Mr. Hosty.

him to leave on March 3, 1963. She told me they had moved a short distance away. She didn't know where. On that same date, I was able to determine from the postal authorities that they had changed their address to 214 Neely Street, also in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.
On the 14th of March, I verified that Oswalds were residing at this address when I found the mailbox with the name of Lee and Marina Oswald at this address, 214 Neely Street. Now, because of the alleged marital difficulties they were having, I in my judgment decided this was not the time to interview Mrs. Oswald, but to allow a certain cooling off period. So I then checked Lee Oswald's file, at which time I determined that he had a contact with the New York Daily Worker.

Mr. Stern.

How did you learn that?

Mr. Hosty.

From our New York office. Our New York office sent a letter through to the Dallas office. This was the first time I had seen this letter.

Mr. Stern.

This appeared in his file?

Mr. Hosty.

In his file; yes, sir.

Mr. Stern.

Even if the case was closed, the file would continue to accumulate?

Mr. Hosty.

That is correct, and they are periodically rechecked for things of this nature.
I noticed it, and then because of the domestic difficulty and the fact that I knew I would be interviewing his wife in the near future, I requested that the case be reopened. I requested the supervisor in Dallas to reopen the case to me.

Mr. Stern.

Was that in writing or verbally?

Mr. Hosty.

Actually, it was, it would appear in writing. I did this by sending a letter to the Bureau, to the FBI headquarters in Washington, setting forth the information I had developed, and then on our office copy I made a request that this case be reopened. This is a normal procedure that we go through when we open cases, or reopen cases.

The Chairman.

Mr. Hosty, did the letter from your New York office say what the nature of the con, tact with the Daily Worker was?

Mr. Hosty.

It said he was on the mailing list, sir, of the Daily Worker.

The Chairman.

On the mailing list?

Mr. Hosty.

Yes, sir.

The Chairman.

Proceed.

Mr. Hosty.

Then, like I say, I made a judgment that it would be best not to interview Mrs. Oswald at this time until there was a certain cooling off of their domestic difficulty, because it is not wise to interview a person of that type under a strain.
So I set it up that I would go back and recheck in 45 days. This was not highly urgent at the time. We had waited a period of time, and it wouldn't hurt to wait another 45 days. When I went back to check again in May, the middle of May, I found out that they had moved from their Neely Street address and had left no forwarding address.

Mr. Stern.

Stop there and let's go back and cover a few details.

Mr. Hosty.

All right, sir.

Mr. Stern.

Your recommendation to reopen the case of Lee Harvey Oswald was made at the end of March 1963?

Mr. Hosty.

Right; I believe the letter would be dated March 31.

Mr. Stern.

Was your recommendation accepted?

Mr. Hosty.

Yes; and it was reopened.

Mr. Stern.

With respect to the pending inactive investigation of Marina Oswald, had any work been done previous to the time when you thought about interviewing her?

Mr. Hosty.

No, sir; in a pending inactive case it is really almost in the same status as a closed case. We do nothing on it, and it was just a waiting period of 6 months that we had set up.

Mr. Stern.

Had that case been an active case?

Mr. Hosty.

No, sir; it never had been. It was opened as a pending inactive case.

Mr. Stern.

So that no work had been done?

Mr. Hosty.

No, sir.