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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. V - Page 289« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Richard Edward Snyder Resumed)

Mr. Snyder.
been either a Wednesday or a Saturday afternoon, if not a Sunday. I am told that the date on which he came actually was a Saturday, so I presume it was a Saturday afternoon that he came.
Representative Ford.
Don't spare of the detail, because it would be interesting to get your version and his as he purportedly related it in a document of his own subsequently.
Mr. Snyder.
I am not sure whether he was brought in to me or whether I went out and met him at the door and brought him in. I don't recall whether one of my secretaries might have been on duty that afternoon. Normally, she would not have been.
I believe that Mr. McVickar was working in the office adjoining mine. The offices in Moscow are quite small and the door between our offices is usually open. And I think that Mr. McVickar told me he was in the next office.
There was no one in the office with me at the time I saw him.
Oswald was well dressed and very neat appearing when he came in. I don't recall whether he was wearing a suit and shirt and tie. But at any rate, his appearance impressed me at the time. And I recall that he looked very presentable.
He was very curt, very proper. At no time did he insult me or anything of that sort personally. He was just proper, but extremely curt.
Representative Ford.
Did he just walk in the door and you were seated at your desk? What was the way in which you first spoke to one another?
Mr. Snyder.
I don't recall whether he was ushered into my office by the secretary or one of the employees, or whether I was told that there was someone waiting for me outside, and I went and got him. It is unlikely that he walked into the offices, because he would have had to walk through two other offices to get to mine.
Well, he stated--he gave me a written statement, which is in the record, almost immediately upon his arrival, I believe.
Representative Ford.
That is Commission Exhibit No. 913.
Mr. Snyder.
He stated in effect that he had come to the Soviet Union to live in the Soviet Union, that he desired to renounce his American citizenship, though I don't think he used the word "renounce"--I think he used another word--but that he desired to renounce his American citizenship. That his allegiance was to the Soviet Union.
I think initially this was pretty much what his statement was. And would I please do what was necessary to get this over with.
Well, during this period of the interview, as far as I recall, he was standing. And he may have seated himself some time later in it. But I think for the initial part of the interview, he remained standing and declined to take a seat.
When I began to question him, he then rejoined with words to the effect, "I know what" or "I have been told what you are going to ask me, you are going to try to talk me out of this, and don't waste your time, please let's get on with the business."
I then asked him--I continued to probe and see where I could find a chink in his armor some place. And I think that the initial chink which I found was regarding his relatives and place of residence in the United States.
I had his passport. I don't recall whether he handed it to me, though he probably did, or whether I asked him for it.
I noted that on the inside of the cover page of his passport his home address had been crossed out.
When I asked him where he lived, he declined to tell me. When I asked him about his relatives--I had noted from his passport that he was 20 years old. When I asked him about his relatives, he also said this was none of my business, and would I please get on with the business.
Well, I told him at that time, or fairly early in the interview, having found this kind of chink I could work on, I told him that I would have to know certainly where he lived in the United States in order to do anything else with his case.
At that stage, he kind of hemmed and hawed a bit and said--well, I live at so and so. And from there on it opened the crack a lit fie bit, and I found his
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