Warren Commission, Volume XXII: CE 1439
Prelude to Tragedy: The woman who sheltered Lee Oswald's family tells her story
by Jessamyn West
(The distinguished Quaker writ- %%-list Oswald or Rubv had done . matter, we want what is bloody er Jessamyn !Vest is the author Perhaps this was because of and violent. It is entirely possi- of "The Friendly Persuasion," some personal need to associate ble, on the weekend when we amony other books, and is the myself with what is creative, not all watched the assassination of editor of "The Quaker Reader. ") destructive ; with what is respon- President Kennedy and the sible, not irresponsible. But it shooting of Lee Oswald, that was also, I think, because such hundreds or even thousands of n the black days last Novem- an act was so desperately needed women were doing exactly what Iber when murder followed as- in that weekend of violence and Ruth Paine was doing : offering sassination, a third and contra- destruction ; it was needed not food, shelter and friendship to a dictory act was reported in the only morally, as a reminder to family in need of it . These wom- press. This act was reported be- us that the desire to foster hu- en will never be known to us. cause it also had to do with Lee man life as well as to destroy it They did not befriend the fam- Oswald, Friday's alleged assas- still survived in the world ; it ily of a man accused of assassi- sin and Sunday's victim . A Mrs. was needed aesthetically, as the nating the President . Ruth Paine, a Quaker, had taken knocking on the door in Maebeth in Lee Oswald's pregnant wife is needed after the bloody events and baby daughter while lie was that have preceded it. The spec- should not delude our- out of work ; and on weekends tators who, because of television, selves about this . I would not havew to Dallas to talk to a Lee Oswald himself had some- were very near to being partici- gone times visited his family in Mrs. pants required emotional rest . woman who for six years had l'ame's home in Irving, a sub- And the happenings of that taken care of her bedridden step- urb of Dallas. It was from the weekend, looked at as drama, father and his older half-blind Paine home that Oswald, carry- required, after assassination and sister. Though her act might, in ing "curtain rods," went to his murder, Mrs . Paine's "concern" a scale assaying human devotion, job Friday morning in the (to use a Quaker word) for the outweigh Mrs . Paine's tenfold . School Book Depository on Elm Oswalds if those happenings You would not be reading my Street . were to give any balanced ac- account of that visit . We are in- There are people, I have dis- count of the human condition . terested in what Mrs . Paine did covered, who missed these ac- Now, history, of course, has no because Lee Oswald and his fam- counts of Ruth Paine . All their interest in giving balanced ac- ily were the recipients of . Ruth available emotional energy was counts of human nature . History Paine's hospitality . From a bed- spent on the principals in the can go for long stretches without room in her home. Lee Oswald tragedy-the President, his wife ever bringing to attention those rose that Friday morning ; in her and the President's murderer. acts of kindness, of unselfishness, kitchen he made and drank his There was scarcely enough emo- of brotherly concern, that are morning coffee. From her garage tion left, even, for more than always coexistent -with acts of he picked up his rifle. With a consternation when Jack Ruby violence and bloodshed. Some of neighbor of hers he rode to his shot down Lee Oswald . us on occasion may be capable, work, rested, refreshed, well- I thought about Mrs . Paine, as Mrs . Paine was, of doing unto armed. however. What she had done others as we would be done by. We may love goodness, cherish stuck in my mind more even than But when it comes to reading eompas- (Continued on page 84)
--- or . .T. r-c 4r numn ...-
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 143 9
potkings of "ubdivi,ioc, and shopping cull not of Welolalisnr but of supplir,. centers and overpa,a" , . They u,uallc had a drink befurr dinner "Is this lire chief road between Ining when they had company, but had run out and Dallas?" I asked till, driver . of the nece,san ingredient,. He told me it was. Dowit this high- There, were candle, ore the tilde: and Prelude to Tragedy way. then, Oswald had ridden that Friday what was most memorable to me about tire morning. past pole oaks and hackberrv meal was not anything said then" , but trees. leafless then as now, past sign for Ruth Paine', smile in Ilu" candlelight a, Corn Dog, and Jax beer and weekend she turned to listen to her husband. ,Irecial, on coffer. and margarine and We spoke no word of the Oswalds at (Continued front page 5.?) slrak. It ,vas this remernbered fact, 1 the dinner table. I felt that we were con- thnlight. as w-ell as ill,- snrnkv gloom of the sciously avoiding the subject, as drivers, thought morbid, drier ,inn, honor tin,cIfidrn--: I,ut ce I,avr a sunset and till, pity f a wild beauty to=t not caring to be bodies. Irnrd tine. getting around to reading atu,ut and a domestic brainy not vet achieved, past the wrecked car and sprawled sprawled bodies were a part them unlr" they are n ehow blood,tained that read,, me feel sorrowful anti appre- Rreckage and and and tear" ,pl-lied . \\ - then Ruth Paine hrn,ive. of rnv purpose in being in Dallas at . it was not an op- ,ugg-led to \larina (),,,aid