Mr. Paine.

spoken--I had mentioned this because he had spoken abusively of the American Government.

Mr. Liebeler.

At this time, during the first meeting?

Mr. Paine.

Not just the American Government--yes; at this same meeting. He had spoken with abuse of, sort of resentment that they didn't let him have his passport and I thought, well now, that was just kind of a nice trick, by having a consular official there that he knew, this man wanted to change his mind, this little legal dodge of not wanting to give him his passport which I think is illegal if the man wants it, it would be the thing to permit him to come back.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you point that out to Lee Oswald?

Mr. Paine.

Yes; I did.

Mr. Liebeler.

What did he say?

Mr. Paine.

I don't think he responded to it.

Mr. Dulles.

He talked about surrendering the passport rather than surrendering citizenship, did he?

Mr. Paine.

The two were synonymous, I thought, that if you surrendered your passport and with the intention of adopting another one that was renouncing American citizenship.

Mr. Dulles.

I see.

Mr. Paine.

Which he wanted, he told me he wanted to renounce his American citizenship. He said that quite flatly.

Mr. Liebeler.

Do you remember anything else about this conversation concerning his trip back and his attitude toward the State Department and the United States that he discussed during this first meeting?

Mr. Paine.

I don't believe so. I think I have got it a little confused with Marguerite Oswald what she said at the assassination, at the time of the night of the 22d. She was resentful of the State Department, thinking it had been remiss in taking so long in getting him back. I don't remember whether he had voiced the same. I am confused, I don't know whether it was he or she who had voiced this resentment. I thought to the contrary it was very generous.

Mr. Liebeler.

Do you remember whether or not Oswald himself voiced resentment against the Government of the United States in this connection?

Mr. Paine.

Yes; I do remember that. That was the thing that prompted me to say that it was actually rather nice of them to have been illegal just for this--

Mr. Dulles.

I didn't catch the last. Nice of them to have been what?

Mr. Paine.

I though it probably was illegal of the embassy official not to hand over his passport when he demanded it in order to surrender it to the Soviet Union.

Mr. Liebeler.

But you don't remember Oswald responding to that when you made that answer to him?

Mr. Paine.

I don't remember his response.

The Chairman.

You also said you thought it was rather nice of the State Department to do that in order to make it possible for him to return if he wanted to?

Mr. Paine.

Yes; I said both of these things. They had given him money. They had held, a peccadillo to hold, the passport out of the knowledge that he might, such people might, want to return, change their mind, and then to provide him money moreover to come back, this all seemed to me rather nice even though it had taken 2 more months than when he originally wanted to come back.
I had said, this in response to his, some kind of expression on his part of criticism of the State Department or the foreign embassy or whatever it is.

Mr. Liebeler.

Do you remember why he was critical? Was he critical because they had not given him his passport when he went to Russia or was he critical because in his opinion they had taken so long to arrange his return?

Mr. Paine.

I think he was critical when he first mentioned it, he seemed to have the critical attitude some of this critical attitude may have been facial expressions or way of speaking, which was somewhat common with him. Therefore, I can't remember for sure whether it was in the words or in his attitude.