Ambassador Thompson. I think that except in the cases of rather elderly people, they have not wanted any of their people to leave permanently. They let them go on tourist trips abroad, but not for permanent residence. As you possibly know, leaving the Soviet Union without permission is one of the most severely punished crimes you can commit in the Soviet Union.
Senator Cooper. What was that?
Ambassador Thompson. Leaving without permission.
Senator Cooper. Would the fact that there was a child born to Lee Oswald and Marina Oswald have altered this practice of the Soviet Union, as far as any experience that you have had or any knowledge you have had about such cases?
Ambassador Thompson. I think the existence of a child born in the Soviet Union would normally make it more difficult for a person to secure an exit visa.
Mr. Slawson. Mr. Ambassador, in the facts of the Oswald case they applied to leave the Soviet Union, of course, well before their first child was born, and in fact probably received Soviet permission to leave in late December 1961, and the child, I believe, was born in February 1962—although the Oswalds in fact did not leave until very early June 1962.
They nevertheless had received Soviet permission to do so before the child was born.
In light of that fact, could you comment further upon the perhaps greater difficulty of leaving when you have a child?
Ambassador Thompson. Well, I think probably having once processed the case and agreed to let the husband and wife leave, that they would have been more inclined then to let the child leave than if the case had been considered after the child was born.
Senator Cooper. I take it the policy of the United States would be the reverse—that is, because Marina was the wife of Lee Oswald, and because the baby had been born, the practice of the United States would be to grant a passport to Marina for the child.