that he 11 \\ e wrrr late,:ill(- ex-truck driver wa, that dinner table But That wa, (al- a trip I, :uk to liu-ia that Marina not yet accu lomrd to locating private portune tithe to approach them . Marina O,wald tea, re- ,lid not -ml to make, and wl,icl, Lf ", " home,, fire pulled till (ready in front of the week when I) vald -1 , "uggeiing, by sharing Nl- a mall, light grey- frame house. A young ported to be changing lawyers and firing was when Ruby I'ainr - , home . "hc , :r, all unknmving. rnan wailed al it,, torte to gnrt ml,. sinc, managers . It the week act guarann"ring Ihal III,, of I-pilalit, I undrr,loo,l that Ruil, I'mne .epa- jurors were being chosen : and Dallas wa, Europe a, n"cI IIIc,v re,luirrrnrnl, . rated frnn, her Inl" band . I Irad no idea filled with correspondents from I ,,role- Mr-. Panic a letter asking if who he might lie. Ile a, tall. dark, lvn. well as America, come In see done It wa , I ,uld inlrnir,v her. and fallow,d the der: and in the snap judgments that come -with firework :. if possible. ill, , I, Ilrr will, n phoru" call . The letter, I to one unhidden, 1 char :u terized him as week of Nlr, . Oswald tie.', triumph, oil ill( , of .000 later di-,vtrrd. l,ad till M- Pain- off. probably intelli-tit art,] pos,il,ly mnodv. lettuce platform, with rrrcipt, S3 Be, au- I {tad real onn, arcount, charg- fir turned out to Ill. liullr Pain,', lotsband, reported in return for her oratory. galliered round in ;; Nl- Painr will, r " v, " rvlhin, from tin \licharl . front whom slue had been ,elra- Were we also vultures jrrslifi"Ide guilele rte In downright rate,l for a year or more before the a,sus,i- the sarne bodies and feasting on (Ill, same fared. ,ol,rration. I t, " at pain, to Irl her rratinn but who luul lin- rejoined his tragedy? That po,,ibilily had in be let rnv,elf, perhap, know that I a, r ,orb a one. Mr,. family . Ill, lank n " up the short palm ... And while I could tell I'ai,rc. a, a r-uh . wm afraid heat rnv to the hou- and I experivo,ed the shock louugly, that what I wanted In axsn,ialr ill,- rv" Irbrale. ,hc,irr to pins lo-r a lm,leslal- of nu " ," Iin, till- ",cal' Bull, Pains: myself with . t o report and to Thi, 'In, did not want . Quaker who lookr,l more like the tarnpu, wad not murder and a-as,inalion . vio- and oppnit" s, During my phone rail I formed uch than Ilo, rneclinglun-r : ill, , mother built lvntr drsiruc.lion, but Ihrir I already aid I knew that I a ,hfinilr pirlurr of Ruth Painc that noel " like a darorr than n Ihon,rwif" : th,, ,fill, a, have . In n I finally rnct I-r. I had at fvst it,(, vnirr ,rhich, without aid of longdi,tan- would not he in Dallas or dining with if,, , rx,epl the fact that their live, fling that 1 wrrr ,baling ,,,III 'on,conr ir-, ea- warmer and more 84 COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 1439-Continued 851 744-733 0-64-vol . XXII--56 Ilu" lltr teats In"Iprd h, III, . Gtt(I Samaritan argue wills I1-scald ahuul 111, l)hilo-IIIIN -ition of ill,- a--a"in in windrnv of Ow (night Ila- -uryivcd without In"II)-who and politi(r . 'Texa- School Book Deep-dory. the Ira. (call, lull,1'. know "? But how about the Sarnaritan- "1 ituuIght that Lve ,a- rnu(h jrciorv of 11u" distance " needed to (ould Ill- have -urviv,d? \\ ha t would more moiled by hi, feeling, than 1)y Ili, travel to rein h the -afely of the underpa--. he a driver ban, limn III,- 'we of his rt and ch- idea-. I fell that mccling his arguments "'That i> wheel" lit- fell .' my arler had lit- ignored the man in the with arguments tails guile- irrelevant and -aid . He pointed to our rigid. dit(IT and been . instead of a "good, - not ,ouldn -t touch him, that the only wav his if,. did not fall !h-r . of lour-". 114- innt"--arily a -'bad -- hilt imply an "in. life would ever he (hanged would be fell . he crumpled, into Ill- wife- lap a* III( 11 (IIITvrrnI" IT IariIan'~ through main- that alTr(ted hi= feelings . Ire Silt in hack -r of a moving car. \\ ha t lie- ahead for u: if tn " follow AS long as he had trouhlr holding a job But our menutis cling- to pla(I- l he our pre-4-,t trend Inward indifTercn(e? and teas worried about moot- Ire would earth is hallowed or (h-filed by what dap. \II ()f u- rt "prr+,melt by -lotted and num. indict Ili, -ociet, in which h, lived." pens ("I it . end we " d to +; lo .- 0 1)(red lards in In- IR\1 nuuhine>, but "Do you think ten Ihou-and dollars a happened .'- So. "There he fell .'. aloof front anv emotional incolvrmenl year might have lured ll,wald of his mur- \\ll(" n we stopped in front of my lu)n"I with each other? Really to provide an derou, impulse-? - I asked her. my driver will . its many (,al) driver, in adegtt :0e (hutatinn, ill,- appropriate bit. "Of course. 1 hall no idea or hint the Soullt do at Ill, (,in, 1-ion of s trip, moil . the efh4-irut nta(hinert to (arc for then that he had murderou+ impulses . "It', been a plea-urn vi,iting will, you. all human, predicament- . But not a hand, Now I think that (economic Securitv would ma'am. tot a lit-art. NN hat will Ite the result of not have been enough . But I thought then \- T Supped out of the taxi IT .. Ihi< (oulinuing drhumanizaiiln,? 1- it that anv attempts at reconciliation would handed one a card hearing his name and Ito--il)I(" that the drath of a president floe, ltn- to b,gir, (here." the word "Evangelist.- I slid not sup- not pr-enl Ill( " threat to our country pre. pose that lit, wa, an angel of the ford . hill ,voted 1)v the deaths of individual ht-t-? That lard im-reased tnv feeling that my "fhat -" (tun" Ic-- to fear from idle yio- W. parted 4- .rrly that evening. 