(Testimony of Resumed)
Mr. Dulles.
Do they have authority, do you know, to do that without referring back to Moscow?
Mr. Mcvickar.
Yes; for tourist visas they do, and in fact they can go and get their visas at travel agencies. But it still takes a little time ordinarily to arrange it.
Representative Ford.
On page 3 of your memorandum of April 7, 1964, para. graph 8, you say: "My impression was that in the Soviet Union such a privilege would not have been usual."
You are referring, of course, to the allegations made that he had been a member of a rifle club and did target shooting?
Mr. Mcvickar.
Yes.
Representative Ford.
Why do you have that impression?
Mr. Mcvickar.
Well, I was thinking particularly in terms of his having been a foreigner, and of course strictly on the assumption that he did belong to a rifle club, and I don't know that to be a fact.
Representative Ford.
Let's assume the fact that he did.
Mr. Mcvickar.
Yes; and this again is only based on the impression that I gathered from such contacts as I may have had while I was there, and I had the impression that sporting activities in the Soviet Union are organized as a part of the state effort, and that there might have to be some good purpose to be served by the state for a person to participate in such a club.
And that the usual purpose would be international competition, and that people who are sportsmen in the Soviet Union generally do this, they are given time off from their work to do this kind of thing.
I have heard it said that sometimes they are really almost full time engaged in whatever the sport is, and that they only have another job to be able to say that they have amateur status.
Representative Ford.
Have you ever been to Minsk?
Mr. Mcvickar.
I have only passed through Minsk on the train several times going back and forth to Poland.
Representative Ford.
Do you feel from your experiences in the Soviet Union it was unusual for Oswald to be sent or permitted to go to Minsk?
Mr. Mcvickar.
No; I don't think that is particularly unusual. I have a feeling that what they were trying to do probably was, at least a part of what they were trying to do, was to take advantage of his competence and knowledge in the electronic field, and so they probably sent him to a place where they would have technicians qualified to learn from him.
The same thing was done in the case of the immediately previous defector, Mr. Webster, who was a glass expert--what do they call that kind of glass, foam glass?
No, fiber glass. At any rate, he was employed at the fair that we had in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1959, and he more or less defected and he was sent to a glass factory, to work at a glass factory in Leningrad, and it was logical for them to send him there because he could do that kind of work and he could teach them something about how it was done in the United States.
Representative Ford.
Do you know of any special kind of schools that might be in Minsk, any particular schools that they might send a person like Oswald to?
Mr. Mcvickar.
I only had the impression without being sure of my facts, that he went to a factory where they manufactured electronic equipment. I don't know of any particular school that he might have been going to.
Mr. Dulles.
I want to straighten out if I can this question of the delay in the issuance of an exit visa for Mrs. Oswald.
Representative Ford.
Mr. Dulles, I do have to leave. Would you take over and preside as chairman.
Mr. Dulles.
I want to raise this question. Now the record here in this memorandum indicates that the exit visa to Marina was issued at least 2 months before the State Department gave the entry permit. It seems to me to be contrary to the testimony we have previously had, because in a letter dated March 16--what is this exhibit number?
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