Mr. Rankin. This purports to be a portion of the diary and relates to his meeting at the Embassy on October 31, 1959.
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 102 is photocopies of two pages, handwritten, in English.
Mrs. Oswald. Lee's handwriting. I don't know what it is.
Mr. Rankin. We offer in evidence Exhibit 102.
The Chairman. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 102, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Rankin. I wish to call the Commission's attention to the fact that Exhibit 102 purports to be a draft of memoranda, at least, for a speech.
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 103 is two pages, two photocopy pages, of handwriting, in English.
Mrs. Oswald. From the address I see that it is a letter—it is Lee's letter, but to whom, I don't know.
Mr. Rankin. I offer in evidence Exhibit 103.
The Chairman. It may be admitted under that number.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 103, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Rankin. I wish to call the attention of the Commission to the fact that Exhibit 103 is a purported draft of the letter that Lee Oswald sent to the Embassy, the Soviet Embassy, which you will recall referred to the fact that his wife was asked by the FBI to defect—had such language in the latter part of it. This draft shows that in this earlier draft he used different language, and decided upon the language that he finally sent in the exhibit that is in the record earlier. The comparison is most illuminating.
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 104 is photocopy pages of a small notebook.
Mrs. Oswald. This is my notebook, various addresses—when I was at the rest home, I simply noted down the addresses of some acquaintances.
Mr. Dulles. Is this in Russia, or the United States?
Mrs. Oswald. In Russia.
Mr. Rankin. We offer in evidence Exhibit 104.
The Chairman. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 104, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 105 is a notebook——
Mr. Rankin. Exhibit 104 purports to be a small notebook of Mrs. Oswald.
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 105 is the original of a notebook containing various writings in English and in Russian.
Mrs. Oswald. This is when Lee was getting ready to go to Russia, and he made a list of the things that he wanted to buy and take with him.
Further, I don't know what he had written in there.
Mr. Dulles. Was this the time he went or the time he didn't go?
Mrs. Oswald. When he didn't—when he intended to.
Mr. Rankin. In Exhibit 105, Mrs. Oswald, I will ask you if you noted that your husband had listed in that "Gun and case, Price 24 REC. 17."
Mrs. Oswald. I don't know what that is. Unfortunately, I cannot help. I don't know what this means.
Mr. Rankin. But you do observe the item in the list in that booklet, do you?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Now I see it.
Mr. Rankin. I offer in evidence Exhibit 105.
The Chairman. That will be received.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 105, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Rankin. With regard to Exhibit 102, I should like to inform the Commission that as a part of this transcribed record, as soon as we can complete it, we will have photostatic copies of these various exhibits for you, along with photographs of the physical material. But I think you will want to examine some of it very closely.
I call your particular attention to this draft of a proposed speech. One of the items, No. 1, states, "Americans are apt to scoff at the idea that a military coup in the U.S. as so often happens in Latin American countries, could ever replace our government. But that is an idea that has grounds for consideration. Which military organization has the potentialities of exciting such action? Is it the Army? With its many conscripts, its unwieldy size, its score of bases scattered across the world? The case of General Walker shows that the Army at least is not fertile enough ground for a far-right regime to go a very long way, for the size, reasons of size, and disposition."
Then there is an insert I have difficulty in reading.
"Which service, then, can qualify to launch a coup in the U.S.A.? Small size, a permanent hard core of officers and few bases as necessary. Only one outfit fits that description, and the U.S. Marine Corps is a rightwing-infiltrated organization of dire potential consequences to the freedom of the United States. I agree with former President Truman when he said that 'The Marine Corps should be abolished.'"
That indicates some of his thinking.
The Chairman. We will just take a short break.
(Brief recess.)
The Chairman. The Commission will be in order.
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 106 for identification is a notebook.
Mrs. Oswald. This is my book, some poems by——
Mr. Thorne. It contains handwriting in Russian.
Mr. Rankin. How did you happen to write that, Mrs. Oswald?
Mrs. Oswald. I simply liked these verses. I did not have a book of poems. And I made a copy.
Mr. Rankin. I offer in evidence Exhibit 106.
The Chairman. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 106, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 107 contains a small piece of cardboard with some writing in Russian on it.
Mrs. Oswald. This is Lee's pass from the factory.
Mr. Rankin. I offer in evidence Exhibit 107.
The Chairman. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 107, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 108 is an original one sheet of paper, with handwriting in ink, in Russian, on one page.
Mrs. Oswald. These are the lyrics of a popular song.
Mr. Rankin. A Russian popular song?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. This is Armenian—an Armenian popular song.
Mr. Rankin. I offer in evidence Exhibit 108.
The Chairman. It is admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 108, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 109 is one sheet with handwriting in ink on both sides, an original.
Mrs. Oswald. This was simply my recollection of some song lyrics and the names of some songs that people had asked me.
Mr. Rankin. I offer Exhibit 109.
The Chairman. It may be admitted.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 109, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Thorne. Exhibit 110 is a yellow legal sized sheet with handwriting in Russian which seems to be interpreted in English below it, together with a little stamp. I can explain the stamp. It says FBI Laboratory.
Mrs. Oswald. This is when George Bouhe was giving me lessons. I translated from Russian into English—not very successfully—my first lessons.
Mr. Rankin. I offer Exhibit 110.