Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

by United States. Warren Commission

RETURN AND RENEWAL OF OSWALD’S 1959 PASSPORT

Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy

On February 1, 1961, as a result of a visit by Oswald’s mother to the Department of State on January 25, 1961,[A15-78] the Department sent a request to the Moscow Embassy as follows:

The Embassy is requested to inform the [Soviet] Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr. Oswald’s mother is worried as to his present safety, and is anxious to hear from him.[A15-79]

The inquiry went to the Embassy by diplomatic pouch and was received in Moscow on February 10 or 11.[A15-80] On February 13, before the Embassy had acted on the Department’s request,[A15-81] the Embassy received an undated letter from Oswald postmarked Minsk, February 5. The letter stated:

Since I have not received a reply to my letter of December 1960, I am writing again asking that you consider my request for the return of my American passport.

I desire to return to the United States, that is if we could come to some agreement concerning the dropping of any legal proceedings against me. If so, than I would be free to ask the Russian authorities to allow me to leave. If I could show them my American passport, I am of the opinion they would give me an exit visa.

They have at no time insisted that I take Russian citizenship. I am living here with non-permanent type papers for a foreigner.

I cannot leave Minsk without permission, therefore I am writing rather than calling in person.

I hope that in recalling the responsibility I have to america that you remember your’s in doing everything you can to help me since I am an american citizen.[A15-82]

Despite Oswald’s reference to his letter of December 1960, there is no indication that he had written to the Embassy previously.[A15-83] Furthermore, his diary refers to his February 1 letter as his “first request” concerning his return to the United States.[A15-84]

On February 28, 1961, the Embassy wrote Oswald that he would have to come to Moscow to discuss the passport and expatriation matters.[A15-85] Then on March 20, 1961, a second letter from Oswald, dated March 12, was received by the Embassy. It read:

In reply to your recent letter. I find it inconvenient to come to Moscow for the sole purpose of an interview.

In my last letter I believe I stated that I cannot leave the city of Minsk without permission.

I believe there exist in the United States also a law in regards to resident foreigners from Socialist countries, traveling between cities.

I do not think it would be appropriate for me to request to leave Minsk in order to visit the American Embassy. In any event, the granting of permission is a long drawn out affair, and I find that there is a hesitation on the part of local officials to even start the process.

I have no intention of abusing my position here, and I am sure you would not want me to.

I see no reasons for any preliminary inquires not to be put in the form of a questionnaire and sent to me.

I understand that personal interviews undobtedly make to work of the Embassy staff lighter, than written correspondence, however, in some cases other means must be employed.[A15-86]

After receiving the first letter postmarked February 5, the Embassy on February 28 forwarded a despatch to the Department informing it of Oswald’s letter and its reply to Oswald. At that time, the Embassy also inquired of the Department whether Oswald would be subject to prosecution on any grounds if he should return to the United States and, if so, whether Oswald should be so informed. The Department was also asked whether there was any objection to returning Oswald’s 1959 passport to him by mail, since that might facilitate his application for a Soviet exit visa.[A15-87] Upon receiving Oswald’s March 20 letter, the Embassy again consulted with Washington. The Embassy proposed that it write Oswald repeating that he must come to Moscow if he wanted to discuss reentering the United States and pointing out that the Soviet government did not object to such visits by American citizens.[A15-88] Such a letter was mailed to Oswald on March 24.[A15-89]

In the meantime, the State Department was considering the Embassy despatch of February 28, 1961.[A15-90] Although a different response was originally recommended by a staff member in the Passport Office,[A15-91] the Department instructed the Embassy on April 13 that for security reasons Oswald’s passport should be given to him only if he personally appeared at the Embassy and that even then he was to receive the document only after a full investigation had been made and the Embassy was satisfied that he had not renounced his American citizenship. Also, he was to present evidence that he had made arrangements to depart from the Soviet Union to travel to the United States, and his passport was to be stamped valid for direct return to the United States only. The Department also told the Embassy that Oswald could not be advised whether or not he would be prosecuted for any possible offenses should he return to the United States.[A15-92] Matters remained in this posture for over a month. During the interim, Oswald met and married Marina Nikolaevna Prusakova.[A15-93]