11i(hael . trip from Irving to Dallas hall been more leme of an oleo-tonal (ra(kpot than I- an ertginlv "r at the Bell Helicopter Com. than routine, h ;,- from Iht" ,hole-h- drying up of all (,anv. had a jot) to ,o to nrxt morning. hall If (and- (arising ill,, relevant data on genuim " ((,turn for our neighbor-? I Hail, and I a date to meet at 9:30 hall -poke to \li(hael Pain(" of Ihr-e feeling- A .M . al nn howl room in Dalh- all the Iilizen> of Dallas been run I13\I nruhimc geared to Srlr(1 ,hill" Ruth -out of the room . Ih " \ly driver for ill(, trip balk in town through art ill agr((d with ...TThat Ih(rc w :o a need for tva- a ruddt, wavy-haired (hrruh who all- the citizen Inn-1 likely glee 11,11, In a nwr( oprnn4-"-. note(" haring . nmrv - peal-rd to be ultarut 18 . Fle looked fr,"shly person in trouble, the lard of Ruth ('aim" k-ti relations. hnih,ll, garhr(I and po-i1)Iv anointed, aright well have been sclo(tell. Rull, king, in our per-anal her-elf ., .\li(Itael Pain(" had not seen film I, dI and lo- had a Spe(lacuIar ability to drive Pain, does not like n) think of as Lee ( )-ald . But It,, slid -ee bin, on Fri- facing The balk scat . fir told me that he -'do-,,;-der,- though she :,loin- that doing day night- . tvln"n .\li(he,-[ was a((uriooled was ill,- voung("N of 12 (hildrrn, 11 Still gto~l i~ a wudl,uv in h(nrlf that do", to vi*il and lure( dinner will, hi- f:unilc . alive- and all living in Texas. rat-( it , ugly lead, In Ihr (lays after The assn-Sinatim,, when officials and new-- I)rr Ill( "-( night- l .re 1)~tvald, who usually A- we m" ared the ouiskirl- of town (um," uul fro.., D;,II ;u to 'Lend Ihr wer"k- I,(" Said . "Have ,,it seen when" it hap- papcruicn left her hill,, time for her codwill, \I aIina, night also be (hrrr. pened") . hot,(work, Slit- employed a colored wuntao "I -onl(" Ii rne" - t,nulr"r if I gave " up too No need to ask what . "No," 1 told to help her. l-he" colored woman I"x- ;' hill,. prc--rd interest in gelling advice from a with I" \li(harl said . "I wonder drove olT with ifo"")ITn)v patience hall held out longer . or my _I'll -flow vou, - IT, . -aid . birth-control clinic : So Ruth dl "-ire to help him hall been stronger, if I I wanted to see and I didn't want to her helper to a Dallas birth-control clinic ruuld hat(or-thing for him." stl". and let 11,( house go hang. This, to in) Hr had bird to talk In I)-wald. I1e "1 )o you knox, what happcru"d to me mind, is admirable: persons put before two nights before it happened?" things and others before self. 13..1 Ruth was genuinely intcreied in ()-ald's rea. she -aw the list 1 Sons, firs for (raving An " rica, then for "NO." 1 told bin, again. was di-maven' when - I was Sitting talking with my wife. mad, of the work she had dour and the leaving Ifudsia. Oswald was either unin- belonged . ler4--led in . or incapable of, that kind of Suddenly something [tit Inc. "Honey,* I organizations to which She hall Said, 'tit(, President will never leave Dallas "I sound like an activist ." (o-4-rsation whiIII, through shared in . ever accorn- ighis, atharu:e, to all understanding of a alive.' V, hat I Said -urpri-en' m," as much "How else is anything ,ubje(t that is inip-ible to either man as it did her, my tvib".- plished? - alone. l.ater in the week I told Ruth tfus. -'Don't preach about me . I'm no "Oswald," said Michael, "hall picked "There were many who reported the shining example.-' up sout(- pat political opinions, mostly same thing," she Said . "I'll Ixl your acts speak for you." from Ills Nlarxian reading. And once he "-After it happened they Said they hall remembered these premonitions?" Ruth Hyde Paine was horn in New expressed these, he lost all interest in She was the conversation . He had no ability or ()("fore It happened they had York in September- 1932. Specific cases or to de- called friends or written letter-S." brought up in Columbus, Ohio . Her fa- de "-ire to examine insurance business . Her ferrnitn " whether or not they cast Some N1y driver, though he continued to Iher is in the doubt on the genrralization It,- was (luot face me . was Silent for a while. seeming to mother . Carol Hyde, is now an ordained ing. He didn't want his generalizations ,,use ()i, Ihr S Irangrne-- of that foresight mini-tee in (lit, Unitarian Church ; sIt, , di-turlied ." of Ill-. 'The night ,it, (lear. lit 1), an has just completed her work for a Bache. It wa- nut surpri-ing n) that a unclouded Inooo and ill(nl (in glare of a lor of Divinity Degree at Oberlin College man of usual(]', rrpor(rd IQ (around big ciiv . The car driflrd as before . Sud- in preparation for a position as a hospital ,racer . denly the torch Ianu " familiar, aS it is (hnplain . 103) did not milk(, ,, stitnulating that -no- I,, Buth", *alionnl partner for '1lichael Paim . \li- in a 'roan, wll("n you sac to yourself. "-I The first word (h :n"I on- look l)swald to a mrrling of have been her( 1)eforr."