He anticipated that the full disclosure of his defection would hinder him in “the struggle for progress and freedom in the United States”[C7-361] into which Oswald, in his own words, had “thrown” himself. He sought advice from the central committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A., in a letter dated August 28, 1963, about whether he could “continue to fight, handicapped as it were, by my past record * * * [and] compete with anti-progressive forces, above-ground or weather in your opion I should always remain in the background, i.e. underground.”[C7-362] Stating that he had used his “position” with what he claimed to be the local branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee to “foster communist ideals,” Oswald wrote that he felt that he might have compromised the FPCC and expressed concern lest “Our opponents could use my background of residence in the U.S.S.R. against any cause which I join, by association, they could say the organization of which I am a member, is Russian controled, ect.”[C7-363] In reply Arnold Johnson advised Oswald that, while as an American citizen he had a right to participate in such organizations as he wished, “there are a number of organizations, including possibly Fair Play, which are of a very broad character, and often it is advisable for some people to remain in the background, not underground.”[C7-364]
By August of 1963, after a short 3 months in New Orleans, the city in which he had been born and had lived most of his early life, Oswald had fallen on difficult times. He had not liked his job as a greaser of coffee processing machinery and he held it for only a little over 2 months.[C7-365] He had not found another job. His wife was expecting their second child in October and there was concern about the cost which would be involved.[C7-366] His brief foray on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee had failed to win any support. While he had drawn some attention to himself and had actually appeared on two radio programs, he had been attacked by Cuban exiles and arrested, an event which his wife thought upset him and as a result of which “he became less active, he cooled off a little.”[C7-367] More seriously, the facts of his defection had become known, leaving him open to almost unanswerable attack by those who opposed his views. It would not have been possible to have followed Arnold Johnson’s advice to remain in the background, since there was no background to the New Orleans FPCC “organization,” which consisted solely of Oswald. Furthermore, he had apparently not received any letters from the national headquarters of FPCC since May 29, 1963,[C7-368] even though he had written four detailed letters since that time to Mr. V. T. Lee[C7-369] and had also kept the national headquarters informed of each of his changes of mailing address.[C7-370] Those events no doubt had their effects on Oswald.
Interest in Cuba
By August of 1963, Oswald had for some time been considering the possibility of leaving the United States again. On June 24, 1963, he applied for a new passport[C7-371] and in late June or early July he told his wife that he wanted to return to the Soviet Union with her. She said that he was extremely upset, very unhappy, and that he actually wept when he told her that.[C7-372] He said that nothing kept him in the United States, that he would not lose anything if he returned to the Soviet Union, that he wanted to be with her and that it would be better to have less and not have to be concerned about tomorrow.[C7-373]
As a result of that conversation, Marina Oswald wrote the Soviet Embassy in Washington concerning a request she had first made on February 17, 1963, for permission for herself and June to return to the Soviet Union.[C7-374] While that first request, made according to Marina Oswald at her husband’s insistence, specifically stated that Oswald was to remain in the United States, she wrote in her letter of July 1963, that “things are improving due to the fact that my husband expresses a sincere wish to return together with me to the USSR.”[C7-375] Unknown to his wife, however, Oswald apparently enclosed a note with her letter of July in which he requested the Embassy to rush his wife’s entrance visa because of the impending birth of the second child but stated that: “As for my return entrance visa please consider it separtably.”[C7-376]
Thus, while Oswald’s real intentions, assuming that they were known to himself, are not clear, he may not have intended to go to the Soviet Union directly, if at all.[C7-377] It appears that he really wanted to go to Cuba. In his wife’s words:
I only know that his basic desire was to get to Cuba by any means, and that all the rest of it was window dressing for that purpose.[C7-378]
Marina Oswald testified that her husband engaged in Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities “primarily for purposes of self-advertising. He wanted to be arrested. I think he wanted to get into the newspapers, so that he would be known.”[C7-379] According to Marina Oswald, he thought that would help him when he got to Cuba.[C7-380] He asked his wife to help him to hijack an airplane to get there, but gave up that scheme when she refused.[C7-381]
During this period Oswald may have practiced opening and closing the bolt on his rifle in a screened porch in his apartment.[C7-382] In September he began to review Spanish.[C7-383] He approved arrangements for his family to return to Irving, Tex., to live with Mrs. Ruth Paine.[C7-384] On September 20, 1963, Mrs. Paine and her two children arrived in New Orleans from a trip to the East Coast[C7-385] and left for Irving with Marina Oswald and June and most of the Oswalds’ effects 3 days later.[C7-386] While Marina Oswald knew of her husband’s plan to go to Mexico and thence to Cuba if possible,[C7-387] Mrs. Paine was told that Oswald was going to Houston and possibly to Philadelphia to look for work.[C7-388]
Oswald left for Mexico City on September 25, 1963, and arrived on September 27, 1963. He went almost directly to the Cuban Embassy and applied for a visa to Cuba in transit to Russia.[C7-389] Representing himself as the head of the New Orleans branch of the “organization called ‘Fair Play for Cuba,’ he stated his desire that he should be accepted as a ‘friend’ of the Cuban Revolution.”[C7-390] He apparently based his claim for a visa in transit to Russia on his previous residence, his work permit for that country, and several unidentified letters in the Russian language. The Cubans would not, however, give him a visa until he had received one from the Soviets, which involved a delay of several months. When faced with that situation Oswald became greatly agitated, and although he later unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a Soviet visa at the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City, he insisted that he was entitled to the Cuban visa because of his background, partisanship, and personal activities on behalf of the Cuban movement. He engaged in an angry argument with the consul who finally told him that “as far as he was concerned he would not give him a visa” and that “a person like him [Oswald] in place of aiding the Cuban Revolution, was doing it harm.”[C7-391]