Mr. Rankin. Did you handle the finances——
Mrs. Oswald. Of course we were economizing.
No, Lee always handled the money, but I bought groceries. He gave me money and I bought groceries, or more correctly, together.
Mr. Rankin. You would usually go to the grocery store together to buy what you needed?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And then did he give you any funds separately from that, for you to spend alone?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, he would give it to me, but I would not take it.
Mr. Rankin. How much were those amounts?
Mrs. Oswald. Excuse me, I want to add something.
You asked me yesterday to make a list of how much we spent during a month—I forgot. Excuse me—I will do it today.
For example, when we paid $60 to $65 rent per month, we would spend only about $15 per week for groceries. As you see, I didn't die and I am not sick.
Mr. Rankin. Did you buy clothing for yourself?
Mrs. Oswald. Not everything. At first some of our Russian friends would occasionally give us some clothes. But Lee would also buy clothes for me. But in America this is no problem.
Mr. Rankin. What do you mean by that?
Mrs. Oswald. In my opinion life is not very expensive here. Everyone buys according to his financial status, and no one walks around undressed. You can buy for $20 and at a sale you might buy for $2, clothes for an entire season.
Mr. Rankin. What about clothing for your child? Did you handle the buying of that?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Returning to the——
Mrs. Oswald. Excuse me. Some of the things for children were given to us by friends who had children. But I didn't like them and I bought some.
Mr. Rankin. Returning to the date of November 11, 1963, did you recall that that was a holiday?
Mrs. Oswald. November 11?
Mr. Rankin. Yes.
Mrs. Oswald. I don't remember that it was a holiday. We did not celebrate it. But something, I remember, was closed. Perhaps there were elections.
Mr. Rankin. That is Veterans Day in this country, and it was a Monday—refreshing your memory in that regard.
Do you recall whether or not your husband went to work that day?
Mrs. Oswald. No. I remember that he remained at the Paine's.
Mr. Rankin. Can you tell us what he did during that day?
Mrs. Oswald. As always, he played with June and he helped me a little with preparation of lunch, and he sat around, watched television.
Mr. Rankin. Was he doing any reading at that time?
Mrs. Oswald. He didn't read. It seems to me that on that day he was typing. I don't know.
Mr. Rankin. And you don't know what he was typing?
Mrs. Oswald. It seems to me it was the envelope——
Mr. Rankin. Which you have identified?
Mrs. Oswald. You remember you had a letter which mentioned Mexico and Kostin, it was that envelope.
Mr. Rankin. Is this Exhibit 16 that you are referring to?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. You see the date is the 12th. You see, I can't remember a specific date, but some event I can connect with it brings it back.
Mr. Rankin. Do you remember whether your husband returned from Dallas to Irving at any time during that week?
Mrs. Oswald. It seems he came on Saturday or Friday for the weekend.
Perhaps he didn't come. I am mixed up as to which weekends he did and didn't come.
Mr. Rankin. We have a statement from a Mr. Hutchison of the supermarket that I referred to yesterday that you and your husband were in his supermarket on November 13. Do you recall anything like that?
Mrs. Oswald. If the 12th was a Monday and the 13th a Tuesday, Lee was at work. He couldn't have been there.
Mr. Rankin. In one of your statements that you have given the FBI and the Secret Service you indicated that this particular weekend your husband stayed in Dallas—that is the 15th through the 17th of November. Does that refresh your memory?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes—the 15th to the 17th he remained in Dallas. That is, he didn't come that weekend.
But on the 13th he was not in Irving.
Mr. Rankin. That would be the weekend before the assassination, to refresh your memory again.
Mrs. Oswald. You see, this is why I was not surprised that he didn't come—that he came, rather, he had not come on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday I called him over the telephone and this is when he had a quarrel over the fictitious name.
By the way, he didn't come because I told him not to come. He had wanted to come, he had telephoned.
Mr. Rankin. What did you tell him about not coming?
Mrs. Oswald. That he shouldn't come every week, that perhaps it is not convenient for Ruth that the whole family be there, live there.
Mr. Rankin. Did he say anything about that?
Mrs. Oswald. He said, "As you wish. If you don't want me to come, I won't."
Mr. Rankin. Were you quite angry with him about the use of the fictitious name?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. And when he called me over the phone a second time I hung up and would not talk to him.
Mr. Rankin. Did you tell him why you were so angry?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, of course.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say?
Mrs. Oswald. I said, "After all, when will all your foolishness come to an end? All of these comedies. First one thing then another. And now this fictitious name."
I didn't understand why. After all, it was nothing terrible if people were to find out that he had been in Russia.
Mr. Rankin. What did he say when you said that?
Mrs. Oswald. That I didn't understand anything.
Mr. Rankin. Do you remember an incident when he said you were a Czechoslovakian rather than a Russian?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. We lived on Elsbeth Street, and he had told the landlady that I was from Czechoslovakia. But I didn't know about it, and when the landlady asked me, I told her I was from Russia. I told Lee about it that evening, and he scolded me for having said that.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say to him then?
Mrs. Oswald. That the landlady was very nice and she was very good to me and she was even pleased with the fact that I was from Russia.
Mr. Rankin. Did you object to your husband saying that you were from some country other than Russia?
Mrs. Oswald. Of course.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say to him about that?
Mrs. Oswald. I am not ashamed of the fact that I am from Russia. I can even be proud of the fact that I am Russian. And there is no need for me to hide it. Every person should be proud of his nationality and not be afraid or ashamed of it.
Mr. Rankin. What did he say in response to that?
Mrs. Oswald. Nothing.
Mr. Rankin. When he gave the fictitious name, did he use the name Hidell?
Mrs. Oswald. Where?
Mr.