` Ins can't for a mind in describing herself as a chill) was Her happi(-t lime, as a voting III, , Anu"rirall Civil Liberlira T'nion . ( )s- minute reniernlter how or when . I'lien wald, whoa he found that the organization when I Sat, the -t"eping curve. Ill(- o-r- child we- time- ;door, and It,- found it Iv- nonpolitical . that it had no program pas-, the building to my left a" we Iwere hard to meet people . nnvard hound. I renien" berrd when hall "No one would gin-. reading this ollicr than to protect the con-titulional why--tram, rights of individuals. was not intern-led . meet the,,- and loan, times list I (tare of what you*vc done, that you "In oil(- of our argurm "nt,, - \Iilha,f (n) television-Ihl" mucenient of the at , -re a Shv (hill." all the civilized during the initial ,rent, the many times "Perhaps. because" I was Iiv. I tried -id. "I told I've that contact than Iho=l; for values I hold dear are diminished or lust reshowing in order to demonstrate the po- harder to make ITV lie hu- whom it comes easily . But Ih(" limes I act, of violeiur . 13 ..1 bell] stub I remember man t:,lurs in contempt. the Same con- remember best were olitarN. running with rpy (log : I remember making h"ngn in which he held most human be- CREDITS IN THIS ISSUE ings . I gave up arguing with him then.-- a nest in a wheat field; I remember a Photo Cradle page 16 . Robert Levin . great field of wild Strawberries . I re- Joining us . Ruth recalled some of her 9paota Credit: pegee 72, 74, Joen Rerg . ow it feelings when she had heard Michael memh,r wondering about God, and won- -- ...... e--. ,... re COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1439-Continued drying :rt twehe if tlu ". was ;t ( .oel . I with flu- Painr<, had delighted nu- by whether he was really tired of her or rentoniber talking-that is the way it singing a cereal cunmtenial as a round whether he simply resented the cxpen,e> "ernurl to tar Ilo"n-with (sod . \I, par- with Tier ,hildren . of a wife. She had written to the Soviet rnt, were, Moliodi*ts first. Ilien l.nitari. host invited rue." Ruth . . "I'll, recalled, embassy to inquire about going hack . ans "because fu- knew I was interested in Allen they wrote to ask why. she didn't It, it,, , lieu . Ruth w;t< L_'. ho evrr . learning the Russian language well enough answer. She dropped the subject. She she wa+ alreadv involved in Quaker atti,i- to leach it . Lee O> ald told about his liked the United States, she told me, and tie,. She luul attended a Quaker-,pon experiences in the Soviet Union, where he she hoped to learn enough English to be- sorrel \\ or b I AITair, meeting. joined a met and married Marina . He talked to a come part of the life here-to get a job." teenage Quaker interracial (,hit) . and even clutch of people around him for perhaps lauOu summer rla""rs in Quaker Bible an hour, but I missed half of it because I schools. It was after entering Antioch spent time getting atquainted will, the Ruth felt sorry for Marina Oswald . She College in 1919 that -1o derided formal,, kitchen crowd. lie talked about the cen- struck Ruth as a person of pride, -pa. to I-or r a Quaker. "I was tremendous- soring of his mail . the He realized after he bility and sensitivity. It seemed unfair ly excited by the idea of 'inner light' got home that his hi-other had sent some to her that the girl he made to return Ili,- po"ihility of direct t runi uni-lion letter, that never ;in reached him. He said to the Soviet Union simpIv because she lo , i ten (toll and n, . A1") In' if,,, that all mail fro foreign countries ad . had no alternative. Oswald meanwhile Quaker tofueni for other people .` dre COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 1439-Continued sent back to Russia . Ruth gal the name "Did he ever talk politics with you?" was still getting unemployment compensa. of a fellow Quaker in New Orleans and "No. I never did try to communicate tion . By October 12th, however, he had asked her to look in on the Oswalds. But ideologically, and besides, I couldn't in received his last check . the Oswalds' relationship bettered and Russian . I made no special effort to be "Had he been looking for work while Marina wrote that all was well . kind to Lee or to sympathize with him . I he was receiving this money?" 1 asked In August, Ruth drove East on vaca- did try to teach him to drive, and I think Ruth . tion . On her way back to Irving, in Sep. he appreciated this. He could see that "Yes, after he got back to Dallas he tember, she stopped in New Orleans . Lee there was no self-interest in this." had been looking. But by the end of the Oswald had by this time lost his New "What self-interest did he think there first week he had no job, only his final un- Orleans job. was in your taking care of his wife and employment check. The baby was due Ruth suggested that Marina come to child. driving twice between New Orleans any day, and with no money and no pros . Texas, where she qualified as a one-year and Dallas, taking her to the hospital, giv- pect of any I think he felt pretty desper- resident and could receive hospital care ing 'ur blood for her?" ate . He got his job at the School Book adjusted to her husband's ability to pay. Lee undprstood how hard it is to Depository by chance. On Monday, Octo- She invited Marina to stay at her house 1 t Russian and how useful it was to ber fourteenth, Marina and I were having for a month before and after the baby's someone speaking it to me in the coffee with a neighbor . We were saying hirlh . 