Mr. Rankin. I will hand you Exhibit 18, and ask you if you can identify that for us, and tell us what it is.
Mrs. Oswald. Lee's notebook.
Mr. Rankin. Is your handwriting in that Exhibit 18?
Mrs. Oswald. It must be, yes, I will find mine. There are many different handwritings in here. Different people have written in this notebook. Sometimes Russian friends in Russia would note their address in this notebook.
This is mine.
Mr. Rankin. Will you tell us—is it a long notation by you?
Mrs. Oswald. No. That is my aunt's address when Lee would remain in Minsk while I went on vacation.
Mr. Rankin. Is much of that notebook, Exhibit 18, in your husband's handwriting?
Mrs. Oswald. The majority, mostly.
Mr. Rankin. Except for the page with your handwriting on it and the notations of other friends that you referred to, is it generally in your husband's handwriting?
Mrs. Oswald. I can tell exactly which is noted down by Lee and which is noted down by others.
Mr. Rankin. And it is a regular notebook that he kept for all types of notes?
Mrs. Oswald. This is from Russia.
Mr. Rankin. He started it in Russia?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And there are a number of notations that were made after you returned to this country, is that right?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. We offer in evidence Exhibit 18.
The Chairman. It may be admitted with that number.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 18, and received in evidence.)
Mrs. Oswald. There is a Russian term for "wedding ring" noted in there. Before we were married I wrote that down for him, because he didn't know the Russian expression for it. I didn't tell him. He looked it up in the dictionary himself and translated it.
Mr. Rankin. I would like to hand this back to you and call your attention to the page of Exhibit 18 where the little white slip is.
I ask you if you recognize the handwriting there, where it refers to Agent Hosty.
Mrs. Oswald. Lee wrote that. And this is the license number.
Mr. Rankin. And the telephone number?
The license number, the name, and the telephone number are all in your husband's——
Mrs. Oswald. The date when he visited him, FBI agent, telephone, name, license number, and probably the address.
Mr. Rankin. Are all in your husband's handwriting?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know when they were entered in that notebook, Exhibit 18?
Mrs. Oswald. After the first visit.
Mr. Rankin. Did you note the notation "November 1" on that page?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. You think that is about the date of the first visit, then?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Now, did you report to your husband the fact of this visit, November 1, with the FBI agent?
Mrs. Oswald. I didn't report it to him at once, but as soon as he came for a weekend, I told him about it.
By the way, on that day he was due to arrive.
Mr. Rankin. That is on November 1?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. Lee comes off work at 5:30—comes from work at 5:30. They left at 5 o'clock, and we told them if they wanted to they could wait and Lee would be here soon. But they didn't want to wait.
Mr. Rankin. And by "they" who do you mean? Do you recall the name of the other man beside Agent Hosty?
Mrs. Oswald. There was only one man during the first visit. I don't remember his name. This was probably the date because there is his name and the date.
Mr. Rankin. Now, what did you tell your husband about this visit by the FBI agent and the interview?
Mrs. Oswald. I told him that they had come, that they were interested in where he was working and where he lived, and he was, again, upset.
He said that he would telephone them—I don't know whether he called or not—or that he would visit them.
Mr. Rankin. Is that all you told him at that time about the interview?
Mrs. Oswald. No. I told him about the content of the interview, but now I don't remember.
Mr. Rankin. Do you remember anything else that happened in the interview that you could tell the Commission at this time?
Mrs. Oswald. I told you that I had told them that I didn't want them to visit us, because we wanted to live peacefully, and that this was disturbing to us.
Mr. Rankin. Was there anything else?
Mrs. Oswald. There was more, but I don't remember now.
Mr. Rankin. Now, during this period of time——
Mrs. Oswald. Excuse me. He said that he knew that Lee had been engaged in passing out leaflets for the Committee for Cuba, and he asked whether Lee was doing that here.
Mr. Rankin. Did you answer that question?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say?
Mrs. Oswald. I said that Lee does not engage in such activities here. This was not like an interview. It was simply a conversation. We talked about even some trifles that had no relationship to politics.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether or not your husband had any interviews or conversations with the FBI during this period?
Mrs. Oswald. I know of two visits to the home of Ruth Paine, and I saw them each time. But I don't know of any interviews with Lee. Lee had told me that supposedly he had visited their office or their building. But I didn't believe him. I thought that he was a brave rabbit.
Mr. Rankin. Did your husband continue to call you daily from Dallas after he got his job?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Did he tell you what he was doing?
Mrs. Oswald. Usually he would call me during the lunch break, and the second time after he was finished work, and he told me that he was reading, that he was watching television, and sometimes I told him that he should not stay in his room too much, that he should go for a walk in the park.
Mr. Rankin. What did he say in answer to that?
Mrs. Oswald. Or I would tell him to go out and eat, and he said that he would listen to me. I don't know to what extent he fulfilled my requests.
Mr. Rankin. Did your husband come back from Dallas on November 8th?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't remember.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether he came back on Saturday of that week?
Mrs. Oswald. I remember that there was one weekend when he didn't come on a Friday, but said that he would come on a Saturday. And he said that that was because he wanted to visit another place—supposedly there was another job open, more interesting work.
Mr. Rankin. Did he say where this other job was that he thought was more interesting?
Mrs. Oswald. He said that this was also based upon an ad in a newspaper, and that it was connected—that it was related to photography. And he went there in the morning and then—on a Saturday—and then came to us, still during the morning.
Mr. Rankin. He came home, then, on Saturday, some time before noon of that day?