if you are able to do so, your letter in response to your brother's letter, Commission Exhibit 294?
Mr. Oswald. Which was the letter of November 8—is that correct?
Mr. Jenner. That is correct.
Mr. Oswald. To the best of my recollection, in my response to his letter, I asked him why he went to Russia, and for what purpose he went to Russia. And I believe, sir, that is to the best of my ability, in the remembrance of my letter, that would be the only two questions that I asked him.
Mr. Jenner. Now, in the letter of November 8, he says, "Do you know, for instance, that I have wanted to do this for well over a year"—that is, go to Russia. I take it from your prior testimony that you had not known, either well over a year or even for an instant, that he had any intention of going to Russia.
Mr. Oswald. That is correct.
Mr. Jenner. Had the name Albert Schweitzer College ever been mentioned by your brother Lee prior to this time—that is, let us say, prior to the middle of September 1959?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; it was not.
Mr. Jenner. He also states in this letter of November 8—makes the rhetorical question—"Do you know that I speak a fair amount of Russian, which I have been studying for many months". Had that subject matter ever come to your attention prior to his uttering it in the letter of November 8?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; it had not.
Mr. Jenner. You did not know, up until this time, that your brother had been studying Russian while in the Marines?
Mr. Oswald. That is correct. And again if I may elaborate on that, I was not aware that he ever studied any foreign language.
Mr. Dulles. Did your brother ever talk to you about what he was reading during this period?
Mr. Jenner. Or at any time, during his school period?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir. Of course, I have seen him read various books. I never did see him read a book—unless the covers—or perhaps if I picked it up—it didn't indicate anything about communism or socialism. He did like to read. He read quite a bit. And by this, I have observed him to read anything from funny books to novels, to westerns, the full scope. He liked American history. I have seen him read American history a great deal.
Mr. Jenner. Was he a voracious reader? That is, did he read a great deal, devote much attention to reading?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, he was what I would term an assiduous reader.
Mr. Jenner. I am directing your attention to his—oh, say, from age, let's say, nine or ten to the time he enlisted in the Marines—maybe we better go back a little bit more, since you were away. I would like to cover his youth up to the time he enlisted in the Marines. Is that the period of which you speak?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I do not. I speak of a later period—my visit to New Orleans after I received my discharge from the Marine Corps.
Mr. Jenner. And before he enlisted in the marines?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; before he enlisted in the Marine Corps. And of his moving to Fort Worth.
Mr. Jenner. Fix the time.
Mr. Oswald. With mother—in 1955.
Mr. Jenner. On these occasions you observed him reading assiduously?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. And you had an opportunity, and you embraced it to some extent, just out of curiosity if nothing else, of observing the nature and character of the literature and the subject matter of the literature he was reading?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. And it is of the nature and the subject matter you already stated?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. During any of that period, and any observation you ever made whether then or prior thereto, had you noticed him or seen any books—he uses the expression "Marxism", communism—or any books or works, or pamphlets of that nature?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir, I did not. I did not at any time observe him reading or have in his possession any type of pamphlet or book, should I say, of a political nature.
Mr. Jenner. Even American politics?
Mr. Oswald. American politics, of course—American history, of course, would go into some degree of American politics.
Mr. Jenner. I think you are probably right. But other than American history.
Mr. Oswald. No, sir, I did not observe him.
Mr. Jenner. Now, your brother states in this letter of November 8, the United States was a country that he hated. Taking the whole letter, we would like to have you state what your reaction to the letter was when you received it and read it, in view of the rather severe things he says, and startling things he says in this letter.
Mr. Oswald. If I may, sir, refer to my testimony yesterday in relation to this letter, and my reactions then, I thought more along that line. I have not come up with any other conclusions where my thinking as to my reaction at the time I received the letter—other than it was something that I expected, due to what I had read in the newspapers prior to receiving the letter of November 8, 1959.
Mr. Jenner. Your shock, if I may call it such, had been conditioned——
Mr. Oswald. To some degree it had; yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. In other words, then, the letter, when you did receive it, with these utterances in it, did not surprise you?
Mr. Oswald. I feel, perhaps, if anything would have surprised me that did not appear, to my recollection, would be the statement "I will never return to the United States, which is a country I hate," particularly the latter part of that statement—"which is a country I hate."
Mr. Jenner. That did shock you despite your having read the newspaper clippings or articles?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir, I feel certain that it did.
Mr. Jenner. And in your response to your brother's letter, did you advert to that particular portion of his letter? To the best of your recollection?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir—I was just making a note on that. I didn't realize you would ask me that so soon. I do believe I asked him why he hated the United States.
Mr. Jenner. Now, have you given us—exhausted your recollection as to the content of the letter you wrote in response to the letter of November 8, Commission Exhibit 294?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; I feel I have.
Mr. Jenner. Well, now, let us turn, if we might, to Letter No. 26, which is Exhibit 295, an eight-page letter.
Mr. Oswald. All right, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Mr. Chairman, to summarize this letter, if I may, for you, it is an eight-page letter. Lee Harvey Oswald sets forth in it extensively his philosophies, what they purport to be as of that time, the reasons why he has decided to defect to the Soviet Union.