1- .se ." that Lee had been unable to find work, Oswald appeared relieved to have the "Did he ever offer and another neighbor who had stopped in problem of his wife's care before and dur- "fie planed the front "nee when said that she had a brother working at the ing her confinement solved . He told Ruth it stuck ." Texas School Book Depository and that that he was going to Houston to look for "Did he offer to pay for groceries'?" rhw thought there might be an opening a job. Instead, as she learned after the "Not when he was my guest, but he there . When .,, railed the house that assassination, he went to Mexico and did when I was his guest in New Orleans. evening we told him of this possibility . tried to get a visa for a trip to Cuba- And then when I had to buy a new tire He applied and was accepted . Mr- Truly, whether long or short, no one can now say . before I could start home, I thought he the man who employed Use, had two open- Until after the assassination, Ruth be- looked embarrassed not to be able to ings, one in a warehouse near Stemmon's lieved that Lee Oswald deceived both make some contribution ." Expressway, one in the Depository build. Marina and herself about the trip to ing on Elm Street . Again chance en . .Mexico . Now she is not positive how tered, and Mr . Truly gave Lee the job at much knowledge of the trip Marina had . the Elm Street location ." Some time after October 4th, when Os- "How did you find out that Oswald wald had called the Paine home to ay had, the job?" that he was in Dallas, that he had found a "He phoned immediately to say he room there and was looking for work, he was to start in the morning . He was asked to use Michael Paine's drill press in grateful and elated. He came out on the garage . He wanted to bore a hole in Thic Friday, October eighteenth, and we cele- a coin so that Marina could wear it on a brated his new job and his twenty-fourth chain around her neck. After the assassi- birthday." nation, when officers of the law gathered ~lo~ious On Sunday, October 20th, Marina up many of the Oswald effects left in the Oswald's second child, Rachel, was born. Paine home, Ruth saw what it was that Ruth Paine took her to the hospital. Lee Oswald had drilled-a Mexican peso. "When I left her going into the labor On October 4th, about two weeks be. "un room, she asked me to pray for her ." fore Marina's baby was due, Oswald A COMPLETE NOVEL "You weren't able to get in touch phoned, talked to Marina and asked her with Oswald?" BY JENNETTE LETTON whether Ruth could pick him up in down. "He was at my house that weekend. town Dallas. Ruth heard Marina tell her He had given us the telephone number of husband that this would be impossible, She wanted a vacation to his rooming house in Dallas so we could that Ruth had just returned from the Park. get away from it all. But reach him with the news if Marina went to land Hospital, where she had given one of the hospital . But we didn't need to use the two pints of blood asked for by doc . instead she found enough it ." toes from the friends of maternity patients. adventure and romance to "You never used it, then?" .Marina was receiving prenatal care there ; last her a lifetime . Turn "Only once later . It was Sunday, and there, where John Kennedy and Lee to page 123. November seventeenth . ionic had been Oswald both were to die, Ruth Paine had playing with the telephone dial and Ms. been donating blood in behalf of Oswald's rina got the idea of phoning Lee. She wife . So Oswald had to hitchhike that asked me to call the number he had day to the Paine home . given us. I dialed and asked for Lee Os- Hitchhiking was easy for Lee Oswald, "Was he nice to Marina?" wald . I was told no Lee Oswald lived Ruth said. He was clean, slightly built "I didn't think so . Ile didn't like her there. I asked if I had reached the right and could probably be taken for a college to have any independence . He didn't number and if this was a rooming house. student. On the afternoon of October 4th seem to want her to learn English . If she The answers were yes. I hung up in be . a kind driver delivered him, after Oswald was getting the better of him in an argu- wilderment. had told the driver of his two weeks' sepa. ment in Russian, he told her to shut up." "Next day Lee phoned Marina, bawled ration from wife and child, to the Paine "I don't see how you put up with her out for having called him and told door . Oswald came out regularly each him." her he was living there under a different weekend from that first one until the "Once human ties were formed and I name ." weekend of November 9th to 11th. loved and cared for Marina, I couldn't say "How did Marina feel about that?" I did not get a very vivid picture of to her, 'Be thus and so or I'll wash my "She was very upset . She said it Lee Oswald from Ruth. This may be in hands of you.' Lee was her husband . I wasn't the first time that she had been part a result of the fact that he wasn't a couldn't say, 'Get rid of your husband .' I caught 'between two fires'-between loyal- vivid person, in part a result of the fact never saw him hit her, though, as I read in ty to her husband and her own conviction that it was painful for Ruth Paine to think the press some people had reported . I of what was right ." about him . She was, I could not help never saw him violent in any way . His "What did you think when you seeing, a much more worn and depressed words were sharp sometimes, but I took learned he was using a false name?" person at the end of our week's talks than this as a sign that he got out petty griev- "By then I'd begun to think that Lee she had been singing rounds on the night I ances and irritations with his wife and had a liking for deception for its own first met her. didn't let them build up to explosion sake. I also supposed he was doing it in "Did Oswald talk? Was he a