(Testimony of Ruth Hyde Paine)
Mrs. Paine.
She has sent more than one letter. I said I had answered one and sent it back on that letter. I have perhaps four-- no; perhaps as many as eight letters from her now that, some are directly typed and some are just carbons of something she has said to a large group of people. We have also had some communication by telephone.
Mr. Jenner.
May I see those letters when I am in Dallas Monday and Tuesday?
Mrs. Paine.
You can certainly see them.
Mr. Jenner.
Would you summarize generally what the inquiries of Mrs. Martin have been and the subject matter and the nature of your responses? Telephone, or otherwise?
Mrs. Paine.
I do recall in the initial visit when she was in my home I asked her if she thought Lee Oswald was not guilty of the crime he is alleged to have committed and she said, well, that she couldn't say that, that it would be foolish at this point in the inquiry to say that, but that she was not satisfied with the evidence that led to a public conclusion that he was guilty.
Mr. Jenner.
Did you express any opinion on your part?
Mrs. Paine.
Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
On that subject?
Mr. Paine.
I said that I thought he was guilty of the act.
Mr. Jenner.
You did not know Mrs. Martin prior to the time she came to your door?
Mr. Paine.
No; I did not.
Mr. Jenner.
And your acquaintance with her in the interim has been limited to what you have testified?
Mrs. Paine.
That is right.
Mr. Jenner.
And you are not working with Mrs. Martin in her campaign or crusade or whatever it may be?
Mrs. Paine.
No; I answer any questions she has just as I do answer questions of newsmen or other people who wish to inquire about what I know.
Mr. Jenner.
Would you please give me your impression of Lee Oswald's personality, what you think made him tick, any foibles of his, your overall impression now as you have it sitting there of Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. Paine.
My overall impression progressed through several stages.
Mr. Jenner.
Why don't you give those. I think it would be helpful to us if you would. Start at the beginning.
Mrs. Paine.
In the spring what I knew of him was that he wanted to send his wife away back to the Soviet Union, which she didn't want to do, that he would not permit her to learn English or certainly didn't encourage it. I knew that he had lost his job and looked unsuccessfully. I formed an initial negative opinion about him, on really very little personal contact. I saw him very briefly the evening of the 22d of February, the evening of the second of April, and the afternoon of the 20th of April, and again on the 24th of April and so as far as I remember that is virtually all of the contact I had had directly with him.
And this impression stayed with me throughout the summer and throughout my visits to various friends and family on my trip of August and September 1963, and I undoubtedly conveyed to the people I talked to during that time that impression, which I carried at that time.
When I saw him again in New Orleans, beginning the 20th of September, I was impressed quite differently.
He seemed friendly. He seemed grateful, as reported in this letter to my mother, even grateful that I was offering to have his wife in my home and help her make arrangements at Parkland Hospital to have the baby there, at a fee adjusted to their income. He appeared to me to be happy, called cheerily to Marina and June as he came in the house with a bag full of groceries. He, as I described, washed the dishes that evening that Marina and I went down to Bourbon Street. And particularly in parting on the morning of September 23 I felt he was really sorry to see them go. He kissed them both at the house as we first took off and then again when we left from the gas station where I had bought a tire.
And I felt, as expressed in this letter that you just showed me to my mother that he hoped to have his family together again as soon as he could.
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