(Testimony of Mrs. Marguerite Oswald Resumed)
Mrs. Oswald.
documents and everything are handled through the U.S. Embassy. And because of my trip to Washington--which was red carpet treatment. Let's say, gentlemen, if a woman gets on the phone at 9 o'clock and has an appointment at 11 o'clock with three big men, that is wonderful treatment.
Now, they probably would do that to anybody. I don't know.
Mr. Rankin.
They might have done that----
Mrs. Oswald.
I haven't been that fortunate before.
Mr. Rankin.
Well, that shouldn't be held against them that they treated you nicely.
Mrs. Oswald.
No, I have told you, Mr. Rankin, they were most gracious to me. The Administration was most gracious to me.
Mr. Rankin.
I don't see why you should think that because they treated you nicely, that was any sign he was an agent.
Mrs. Oswald.
Well, maybe you don't see why. But this is my son. And this is the way 1 think, because I happen to know all of the other things that you don't know--the life and everything. I happen to think this. And this is my privilege to think this way. And I can almost back it up with these things.
This is a stranger to you folks. But this is a boy I have known from a child.
Mr. Rankin.
How much money do you think he received for being an agent?
Mrs. Oswald.
That I do not know.
Mr. Rankin.
You have no idea?
Mrs. Oswald.
But I do know this, and I have stated this. I have approximately 900 and some odd dollars. And I lost my job. That can be proven. I was a nurse on the 3 to 11 shift, working in a rest home, for a very wealthy woman. And it would have been at least a year, a year and a half case. She is not that bad off. She is just an invalid. She is going to live quite a while.
When I returned home from the Six Flags on Thanksgiving Day, the Deputy Sheriff at Fort Worth, Tex. went to get my pay. And the nurse, the 7 to 3:30 o'clock nurse--I went 3 to 11--and my patient cried and said that they were awfully sorry, but they could not have me back on the case. That the woman at the rest home refused to have me.
Now, I was not working for the rest home. I was doing private duty. But I understand that this is her place of business, and my presence there might have been--hurt her money part. But this is our Christian way of life. The boy was accused of killing the President, with no proof. And then the mother loses her job.
Now, that is my position. You asked me the question. But Marina has $35,000 publicly. What she has, I do not know. Now, gentlemen, $35,000 is a lot of money in donation dribs and drabs--is a very large sum of money. I question where does that money come from. Yes, some of it could be coming from Lee's back pay. And she might have more than that. That was the amount made public--$35,000. And here is a mother without a job. And everybody knows I have no money. And my contributions are 900 and some odd dollars.
Mr. Rankin.
Now, when you say that money that Marina has might come from your son's back pay, what do you base that on? Just speculation?
Mrs. Oswald.
I am basing all of this on speculation. Sir, if I had proof, I would not be taking my energy and my emotional capacity to bring all this out--if I had proof he was an agent.
Mr. Rankin.
When they asked you to contribute some money to help bring him home from Russia, did it occur to you that if he is an agent the government could just pay his way?
Mrs. Oswald.
Yes. But they don't want the public to know he is an agent. They want me to have all of this. They don't want the public to know. I am going around to people you brought up a very good point. I am going around trying to get money for this boy to come home, so the public knows. Sure, they could have given him the money to come home.
Mr. Rankin.
Are you trying to get money now? I don't understand what you mean by that?
Mrs. Oswald.
I think, Mr. Rankin, you asked me the question that if he was
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