Mr. Thornley.

I am sure he interpreted that that way but I certainly didn't think he was a Communist and I certainly didn't tell him so.

Mr. Jenner.

To what did you attribute this inability of his to maintain reasonably cordial or at least military-service family relations with his fellow marines?

Mr. Thornley.

Well, at the time I just thought--well, the man is a nut--at the very moment it happened, I dismissed it without thinking about it.

Mr. Jenner.

See if you can articulate a little more, when you say "a nut," a lot of people will interpret the expression "a nut" differently.

Mr. Thornley.

I understand that. I was just trying to give you my first impression first: that he was some kind of a nut, and I stopped thinking about it.

Mr. Jenner.

You mean a nut in the sense of an extremist, not an organized thinker?

Mr. Thornley.

I didn't think about that enough to classify it. I just thought, "something is wrong with him, maybe something is bugging him today, maybe he is crazy, I don't know what," but I just wasn't at that moment--it wasn't that important to me, I didn't feel much better than he did that morning, I am sure, so I just shrugged it off.
Later, I did reflect on it, and that, combined with his general habits in relation to his superiors, and to the other men in the outfit, caused me to decide that he had a definite tendency toward irrationality at times, an emotional instability. Once again right away, I didn't know exactly what was the cause of this. A couple of years later I had good reason to think about it some more, at which time I noticed.

Mr. Jenner.

Now when please ? Before the assassination?

Mr. Thornley.

Yes, while working on my book, "The Idle Warriors."

Mr. Jenner.

About when was this?

Mr. Thornley.

From the time he went to the Soviet Union until February of 1962.

Mr. Jenner.

You learned that he had gone to the Soviet Union?

Mr. Thornley.

Yes; I was stationed at his former outfit, Marine Air Control Squadron 1, at the time he went to the Soviet Union.

Mr. Jenner.

Where were you then stationed?

Mr. Thornley.

That is where I was at the time.

Mr. Jenner.

What country?

Mr. Thornley.

At Atsugi, Japan.

Mr. Jenner.

I see. And you learned about it through what source?

Mr. Thornley.

The Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper in the Far East. It was on page 3, I believe, a little article about Lee Harvey Oswald having appeared in the American Embassy in Moscow, having plopped down his passport and requested Soviet citizenship. My first reaction was, "Good Lord, what is going on here?" And afterward, I, of course it began to occur to me, his interest in communism, and I started kicking myself, thinking, well, you know, just for so misjudging a person. I just--

Mr. Jenner.

Misjudging? What respect, please?

Mr. Thornley.

As far as his sincerity went. I did not ever think he was so interested in communism to go to all the trouble to go to the Soviet Union and certainly to jeopardize his citizenship, and so forth. This was a great surprise to me. And right away I began to try to figure out the mechanism of his thinking.

Mr. Jenner.

I see. Keep going and tell me what your rationalization and thinking was at that time.

Mr. Thornley.

And what caused him to do this. This gets us back to the emotional instability and why did it occur. I do believe, to begin with, Oswald, how long ago he had acquired the idea I don't know, but I think in his mind it was almost a certainty that the world would end up under a totalitarian government or under totalitarian governments.
I think he accepted Orwell's premise in this that their was no fighting it. That sooner or later you were going to have to love Big Brother and I think this was the central, I think this was the central thing that disturbed him and caused many of his other reactions.
I think he wanted to be on the winning side for one thing, and, therefore,