That Dirty Little Rumor

Can We Just Talk?



On Feb. 25, 1959, Lee was given an Army proficiency test in the Russian Language.
This seems to be an unusual request on the surface, but makes more sense for a
soldier wanting to go into intelligence.

With that training comes a higher level of security clearance and authority.
It makes sense for him to want to learn Russian to have a heads up over other candidates.

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Lt. Col. Allison G. Folsom, Jr.,
U.S. Marine Corps.
Records Branch, Personnel Department,
Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C.

Mr. ELY - All right. Now, moving further down page 7, we have the record of a Russian examination taken by Oswald on February 25, 1959.
Could you explain to us what sort of test this was, and what the scores achieved by Oswald mean?

Colonel FOLSOM - The test form was Department of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, PRT-157. This is merely the test series designation.
Now, under "understands" the scoring was minus 5, which means that he got five more wrong than right. The "P" in parentheses indicates "poor."

Under reading he achieved a score of 4, which is low. This, again, is shown by the "P" in parentheses for "poor."
Mr. ELY - This 4 means he got four more questions right than wrong?

Colonel FOLSOM - This is correct.
And under "writes" he achieved a score of 3, with "P" in parentheses, and this indicates he got three more right than he did wrong.
His total score was 2, with a "P" in parentheses meaning that overall he got two more right than wrong, and his rating was poor throughout.

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WC Executive Session, Jan 27, 1964

Mr. Rankin “In addition to that there is this Spanish dictionary, and the books about Spanish,
where he was trying to learn Spanish although he had know some Spanish before he went to Russia,
and we are trying to run that down to find out what he studied at the Monterey School of the Army
in the way of languages because she used to make fun of him, according to some of their Russian friends,
about his pronunciation of Spanish words, and he was very clumsy at it,
and was embarrassed by her making jokes about that."

The Russian language is one of the hardest in the world to learn.
The results of Lee's test show him performing better in reading and writing than understanding.
In both categories he got more right than wrong.
One would expect these higher results from studies in a group.
In a classroom one learns the proper grammar of the language on paper first.

Helsinki On a Dime


"After years of subsisting on a marine’s pay, from which he occasionally sent money to his mother,
he undertakes a trip to Russia with a capital of $1,600. How could he have put aside this nest egg?
After years of low factory remuneration in the Soviet Union, he wants to return to the United States and,
in a letter to his mother, estimates the cost at $800. He borrows $435.71 from the United States Embassy in Moscow but,
mirabile dictu, he repays the loan between October, 1962, and January, 1963, during which time he was unemployed
for several weeks and worked for a time as an unskilled developer of photostatic prints."

from "Oswald and the FBI"
Harold Feldman, The Nation
Jan. 27th 1964

Rankin walks into the topic with a loaded question.
Marguerite is quick to correct him, she did not think he was able to save this much,
and must have had some assistance. She makes this point very clear.
She is not convinced Lee had this money, or the ability to raise this money himself

Mr. RANKIN. He had quite a little money saved, didn't he, from the Marines? [leading and on the record]

Mrs. OSWALD. I will tell you about this--please, gentlemen, I will have to break if you don't.
This is a very, very serious life that I have gone through.
I didn't answer Lee. This is the way I do the children.

The CHAIRMAN. We will take a 10 minute recess now.
(Brief recess.)

The CHAIRMAN. The Commission will be in order. Mr. Rankin, you may continue.

Mrs. OSWALD. Mr. Rankin, you mentioned about the $1,600.
Now, I don't know if you know for a fact that Lee had $1,600.
It was publicized in the paper that he had $1,600, which is right here in 1959.

Mr. RANKIN. Did he tell you anything about that at the time?

Mrs. OSWALD. No, sir, he gave me $100. And he and his brother Robert had arrived.
And I am assuming it was over me, because Robert did not help me.
And I have made that public in the Red Cross papers, that he had a family of their own,
that they probably thought their duty was to their family. I had no help from the other two boys.
And he gave me $100, and I stayed in this little place a few weeks,
and then I got the job for $5 a week. And that is Lee's defection.

So here is my only contact with Lee in Russia, at the Metropole Hotel--this is dated December 18, 1959.
Now, I have settled with the insurance company, and I have a little money.
So I sent a check to Lee for $20. And this is his little note.
The only contact I had with Lee from the time of his immediate defection until
the State Department 2 years later informed me of my son's address. And this is his little note that he needs money.

So I would say that Lee didn't have $1,600, according to this proof.
Now, we are speculating, as you will admit, because you thought the letter to the school was from me.
And you will have to admit that I have given you new evidence.
And so maybe Lee didn't have $1,600, because he is asking for money there.
That is when he is right in Moscow.

Mr. RANKIN. Of course, that is quite a while later.
Mrs. OSWALD. No, sir. He defected the end of November. This is December 1959.