On May 26, 1961, the Embassy sent a despatch to the Department[A15-94] advising that on May 25, 1961, it had received a letter from Oswald postmarked Moscow, May 16, 1961.[A15-95] In his latest letter Oswald said he wanted “to make it clear” that he was asking for full guarantees that he would not be prosecuted “under any circumstances” should he return to the United States. Oswald went on to say that if the Embassy could not give him these assurances, he would “endeavor to use my relatives in the United States, to see about getting something done in Washington.” He also informed the Embassy that he was married to a Russian woman who would want to accompany him back to his native country, and he once again repeated his reluctance to come to Moscow. The Embassy suggested that it reply to Oswald by repeating that the question of citizenship could only be made on the basis of a personal interview, and by advising Oswald of the requirements and procedures pertaining to his wife’s immigration. The despatch noted that Oswald’s letter referred to his present Soviet internal passport in which he claimed to be designated as “without citizenship,” and observed: “It would appear on this basis that Oswald has not yet expatriated himself under Section 349(a) (1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.” The Embassy inquired whether the Department considered Oswald entitled “to the protection of the United States Government while he continues to reside abroad under present circumstances in the absence of reasonable evidence that he has committed an expatriating act?”

The Department answered the despatch under date of July 11, 1961. It said that it was not entirely clear what the description “without citizenship” means, i.e., “whether he is without Soviet citizenship or without any citizenship.” The instructions continued:

In any event in the absence of evidence showing that Mr. Oswald has definitely lost United States citizenship he apparently maintains that technical status. Whether he is entitled to the protection of the United States pending any further developments concerning his precise status is a matter which will be left to the Embassy’s discretion in the event an emergency situation should arise. In a situation of this kind, not of an emergency nature, the facts should be submitted to the Department.

It is noted that the Embassy intends to seek the Department’s prior advice before granting Mr. Oswald documentation as a United States citizen upon any application he may submit.

The Embassy’s careful attention to the involved case of Mr. Oswald is appreciated * * *[A15-96]

However, on Saturday, July 8, 1961, before the Embassy had received the response from Washington, Oswald appeared without warning at the Embassy in Moscow. Snyder came down to meet Oswald after Oswald called him on the house telephone, and after a brief talk, asked Oswald to return on Monday, July 10.[A15-97] Later that day Oswald telephoned his wife and told her to come to Moscow, which she did the next day.[A15-98] Oswald returned alone to the American Embassy on Monday, where Snyder questioned him about his life in Russia. According to a memorandum which Snyder prepared shortly afterwards:

Twenty months of the realities of life in the Soviet Union have clearly had a maturing effect on Oswald. He stated frankly that he learned a hard lesson the hard way and that he had been completely relieved about his illusions about the Soviet Union * * * Much of the arrogance and bravado which characterized him on his first visit to the Embassy appears to have left him.[A15-99]

Oswald told Snyder that despite the statement he had given him in October 1959, he had never applied for Soviet citizenship, but only for permission to reside in the Soviet Union. He presented his Soviet internal passport, which described him as without citizenship of any kind. Oswald said that he had been employed since January 13, 1960, as a metal worker in the research shop in the Byelorussian Radio and Television Factory in Minsk. He claimed that he had taken no oath of allegiance of any kind, and that he had not been required to sign any papers in connection with this employment. He added that he was not a member of the factory trade union organization. Oswald said that he was earning 90 rubles ($90) a month and that he had saved about 200 rubles ($200) toward travel expenses to the United States. He denied that he had made any derogatory statements concerning the United States to radio, press, or TV in the Soviet Union, and he denied that he had turned over any information to the Russians as he had threatened to do in the 1959 interview with Snyder.[A15-100]

