Thirteen months later, in June 1962, he was able to return to the United States with his wife and three-month-old daughter, June Lee. One of the latest authors to wade into the conspiracy waters is Norman Mailer, whose book . Oswald, after all, fled the Texas School Book Depository by Dallass notably unreliable public-transportation system. But see, I'm matter-of-fact about a lot in my life. Q: Do you worry about telling your children as they grow up? But you know, just because you're hanging out with a weird group - they could have set him up, and he could have had no idea what was going on that day. I'm just a patsy. Dear Paul! it read, We have moved to Dallas where we have found a nice apartment and I have found work in a very nice place, we would like you too [sic] come and see us as soon as you get a chance, before eventually signing off in Russian. Dinner ended abruptly. I think he was checking me out because I look very much like my father, and think he was trying to feel for my dad by looking at me. Americans are so spoiled. While that five-month period might seem fleeting, it was a significant period in Oswalds life. Q: How are things between you and your mom these days? In 1963, according to Marina, her husband tried to assassinate General Edwin Walker, a far-right politician, while the family was living in New Orleans; the Warren Commission would later confirm that Oswald attempted to assassinate the general. On April 10, 1963, Oswald used a rifle with a telescopic sight to fire a bullet into the Dallas home of Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker, the conservative war hero, narrowly missing his head. "The Mind of Oswald", p.171, Trafford on Demand Pub. Now, the word father does mean Lee to me, But dad is Dad. She had long admired the first lady and asked her husband to translate any magazine articles she could find about the president. The Texas Chili Parlor is a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood. I have a bachelors degree in natural sciences. Additionally, Marina learned English and became a citizen of the United States by naturalization in the year 1989. Or who my father was?. the whole pattern of failure throughout most of his 23 years led to the outbursts of violence in April and the final tragedy in November 1963.. A: Yes and no. As a sign of her gratitude, she gave me a memento from her days in the Communist youth league a pin of Lenins image, chin jutted out in a defiant but thoughtful pose. Though her testimony was enough to convince the Warren Commission that her deceased husband had acted alone, later in her life Marina expressed her doubts about her husband's guilt. Moreover, Porter currently leads a private life and is afraid to go out in public. There was more I wanted to ask, but it was clear from her face that she was wondering if she hadnt shared too much already. As Van Morrisons Moondance started up on the radio, Rachel danced her shoulders a little and lit another cigarette. Oswald currently lives a private life and is afraid to go out in public. My father helped Lee and his young family get settled in Fort Worth a year earlier. When we pulled up to the house on Davenport Street, we were greeted warmly by Robert Oswald, a tall and well-spoken man, who had served in the Marines and was working his way up to management at Acme Brick Company. Apparently he had even gone to my fathers grave. She needed a translator fast. A: I've never publicly said one way or the other for sure. In 1965, according to All That's Interesting, Marina married a carpenter named Kenneth Porter. Ive tried not to be make a big deal about things. He was also a US Marine who defected to the Soviet Union but then returned with his Soviet wife, Marina. Its discomfiting to think that history could have been altered by such a small player, but over the years, Ive realized that was part of Oswalds goal. But a week and a half later, after I returned to my parents home for Thanksgiving, I answered our single phone at the bottom of the staircase. Do you think your father pulled the trigger?, Rachel was quiet for a moment. Obviously, if I'd wanted to share that I would have told everyone a long time ago. Through my father, I had become a close or, as Robert Oswald would later say, almost the only friend of Lee and Marina Oswalds from virtually the moment they arrived in Fort Worth, in June 1962, until the end of that November. Nevertheless, Marina was not implicated in the assassination but testified against Lee Harvey during the Warren Commission hearings. Porter was born on the 17th day of July in the year 1941 in Severodvinsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. On November 22, 1963, Oswald shot and killed Kennedy from a room in the very building where he worked. Ruby was tried and found guilty of murder (March 14, 1964) and sentenced to death. His voice rose, but what came out were canned slogans he left because capitalism was a terrible system, it exploited the workers, the poor got nothing and so forth. As our first session came to an end, we decided that future lessons would take the form of my driving the Oswalds around town and having Marina correct my practical Russian as I pointed out landmarks. Rather than tell him that there wasnt much of a market for a Russian translator in 1960s Texas, my father, who fled Siberia during the civil war, welcomed the chance to meet this fellow Russian speaker in person. During college, Rachel supported herself at the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin. She said, "I can never forget or forgive what he did, to me and to my children, to the president and his family, to the whole world," according to The Washington Post. What Happened To Lee Harvey Oswald's Wife? I believe he's the first writer-researcher to get interviews with sources in the Russian Government and so this is an opportunity to shed new light on the subject from an area that has never been explored in any meaningful depth. [3] They married six weeks later and had a daughter, June Lee, born the following year. She apparently didn't know much, but her testimony was enough to convince the commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. When I was reading the interview with June and she made the comment abouty getting the, call from someone who had written a song at first I was a little jarred. Pete Gregory, the authors father, seated center left, translating as Secret Service agents questioned Marina Oswald days after the Kennedy assassination. Oh great!" Former Chief Justice