Mr. Martin. According to the contract that I have with Marina, "You will authorize me and approve for and in my behalf and in your discretion and decision the following: approve and permit the use of my name, photographs, likeness, voice, sound effects, characters, persons for all publicity, advertising and the promotion of any and all ventures desired by you to be undertaken by me and for the performance by me of any appearance or service. You are authorized, empowered and directed by me."
Mr. Dulles. I think we have a copy of this, do we not?
Mr. Redlich. Yes. You are reading from——
Mr. Martin. My contract.
Mr. Redlich. Yes, just so the record is clear, the contract between James Martin and Marina Oswald is Commission Exhibit 276 which was introduced in connection with Robert Oswald's testimony. Mr. Martin, there has been introduced in a prior hearing what is now Commission Exhibits Nos. 274 and 275, a letter from William McKenzie to you and a letter from William McKenzie to Mr. Thorne concerning the discharging of your services.
Do you have any document which you wish to introduce at the present time concerning that—the reasons given for your discharge, because I would like to ask you questions concerning that?
Mr. Leech. May I ask the date of the letter please, sir? Give me the date. I think we have the originals, sir.
Mr. Redlich. There is one dated February 18, two of them dated February 18.
Mr. Leech. Yes, one to Jim Martin and one to Mr. John Thorne.
Mr. Redlich. One is addressed to Mr. James Martin and the other to Mr. John Thorne.
Mr. Leech. Yes, sir; we have the originals.
Mr. Redlich. Do you have with you any other letters in connection with the termination of Mr. Martin's services?
Mr. Martin. One from Marina Oswald.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. Redlich. Mr. Martin, you said earlier in your testimony that you were building a public image of Marina Oswald?
Mr. Martin. Yes.
Mr. Redlich. Would you tell the Commission what you mean by that?
Mr. Martin. Well, in this type of thing——
Mr. Redlich. May I interrupt and suggest you don't thumb through——
Mr. Martin. Excuse me. We were trying to create in the public mind an image of a bereaved widow and a simple lost girl. And I think we did actually. This was for her, as I say, for her benefit. She has received some $68,000 in contributions, and the image is not all true.
Mr. Redlich. Would you tell us in respect to which in your opinion the image is not true?
Mr. Martin. Well, as I mentioned before about the bible, this is a very small incident, she has received numerous bibles in the mail, and to my knowledge has never read the first page of one, and most of them are in Russian.
This is a small thing really but it is part of her image, that she is a religious person.
She wants to be thought of as we have built her now but she doesn't conform to that image.
Mr. Redlich. In what way, how?
Mr. Martin. Well, she is lazy, for one thing.
Mr. Redlich. Lazy in what respect?
Mr. Martin. Well, as far as even taking care of the children. The children bother her. I mean to her they are a constant upset. When she left our home to go up to Denton, my wife offered to keep the baby there at the house if she liked, and Marina took her up on it and then Robert told her she had better take the baby with her. She hadn't seen the baby for over a week. And the first day she was back she was willing to leave the baby again.
Mr. Redlich. Is there anything else?
Mr. Martin. Her lack of, well, humbleness as far as all these contributions are concerned. She takes it as a matter of—she takes it for granted. She is quite unhappy when the contributions slack off.
Mr. Redlich. Has she discussed the amount of contributions with you?
Mr. Martin. I have kept her informed all along on it.
Mr. Redlich. Has she indicated that there is some relationship between the story that she reveals to the public and the contributions which she will receive?
Mr. Martin. Yes.
Mr. Redlich. Would you be more specific about that?
Mr. Martin. Well, she has read newspaper articles, for instance, that I haven't written but I have directed.
Mr. Redlich. Directed?
Mr. Martin. By giving them information.
Mr. Redlich. What is the nature——
Mr. Martin. To build it up.
Mr. Redlich. What is the nature of these articles?
Mr. Martin. Well, I recall one, I wonder if I have it, I guess I don't have it, that was written by Bill Burrus of the Times Herald in Dallas. It was a very good article, and not quite true, we will say. It is shaded in truth.
Mr. Redlich. Do you have the article with you?
Mr. Martin. Here is one Bill Burrus did that is when she went to midnight mass.
Mr. Redlich. Mr. Martin has submitted to the Commission an article which does not carry a date or the name of the publication in which it appears, but is headed "Marina Oswald attended mass, had quiet Yule", by Bill Burrus.
Mr. Martin. That was the Dallas Times Herald.
Mr. Redlich. Since we would like to question the witness about this, I would like to label it Commission Exhibit No. 326 and ask it be introduced in evidence.
Mr. Dulles. It will be admitted with no objection.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 326 for identification and received in evidence.)
Mr. Redlich. I hand you Commission Exhibit 326, Mr. Martin. Will you tell us in what respects this article is not true?
Mr. Martin. Well, I wouldn't say it is strictly not true. But it embellishes the truth.
Mr. Redlich. Could you be specific in terms of references to the particular article?
Mr. Martin. Well, for instance, let's see, is this where she went to church?
Mr. Dulles. Did she go to church?
Mr. Martin. Yes.
Mr. Leech. It is my partner's church.
Mr. Martin. Well, for instance, "she wandered around the secret quarters for long periods of time, sometimes she listened to Christmas carols over radio or television", which I believe is not true. I don't believe I told that; that was just added in there.
"Marina continued her studies of the English language and watched television, including her favorite Steve Allen show". She doesn't even like Steve Allen. And, of course, she is never studying English.
Mr. Dulles. Was this information that you gave to Mr. Burrus?
Mr. Martin. No. That is the trouble with newspapers. I have told Bill Burrus that she watches Steve Allen. She does but just for lack of anything else to do.
Now I didn't say anything about the Christmas carols nor about studying the English language.
Mr. Dulles. You say she has not been studying the English language?
Mr. Martin. No, she is learning it quite rapidly because she had to in her own defense in order to converse with people. When she was living with us, there was no one there that spoke Russian so she had to learn English in order to converse.
Mr. Dulles. Is there anything else in this particular article that you would either regard as unslanted