"Marina, Mama, no, no, she never left her children." And well groomed. But she thinks now her husband shot President Kennedy. What an awful thing. I would much rather have no money and stringy hair and be the girl I was before, and believe my husband was innocent.
The Chairman. How much did Life pay you for your story?
Mrs. Oswald. Is that pertinent?
The Chairman. Or Time, rather.
Mrs. Oswald. Is that pertinent to the Commission, or is that my personal?
Mr. Doyle. I don't think the Chief Justice—he has simply asked you a question. If you wish to answer the question that is fine. If you don't, if you tell the Chief Justice you don't wish to answer the question——
Mrs. Oswald. Well, it doesn't have any bearing. I think the amount I got would be immaterial to the Commission. I don't know.
The Chairman. Well. I think it might be material under some circumstances. But if she doesn't wish to tell us, that is all right.
Mrs. Oswald. It is not—just like the pictures. I want you to have the pictures. And you didn't seem to think they were important enough.
I am asking if this is important to the Commission, because that is my personal life. It is no crime to sell the pictures. I have no job or income. If I want to sell a picture to a magazine or a newspaper, and protect myself financially, I am going to continue to do that.
Mr. Doyle. The Commission has stated to you that it would be interested in knowing, that it feels it might be of some value to them. But if you do not wish to say anything about it, they would not press you.
So again, it would be completely up to you.
Mrs. Oswald. I think that would probably, like these pictures, be my personal——
Mr. Rankin. Did you learn about the attempt of your son to shoot General Walker?
Mrs. Oswald. I am delighted you asked me that question. I have these notes here, and didn't go through that.
The first time I knew about General Walker was through the paper.
Now, I became indignant. I do not remember the quotes. But why I became indignant, was that I had Lee's handwriting in Russian. But no one came to me to find out about this note. That is the part, gentlemen, that is so peculiar about this whole thing.
I understand through reporters that the note was shown to Mrs. Ruth Paine, and wanted to know if the handwriting was Lee's handwriting. But no one has come to find out if I had any handwriting of Lee in Russian, which I have.
Mr. Rankin. Did you think this was in Russian?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. I am under the impression that the note was in Russian. It stated in the paper.
Mr. Rankin. When did you learn about the Walker incident?
Mrs. Oswald. Through the newspaper. And it has been changed, the story, now. If I can remember. Now, I will get this for you. I have a friend that has one of the most complete scrapbooks in the United States, that helps in this investigation. And I can get all these articles, sir. And I will help in every way possible.
If I remember correctly, it was stated that Marina found this note in the room that says "I may be arrested, and if so get in touch with the Russian consul" and told her where to go to the jailhouse. I wish I knew the exact quote. So we are getting back to an agent now.
From what I remember in the beginning, he did not say in the note that he was going to kill General Walker—that he would be involved in something that might cause him to be arrested and so on. I remember this. That was in the very beginning, sir. It came out in Fort Worth, Tex.
So he is going to be involved in something. That doesn't mean he is going to shoot General Walker.
Mr. Rankin. When did you learn that he did try to shoot General Walker?
Mrs. Oswald. As the story started to leak out from the paper, what we call leaks. I have to say this, because we are investigating this. I am not the main investigator. But I talk to people. They call, and I get letters from them. Every now and then Mr. Jim Martin, who is the business manager for Marina, would quote Marina—not Marina, but he would quote Marina about General Walker, quoted her about thinking in her mind that her husband had killed the President.
And I was firing back through the newspapers and saying Mr. Jim Martin was an American citizen, and I didn't appreciate him quoting my daughter-in-law about these things, because they are of no advantage. How can they prove that Lee had killed General Walker, because now maybe they would not have the bullets—and so on. It happened before.
Mr. Rankin. You knew that he was not killed.
Mrs. Oswald. What good would it be for Mr. Martin to make a statement like this that Marina said, and publicize it, when they possibly could not now prove that Lee had anything to do with it, gun or bullets or anything. I could not see his purpose in doing this—which has hurt my daughter-in-law very much. I have many letters from people expressing their opinion that they did not appreciate her coming out with these remarks. But it is Mr. Jim Martin.
Marina is a foreign girl, and doesn't know what these people are doing to her, Mr. Rankin. I have publicly fought this over and over—if you have my quotes from the Fort Worth Star Telegram and so on, and probably the New York papers. I deeply feel sorry for Marina. Marina is a Russian girl. Maybe if her husband was picked up to be a murderer, maybe they would shoot him in Russia. I don't know.
But here we have an American way of life that Marina is not familiar with.
Mr. Rankin. Don't you want her to tell the truth about it?
Mrs. Oswald. I want Marina to tell the truth just like I want to tell the truth. But from my testimony here, I have found out that Marina has lied.
Mr. Rankin. What have you found out about the Walker incident? Have you found anything about that was untrue that Marina said?
Mrs. Oswald. That Marina said it?
Mr. Rankin. Yes.
Mrs. Oswald. I have not heard Marina say it. I have not heard Marina say it. I can answer this way. This comes from Mr. Jim Martin. There is many, many things about Mr. Jim Martin and Mr. Thorne that I don't think maybe it is right that I should say these things in front of the Commission, because they are rumors.
But a rumor, you will have to, in a case as big as this, and where there are so many people involved, you have to analyze these rumors. I will say this: I understand from many, many a source that the Dallas Bar Association is going to have Mr. Jim Thorne before them. Now that is my understanding there.
Mr. Rankin. So all you know about the Walker incident is what you have read in the papers.
Mrs. Oswald. What I have read in the paper. And I certainly did not appreciate that. Mr. Jim Martin is a citizen, if Marina is not.
Mr. Rankin. Now, did you ever ask your son, Lee Oswald, whether he was an agent of anybody?
Mrs. Oswald. No sir, I have never asked Lee Oswald if he was an agent because I felt like he would not tell me.
Mr. Rankin. But you have not asked him.
Mrs. Oswald. No, I have not asked him.
Oh, one very important thing that I must tell you. On November 26—that was the night of November 26, and the day of November 26 was when I found out that Marina was going to live with someone else, and we had no contact.