Mr. RANKIN. But he----

Mrs. OSWALD. He had to make passage, and have some money. I don't know if it took $1,600.
I do not know, sir. But I am saying 5 weeks later he needs money. We haven't gotten to this file yet.

I will quote from a newspaper, the Star Telegram, 1959, his defection, by Mrs. Aline Mosby,
who interviewed Lee in Moscow. It says here, "I saw my mother always as a worker,
always with less than we could use, he said. He insisted his childhood was happy despite his poverty."

We had a very happy family. He insisted--this is the story in 1959. Lee had a normal childhood.
And now he is criticizing the United States. He says, "Many things bothered him in the United States.
Race discrimination, harsh treatment of underdog, Communists and hate."

Then on the other letter he is going to Russia to write a book. And there is another story and another story.
And all kind of stories. So what are we to believe, gentlemen. Is he throwing us off the track because he is an agent.
We are talking about speculation and newspaper papers. and so on. And we know when he came back that he did go to Mrs. Bates,
a Fort Worth stenographer, and talked about the Soviet Union. She made it public. And he only had $10.

And he did not finish that story. And she said he was very nervous. And he did not say he was an agent.
But she got the impression that he was an agent. This has been made public in the Star Telegram--if you do not have that, I do.

Sneak In the Texans



That's exactly what Lee Rankin did.
In a telegram Jan. 23rd 1964, one day after the Executive session the WC sought to be destroyed,
General Council Lee Rankin and Earl Warren flew in Waggoner Carr, Henry Wade, Robert Storey and Bill Alexander, in secret.
Leon Jarworski is an interesting addition to this party, as he ended up asst legal council on the WC

Weisberg
"Wade, and the dean emeritus of the Southern Methodist University law school, the respected, Robert Storey,
both told me that they appeared in this rush secrecy that they had to be hidden from the people and the press
they were led to believe that a court reporter was present. They were deceived. I have the records that prove, Rankin,
thought to it that Ward and Paul did not provide a reporter. What seems to have happened is that Rankin deceived the
Texans by having the secretary there to make notes." [from Whitewash IV - Harold Weisberg page 13]

Memo to File
On Friday, January 24, 1964, the Chairman of the Commission and I met with Attorney General Carr, District Attorney Wade,
Assistant District Attorney Alexander, Mr Jaworski and Dean Storey. We reviewed the situation to date. District Attorney Wade
and others of the Texas representatives stated that the rumors to the effect that Oswald was an undercover agent were widely
held among representatives of the press in Dallas. They stated also that Mr Belli, attorney for Jack L. Ruby, was familiar with
these allegations. Wade stated he was also aware of an allegation that Oswald was an informant for the CIA and carried Number 110669.

District Attorney Wade and Alexander stated that the sources for these allegations or rumors were several reporters,
including Houston Post reporter Hudkins. They did not pinpoint Hudkins as being the source of this information,
but they did not name any other individual reporters. They both indicated that they would not vouch for the integrity
or accuracy of these reporters. They did inform us that this information was not disclosed in chambers during the bail
hearing on Monday, January 20, 1964.

District Attorney Wade stated that, based on his experience as an FBI agent during the years 1939–1943, he did not think
that the number would be either a payroll or voucher number carried on the Bureau records.
He suggested that the records are not kept that way and would not show the name of the informer, who would probably be paid by
the FBI in cash. He further stated that in his experience it was customary for the agent to carry the informer on his books as a number.

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Look, What They're Doing

This is not an investigation, it is a battle to keep out certain facts.
It is with this intent, knowing these portions will be locked away or destroyed.
In the excerpt of the above Memo to File, Wade and Alexander stated
"...that the sources for these allegations or rumors were several reporters..."

Alexander appears to deflect.
In a follow up memo from Hoover to Rankin
He admits that he knew FBI agent Hosty's name and number were in Oswald's notebook.

James Hosty



James Patrick Hosty, was the FBI agent assigned to the Oswalds in March 1963.
He took over the file from a retiring agent, John Wythe Fain, both were called by the commission.
Hosty testified that when he received the case, the file on Lee Oswald was closed.
He was to followup on the Russian wife, Marina.

He said he requested the file be opened when a mailing was brought to his attention.
"The Worker", a weekend paper published by the Communist Party was sent to Oswald that Spring.
He said he never met Lee Oswald until 11/22. But by the end of April '63, the Oswalds had already left for New Orleans.

What is disturbing is, Hosty's name, building address,
and license plate number, were found in Lee's address book.
The record indicates descriptions of Lee talking privately with the FBI in a car.
The official conclusion excluded any instance of Lee talking to Hosty in such a manner.
The Commission's consequence on this matter is weak.

Hosty Entry
Nov 1, 1963
FBI agent [RM 121]
James P. Hosty

MV8605
1114 Commerce St
Dallas

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OSWALD and the FBI | by Harold Feldman

"Oswald’s mother said an “agent named Hosty” came to the Irving house and talked to the young man at length in his car."
The Nation, pp. 86-89 27 January 1964