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

Oswald’s Reconsideration of Staying in the USSR

On January 4, 1961, one year after he had been issued his “stateless” residence permit, Oswald was summoned to the passport office in Minsk and asked if he still wanted to become a Soviet citizen. He replied that he did not, but asked that his residence permit be extended for another year. The diary entry for January 4–31 reads: “I am stating to reconsider my disire about staying. The work is drab. The money I get has nowhere to be spent. No nightclubs or bowling allys, no places of recreation acept the trade union dances. I have had enough.”

第二章 With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the

Chapter II examines Lee Harvey Oswald’s renewed contact with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in early 1961, his encounters with Americans and Soviets in Minsk, his courtship and marriage to Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova, and the steps he took to obtain his American passport back and arrange for his wife’s immigration to the United States. Drawing heavily on Oswald’s diary, State Department and Embassy correspondence, and Commission Exhibit materials, the chapter traces how Oswald went from requesting repatriation in February to marrying Marina in late April and ultimately obtaining a valid passport and initiating his wife’s visa application in July 1961.

Oswald’s Early 1961 Correspondence with the U.S. Embassy

After a long silence following his November 1959 letter, Oswald wrote to the American Embassy in Moscow on or about February 6, 1961, from Minsk. The undated letter, received on February 13, requested the return of his passport and stated his desire to return to the United States provided he could reach “some agreement [with the American Government] concerning the dropping of any legal proceedings” against him. Oswald emphasized he had not become a Soviet citizen and was living in Russia with “nonpermanent type papers for a foreigner,” noting he could not personally appear at the Embassy because he could not leave Minsk without permission. He referenced a previous letter he claimed had gone unanswered, though there is evidence no such letter was ever sent. A second letter, posted March 5 and received March 20, reiterated his inability to travel to Moscow and asked that preliminary inquiries be put in the form of a questionnaire. Oswald’s diary records his “state of expectation about going back to the U.S.” and notes that a friend had approved his plans but warned him not to discuss them with others. Soviet authorities had almost certainly intercepted and read the correspondence, and soon after it began, Oswald’s monthly “Red Cross” payments were cut off.