During the course of the interview Oswald filled out an application for renewal of his American passport.[A15-101] The renewal application was required since Oswald’s existing passport would expire on September 10, 1961,[A15-102] and it was extremely unlikely that he would be able to obtain the requisite Soviet departure documents before that time. The renewal application contained a printed statement which set forth, in the disjunctive, a series of acts which, if committed by the applicant, would either automatically disqualify him from receiving a passport on the ground that he had lost his American citizenship, or would raise a question whether he might be so disqualified. The printed statement was preceded by two phrases, “have,” and, “have not,” the first phrase being printed directly above the second. One carbon copy of the application indicates Oswald signed the document after the second phrase, “have not,” had been typed over, thereby apparently admitting that he had committed one or more of the acts which would at least raise a question as to whether he had expatriated himself. Snyder was not able to remember with certainty to which of the acts listed on the statement Oswald’s mark was intended to refer, but believed it may have been to “swearing allegiance to a foreign state.” [A15-103] He points out that the strikeout of “have not” may also have been a clerical error.[A15-104] On the actual signed copy of the application kept in the files of the Moscow Embassy, which is not a carbon copy of the copy sent to the Department, the strikeout is slightly above the “have;” therefore, since the “have” is itself printed above the “have not,” the strikeout may have been intended to obliterate the “have.”[A15-105]

In any event, Oswald filled out the supplementary questionnaire which was required to be completed if the applicant admitted he had performed one or more of the possibly expatriating acts. He signed the questionnaire under oath.[A15-106] Snyder testified that it was routine for any kind of “problem case” to fill out the supplementary questionnaire.[A15-107] The Passport Office employee who processed the Oswald case in Washington testified that she routinely regarded the questionnaire rather than the application itself as the controlling document for expatriation purposes, so that she probably paid no attention to the strikeout.[A15-108]

The pertinent questions included on the questionnaire, with Oswald’s answers, read as follows:

2. (a) Are you known or considered in your community to be a national of the country in which you are residing? No. (Yes or No)

(b) If your answer to 2(a) is “No,” explain why not. On my document for residence in the USSR my nationality is American.

3. (a) Have you ever sought or obtained registration as a national of a foreign country, applied for or obtained a passport, certificate, card document or other benefit therefrom in which you were described as a national of a country other than the United States? No. (Yes or No)

(b) If your answer to 3(a) is “Yes,” did you voluntarily seek or claim such benefits? (Yes or No) If “No,” please explain.

I recived a document for residence in the USSR but I am described as being “Without citizenship.”

4. (a) Have you ever informed any local or national official of a foreign state that you are a national of the United States? No. * * *

(b) If your answer to 4(a) is “No,” explain why not. On my document for residence in the USSR, my nationality is American.

6. (a) Have you ever taken an oath or made an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state? No. * * *

8. Have you ever accepted, served in, or performed the duties of any office, post or employment under the government of a foreign state or political subdivision thereof? No. * * *
I do not regard factory employment as state employment, as is meant in the question above.[A15-109]

On the basis of these answers, and on the basis of the statements Oswald made orally during the interview, Snyder concluded that Oswald had not lost his citizenship. Snyder therefore handed him back his passport. Pursuant to the instructions from Washington, it was stamped, “This passport is valid only for direct travel to the United States.”[A15-110]

In a despatch dated July 11, 1961,[A15-111] the Embassy informed the Department of State of its conclusion that Oswald had not lost his American citizenship and requested that, if Washington agreed with the conclusion, “the Embassy be authorized to renew Oswald’s passport at its discretion.” The despatch, with which Oswald’s application and supplemental questionnaire[A15-112] were enclosed, informed the Department that Oswald was questioned at length at the Embassy and that no evidence was revealed of any act which might be considered as having caused the loss of his American citizenship.

