Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Waiver of Section 243(g) Provisions

Section 243(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 prevented issuance of a visa to Marina Oswald by the Moscow Embassy. The section requires consular officers in a country, upon notification by the Attorney General that the country has refused or unduly delayed accepting a deportable alien who is a subject or resident of that country, not to issue visas to citizens of that country. The section had been invoked against Russia on May 26, 1953. Although section 243(g) contains no express provision for waiver, the Justice Department has concluded that the Attorney General possesses such waiver powers, and pursuant to this decision the Department has granted waivers in over 600 cases from the Soviet Union since 1953. The 1962 waiver procedures were prescribed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which required that before adjudicating a petition for an eligible beneficiary residing in the USSR, Czechoslovakia, or Hungary, the district director obtain a report of investigation. If no substantial derogatory security information is developed, the district director may waive the sanctions in an individual meritorious case. If adverse security information is developed, the visa petition is processed on its merits and certified to the regional commissioner for determination. The State Department’s visa instructions provide that “the sanctions will be waived only in individual meritorious cases in behalf of a beneficiary of a petition filed by a reputable relative.” Because Lee Harvey Oswald signed the petition on Marina’s behalf, his character was relevant. The State Department file on Oswald contained facts relating to his attempted expatriation, but the INS regulations did not require automatic denial of the waiver. The State Department successfully urged reversal of the original INS decision because reversal would be in the best interests of future U.S. dealings with the Soviet Union on behalf of American citizens, and because it seemed unfair to punish Oswald’s wife and baby for his earlier errors. Prevention of the separation of families is among the most common reasons underlying waivers of section 243(g).

Oswald’s Letter to Senator Tower

Sometime shortly before January 26, 1962, an undated letter from Lee Harvey Oswald was received in the office of U.S. Senator from Texas, John G. Tower. In the letter, Oswald identified himself as 22 years old, formerly of Fort Worth, said he had come to the Soviet Union in October 1959 for a residential stay, and stated that he had unsuccessfully applied since July 20, 1960, for a Soviet Exit Visa for himself and his Soviet wife, who had applied at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on July 8, 1960 for immigration status. Oswald, identifying himself as a U.S. citizen with passport No. 1733242, asked Senator Tower to raise the question of the Soviet Union’s holding of a U.S. citizen against his will. The letter was read in Senator Tower’s office by a caseworker and forwarded on January 26 to the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, Department of State, with a machine-signed cover letter from the Senator stating that he did not know Oswald or the facts of his case, that Oswald’s inquiry should have gone to the executive branch, and that he was forwarding it for whatever action the Department considered appropriate. On February 1, an officer at the State Department telephoned the Senator’s office and spoke briefly with the caseworker, who noted that the Senator should not become involved in such case and that State would report on the course they followed. About a week later, the State Department forwarded to Senator Tower copies of correspondence with Oswald and informed the Senator that he could contact the Department if he wished to be kept informed. Neither the Senator nor any member of his staff contacted the Department again or took any other action in the matter.

State Department Repatriation Loan to Oswald

In a letter dated January 5, 1962, Oswald asked about arranging a loan from the Embassy or a private organization for part of the airplane fares. The Embassy replied on February 6, 1962, that he would have to supply certain personal and financial data, and noted that after repatriation he would not be furnished a passport for travel abroad until the money was repaid. Between February 6 and May 1, 1962, Oswald attempted to secure a loan from the Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee in the United States. The State Department wrote to Oswald’s mother on February 1 asking whether she could advance the money, but Oswald later advised both his mother and the Department that his mother should not be bothered about the loan. After an exchange of communications, the Department approved a loan to Oswald for passage to New York only, directing the Embassy to “Keep cost minimum.” On June 1, Oswald signed a promissory note for $435.71. Statutory authority for such a loan was conferred by title 5, section 170(a) of the U.S. Code, which authorizes the Secretary of State to make expenditures for unforeseen emergencies arising in the diplomatic and consular service. Since 1947, the State Department’s annual appropriation act has included a sum for such emergencies, used in recent years for relief and repatriation loans to U.S. citizens abroad. The Secretary has annually allotted approximately $100,000 to meet the expenses of indigent U.S. nationals, including those in the Soviet Union. From 1959 to 1963, 2,343 such loans were granted. Section 423.2-1 of the Department’s regulations provides that repatriation loans may be granted only to destitute U.S. nationals who are in complete and unquestioned possession of their citizenship rights, are entitled to receive U.S. passports, and whose loyalty to the United States Government is beyond question, or to whom section 423.1-2(b) applies. Oswald satisfied the first two requirements because he was determined to be a U.S. citizen and had been issued a passport to return. The Commission noted a serious question whether he could have qualified under the loyalty clause, given his expressed hostility and disloyalty and manifested desire to renounce his citizenship. The Department instead exercised its judgment under section 423.1-2(b), which authorizes loans when the U.S. national is in, or the cause of, a situation damaging to the prestige of the United States Government or constituting a compelling reason for extending assistance to effect his return. The Department decided this provision applied to Oswald because his “unstable character and prior criticism of the United States” would make his continued presence in the Soviet Union damaging to U.S. prestige. The Department acted within its competence and the law, and as required by the regulations sought funds from private sources—Oswald’s mother and the International Rescue Committee—before using Government funds. Regulations further provide that repatriation loans may be authorized for the alien wife and children of a U.S. national to avoid the division of families, but loans are limited to the minimum amount required to cover transportation and subsistence en route to the nearest continental U.S. port, with transportation limited to third-class passage by ship. Oswald’s loan covered no more than the least expensive transportation from Moscow to New York, and his passport was stamped valid only for return to the United States. According to its own procedures, the Department should have prepared a lookout card for Oswald in June 1962 when he received the loan proceeds, and his promissory note contained a provision that he would not be furnished a passport for travel abroad until the obligation was repaid. However, a lookout card was never prepared. The State Department informed the Commission that the Revenues and Receipts Branch of the Office of Finance should have notified the Clearance Section in the Passport Office of Oswald’s name, date, and place of birth; if only the name was received, the Passport Office would not have prepared a lookout card under its procedures. The Finance Office may not have notified the Clearance Section, possibly because of lack of information concerning Oswald’s date and place of birth, or the Finance Office may have notified the Clearance Section of the name only. Since Oswald began repaying the loan immediately after his return, the Office of Finance may have decided not to pursue the matter further. In any event, Oswald’s loan was repaid in full on January 29, 1963, five months prior to his application for a new passport.