Why should he then go?
Mr. Rankin. Do you know any reason why Jack Ruby killed your husband?
Mrs. Oswald. About that, Jack Ruby should be questioned.
Mr. Rankin. I have to ask you, Mrs. Oswald.
Mrs. Oswald. He didn't tell me.
Mr. Rankin. And do you know any reason why he should?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't know, but it seems to me that he was a sick person at that time, perhaps. At least when I see his picture in the paper now, it is an abnormal face.
Mr. Rankin. Has your husband ever mentioned the name Jack Ruby to you?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. He never at any time said anything about Jack Ruby that you can recall?
Mrs. Oswald. No, never. I heard that name for the first time after he killed Lee.
I would like to consult with Mr. Thorne and Mr. Gopadze.
The Chairman. You may.
(Brief recess)
The Chairman. All right.
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, would you like to add something to your testimony?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. This is in connection with why I left the room. I will tell you why I left the room.
I consulted with my attorney, whether I should bring this up. This is not a secret. The thing is that I have written a letter, even though I have not mailed it yet, to the attorney—to the prosecuting attorney who will prosecute Jack Ruby. I wrote in that letter that even—that if Jack Ruby killed my husband, and I felt that I have a right as the widow of the man he killed to say that, that if he killed him he should be punished for it. But that in accordance with the laws here, the capital punishment, the death penalty is imposed for such a crime, and that I do not want him to be subjected to that kind of a penalty. I do not want another human life to be taken. And I don't want it to be believed because of this letter that I had been acquainted with Ruby, and that I wanted to protect him.
It is simply that it is pity to—I feel sorry for another human life. Because this will not return—bring back to life Kennedy or the others who were killed. But they have their laws, and, of course, I do not have the right to change them. That is only my opinion, and perhaps they will pay some attention to it.
That is all.
Mr. Rankin. Had you ever been in the Carousel Nightclub?
Mrs. Oswald. I have never been in nightclubs.
Mr. Rankin. Did you know where it was located before your husband was killed by Jack Ruby?
Mrs. Oswald. No, I don't know it now either.
Mr. Rankin. Can you tell us whether your husband was right handed or left handed?
Mrs. Oswald. No, he was right handed.
His brother writes with his left hand and so does—his brother and mother both write with their left hand.
And since I mentioned Jack Ruby, the mother and Robert want Ruby to be subjected to a death penalty. And in that we differ.
Mr. Rankin. Have they told you the reason why they wanted the death penalty imposed?
Mrs. Oswald. In their view, a killing has to be repaid by a killing.
In my opinion, it is not so.
Mr. Rankin. Is there anything more about the assassination of President Kennedy that you know that you have not told the Commission?
Mrs. Oswald. No, I don't know anything.
Mr. Rankin. Is there anything that your husband ever told you about proposing to assassinate President Kennedy that you haven't told the Commission?
Mrs. Oswald. No, I don't know that.
Mr. Rankin. Now, Mrs. Oswald, we will turn to some period in Russia, and ask you about that for a little while.
Can you tell us the time and place of your birth?
Mrs. Oswald. I was born on July 17, 1941, in Severo Dvinsk, in the Arkhangelskaya Region.
Mr. Rankin. Who were your parents?
Mrs. Oswald. Names?
Mr. Rankin. Yes, please.
Mrs. Oswald. My mother was Clogia Vasilyevna Proosakova. She was a laboratory assistant.
Mr. Rankin. And your father?
Mrs. Oswald. And I had a stepfather. I had no father. I never knew him.
Mr. Rankin. Who did you live with as a child?
Mrs. Oswald. With my stepfather, with my mother, and sometimes with my grandmother—grandmother on my mother's side.
Mr. Rankin. Did you live with your grandparents before you went back to live with your mother and your stepfather?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, I lived with my grandmother until I was approximately five years old.
Mr. Rankin. And then you moved to live with your mother and your stepfather, did you?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. And was that in Leningrad?
Mrs. Oswald. After the war, we lived in Moldavia for some time. After the war it was easier to live there, better to live there. And then we returned to Leningrad where we lived with my stepfather's mother—also with my half brother and half sister.
Mr. Rankin. What was your stepfather's business?
Mrs. Oswald. He was an electrician in a power station in Leningrad.
Mr. Rankin. Did you have brothers and sisters?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. How many?
Mrs. Oswald. One brother, one sister—from my mother's second marriage.
Mr. Rankin. How old were they?
Mrs. Oswald. How old are they, or were they?
Mr. Rankin. Are they—I mean in comparison with your age. Were they three or four years older than you?
Mrs. Oswald. My brother is 5 years younger than I am. My sister is probably 9 years younger than I am. About four years between brother and sister.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether your stepfather was a member of the Communist Party?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. That is, you don't know, or you know he was not?
Mrs. Oswald. No, I know that he was not a member.