talker?" size. " order that the people at the School Book "No . Not to me, at least . He didn't Depository wouldn t find out that he had a like to talk English with me. If I'd start When Lee Oswald returned to Dallas Russian wife. He asked the man he rode in English, he'd answer in Russian." from Mexico he did not have a job, but he to work with not to . let people hl work atoaooe waaAZINE JULY 1664 Y7 COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 1439-Continued know that his wife was Russian. He was his kelcome this time, and asked him not Michael had moved that gun, wrapped in afraid, I'm sure, that if this were known, to return the next weekend. It was during an old blanket, out of his way more than it would was come out that he had tried to this absence that the two women discov. once,,. Of course, he didn't know it a defect, and that this might cause him to ered through their phone call that Oswald gun . Inse his job . fle didn't want me to let was living under an assumed name . His "Didn't he feel it to find out what the people at Parkland Hospital know return tall was on Monday, November it was?" when he had got a job . Ile was unwilling 18th . On Tuesday and Wednesday, No- 'You don't go prying into your guests at first even to Fo thereto see his wife vember 19th and 20th, Oswald did not belongings ." after the birth of their second child." phone Marina as he usually did on week . "What would you have done if you "Did you tell the hospital that he day evenings. had discovered that Oswald had a gun?" was employed?" "He thinks he is punishing me," . Ma- "Its legal to own a gun in Texas. "Y- I didn't try to preach to Lee rina said. Lots of men hunt in Texas." shout right or wrong . I simply told him But on Thursday evening, November After some further thought Ruth that I was the kind of person who had 21st, when Ruth returned home from added, "f think, if I had discovered the never been able to lie and that I didn't shopping for groceries, she found Oswald, gun, I would have asked him not to keep think I'd better begin trying to be now." just arrived from Dallas, standing on her it al our place . It was legal for him to "Did he think that the hospital might lawn . He had ridden out with the brother have it, but 1 had a right, since I don't cut off the help it was giving him if it of the woman who had suggested there like the use of firearms, to tell him to was known he was employed?" might be work at the School Rook Depos . keep it elBewhere." "Yes, I believe he thought that. It itory . This was the first time Oswald had "Except for the light in the garage was after I told him the hospital already ever come without first asking Ruth if a there was nothing unusual in your memory knew he was working that he agreed to go visit would be all right . Marina told Ruth of the evening?" and see Marina at Parkland ." privately that she was sorry that Lee had "No . Lee went to bed earlier than not asked permission, but both women Marina and 1 . We sat up talking to- gether for some time . But Lee did some- It was on November 1st, ten days after thing unusual that night or the next Marina returned from the hospital, that morning which 1 didn't learn about until an agent of the Fill came to Ruth Paine's later. He took off his wedding ring and home. Ile came, Ruth feels, to encourage Love ut it into a little china cup that had Marina's confidence in the FBI . longed to Marina's grandmother ." "How did you find out about this?" "He told her she could appeal to A fresh flower, them for help if she received blackmail "After the assassination, the FIST threats from Russia . I learned later that A pressed bouquet, came to the house to look for the ring, the, FBI routinely offers protection of this which was missing from Lee's finger. We sort to rmigrh from Iron Curtain coun- .1 yellow bird found it in the cup in Marina's bedroom ." tries about a year after they have come to In a gilt cage, America . Aly respect for the FBI, which was already great, went up after that A book bestowed When Ruth awakened on the morning visit. We discussed the difficulty in a free With one marked page, of November 22nd it was seven thirlv, society of politely watching people with and the house was so quiet she was afraid queer, possibly dangerous ideas . Unlike A hug, a kiss, Oswald had overslept and missed his ride a congressional committee, the FBI never A frown, a sigh, to work . When she went to the kitchen makes their suspicions of an individual she saw the empty coffee cup, which told public until they have evidence that will :I word, a jewel, her that Oswald was up and gone. She stand up in court ." then turned on her television so that she The agent also asked Ruth and Ma . An apple pie, could see the Kennedys in Fort Worth and rina for Oswald's working address, which A cinnamon candy, Dallas. She left the set on for Marina they gave him, and for his home address when she went with her daughter Lynn for in Dallas, which they did not have . A crystal heart- an early dentist's appointment . Marina "Did you give him Oswald's phone was watching when she got home . number?" Light-years "She thanked me for leaving the TV six a long art. on . She had nursed Rachel about " \\b y not? Were you trying to pro- And thirty while Lee dressed for work, she tect him?" said, and then gone back to sleep . Next "Of course not . I took it for granted by Dfia Iloward time she woke up she was feeling tired, that the Fill knew all about