At the outset of the investigation Klause stated to Federal agents that he did not know the name of his customer, whom he incorrectly described;[C6-511] he did say, however, that the customer did not resemble either Oswald or Ruby.[C6-512] Shortly before he appeared before the Commission, Klause disclosed Surrey’s identity.[C6-513] He explained that no record of the transaction had been made because “he saw a chance to make a few dollars on the side.”[C6-514]

Klause’s testimony receives some corroboration from Bernard Weissman’s testimony that he saw a copy of one of the “Wanted for Treason” handbills on the floor of General Walker’s station wagon shortly after November 22.[C6-515] Other details of the manner in which the handbills were printed have also been verified.[C6-516] Moreover, Weissman testified that neither he nor any of his associates had anything to do with the handbill or were acquainted with Surrey, Klause, Lettercraft Printing Co., or Johnson Printing Co.[C6-517] Klause and Surrey, as well as General Walker, testified that they were unacquainted with Lee Harvey Oswald and had not heard of him prior to the afternoon of November 22.[C6-518] The Commission has found no evidence of any connection between those responsible for the handbill and Lee Harvey Oswald or the assassination.

Contacts With the Cuban and Soviet Embassies in Mexico City and the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Eight weeks before the assassination, Oswald traveled to Mexico City where he visited both the Cuban and Soviet Embassies.[D] Oswald’s wife knew of this trip before he went,[C6-519] but she denied such knowledge until she testified before the Commission.[C6-520] The Commission undertook an intensive investigation to determine Oswald’s purpose and activities on this journey, with specific reference to reports that Oswald was an agent of the Cuban or Soviet Governments. As a result of its investigation, the Commission believes that it has been able to reconstruct and explain most of Oswald’s actions during this time. A detailed chronological account of this trip appears in appendix XIII.

[D] The Soviet Embassy in Mexico City includes consular as well as diplomatic personnel in a single building. The Cuban Embassy and Cuban Consulate in Mexico City, though in separate buildings, are in the same compound. Both the Soviet and the Cuban establishments will be referred to throughout the report simply as Embassies.

Trip to Mexico.—Oswald was in Mexico from September 26, 1963, until October 3, 1963.[C6-521] (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 2478, 2481, [p. 300].) Marina Oswald testified that Oswald had told her that the purpose of the trip was to evade the American prohibition on travel to Cuba and to reach that country.[C6-522] He cautioned her that the trip and its purpose were to be kept strictly secret.[C6-523] She testified that he had earlier laid plans to reach Cuba by hijacking an airliner flying out of New Orleans, but she refused to cooperate and urged him to give it up, which he finally did.[C6-524] Witnesses who spoke with Oswald while he was on a bus going to Mexico City also testified that Oswald told them he intended to reach Cuba by way of Mexico, and that he hoped to meet Fidel Castro after he arrived.[C6-525] When Oswald spoke to the Cuban and Soviet consular officials in Mexico City, he represented that he intended to travel to the Soviet Union and requested an “in-transit” Cuban visa to permit him to enter Cuba on September 30 on the way to the Soviet Union. Marina Oswald has testified that these statements were deceptions designed to get him to Cuba.[C6-526] Thus, although it is possible that Oswald intended to continue on to Russia from Cuba, the evidence makes it more likely that he intended to remain in Cuba.[C6-527]

OSWALD’S MEXICAN TOURIST CARD AND APPLICATION

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2481)
APPLICATION FOR TOURIST CARD

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2478)
TOURIST CARD