(Testimony of Ruth Hyde Paine Resumed)
Mr. Jenner.
Had you discussed this matter with your husband?
Mrs. Paine.
Yes; I had.
Mr. Jenner.
And you were still living separate and apart at that time?
Mrs. Paine.
Yes. But I felt so long as I was not yet earning, he would be the one, in fact, who was supporting all of us.
Mr. Jenner.
I think the Commission might be interested in that. You were not taking this action, either in the earlier stage in the early spring or in the summer of inviting Marina to live with you without discussing that with your husband even though you and your husband at that time were separated?
Mrs. Paine.
That is correct.
Mr. Jenner.
Did you do anything, Mrs. Paine, in this connection with respect to keeping Lee Oswald informed of your invitations and your communications in this area with Marina?
Mrs. Paine.
I wrote into the letter that I hoped--well you might just read the last paragraph.
Mr. Jenner.
Would you mind reading it?
Mrs. Paine.
I will read it, the last paragraph in the letter, and I might say that the entire letter I wrote with the possibility in mind that he should see this.
Mr. Jenner.
Did you desire that he do see it?
Mrs. Paine.
I wanted him to--her to feel free to show it to him. I didn't want her to come to my house if this offended or injured him, if this was in some way
(At this point, Senator Cooper entered the hearing room.)
Mr. Jenner.
Divisive?
Mrs. Paine.
If he did in fact want to keep his family together, I certainly wanted him to, but if the bulk of his feelings lay on the side of wanting to be away, separated from Marina, then I thought it was legitimate for him to have that alternative, although it was not legitimate for him to simply send her back if she didn't want to go.
Mr. Jenner.
Send her back where?
Mrs. Paine.
To the Soviet Union, if she didn't want to go. So in this light I will read the last paragraph of Commission Exhibit 410:
"I don't want to hurt Lee with this invitation to you. Only I think that it would be better that you and he do not live together if you do not receive happiness. I understand how Michael feels. He doesn't love me and wants a chance to look for another life and another wife. He must do this, it seems, and so it is better for us not to live together. I don't know how Lee feels. would like to know. Surely things are hard for him now, too. I hope that he would be glad to see you with me where he can know that you and the children will receive everything that is
necessary and he would not need to worry about it. Thus he could start life again."
Mr. Jenner.
Mrs. Paine, having all this in mind and what you have testified to up to now, would you please tell the gentlemen of the Commission the factors and motivations you had in inviting Marina to come live with you; first to have her baby, next on a more extended scale, all of the factors that motivated you in your offer, in your own words?
Mrs. Paine.
The first invitation, just to come for a few weeks at the time of the birth is a simpler question, I will answer that first.
I felt that she would need someone simply to take care of her older child for the time that she was in the hospital, and that things would be easier for her if she didn't have to immediately take up the full household chores upon returning from the hospital. This was a very simple offer.
Mr. Jenner.
That was all that motivated you at that time?
Mrs. Paine.
Now, in asking her to come and stay for a more extended period, I had many feelings. I was living alone with my children, at that time, had been since the previous fall, nearly a year, at the time this letter is written. I had no idea that my husband might move back to the house. I was tired of living alone and lonely, and here was a woman who was alone and in a sense also, if Lee, in fact didn't want to be with her, and further she was a person I liked. I had lived with her 2 weeks in late April and early May. I enjoyed her company.
Further, being able to talk Russian with her added a wider dimension to
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