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: