Marina Oswald

In her more than 25 hours before the Commission (longest appearance of any witness), Marina Oswald spoke mostly through a Russian interpreter, haltingly told what it was like to live with Lee Harvey Oswald. Excerpts: "He said that after 20 years he would be prime minister. I think that he had a sick imagination--at least at that time I already considered him to be not quite normal--not always, but at times. He was very much interested, exceedingly so, in autobiographical works of outstanding statesmen of the United States and others. I think that he compared himself to these people whose autobiographies he read. That seems strange to me, because it is necessary to have an education in order to achieve success of that kind.

"He was irritated by trifles. Such a small thing as, for example, dinner being five minutes late, and I do mean five minutes--it is not that I am exaggerating--he would be very angry. Or if there were no butter on the table, because he hadn't brought it from the icebox, he would with great indignation ask, 'Why is there no butter?' And at the same time if I had put butter on the table he wouldn't have touched it. This is foolishness, of course. A normal person doesn't get irritated by things like that." At one point, Marina was thinking of returning alone to Russia. "He was very sad and upset. He was sitting and writing something in his notebook. I asked him what he was writing and he said, 'It would be better if I go with you.' Then he went into the kitchen and he sat there in the dark, and when I came in I saw that he was crying. I didn't know why. But, of course, when a man is crying it is not a very pleasant thing, and I didn't start to question him about why.

"I remember that he talked about Kennedy's father, who made his fortune by a not very--in a not very good manner. He said he had speculated in wine. I don't know to what extent that is true." The night after Kennedy died, Marina saw Oswald in the Dallas city jail.

"He tried to console me that I should not worry, that everything would turn out well. But I could see by his eyes that he was guilty. Rather, he tried to appear to be brave. However, by his eyes I could tell that he was afraid. This was just a feeling. It is hard to describe. He said goodbye to me with his eyes."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.