Priscilla Johnson’s Extended Interview with Oswald
Around November 16, Oswald granted a second interview to Priscilla Johnson of the North American Newspaper Alliance, who met him at the Metropole Hotel and conducted the conversation in her room from approximately 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Throughout the five-hour session, Oswald repeatedly expressed pleasure that he would be allowed to remain in Russia but also showed disappointment at obstacles to obtaining Soviet citizenship. He largely repeated the information he had given Mosby, again denying Communist Party membership or contact with Communists in the United States. When asked to name socialist writers he had read in the past five years, he could identify only Marx and Engels, recalling the single title “Das Kapital”; Johnson found his grasp of Communist economic theory to be his “language” but very superficial. He characterized the Russian handling of his defection as a “legal formality,” neither encouraged nor discouraged, and refused to return to the Embassy to renounce citizenship, fearing a “run-around.” Johnson concluded that Oswald was consciously or unconsciously avoiding effective renunciation to preserve his right to reenter the United States.
Oswald’s Daily Routine in Moscow
For the remainder of the year following his interviews, Oswald rarely left his room at the Metropole, where he had arranged to take his meals, with occasional excursions to museums. His diary records that he spent roughly eight hours a day studying Russian. The only interruptions to this routine were a visit to the passport office, occasional meetings with Rima Shirokova, Russian lessons from Shirokova and other Intourist guides, and a New Year’s visit from Roza Agafonova, who brought him a small “Boratin” clown as a gift.
Oswald’s Family Correspondence
Oswald replied to a letter from his brother Robert with a communication containing his most bitter statements against the United States (quoted in full in chapter VII). A second letter from Oswald, received by Robert on December 17, announced that Lee would not write again and did not want Robert to write to him, stating: “I am starting a new life and I do not wish to have anything to do with the old life. I hope you and your family will always be in good health. Lee.” On December 18, his mother mailed him a personal check for $20, which was returned on January 5 with a note that he could not use the check; he asked her to send $20 in cash and indicated he had little money and needed “the rest,” apparently referring to the $100 he had previously given her. Mrs. Oswald subsequently sent a money order for approximately $25.
Oswald’s Issuance of Stateless Identity Document
On January 4, Oswald was summoned to the Soviet Passport Office and issued Identity Document for Stateless Persons No. 311479. He was informed that he was being sent to Minsk, an industrial city of roughly 510,000 located about 450 miles southwest of Moscow. While disappointed at not receiving Soviet citizenship, he was relieved that the uncertainty over his status was ended, and he told Rima Shirokova that he was happy. The following day he went to the government agency known as the “Red Cross,” which gave him 5,000 rubles (about 500 new rubles or $500 at the official rate); of this sum, 2,200 rubles went to pay his hotel bill and 150 rubles purchased a railroad ticket to Minsk.
Oswald’s Transfer to Minsk
The text describes Oswald’s transfer from Moscow to Minsk as a direct outcome of his receipt of the stateless identity document and the Soviet decision to send him to an industrial city roughly 450 miles southwest of the capital, with a population in 1959 of about 510,000. While he was disappointed not to have been granted Soviet citizenship, the ending of uncertainty brought relief, and he expressed happiness to Rima Shirokova. He received 5,000 rubles from the “Red Cross” agency, of which he used 2,200 to settle his hotel account and 150 to buy a rail ticket to Minsk, with the remainder presumably available for his new life there.
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