him and but the tlitill and excitement of watching should know all about him, and that Lee, Kennedy's arrival at the Dallas airport having tried to renounce his citizenship, had made her feel better." would have to expect and to live with FBI thought that this unscheduled visit was to The two women were together on the checking the rest of his life. It didn't make up for his anger about the phone living-room sofa watching television when occur to me that the telephone number call . the announcement was made of the shoot- would help them . I wish now it had . "How did he appear?" ing. Lunch was on the table but it was Frankly, I thought they must know where "Just as usual . After we had gone forgotten . Ruth lighted some plain can . he was staying. After the FBI visit I inside, 1 remember, I spoke to him about dles and Marina asked her if that was a gave Lee the FBI man's name and phone my excitement and pleasure at the pros- way of praying. Ruth told her it was one number so that Lce could get in touch pect of the President's visit next day." way. When the word came that President with them . He told me he had tried to "What was his response to this?' Kennedy had died, the two women grieved do so, but it was not until weeks after the "He just said, 'Uh, yeah' and walked together . assassination that I found out from the past me into the kitchen ." "Marina said," Ruth told me, "'What Fill that he had lied about this also ." "There was nothing whatsoever to a terrible thing this is for Mrs. Kennedy! "Did you ever feel that Oswald was mark this visit from any other?" How sad it is that her children will have really dangerous?" "No . He ate supper as usual. I did to grow up without a father!'" "I didn't care for him . 1 thought notice one thing, though . He had been to The two women were still in front he was an inflexible, dogmatic oddball . the garage that evening. I put the chil . of the television set when six men ar. But I never thought of him as dangerous. dren to bed, and after I had done that, I rived from the sheriff's office and the 1 have children to think about . I wouldn't went to the garage to paint some blocks police department with the news that hcc have invited his wife to stay with me if for the children . I noticed that he had Oswald was in their custody, charged with I had thought he was dangerous ." been there and had left the light on ." the murder of police officer J . D . .Tippit . Oswald spent three days instead of "Did you have any idea he had a gun They wanted to search the house, and al. the usual two, during the Veterans Day in the garage?" _ though Rath, with her Civil Liberties weekend, at the Paines'. Marina herself No. They had a lot of their stuff training, kdew that they should have a appeared to feel that he had overstayed stored there . Books. Household things. warrant, she told them they could search. COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 1439-Continued 'llivir first que , tion was, "Did Lee mother-in-law the news of the birth of papers and magazint-, and that lie had Oswald o" . any gu-?" their second child, know where his mother never criticized the President to her ." Buth translated the question to Ma . Mrs all(] lived . . Oswald, after the question- The next day Marina O-ald and I- rina, to livr horror Marina answered ing at I& police headquarters was Over, Oswald's mother left Ruth's house for Dal. N known Lee , - ,. a Siterifle at , ] that a she hall went home with Ruth and Marina and las . They saw Oswald that noon . bad had itid that couple of weeks ago spent the night on the sofa in the Paine Later the same day, Ruth Paine hall ,lo- -en a [he but( of a rifle wrapped living room . some phone calls from Oswald himself. tip in blanket on the garage floor. Ruth Paine's position was now pain . The first phone call came around 4 P .m . "I translate(] Mirina's answer to the ful on several counts . "I was grief. She was thundeTStruck to hear his voice . officers. I felt sure that the rifle must still stricken by the death of the President . I I asked Ruth what she had said. "Did br thcre . But when the officers picked tip thought he was doing a remarkable job, you ask him whether he had done the ter. the blanket roll . i t hung limp. Whatever There had never been a death in my im . rible things of which he was accused?" it l1nd held --, gone . It was at that mediate family . No one I cared about so me-ot that it ,am, to me that Lee much had ever died before. I felt it per. "Why?" 0 , wald was probably the man who had sonally, not just as a citizen . Then my "I think I believed he had done killed the President, and I was filled with sorrow was offende(f, was soiled . by this them ." great tinger ." association with the assassin, with anger "What was said?" "He was and horror that the man who killed the said, 'This is Lee .' I answered, "Iand angrN because of his terrible President had left my house to fire that 'Well, hi .' His reply was, 'All, yeh .' decd b-ausehad he hall made use of my shot .. "Shamefaced? Guilty?" honic art(] gone from it to kill a man But I could not give way to my grief "No . About as usual . More in the . Ienoughhonored Aby inan would have been bad in a way that would have eased me . For manner of a boy who thinks if he believes . But John Kennedy! I didn't three weeks newspapermen were constant- the lie he is telling, others will believe want to lca,e a stick unturned in my house him too." or el-where in finding how