As the nation reconsiders the assassination of President John F. Kennedy due to President Donald Trump’s release of additional files connected to Kennedy’s death, there is renewed interest in the unique perspective of the woman closest to the President’s alleged assassin.
Marina Oswald was born in the Soviet Union and was the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. After her husband was accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy and was subsequently killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, Marina testified before the Warren Commission, the congressional group investigating Kennedy’s assassination.
She told J. Lee Rankin, the Commission’s general counsel, her side of the story at 10:35 A.M. on February 3, 1964, at 200 Maryland Avenue NE., Washington, D.C., according to the National Archives.
The Dallas Express has prepared these excerpts from Marina’s testimony.
Where Marina First Heard That President Kennedy Had Been Shot
Mr. Rankin. How did you learn of the shooting of President Kennedy?
Mrs. Oswald. I was watching television, and Ruth [friend and land lady] by that time was already with me, and she said someone had shot at the President.
Mr. Rankin. What did you say?
Mrs. Oswald. It was hard for me to say anything. We both turned pale. I went to my room and cried.
Mr. Rankin. Did you think immediately that your husband might have been involved?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
False Hope In The Garage Blanket
Marina did not appear to know much about guns. At one point, Rankin asks if she owned a shotgun or a rifle in Russia. She responds, “I don’t know the difference. … You men. That is your business.”
Despite her relative lack of knowledge about firearms, she was aware that there was a rifle wrapped in a blanket in the garage. The existence of this gun would change her life.
Mr. Rankin. Did [Ruth] say anything about the possibility of your husband being involved?
Mrs. Oswald. No, but she only said that, “By the way, they fired from the building in which Lee is working.” My heart dropped. I then went to the garage to see whether the rifle was there, and I saw that the blanket was still there, and I said, “Thank God.” I thought, “Can there really be such a stupid man in the world that could do something like that?” But I was already rather upset at that time, I don’t know why. Perhaps my intuition. I didn’t know what I was doing.
Mr. Rankin. Did you look in the blanket to see if the rifle was there?
Mrs. Oswald. I didn’t unroll the blanket. It was in its usual position, and it appeared to have something inside.
Mr. Rankin. Did you at any time open the blanket to see if the rifle was there?
Mrs. Oswald. No, only once.
Mr. Rankin. You have told us about that.
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
[Later That Day, The Police Arrive]
Mrs. Oswald. When the police arrived and asked whether my husband had a rifle, and I said, “Yes.”
Mr. Rankin. Then what happened?
Mrs. Oswald. They began to search the apartment. When they came to the garage and took the blanket, I thought, “Well, now, they will find it.” They opened the blanket, but there was no rifle there. Then, of course, I already knew that it was Lee.
Lee Left His Wedding Ring On The Nightstand After Their Last Night Together
Lee and Marina had been living separately in the lead-up to November 22, 1963. However, he had spent the night with her, and they made up on the evening before the assassination. When morning came, he did something he had never done before.
Mr. Rankin. Had your husband ever left his wedding ring at home that way before?
Mrs. Oswald. At one time while he was still at Fort Worth, it was inconvenient for him to work with his wedding ring on, and he would remove it, but at work — he would not leave it at home. His wedding ring was rather wide, and it bothered him. I don’t know now. He would take it off at work.
Mr. Rankin. Then this is the first time during your married life that he had ever left it at home where you live?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether your husband carried any package with him when he left the house on November 22?
Mrs. Oswald. I think that he had a package with his lunch. But a small package.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know whether he had any package like a rifle in some container?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Lee And Marina Always Had A Stormy Relationship, But His Mental State Worsened After An FBI Visit
Mr. Rankin. Did you notice a change, psychologically, in your husband during this period in the United States?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. When did you first notice that change?
Mrs. Oswald. At—at Elsbeth Street, in Dallas. After the visit of the FBI in Fort Worth. He was for some time nervous and irritable.
Mr. Rankin. Did he seem to have two different personalities then?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Would you describe to the Commission what he did to cause you to think that he was changing?
Mrs. Oswald. Generally he was — usually he was quite as he always was. He used to help me. And he was a good family man. Sometimes, apparently without reason, at least I did not know reasons, if any existed, he became quite a stranger. At such times, it was impossible to ask him anything. He simply kept to himself. He was irritated by trifles.
Mr. Rankin. Do you recall any of the trifles that irritated him, so as to help us to know the picture?
Mrs. Oswald. It is hard to remember any such trifling occurrences, sometimes such a small thing as, for example, dinner being five minutes late, and I do mean five minutes—it is not that I am exaggerating—he would be very angry. Or if there were no butter on the table, because he hadn’t brought it from the icebox, he would with great indignation ask, “Why is there no butter?” And at the same time, if I had put the butter on the table, he wouldn’t have touched it. This is foolishness, of course. A normal person doesn’t get irritated by things like that.
Marina Had Tried To Rekindle An Old Flame In Russia Sometime Before The Assassination
Mrs. Oswald. … Once we had a quarrel because I had a young man who was a boyfriend — this was before we were married, a boy who was in love with me, and I liked him, too. And I had written him a letter from here. I had — I wrote him that I was very lonely here, that Lee had changed a great deal, and that I was sorry that I had not married him instead, that it would have been much easier for me. I had mailed that letter showing the post office box as a return address. But this was just the time when the postage rates went up by one cent, and the letter was returned. Lee brought that letter and asked me what it was and forced me to read it. But I refused. Then he sat down across from me and started to read it to me. I was very much ashamed of my foolishness. And, of course, he hit me, but he did not believe that this letter was sincere. He asked me if it was true or not, and I told him that it was true. But he thought that I did it only in order to tease him. And that was the end of it.
Oswald Has Positive Feelings Toward Both The Men He Allegedly Shot
Lee frequently discussed his political views with his wife, including his positive feelings towards Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union. There were many political figures he did not like, including Major General Edwin A. Walker, whom Oswald had fired a single shot at and missed seven months earlier. However, neither Connally nor Kennedy were figures he appeared to harbor resentment toward, in his widow’s telling.
Mr. Rankin. Did your husband say anything to you to indicate he had a dislike for Governor Connally?
Mrs. Oswald. Here, he didn’t say anything. But while we were in Russia, he spoke well of him. It seems to me that Connally was running for Governor and Lee said that when he would return to the United States, he would vote for him.
[Later, she recalls her husband’s thoughts on Kennedy]
Mrs. Oswald. … I had never heard anything bad about Kennedy from Lee. And he never had anything against him.
The entirety of Marina’s testimony can be read here.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the last batch of classified JFK assassination files, totaling around 80,000 pages, is now also available online, following an Executive Order by President Trump.