So from now on, when I am through with this Commission, I am going to work with Mr. Lane in my own way—I am booked in New York on a tour next week. And I am going to talk only about the investigation.
We have help, sir. We have Mr. Laurence Ross, who is in New Zealand, who writes articles—very good. And Captain Wooster, is an expert rifleman of New Zealand. He does this all the time. He goes all over.
I am not saying it correctly.
But he is an expert. And he said that he himself could hardly do it. And he practices all the time. That is his—that is what he does for a living. He is an expert.
And we have many, many such letters. I have 1,500 letters, sir. Mr. Doyle has seen my letters and read a few.
We have attorneys writing us. We have ministers. We have all types of people that are not satisfied with this boy being charged with the assassination of President Kennedy. And, of course, not satisfied with the way he was shot down without trial. And we are going to continue to investigate and fight this in our own way, when I leave the Commission, sir.
The Chairman. Do you have an agent for this tour, lecture tour you are making?
Mrs. Oswald. No, sir; I do not. Mr. Lane has—well, I don't say booked me, because that would not be the word. But I am supposed to appear Monday at Town Hall in New York—no, Tuesday, the 18th. It is going to be a forum. There are three very prominent men going to be on the panel. And we are going to ask questions and talk. We will have our public support by bringing these matters before the public, because we are convinced—and there are millions of other people convinced, also—that this is not as plain as it seems to be, that there is more to it. And they are not satisfied.
We are going to continue to investigate, with the help of the public.
The Chairman. Are you to be compensated for these lectures?
Mrs. Oswald. No. My trip is being paid to New York. And I am to live in a home with a family.
As far as that, I know nothing else about this.
The Chairman. Who does know the details of it?
Mrs. Oswald. Well, now, Mr. Lane would know the details. And maybe you think I am being a very foolish woman. But here. When I read—because I have been very cautious so let's say now I am not being cautious. But here is why. When I read Mr. Lane's brief—and I don't know, gentlemen, if you have read it—but I believe it would be pertinent to this Commission to get a copy. It is written in the Guardian—two or three briefs. And I was convinced this man had some pertinent ideas about it. And when I engaged Mr. Lane, he said, "Mrs. Oswald, I will tell you about myself."
I said, "I do not want to hear. As far as I am concerned, you could be a Communist. But to me a Communist is a human being. That is just his way of life."
We are Americans. We have Japanese people. That is their way of life. A Communist, as long as he is not hurting our Government, that is his right to be a Communist. That is his way of life.
I did not want to know anything about Mr. Lane, because I knew Mr. Lane wrote sensible things, that Mr. Lane was interested. And what he wrote made sense. And that is all I am interested in, sir.
If Mr. Lane is getting money, and I am appearing, that is just fine. I am not interested. If I can get before the public and through Mr. Lane doing it, I want to get before that public and state my American way of life and try to prove my son is innocent.
The main part of this is to try to prove Lee Harvey Oswald innocent.
The Chairman. Very well.
Mr. Rankin. You said during your testimony that an agent showed you a picture at the Six Flags Inn. Do you remember that?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, and I am glad you brought that up, because I have notes on this, too. I have something important to say about that.
Mr. Rankin. I will ask the reporter to mark this.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 237 for identification.)
Mrs. Oswald. Before I see a picture, see—if it was in a square, cupped in a hand, I believe it would be better for me for identification. That is the way I saw it. It was cupped in his hand.
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, all I have is Exhibit 237, in the shape it is in. And I will hand it to you and ask you if you recall that as being the picture that was shown to you.
Mrs. Oswald. No, sir. This is not the picture shown me. The picture that was shown me was a full face and just shoulders. This is not the picture.
This picture was about this size, very glossy black and white, with a big face and shoulders. I have background here, a lot of white. But this took the whole picture—the face and shoulders. And this door was just ajar. And this man had this picture—and the two corners were cut.
Mr. Rankin. About what size is the picture you are looking at?
Mrs. Oswald. That is about three by four—approximately three by four, cupped in this man's hand, and the two corners were cut. The two top corners. And a very glossy picture, black and white, with a big face and shoulders. This is the picture shown me, sir.
Now, at Six Flags Inn, about 3 days later, when I entered the room, on the table were a lot of newspapers. I walked into the room in the presence of my son, and all of the agents. As I stated before, Marina and I knew nothing of what went on. We did not know how Lee was shot or anything, because we did not sit down and watch television.
Mr. Rankin. What son are you talking about?
Mrs. Oswald. Robert. So this is approximately the Wednesday, the 25th—no—Sunday was the 24th. About the 26th—it was a few days after Lee was shot, a couple of days. So I walked into the room, and I picked this paper up and turned it over, and I exclaimed, "This is the picture of the man that the FBI agent showed me."
And one of the agents said, "Mrs. Oswald, that is the man that shot your son."
Believe me, gentlemen, I didn't even ask his name. And nothing more was said.
Now, that is very unusual.
Mr. Rankin. Now, the picture that you are talking about that you picked up, was a picture in the newspaper?
Mrs. Oswald. In the newspaper. The bottom part of the newspaper. I can see that like I can see the picture. I had never seen the picture before.
Mr. Rankin. Did you later learn whose picture that was?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, when I returned to my home in Fort Worth, Tex., about a week later, Mr. Blair Justice, of the Star Telegram, brought me all the papers, that was the next time I saw the pictures and knew it was Mr. Ruby. And it was a bottom page, and it was this picture shown me.
Now, this is what I want to know.
Mr. Rankin. Tell us who was there when you said that, about the picture in the paper?
Mrs. Oswald. Mr. Mike Howard, Mr. Garry Seals—well, all of the agents there. The room was full. And Robert Oswald was there. The room was full.
Mr. Rankin. Was Marina there?
Mrs. Oswald. Marina was in the bedroom. Marina and I stayed in the bedroom with the children. We could get snatches of the television and so on. The children had diarrhea and so on. We were busy.
As I picked the paper up and turned it over, it was on the back. This picture I saw, the same picture.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether your son Lee Oswald knew Jack Ruby?
Mrs. Oswald. No, sir, I have no way of knowing that. I just hope that he did, if I am right. If Lee is an agent, I hope he knew Jack Ruby.
Representative Ford. When you made that statement, after looking at the newspaper, did you say it loudly enough for people in the room to hear it?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, sir, because they answered me.