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

Dismissal from Reily and Subsequent Unemployment Claims

Dismissal from Reily and Subsequent Unemployment Claims On July 19, Oswald was dismissed by Reily Co. for inefficiency and inattention. He had spent many of his working hours at the adjacent Crescent City Garage, where he read gun magazines and discussed firearms with co-owner Adrian Alba. On Monday, July 22, he returned to the Louisiana employment office to seek new work and file another unemployment compensation claim, again listing fictitious job applications on his forms. He collected unemployment benefits weekly thereafter, ostensibly made some effort to find another job, but soon gave up his search and began spending his days at home reading. On July 25, he received another setback: the Marine Corps affirmed his 1962 undesirable discharge.

Plans to Travel to the Soviet Union or Cuba

Plans to Travel to the Soviet Union or Cuba During this period, Oswald began expressing thoughts of returning to the Soviet Union or going to Cuba. On June 24 he applied for a new passport, receiving it the following day. At Oswald’s request, Marina wrote to the Russian Embassy expressing a desire to return to Russia with her husband, citing family problems and her impending second pregnancy. Accompanying her letter was a July 1 letter from Oswald asking the Embassy to rush an entrance visa for his wife while his own visa was considered separately. Marina testified, however, that Oswald’s basic desire was to get to Cuba by any means, and that the rest of the correspondence was “window dressing” for that purpose; she believed he planned only to go to Cuba.