about it.
Mr. Jenner. So that at least, as far as you can recall, any statement you made or any attitude you have with respect to your layoff which might have come to his attention, did not form a basis for his predicating the Convair comment, on which he might have predicated the Convair comment, in his letter of November 26?
Mr. Oswald. That is correct, sir.
Mr. Jenner. All right. Proceed.
Mr. Oswald. I also——
Mr. Jenner. Excuse me, if I asked you a similar line of questions with respect to the union question would your answer be the same?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; It certainly would.
Mr. Jenner. You never expressed any dislike of unions. You never expressed to him, or in his presence, or members of your family, views that unions were exploited?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir; I did not.
Mr. Jenner. All right.
By the way, had there been any discussion in the course of your youth, as you boys grew up, expressions in your family of any of these attitudes that he is expressing in his letter of November 8 and his letter of November 26?
Mr. Oswald. No, sir. To my knowledge there was never any type of discussion that would reflect any of the statements or questions that he wrote in his letter of November 26, 1959.
Mr. Jenner. Would you say to the extent there were discussions among you, and your family life, that the contrary was expressed?
Mr. Oswald. I do not recall any discussions, sir, but if there was any discussion it would have been to the contrary.
Mr. Jenner. Your family was always a typical, loyal American family?
Mr. Oswald. That is correct, sir.
Mr. Jenner. That is, loyal to the Government of the United States and you thought well of it?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. When I say, you, I mean all of the members of your family as far as you knew?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir; that is correct.
Mr. Jenner. All right.
Proceed with your recollection of your response.
Mr. Oswald. I refer to his statement in the letter of November 26 on the second page, "I can still see Japan and the Philippines and their puppet governments. More important, I can see the Americans in uniform, men who were there because they were drafted or because they were adventurers or unemployed in civilian life."
I referred to my own volunteering in the United States Marine Corps at that time, and I felt that nothing he pointed out there applied to my case, and I felt quite a few other men felt as I did, as to the reasons behind their joining the United States service.
Mr. Jenner. Had you expressed any dissatisfaction to him with your tour in the Marines, or was that subject discussed in family councils or visits on his part to Fort Worth?
Mr. McKenzie. May I for just a moment?
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. Oswald. Would you repeat the question, I believe I had it; I want to be sure of it.
(The question was read.)
Mr. Oswald. I do not believe that at any time we discussed it. We might have mentioned my tour in the United States Marine Corps. He was very proud of my service record and it would so indicate that I conducted myself in the best tradition of the United States Marine Corps; not that I was any lily white, but I was never in any serious trouble and I progressed in rank in keeping with the period that I was in the United States Marine Corps.
Mr. Jenner. Had that thought been expressed, or at least that flavor left, with the members of your family?
Mr. Oswald. I feel that it was, particularly to Lee, because I——
Mr. Jenner. Would you elaborate on that, please; we are interested in that.
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir. Because I feel very surely that the reason that Lee joined the United States Marine Corps was because of my service in the United States Marine Corps and he wanted to follow——
Mr. Jenner. And your reaction to it had been communicated by you to him?
Mr. Oswald. I feel like it was, sir.
Mr. Jenner. Many witnesses have a habit that you have when you feel like it was. Do you mean that you actually conveyed that thought to him?
Mr. Oswald. I believe I did, sir.
Mr. Jenner. All right.
Mr. Oswald. Thank you.
I believe I was stating that I believe that the reason that Lee joined the United States Marine Corps was to follow in my footsteps, in that same service, and frankly I believe that at that time in earlier years and later years that he looked up to me, not only in that respect, but that eventually he wanted to follow in my footsteps.
I would say within the family relation that Lee and I were closer than Lee and mother or Lee and John during our entire lifetime. That if there was something that he was going to discuss with anybody, or say to anybody, within the family I would be the one that he would discuss it with.
I refer to his statement on the second page of the letter of November 26, 1959, "I will ask you a question, Robert, what do you support the American government for? What is the ideal you put forward. Do not say freedom because freedom is a word used by all people through all of time."
I did refer to the word "freedom" and I recall stating to him that the word "freedom" to me was something that was earned and not handed down.
I refer to the third page of the letter of November 26, 1959, and the brief statement, "America is a dying country."
I replied to him that perhaps, and I believe some great man said this statement at one time or the other, I do not recall who, that we were a sleeping giant, and that we were coming awake.
This was, of course, in reference to the Communist world.
Mr. Jenner. This was something you said in your letter?
Mr. Oswald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Jenner. All right.
Mr. Dulles. May I ask what is the date of this letter?
Mr. Jenner. It is in response to the letter of November 26.
Mr. Dulles. November 26, yes.
Mr. Oswald. I refer to the bottom of the page of the letter of November 26, "So you speak of advantages. Do you think that is why I am here for personal material advantages, happiness is not based on oneself, it does not consist of a small home of taking and getting."
I recall my reply to this series of questions as being—as to having that right to seek for oneself his own personal desires to the extent that the material advantages
