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

第八章 She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367]

Chapter VIII examines two related questions arising from Lee Harvey Oswald’s documented interactions with U.S. Government agencies between his release from the Marine Corps and the assassination: whether he served as an informant or undercover agent for any Federal agency, and whether his financial transactions between June 13, 1962, and November 22, 1963, reveal unexplained income. After reviewing State Department, Immigration and Naturalization Service, FBI, and CIA records, and conducting a detailed audit of Oswald’s receipts, expenditures, debts, and pattern of living, the Commission concludes that Oswald was not an agent or informant of any Federal agency and that his known funds were sufficient to cover his known expenditures, including the purchase of the assassination rifle and revolver.

Oswald Was Not an Agent for the U.S. Government

Although Oswald dealt with several agencies of the U.S. Government—including the State Department (passport, citizenship, repatriation loan, wife’s immigration), the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI (three interviews of Oswald and inquiries of Mrs. Paine), and the CIA (monitoring of his Fair Play for Cuba Committee and Mexico City consulate activities)—the Commission found no evidence that he served as a paid informant or undercover agent. Rumors to this effect, advanced by Oswald’s mother Marguerite Oswald and by Pauline Bates (a Fort Worth stenographer who reported Oswald claimed to be a “secret agent”), were investigated and either unsubstantiated or contradicted by sworn testimony. Director John A. McCone and Deputy Director Richard Helms of the CIA, and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover along with Agents John W. Fain, John L. Quigley, and James P. Hosty, Jr., all testified under oath and provided affidavits affirming that Oswald was not an agent, employee, or informant and was never assigned a symbol number or paid any funds by the Bureau. The Commission independently reviewed the complete CIA and FBI files on Oswald, which corroborated these statements. The presence of Agent Hosty’s name, office address, telephone number, and license plate number in Oswald’s address book was traced to a November 1, 1963, visit by Hosty to Ruth Paine, who handed the slip of paper to Oswald; the FBI office address itself was readily available from public sources. The Commission concluded there was absolutely no informant or undercover relationship between any U.S. Government agency and Oswald at any time.