a rather long letter.
As a matter of fact, it consists of eight pages.
Would you get that letter before you, please?
Mr. Oswald. All right, sir.
I have the letter before me now, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Now, you will note from the letter that it purports to be, and from its contents it is indicated that your brother Lee is responding to correspondence that he had in turn received from you.
I ask you this question first.
As to all of these letters which you have now identified this morning, or substantially all of them, had you been in correspondence with your brother in the sense that you also wrote him?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. Did you by any chance happen to retain a copy of, or copies of any of the letters you sent him?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir, I did not.
Mr. Jenner. So that at the moment we would have to call solely on your recollection as to what you might have written during this period of time while he was in Russia?
Mr. Oswald. That is correct.
Mr. Dulles. You made no copies of the letters yourself when you sent them—you just sent an original? There was no copy?
Mr. Oswald. That is correct, no copies were made.
Mr. Jenner. I suggested that you might, during the evening, read the letter of November 26th so as to refresh your recollection as to whether you had written him posing questions to which he responded. Have you had that opportunity?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I have not had that opportunity to read this letter.
Mr. Jenner. I would prefer to pass this letter, then, Mr. Chairman, until the witness does have an opportunity to read it. Would you try and do so at your first opportunity?
Mr. Oswald. All right, sir.
Mr. McKenzie. It won't take but a minute here to do it.
Mr. Jenner. All right.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. Dulles. We will recess for lunch at this time.
(Whereupon, at 12:15 p.m., the President's Commission recessed.)
Afternoon Session
TESTIMONY OF ROBERT EDWARD LEE OSWALD RESUMED
The President's Commission reconvened at 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Dulles. You may proceed, Mr. Jenner.
Mr. Jenner. Mr. Oswald, I have asked you—may I inquire of you whether during the noon hour recess you have read Commission Exhibit 295, which is a letter of November 26, 1959, from your brother to you?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I have.
Mr. Jenner. And have you also read the letter that preceded that one, to wit, the letter of November 8, 1959, which is to you from your brother, which is Commission Exhibit No. 294?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I have.
Mr. Jenner. Now, Mr. Chairman, the letter of November 8, which is the earlier of these two letters—this was written by Lee Harvey Oswald shortly after he arrived in Moscow in 1959. In substance, he said in the letter that he supposed his brother Robert, the witness here, did not wish to speak of his decision, that is, of Lee Harvey Oswald's decision to remain in the Soviet Union and apply for citizenship there, since Robert would not be able—and now I quote—"to comprehend my reasons"—that is Lee Harvey Oswald's reasons. "You really don't know anything about me. Do you know for instance, that I have wanted to do this for well over a year? Do you know that I speak a fair amount of Russian, which I have been studying for months?"
The letter also said that he would not leave the Soviet Union under any conditions, and would never return to the United States, "which is a country I hate." He made reference to the fact that he received a telegram from Robert in which Robert had apparently said that he thought Lee "was making a mistake."
Now, directing your attention to the November 8 letter first, would you please state your reaction when you read that letter?
(At this point the letters of November 8, 1959 and November 26, 1959 were physically set forth in the transcript of testimony. In order to achieve consistency in the handling of the exhibits upon the printing of the testimony, those letters are not reproduced in the printed transcript. They are reproduced in the exhibit section as Commission Exhibits Nos. 294 and 295.)
Mr. Oswald. I recall my reactions to this letter, sir. It was something I more or less expected in general, since this was, more or less in general what the newspapers had been publishing.
Mr. Jenner. Is that the only reason you make that remark—that you had expected it in general solely because of what you read in the newspapers, or had there been any other factor that led you to have that expectation?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; there was no other factor that led be to believe that anything like this was going to happen prior to the happening. My reaction to the letter, as I have stated, was solely in general expecting from what I read in the newspaper that the letter would be something of this nature when I did hear from him.
Mr. Jenner. Had you had any conversation prior thereto during your lifetime and that of your brother Lee in which he expressed his views of the character that he wrote in this letter of November 8, 1959?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I most certainly did not.
Mr. Jenner. Had you ever discussed with him, in any conversation between you and your brother Lee, with or without your brother John present or your mother, in which his feeling toward or reaction to the government of the United States had been discussed?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; at no time, as I stated yesterday, have we ever discussed politics, and most assuredly I did not have any inclination in any degree that anything of this nature was in his mind.
Mr. Jenner. So the views expressed by your brother in the letter of November 8 came to you as a complete surprise?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; with the qualification that this is what I expected after reading the newspapers.
Mr. Dulles. May I ask one question there.
When your brother left, after that short stay following his service in the Marine Corps, did you know that he was going to Russia—did he say anything to you about going to Russia at that time?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; he did not.
Mr. Jenner. What did he say to you as to his plans?
Mr. Oswald. That he was going to New Orleans, Louisiana, to visit my Aunt Lillian.
Mr. Jenner. Your Aunt Lillian whom?
Mr.