of the United States, There is a mistake in the text of this quote. She took on the name Marina Oswald Porter, and the family moved to Richardson, Texas. In June 1962, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Dallas, Texas. We send you our heartfelt sympathy, the message read. Mom was always overprotective of us. Marguerite Claverie, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, was born in New Orleans in 1907,1 into a family of French and German extraction. Seven months later, a far greater target would be scheduled to pass by the very building where he worked. The pair hit it off immediately, marrying only six weeks later. Marina answered most of the questions, speaking quietly and occasionally showing photographs. After an hour or so, I drove them downtown to the bus station for their ride back to Dallas. The following day, an agent named Mike Howard picked my father up and . People sent us money following the assassination, because Mom was young with two small children and didn't speak the language. In addition, she is a Russian-American. Around 11 a.m., with the temperature climbing into the 90s, a slight, 22-year-old Oswald arrived, drenched with sweat and wearing a wool suit. There are a lot of assassination buffs who have analyzed all the technical data and the other available material and even they don't agree about what happened. Where is your respect for President Kennedy?," wrote one angry resident. I have a copy of an earlier interview with June from 1983. The scene at the Executive Inn was worse than my father had expected. I never saw them again. My first serious boyfriend -that's what he was fascinated about. Marina also disclosed that her grandmother was religious, which was particularly pleasing to Bouhe because he organized Russian Orthodox services in Dallas. The late-night air had become a distinctive Texas medley of cigarette smoke and day-old chili fumes. They spoke for a while, but when Lee rejoined us, he was sullen and quiet. We visited the set of "JFK" when it was going on, and somebody said, "Your father was a hero." A: I don't have a comment on it as far as its conclusions because I haven't read them, but I did start the book. Q: I'm sure there must have been a lot of unusual incidents as you were growing up. I did not call in the middle of the night however and I did not say I wished to sing my song to her. I'm convinced that your mother and Priscilla had a sexual relationship." Richard Rodrigues Author has 3.4K answers and 465.8K answer views Oct 2 My husband couldn't have cared less. He got really scared and wanted to take me to a hospital. Perhaps a visit might remind them of better times. In the 1970s, Mae Brussell, an authority on the Kennedy assassination, compiled every statement she could find made by Lee Harvey Oswald between the time of his arrest for the shooting of President John F. Kennedy and Officer Tippit and the time of his death. Then I find out he's been doing some quote-unquote assassination research. For the time being, he was treating her better, but she did not know for how long. And Allen Dulles (the former head of the . Robert Oswald left for the hospital, but Howard and my father agreed not to mention the news to Marina or Marguerite yet. Apparently on good terms with police officers as a result of legal run-ins at nightclubs he worked at, Ruby was able to access the basement area of Dallas City Hall. . Watch on. The job, after all, could have made her the family breadwinner. We beg you not to think ill of us.. l think her physical health and mental health have been damaged in recent years over all of the pressures put on her. Autobiography of Lee Harvey Oswald: My Life in My Words, p.194, iUniverse, Diane Holloway, Lee Harvey Oswald (2000). Q: To what extent have you followed the various conspiracy theories? At the same time, an ex-marine defector to the USSR returned the Ft. Worth with his wife and infant daughter. Especially Oswald. Even now, three decades after President Kennedys death, the name still stirs up strong emotions - particularly in Texas. She his always felt really bogged down by it. She seemed happy for the company. I think Lee was this 24-year-old guy, this youngster, who got himself in over his head. Lee responded defensively that, yes, he did not think that the party faithful believed in Communism anymore but that this did not make America a great place. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for John F Kennedy Lee Harvey Oswald mother Margaret Oswald signed about 6x9 Picture at the best online prices at eBay! A: The last two years have been very stressful, because she started doing things that she hasn't let us know about, then all of a sudden I hear about it or see it on TV. The Secret Service first knocked on my parents' door at 3 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 23, 1963. [quote name='John Geraghty' date='May 13 2006, 02:49 PM' post='62308'], Dixie, thanx for the interview. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds. Even an intended compliment could hold hidden barbs - as when a male co-worker remarked on June's resemblance to "a young Marina Oswald," then immediately apologized, saying he "didn't mean to insult her" by invoking the infamous name. Before we even set a fee, Marina agreed to see me twice a week. The law said that if they felt that way, then those documents needed to be turned over to the Assassination Records Review Board and those folks would review the records and either concur, release them in blacked out state or release them entirely. But she was not too happy that I had found her and at that moment in time was not interested in. . A: Something had come up where Mom had old boxes of letters out. And, the feds wanted to talk. Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) had an unexceptional life until the fateful day of November 22, 1963 when he allegedly assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Lee, who controlled the budget, would then haggle over prices, particularly with meat. officers (including, supposedly, members of Nixons plumbers team) have somehow been tied to Oswalds actions that day, but its difficult to understand how these conspiracy theories would have worked. So Lee Harvey Oswald the man who the Warren Commission Report concluded was JFK's pro-Communist, pro-Castro lone nut assassin had been an active-duty Marine who had volunteered to risk his life in a CIA program using fake defectors to infiltrate the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.