It is good to know that movements in support of fair play for Cuba has developed in New Orleans as well as in other cities. We do not have any organizational ties with the Committee, and .yet. there is much material that we issue from time to time that is important for anybody who is concerned about developments in Cuba.358

Marina Oswald said that such correspondence from people he considered important meant much to Oswald. After he had begun his Cuban activity in New Orleans "he received a letter from somebody in New York, some Communist--probably from New York--I am not sure from where--from some Communist leader and he was very happy, he felt that this was a great man that he had received the letter from." 359 Since he seemed to feel that no one else understood his political views, the letter was of great value to him for it "was proof * * * that there were people who' understood his activity." 360

He anticipated that the full disclosure of his defection would hinder him in "the struggle for progress and freedom in the United States" 361 into which Oswald, in his own words, had "thrown" himself. He sought advice from the central committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A., in a letter dated August 28, 1963, about whether he could "continue to fight, handicapped as it were, by my past record * * * [and] compete with anti-progressive forces, above-ground or weather in your opinion I should always remain in the background, i.e. underground." 362 Stating that he had used his "position" with what he claimed to be the local branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee to "foster communist ideals," Oswald wrote that he felt that he might have compromised the FPCC and expressed concern lest "Our opponents could use my background of residence in the U.S.S.R. against any cause which I join, by association, they could say the organization of which I am a member, is Russian controled, ect." 363 In reply Arnold Johnson advised Oswald that, while as an American citizen he had a right to participate in such organizations as he wished, "there are a number of organizations, including possibly Fair Play, which are of a very broad character, and often it is advisable for some people to remain in the background, not underground." 364

By August of 1963, after a short 3 months in New Orleans, the city in which he had been born and had lived most of his early life, Oswald had fallen on difficult times. He had not liked his job as a greaser of coffee processing machinery and he held it for only a little over 2 months.365 He had not found another job. His wife was expecting their second child in October and there was concern about the cost which would be involved.366 His brief foray on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee had failed to win any support. While he had drawn some attention to himself and had actually