and why this "What (fill lie . .nt?" donv . - "He watited I"(- to call a lawN,r Thr polite filled two car trunks with name(] Aht . I had heard on television of Ill, Paine, and the Os that he wanted a New York lawyer, John al . d after getting a baby sitter the Alit, to represent him . I resented Lee's two women got into tbr police cars and asking me to do anything for him at [lint -r, dri%co off to the police station . point, but I believed he had a right to ()it this trip into town on, of the of . counsel, so I told him I'd try the phone fi-t- , in the, front sent of the car turned numbers he gave me for this lawyer. I arotiod and asked Ruth a question . It was (lid call, but wasn't able to get Mr . All[. a (lo-lion I also had asked her early in IF YOU'RE MOVING SOON . . . About nine o'clock Lee phoned again. my talk, . YOU'LL NEED REDBOOK This conversation opened in Russian and )roll "Are or have you been a Com. MORE THAN EVER! he, asked for Marina . I told him sit(- inuni , I?" Redbook wants to help you and was not with me but that I thought I am R,ith told thv officer, "No, I not . welcome you promptly in your knew where I could reach her . He asked A I I don't feel the need of taking the me if I would try to get in touch with her wonderful new home . To be sure would Fifth Amendnicni, either." we can do this, we must know at and if I tell her that he wanted Tliv offi(er. livaring this, smiled and least six weeks before you move . . . her to return to my place ." lurnvd ...... nd . "Why did he want this?" At the police station Ruth was re . - YOUR OLD ADDRESS "Simply because she would be more l1 ,v,d Io fill(] they had a Russian trans . (A RECENT REDBOOK available, to him if he wanted to talk with lator. \tiger, shock and grief had made LABEL IS BEST) her. This is what I think, anyway." it diffl, till for her to translate for Marina . -YOUR NEW ADDRESS "Did you get her" The I lie( , asked her why Oswald. had - AND YOUR NEW ZONE "When I phoncti the motel where I spent home NUMBER, IF ANY. Mrs only weekend,hadat her Her thought they might be staying, . Mar. an-cr wa, thm he not been invited Be sure to mail us a letter, post guerite Oswald answered ." to sprnd more time there . Nly question tile card or a post office change-of- "What'did she say?" I'll, opposite . Why hadn't Marina and - The gist of it was that she thought address form . Then Redbook can Lee her baby gone to Dallas to spend the week . help you find fun and fulfillment it would be I)j.ttcr for not to know ends till Oswald? in your new home. where they were. and that there were other "Ili our room?" Ruth asked . things to think of than Lee's convenience . This (lid not seem so great a hardship REDBOOK Ruth Paine did not speak with Lee to tile as having the entire Oswald family, BOX 986, DAYTON 1, OHIO Oswald again . 'On Sunday she, with much .ind 0, wald's presence-in Rnill's own of the rest of tfie nation, saw Jack Ruby words a "definite orain - -in the four shoot and kill him . rooms of the Pain , lie. But putting her "How did you feel when this halt. own tomfort first was not a habit with Iv at the house. I had to think of my pened?" Ruth Paine. children, to try to keep up for their sake "I was glad ." had "How did Marina rcat:1 9 Did she some semblance of normal living. After Nothing Ruth Paine hall said ry?" the children were in bed I would take out amazed me as much as this. I couldn't "No . She was very quiet, asheri in the newspapers that had piled up and that believe my cars. t olor. ()it the way to the police station I hadn't had time for, or the strength for, "There goes your balo," I said . sh, had asked me if tile penalty for kill . during the day . I would begin to read ; "What do you mean?" ing wo, n't the electric chair . I said it but I would always have to give up . I "You were afraid that I was going to couldn't read forcrying." present you as a saintly Quaker . There is \1 Ilte police station I made a state- V~'hat was Marina's attitude that nothing remotely saintly or even Quaker. I to tile police which they typed up night?" ish about 1wing glad that one man has alld h,,ol ro, sign. They got impatient "It's hard to remember, exactly . We murdered another man . Were you glad -11i riic %dien I wantud to correct some of didn't get back from the police station because you had been angry with Os- the g rammatical mistakes in the type. until about nine thirty . We had had no wald?" lunch . We ate some hamburgers and put "No, that had nothing to do with it . ~lr, . 0-ald . 1,re's mother, came to the children to bed. By this time we knew I thought that Lee's death this way would thr poli- station while they were there. that Lee was suspected of having killed be so much easier for Marina." Shr w .is a practical nurse in Fort Worth, the President as well as Officer Tippit . "Surely you couldn't put that in th.c had Marina said that she balance against murder? Against due carnod heard about Lee's arrest on her did not feel that Lee radio . Oswald had not wanted his had had anything against President Ken- process of law? Against this added proof mother to know where be lived ; and hadher nedy, that Lee had translated statements to others and to ourselves that we are a not let Marina, who wanted to send about and by Kennedy to her from the lawless, violent pebple?" 90 COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 1439-Continued "I wa>n't glad Jack RuItc killed hirn . spoke flu-inn. I'll,% said that something