The Embassy added in the despatch—

It is our intention not to renew it [the passport] without the Department’s prior approval of the enclosed renewal application, and then only upon evidence of a present need for the renewal in connection with his efforts to return to the United States.[A15-113]

Oswald appeared at the Embassy once again on July 11, 1961, this time accompanied by Marina, in order to complete the papers necessary to obtain permission for his wife to enter the United States.[A15-114] In a letter dated July 16, 1961, Oswald informed the American Embassy about his and Marina’s application to the Soviet officials for permission to leave Russia, and described the harassment which Marina was allegedly undergoing because of her attempts to leave the country.[A15-115]

Based upon Snyder’s recommendation and the information in its files, the Passport Office on August 18, 1961, concluded that Oswald had not expatriated himself.[A15-116] Therefore, on that date, the Department of State sent a despatch to the Embassy in Moscow stating that they concurred in the Embassy’s recommendation of July 11, 1961, with respect to Oswald’s citizenship:

We concur in the conclusion of the Embassy that there is available no information and/or evidence to show that Mr. Oswald has expatriated himself under the pertinent laws of the United States.

The renewal of Mr. Oswald’s passport, issued on September 10, 1959, is authorized upon his referenced application if no adverse reason is known, to take place upon his presentation of evidence that he needs such renewal in connection with his efforts to return to the United States as indicated in the final sentence on page 2 of Despatch 29. As requested in the final paragraph of the Despatch the Embassy may perform this citizenship function for Mr. Oswald at its discretion.

Any passport renewal granted to Mr. Oswald should be limited to his passport needs and, as stated in the second paragraph of the Department’s A-173, April 13, 1961 his passport should be made valid for direct return to the United States. The additional precaution set forth in the same paragraph should be observed and his passport should be delivered to him on a personal basis only. When available, a report of his travel data should be submitted, as well as a report of any intervening developments.[A15-117]

On October 12, 1961, the Embassy wrote the Department to inform it of four letters it had received from Oswald dated July 15, August 8, and October 4, and an undated letter received in August. With reference to these letters, the despatch noted:

* * * that Oswald is having difficulty in obtaining exit visas for himself and his Soviet wife, and that they are subject to increasing harassment in Minsk. In replying to Oswald’s latest letter, the Embassy pointed out that it has no way of influencing Soviet action on exit visas. It informed him that the question of his passport renewal could be discussed with him personally at the Embassy. In answer to Oswald’s question, the Embassy notified him that the petition to classify his wife’s status had not yet been approved.[A15-118]

The Department on December 28, 1961, informed the Embassy that the Passport Office approved the manner of the Embassy’s reply to Mr. Oswald with respect “to his receiving further passport facilities.”[A15-119] After a further exchange of correspondence between Oswald and the Embassy, dealing primarily with Oswald’s difficulties in obtaining the necessary Soviet clearance, his impatience in receiving American approval for Marina’s entry into the United States, and his efforts to obtain a repatriation loan,[A15-120] the passport problem was finally concluded on May 24, 1962, when the Embassy renewed Oswald’s passport for 30 days, stamped it valid for direct return to the United States only and handed it to him.[A15-121] A week later he used it to return to the United States.[A15-122]

The decision that Oswald was entitled to a new passport because he had not expatriated himself was made for the Embassy by the consul, Richard E. Snyder.[A15-123] For the Department it was made initially by Miss Bernice L. Waterman, a worker in the Passport Office for 36 years, and was then approved by her area chief, by the head of the Foreign Operations Division, and by the Legal Division of the Passport Office.[A15-124] Snyder and Miss Waterman have both testified that they reached their decisions independently and without influence from any other person.[A15-125] The Director of the Passport Office and the Legal Adviser to the State Department both stated that after a review of the record they concluded that Oswald had not expatriated himself and that Snyder and Waterman, therefore, acted correctly.[A15-126]

Legal Justification for the Return and Reissue of Oswald’s Passport

Since he was born in the United States, Oswald was an American citizen.[A15-127] However, Congress has provided that by performing certain acts, a person may forfeit his American citizenship. Thus Oswald would have become expatriated while in Russia if he obtained naturalization in the Soviet Union, renounced U.S. nationality, took an oath of allegiance to the Soviet Union, or voluntarily worked for the Soviet Government in a post requiring that the employee take an oath of allegiance.

