Feb. 7, 1964 - Mrs. Marina Oswald, widow of Lee Harvey Oswald, accused slayer of President Kennedy, said her husband had “changed” after returning from the Soviet Union with her in 1962. “I don’t know why,” she said. The Russian-born widow told a Washington news conference she had regarded Oswald as “normal” when she met and married him in the Soviet Union.
In halting English, she recalled that Oswald had periodically practiced shooting with a rifle months before the assassination last Nov. 22. She then explained that, as far as she knew, he did not go to a rifle range to practice but that he had the rifle at home and practiced sighting it when it was empty. She said she had not seen him fire it. About the rifle practice she said, “He don’t tell me why the reason.”
He went to Mexico last Sept. 26 to try to get a visa “because he wanted to live in Cuba,” she said, after which he thought he would go to Russia again.
Mrs. Oswald said she was no longer speaking with Oswald’s mother, Mrs. Marguerite Oswald of Fort Worth, because she was “too much bad for me.” Oswald’s mother will be the second witness to appear before the Warren commission. She is due Monday, at her own request, to present evidence purportedly showing her son’s innocence.
Marina Oswald, who finished her testimony before the commission yesterday, was asked how she now felt toward her husband. “I feel very sorry for Lee Oswald,” she replied. “You know this is my husband. I don’t want if Lee shot Kennedy.”
She explained why she had not informed the police after he had told her of his attempt to shoot former Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker, Texas right-winger, on April 10, 1963. “Because I am a wife,” she said.
“Do you know whether your husband had any aid or help from any other person in the shooting of President Kennedy?” she was asked. “You think — you think, who helped Lee?” “Yes.” “No, I don’t know that,” she said. She said her husband had not said “anything bad” about the President.
At the end of the conference, Mrs. Oswald was asked if she had been treated well by the Presidential commission. “Oh yes, sir,” she said with a smile. “Looks like my grandfather, the Chief,” she added in a reference to Chief Justice Earl Warren, commission chairman.
Her lawyer, John Thorne, disclosed that donations to Mrs. Oswald totaled more than $35,000 and had been placed in a trust fund administered by a bank. To increase her income, he said, she is interested in having a book written about her experiences.
