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

VISIT TO THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN MEXICO CITY

In October 1963, the State Department Passport Office received a CIA report that Oswald had visited the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City (the report did not mention his also visiting the Cuban Embassy). Upon review by an attorney and a supervising attorney, no basis was found to revoke Oswald’s passport or to notify the FBI and CIA that he had received a new passport in June 1963, since travel to the Soviet Union was not proscribed and was among the countries he had listed on his application. Later, on November 14, 1963, the FBI sent the Department a report on Oswald’s August 1963 arrest in New Orleans for a fistfight while distributing “Hands Off Cuba” pamphlets, but no action was taken on this either. The Commission agrees that neither incident warranted revocation of Oswald’s passport.

CONCLUSION

The Commission’s investigation of Oswald’s complete dealings with the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service found no irregularity, illegal action, or impropriety by government officials. The Commission recommends, however, that the Department exercise greater care in repatriating defectors who have shown disloyalty, hostility, or desire to renounce citizenship, and should improve dissemination of relevant information to intelligence agencies; it acknowledges that the “lookout card” system was deficient but finds these deficiencies beyond the scope of its inquiry because they did not affect Oswald. Although Oswald was often insulting to U.S. personnel abroad and was characterized as “unstable,” officials acted properly within their discretion in admitting him, and only hindsight reveals the tragic irony of their determination.