Naturalization in a foreign state.—Section 349(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his nationality by “obtaining naturalization in a foreign state upon his own application * * *.”[A15-128] Although Oswald applied for Soviet citizenship, he never received it.[A15-129] Thus, Oswald did not expatriate himself under section 349(a)(1).

Formal renunciation of U.S. nationality.—Section 349(a)(6) of the act provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his citizenship by:

* * * making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State.[A15-130]

In accordance with this statute, the Secretary has promulgated regulations prescribing the manner in which renunciation is to be effected.[A15-131] The regulations provide, among other things, that 4 copies of the renunciation form are to be executed and the original and one copy sent to the Department. The Department must then approve the form and advise the appropriate consular official, who may then furnish a copy of the form to the person to whom it relates. The form itself requires the person to subscribe it in the presence of a consular official, and it must also be signed by this official.[A15-132]

Though in 1959 Oswald clearly stated to officials at the American Embassy, both orally and in writing, that he desired to renounce his U.S. citizenship, he at no time took the steps required by the statute and regulations to effect his renunciation. Oswald did not execute the proper forms, he did not sign his letter of October 31 or November 3, 1959, in the presence of a consular official, and neither letter was signed by such an official.[A15-133] Because section 349(a)(6) in terms requires compliance with the form prescribed by the Secretary of State, Oswald did not expatriate himself under that section.

Oath of allegiance to a foreign state.—Section 349(a)(2) of the act provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his nationality by:

* * * taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof.[A15-134]

In his letter of October 31, 1959, Oswald wrote: “I affirm that my allegiance is to the union of Soviet Socialist Republics.”[A15-135] Both in this letter and in his letter of November 3, 1959, he stated that his application for citizenship in the Soviet Union was pending before the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.[A15-136]

Oswald’s letters no doubt were intended to express allegiance to the Soviet Union in a manner inconsistent with continued allegiance to the United States, as the statute has been held to require.[A15-137] However, since 1940, it has been well established that in order for an oath of allegiance to a foreign state to work an expatriation from the United States, it must be given to an official of the foreign state, and not to a party unconnected with the foreign state.[A15-138] This requirement can be viewed as a necessary corollary of the broader, but less clearly established, principle that the oath must be taken in accord with the requirements of the foreign state.[A15-139] Although Lee Harvey Oswald wrote that his allegiance was to the Soviet Union,[A15-140] there is no indication that he had ever actually taken an oath or declaration or that any such oath was taken before an official of the Soviet Government. He, therefore, did not expatriate himself under section 349(a)(2).

Employment under the government of a foreign state.—Section 349(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his nationality by:

(a) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post, or employment under the government of a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, if he has or acquires the nationality of such foreign state; or (b) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post of employment under the government of a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, for which office, post, or employment an oath, affirmation, or declaration of allegiance is required. * * *[A15-141]

While Oswald was employed in a state-owned factory in Minsk, he did not acquire Russian nationality, and there is no indication that he had to take any oath when he obtained this employment.[A15-142] Furthermore, prior judicial decisions indicate that merely working in a government-owned factory does not result in expatriation even if an oath was required to be taken in connection with such employment.[A15-143] Several cases decided under an earlier but similar statutory provision held that where a person took a government job in order to subsist, such employment was considered involuntary since it was based on economic duress, and thus it did not result in expatriation.[A15-144] Thus, Oswald did not expatriate himself under section 349(a)(4).

The Commission therefore concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald had not expatriated himself by any acts performed between October 16, 1959, and May 1962, and concurs in the opinion of the State Department that his passport was properly returned to him in July 1961 and properly reissued in May 1962.