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

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Redlich. Do you know why it has not been sent?

Mr. Martin. She decided that it was best not to be sent unless she actually thought that Ruby was going to get the death penalty. Actually a letter like that should go to the Governor of the State.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Martin, do you have any additional information concerning the assassination of President Kennedy, Marina Oswald, or the assassination of her husband Lee Harvey Oswald which you would like to present before this Commission at this time?

Mr. Martin. No, I don't think so. Nothing.

Mr. Redlich. If it would be helpful for the work of this Commission for you to return to Washington and appear again before this Commission, would you be willing to do so?

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions of this witness, unless Mr. Rankin does or you do.

Mr. Dulles. I would just like to ask a question about this letter I am just glancing over. Where did this letter paper come from? Is that some personal paper with a tree on it?

Mr. Martin. Yes. I bought that.

Mr. Dulles. You bought it for her?

Mr. Martin. At a drug store, yes, sir, at a drug store in Arlington.

Mr. Dulles. Is this another draft or is this just a copy?

Mr. Martin. This is the original of the copy.

Mr. Redlich. We have photographed what is now Commission Exhibit No. 333 and we are keeping the photostat. Mr. Martin, you will recall that at the start of today's proceedings Chief Justice Warren read into the record a copy of the letter which you received requesting certain notes, records, documents in connection with today's hearing. Have you made available to the Commission all of the material which was requested in that letter?

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir; I went through everything I had at home, and could find nothing else.

Mr. Redlich. If you should find anything else which you inadvertently failed to bring before this Commission, will you mail it to us for examination and we will return it to you.

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir; there is a Worker that I have.

Mr. Redlich. You mean by Worker the Daily Worker?

Mr. Martin. Yes. I think they dropped the "Daily."

Mr. Dulles. They are no longer daily.

Mr. Martin. It is called the Worker now. It has quite a lengthy article about Marina in it, and I will send that to you.

Mr. Redlich. And you will send anything that you may come across which you may have inadvertently failed to produce before this Commission?

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir.

Mr. Redlich. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Dulles. There were some questions that Senator Cooper had suggested. I don't know, have you looked those over? Have they been covered?

Mr. Rankin. Yes.

Mr. Redlich. Those have been covered.

Mr. Dulles. All been covered?

Mr. Redlich. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. Did Marina ever express to you her opinion as to the guilt or innocence of her husband in connection with the assassination of the President?

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. What did she say?

Mr. Martin. She believes he was guilty. She believes he did it, and the first time she said it I questioned her as to why she thought he did it, and she said she just felt it. It was a woman's intuition. She didn't know the word intuition at that time. I had to look it up in the Russian-English Dictionary.

Mr. Dulles. Did she indicate any view as to whether he did it alone or had an accomplice or accomplices?

Mr. Martin. She remarked about the Walker incident, that that was definitely done alone, and that he always was alone. He never did anything with anyone else. I don't recall that she mentioned that specifically in the case of the assassination of the President. But she had made that remark before or during the interim about Walker.

Mr. Dulles. Did she ever at any time express to you any interest in returning to the Soviet Union or her desire to stay in the United States?

Mr. Martin. Well, she has always said that she wanted to stay in the United States. One time she said that she thought she would go back to Russia, and I asked her why and she said, well, she was just joking.

Mr. Dulles. Did she ever refer to you any letters she wrote to the Soviet Embassy with regard to a desire to return?

Mr. Martin. No. There was only one incident that she told me about was a letter to a friend in Russia.

Mr. Dulles. You mentioned that I think.

Mr. Martin. Yes.

Mr. Dulles. The one that she didn't put enough stamps on, enough postage on.

Mr. Martin. Yes, it came back "insufficient postage."

Mr. Dulles. Did she ever mention to you any names of any friends or associates of her husband that had not been discussed here at one time or another in this testimony, including the list of names that was read out to you?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Dulles. Do you know any other friends that Marina has other than those that have been discussed in this testimony?

Mr. Martin. No. I was trying to think a while ago about that, and I can't think of anyone else.

Mr. Dulles. That is all I have.

Mr. Redlich. Mr. Leech, would you like to ask Mr. Martin any questions at this time?

Mr. Leech. Not a word.

Mr. Dulles. Mr. Rhyne? Mr. Rankin, have you any further questions?

Mr. Rankin. Mr. Chairman, I merely wish to thank him for appearing voluntarily.

Mr. Dulles. I do thank you for coming and responding so fully to our questions.

Mr. Martin. Anything I can do.

Mr. Dulles. And if anything occurs to you or to your counsel as sometimes happens later, we will be very glad if you or your counsel will bring it to our attention.

Mr. Martin. Yes, sir; I certainly will.

Mr. Redlich. May I before we adjourn ask another question?

Mr. Dulles. Certainly.

Mr. Redlich. Have you ever discussed with Mrs. Marguerite Oswald the question of the guilt or innocence of Lee Harvey Oswald?

Mr. Martin. No. The only time I was in contact with Marguerite Oswald was at the Inn of the Six Flags in Arlington, Tex., and I don't believe I really discussed anything with her. I was more on the sidelines and didn't enter into any discussions with her at all.

Mr. Redlich. And have you discussed with Robert Oswald the question of the guilt or innocence of Lee Harvey Oswald?

Mr. Martin. Yes. Let's see, on one occasion the article by Mark Lane, I think it was in the National Observer, was printed in the National Observer, and I called Robert's attention to that. I believe he cited 15 points where he believed that Lee Oswald was innocent, and I remarked to Robert that in nearly 100 percent of those points they were just completely out of line. The brief I believe was taken from newspaper accounts, from various newspaper accounts of the assassination, and a number of them contradicted each other.

Mr. Redlich. Did Robert Oswald comment on this?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Redlich. For the record I believe the publication you are referring to is the National Guardian.

Mr. Martin. The National Guardian, yes.

Mr. Redlich. Is that your recollection now?

Mr. Martin. Yes, National Guardian.

Mr. Redlich. And Robert Oswald had no comment on this?

Mr. Martin. No.

Mr. Redlich. We have no further questions.

Mr. Dulles. The Commission will stand adjourned, subject to call.

(Whereupon, at 10:20 p.m., the President's Commission recessed.)

Table of Contents

The President's Commission met at 2:30 p.m., on March 4, 1964, at 200 Maryland Avenue NE., Washington, D.C.

Present were Chief Justice Earl Warren, Chairman; Senator John Sherman Cooper and Representative Gerald R. Ford, members.

Also present were J. Lee Rankin, general counsel; Norman Redlich, assistant counsel; Charles Murray and Charles Rhyne, assistants to Walter E. Craig.