Oswald responded to the unfavorable decision by cutting himself above his left wrist, in an apparent suicide attempt. Rima Shirokova found him unconscious in his hotel room and had him taken to the Botkinskaya Hospital. His diary states: “Poor Rimmea stays by my side as interrpator (my Russian is still very bad) far into the night, I tell her ‘Go home’ (my mood is bad) but she stays, she is ‘my friend.’”[A13-501]
For 3 days Oswald was confined in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. He was examined by a psychiatrist, who concluded that he was not dangerous to other people and could be transferred to the “somatic” department. Hospital records containing the results of the examination[A13-502] state that Oswald came to Russia in order to apply for citizenship, and that “in order to postpone his departure he inflicted the injury upon himself.”[A13-503] They note that Oswald understood some Russian and, presumably based on information which he provided, that he had “graduated from a technical high school in radio technology and radio electronics.”[A13-504] The record states: “He claims he regrets his action. After recovering he intends to return to his homeland.”[A13-505]
Oswald resented being in the psychiatric ward and told Rima Shirokova that he wanted a transfer.[A13-506] She visited him at the hospital frequently and his diary records that “only at this moment” did he “notice [that] she is preety.”[A13-507] Another entry for the hospital period says: “Afternoon I am visited by Roza Agafonova of the hotel tourist office, who askes about my health, very beautiful, excelant Eng., very merry and kind, she makes me very glad to be alive.”[A13-508] These entries reflect an attitude gentler and friendlier than his attitude before the suicide attempt, when he seemed to be coldly concerned only with his status in Russia. Once Oswald was out of the psychiatric ward, he found the hospital more pleasant. The new ward, which he shared with 11 other patients, was “airy,” and the food was good. His only complaint, according to his diary, was that an “elderly American” patient was distrustful of him because he had not registered at the American Embassy and because he was evasive about the reasons for his presence in Moscow and confinement in the hospital.[A13-509]
He was released from the hospital on October 28,[A13-510] and, accompanied by Rima Shirokova, was driven to the Hotel Berlin in an Intourist car. After he said goodby to Lyudmila Dmitrieva, head of the Intourist office at the Berlin, and to Roza Agafonova, another Intourist employee at the hotel, he checked out of the Berlin and registered at the Metropole,[A13-511] a large hotel under the same administration as the Berlin.[A13-512] The Government had undoubtedly directed him to make the change. His visa had expired while he was in the hospital, and his presence in Russia was technically illegal; he had received no word that the decision that he must leave had been reversed. Later that day, however, Rima told him that the “Pass and Registration Office” wished to talk to him about his future.[A13-513] According to the diary, when Oswald appeared at the office he was asked whether he still wanted to become a Soviet citizen and he replied that he did; he provided his Marine Corps discharge papers for identification. He was told that he could not expect a decision soon, and was dismissed. During this interview, Oswald was apparently questioned about the interview which preceded his hospitalization, which led him to conclude that there had been no communication between the two sets of officials.[A13-514] That evening he met Rima, on whom he vented his frustration at being put off by the authorities.[A13-515]
Oswald ate only once on the following day; he stayed near the telephone, fully dressed and ready to leave immediately if he were summoned. He remained in his room for 3 days, which seemed to him “like three years,”[A13-516] until October 31, when he decided to act. He met Rima Shirokova at noon and told her that he was impatient, but did not say what he planned to do; she cautioned him to stay in his room “and eat well.”[A13-517] She left him after a short while and, a few minutes later, he took a taxi to the American Embassy, where he asked to see the consul. (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 24, 912, 913, pp. 264, 263, 261.) When the receptionist asked him first to sign the tourist register, he laid his passport on the desk and said that he had come to “dissolve his American citizenship.” Richard E. Snyder, the Second Secretary and senior consular official,[A13-518] was summoned, and he invited Oswald into his office.[A13-519]
Oswald’s meeting with Snyder, at which Snyder’s assistant, John A. McVickar, was also present, is more fully discussed in appendix XV to the Commission’s report. Oswald declared that he wanted to renounce his American citizenship; he denounced the United States and praised the Government of the Soviet Union. Over Oswald’s objections, Snyder sought to learn something of Oswald’s motives and background and to forestall immediate action. Oswald told him that he had already offered to tell a Soviet official what he had learned as a radar operator in the Marines. The interview ended when Snyder told Oswald that he could renounce his citizenship on the following Monday, 2 days later, if he would appear personally to do so. During the interview, Oswald handed to Snyder a note[A13-520] which suggests that he had studied and sought to comply with section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides for loss of American citizenship.[A13-521] The note contains paragraphs which read like inartistic attempts to cast off citizenship in three of the ways specified by the statute. The attempts failed but there is no reason to doubt that they were sincere. Snyder has testified that he believed that Oswald would immediately have formally renounced his citizenship had he been permitted to do so.[A13-522]
The interview lasted for less than an hour. Oswald returned to his hotel angry about the delay but “elated” by the “showdown” and sure that he would be permitted to remain after his “sign of * * * faith” in the Russians.[A13-523] Soon after he returned to the hotel, he was approached by A. I. Goldberg, a reporter for the Associated Press, whom the Embassy had told about Oswald’s actions. Oswald refused to speak to him.[A13-524] He answered a few questions for two other reporters, R. J. Korengold and Miss Aline Mosby, but again refused to be interviewed.[A13-525] Thereafter, the news services made repeated unsuccessful attempts to interview him, which he thought was an indirect form of pressure from the Embassy to return to the United States.[A13-526]
On the day after Oswald’s meeting with Snyder, his family read in the newspapers about his appearance at the Embassy and tried to contact him. Mrs. Oswald testified that she was shocked at her son’s decision to defect but respected his motives for doing so; later she suspected that he had been forcibly removed to Russia.[A13-527] She placed a telephone call to him,[A13-528] but he either refused to speak to her[A13-529] or cut her off very quickly.[A13-530] So too, on November 2, he rejected the Embassy’s efforts to deliver or read on the telephone a telegram from his brother Robert.[A13-531] A call from Robert was either canceled before it was completed or was refused.[A13-532] Robert’s telegram, along with a message asking Oswald to contact him immediately, which Robert had asked the State Department to deliver,[A13-533] was finally sent to Oswald from the Embassy by registered mail.[A13-534]
A few days later, the Embassy received a letter from Oswald dated November 3 which requested that his citizenship be revoked.[A13-535] The letter stated that he had appeared at the Embassy “for the purpose of signing the formal papers to this effect” and protested against the “conduct of the official” who had refused him “this legal right.” Oswald noted that his application for Soviet citizenship was pending and said that if it were granted he would ask the Soviet Government “to lodge a formal protest” on his behalf.[A13-536] The Embassy replied on November 9 that Oswald could renounce his citizenship by appearing at the Embassy and executing the necessary papers.[A13-537]
Oswald’s diary describes the period from November 2 to November 15, during which he continued to isolate himself, as “days of utter loneliness.”[A13-538] On November 8, he wrote to his brother: