with it.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Chairman, I am marking this as Commission Exhibit No. 332, and ask that it be admitted in evidence.

Mr. Dulles. Any objection?

Mr. Leech. No, sir.

Mr. Dulles. It may be admitted.

(The tape recorder and tape invoice referred to were marked Commission's Exhibit No. 332 for identification and received in evidence.)

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Martin, I hand you Commission Exhibit No. 332, and ask you to tell the Commission the conditions under which this invoice arose?

Mr. Martin. We had Marina's manuscript interpreted by Ilya Mamantov, and this was part of it. He was only able to interpret about half of it.

Mr. Redlich. He interpreted it and put it on tape?

Mr. Martin. And we recorded that on tape as he interpreted it.

Mr. Dulles. How do you mean interpreted?

Mr. Martin. He read it in English?

Mr. Dulles. Oh, I see, translated it.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. From Russian into English?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. When I asked you this afternoon about your knowledge as to the accuracy of that story, I take it your reply was based upon this translation?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. And this only encompasses about half of the entire story, is that right?

Mr. Martin. It is more than half, it is about 15 pages, I guess.

Mr. Redlich. Did she consult with you at all in the preparation of that story?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Redlich. And there is nothing on this tape other than the English translation of that Russian story?

Mr. Martin. That is true.

Mr. Dulles. Do we have that translation as well as the copy of the original?

Mr. Redlich. Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have the original in Russian and then it was translated by Mr. Gopadze, of the Secret Service.

Mr. Martin. Actually our translation is very poor. He was not able to translate properly into English a lot of the phrases.

Mr. Dulles. Who is "he," Illa? Isn't that Ilya, by the way?

Mr. Martin. I am not sure.

Mr. Dulles. That is generally the Russian, I don't know.

Mr. Rankin. That is right.

Mr. Martin. It might be.

Mr. Dulles. Yes.

Mr. Martin. But he is professor at SMU. He has a list of titles that long. He is very well thought of. I think he works for Sun Oil Company, and is a well-respected individual. His wife and his mother, I believe, teach Russian also. I think his mother taught Mrs. Paine a good deal of her Russian.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Martin, I would like to show you Commission Exhibit No. 325 which was introduced earlier today. Mr. Leech, I believe you have a photostat of this. If you could hand it to me during the course of this questioning. I would appreciate it.

Mr. Leech. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Thank you.

Could you tell the Commission what this document purports to state, and then I will ask you about individual items.

Mr. Martin. These are contracts that we have made both in writing and verbally for Marina Oswald's right, her story rights.

Mr. Redlich. And the first item appearing on Commission Exhibit No. 325 is a contract with Texitalia Films.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Would you describe the terms and conditions of that contract?

Mr. Martin. Texitalia Films is planning a 60-minute technicolor documentary to start. They will pay $75,000 for World-Wide movie and the TV rights.

Mr. Dulles. Excuse me, is this a documentary of Marina's life?

Mr. Martin. Yes. Any movie or television appearances Marina would be paid $7,500 plus expenses for each appearance. Then for each personal appearance, for instance, the film opens in St. Louis on such and such a date and they would like for her to be there to make a personal appearance for the showing, the opening of the film, she would receive $1,500 plus expenses for each public appearance of that nature.