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

Mr. Rankin. And by "him" who did you mean?

Mrs. Oswald. Lee Harvey Oswald.

Mr. Rankin. Did you have any assistance in preparing this document in Russian?

Mrs. Oswald. No, no one.

Mr. Rankin. Are all the statements in that document true insofar as you know?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. Since your husband's death and even back to the time of the assassination of President Kennedy, you have had a number of interviews with people from the Secret Service and the FBI, have you not?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes, I did.

Mr. Rankin. We have a record of more than 46 such interviews, and I assume you cannot remember the exact number or all that was said in those interviews, is that true?

Mrs. Oswald. I don't know how many there were.

Mr. Rankin. As far as you can recall now, do you know of anything that is not true in those interviews that you would like to correct or add to?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes, I would like to correct some things because not everything was true.

Mr. Rankin. Will you tell us——

Mrs. Oswald. It is not just that it wasn't true, but not quite exact.

Mr. Rankin. Do you recall some of the information that you gave in those interviews that was incorrect that you would like to correct now? Will you tell us that?

Mrs. Oswald. At the present time, I can't remember any specific instance, but perhaps in the course of your questioning if it comes up I will say so.

Mr. Rankin. Do you recall the date that you arrived in the United States with your husband, Lee Harvey Oswald?

Mrs. Oswald. On the 13th of June, 1962—I am not quite certain as to the year—'61 or '62, I think '62.

Mr. Rankin. How did you come to this country?

Mrs. Oswald. From Moscow via Poland, Germany, and Holland we came to Amsterdam by train. And from Amsterdam to New York by ship, and New York to Dallas by air.

Mr. Rankin. Do you recall the name of the ship on which you came?

Mrs. Oswald. I think it was the SS Rotterdam but I am not sure.

Mr. Rankin. What time of the day did you arrive in New York?

Mrs. Oswald. It was—about noon or 1 p.m., thereabouts. It is hard to remember the exact time.

Mr. Rankin. How long did you stay in New York at that time?

Mrs. Oswald. We stayed that evening and the next 24 hours in a hotel in New York, and then we left the following day by air.

Mr. Rankin. Do you recall the name of the hotel where you stayed?

Mrs. Oswald. I don't know the name of the hotel but it is in the Times Square area, not far from the publishing offices of the New York Times.

Mr. Rankin. What did you do during your stay in New York?

Mrs. Oswald. That evening we just walked around the city to take a look at it. In the morning I remained in the hotel while Lee left in order to arrange for tickets, and so forth.

Mr. Rankin. Did you visit anyone or have visitors at your hotel during that period?

Mrs. Oswald. We didn't have any visitors but I remember that with Lee we visited some kind of an office, on official business, perhaps it had something to do with immigration or with the tickets. Lee spoke to them in English and I didn't understand it.

Mr. Rankin. Would that be a Travelers' Aid Bureau or Red Cross?

Mrs. Oswald. I don't know.

Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether or not you or your husband received any financial assistance for the trip to Texas at that time?

Mrs. Oswald. I don't know exactly where Lee got the money, but he said that his brother Robert had given him the money. But the money for the trip from the Soviet Union to New York was given to us by the American Embassy in Moscow.

Mr. Rankin. Do you recall what time of the day you left on the flight to Texas?

Mrs. Oswald. I think that by about 5 p.m. we were already in Texas.

Mr. Rankin. Did you go to Dallas or Fort Worth at that time?

Mrs. Oswald. In Dallas we were met by the brother, Robert, he lived in Fort Worth, and he took us from Dallas to Fort Worth and we stopped at the house.

Mr. Rankin. Who else stayed at Robert's house at that time besides your family?

Mrs. Oswald. His family and no one else.

Mr. Rankin. What did his family consist of at that time?

Mrs. Oswald. He and his wife and two children, a boy and a girl.

Mr. Rankin. How long did you stay at Robert's?

Mrs. Oswald. About 1 to 1½ months—perhaps longer, but no longer than 2 months.

Mr. Rankin. Were your relations and your husband's with Robert pleasant at that time?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes, they were very good. His brother's relationship to us was very good.

Mr. Rankin. Would you briefly describe what you did during that time when you were at Robert's?

Mrs. Oswald. The first time we got there we were, of course, resting for about a week, and I was busy, of course, with my little girl who was then very little. And in my free time, of course, I helped in the household.

Mr. Rankin. Did your husband do anything around the house or did he seek work right away?

Mrs. Oswald. For about a week he was merely talking and took a trip to the library. That is it.

Mr. Rankin. Then did he seek work in Fort Worth?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. And when did he find his first job there?

Mrs. Oswald. While we were with Robert. It seems it was at the end of the second month that Lee found work. But at this time I don't remember the date exactly but his mother who lived in Fort Worth at that time rented a room and she proposed that we spend some time with her, that we live with her for some time.

Mr. Rankin. Did you discuss with your husband this proposal of your mother-in-law to have you live with her?

Mrs. Oswald. Well, she made the proposal to my husband, not to me. Of course, I found out about it.

Mr. Rankin. Did you and he have any discussion about it after you found out about it?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes, of course.

Mr. Rankin. You recall that discussion?

Mrs. Oswald. No. I only remember the fact.

Mr. Rankin. Did he find work after you left Robert's then?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes.

Mr. Rankin. You did move to be with your mother-in-law, lived with her for a time?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes, about 3 weeks. And then after 3 weeks Lee did not want to live with her any more and he rented an apartment.

Mr. Rankin. Do you know the reason why he did not want to live there any more?

Mrs. Oswald. It seemed peculiar to me and didn't want to believe it but he did not love his mother, she was not quite a normal woman. Now, I know this for sure.

Mr. Rankin. Did he tell you that at the time?

Mrs. Oswald. He talked about it but since he spoke in English to his mother, I didn't understand it. There were quite a few scenes when he would return from work he didn't want to talk to her. Perhaps she thought I was the reason for the fact that Lee did not want to talk to her. And, of course, for a mother this is painful and I told him that he should be more attentive to his mother but he did not change. I think that one of the reasons for this was that she talked a great deal about how much she had done to enable Lee to return from Russia, and Lee felt that he had done most of—the greatest effort in that respect and didn't want to discuss it.

Mr. Rankin. Where did he find work at that time?

Mrs. Oswald. Of course, if I had been told now I would have remembered it because I have learned some English but at that time I didn't know, but Lee told me that it wasn't far from Mercedes Street where we lived, and it was really common labor connected with some kind of metal work, something for buildings.

Mr. Rankin. Did he ever say whether he enjoyed that work?

Mrs. Oswald. He didn't like it.

Mr. Rankin. Do you recall how long he stayed at that job?

Mrs. Oswald. I don't know but it seemed to me that he worked there for about 3 or 4 months. Perhaps longer. Dates are one of my problems.