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

Oswald’s Expedited Visa Processing Attempts

Oswald’s diary entry for August 21 through September 1 records that he made “repeated trips to the passport & visa office, also to Ministry of For. Affairs in Minsk, also Min. of Internal Affairs, all of which have a say in the granting of a visa,” and that he “extracted promises of quick attention.” However, a subsequent entry covering September through October 18 noted simply: “No word from Min. (‘They’ll call us.’).” On October 4, Oswald wrote to the Embassy requesting official U.S. intervention, citing “systematic and concerted attempts to intimidate” Marina—including a 5-day hospitalization on September 22 for “nervous exhaustion” (a claim Marina later denied and which he omitted from his diary and family letters). The Embassy replied on October 12 that it had no means of influencing Soviet conduct in such matters and that action on visa applications was “seldom taken rapidly.”

October 1961 Marital Strains and Khar’kov Vacation

In October 1961, Marina took her annual vacation and spent approximately three weeks with an aunt in Khar’kov, a “change of scenery” agreed upon by both. Evidence suggests they were not getting along well during this period: a post-return diary entry noted quarrels and Marina’s wavering on emigration, which Oswald attributed to anxiety about visas and her pregnancy, while he dreaded the “hard Russian winter.” During her absence, Oswald felt lonely but socialized with his friend “Erich” (presumably Erik Titovyets) at dances and other amusements, and on his 22nd birthday went alone to see his favorite opera, “The Queen of Spades.” Marina returned on November 11, “radiant, with several jars of preserves.”