Mr. Snyder. This simply tells the Department that the press is onto the case, and that they can expect something from Moscow on it. The Department hates to be caught by surprise, they hate to read something in the newspapers before they have gotten it back home. And I am simply telling them that the Moscow press corps is aware of Oswald's presence, and that there would likely be some dispatches from the press from Moscow on the case.
Representative Ford. That doesn't mean the Embassy informed the press?
Mr. Snyder. Oh, no.
Representative Ford. How did you know the press had been informed?
Mr. Snyder. Again right at the moment, I cannot say. At what stage—Priscilla Johnson, I think, was one of the first to be aware of Oswald. Just how she became aware of him, and just where I became aware of her knowledge of him, I don't quite know. But this, I think, was quite early in the game.
Representative Ford. Was he given much attention by the press in Moscow?
Mr. Snyder. I cannot really speak with great authority on the point. I don't think so. This is based on several things.
One, there was very little about Oswald, I think, at the time other than what was sent in by Priscilla Johnson.
Secondly, I believe that Oswald himself had declined to talk to some other press persons of the American press corps.
Priscilla, as I recall, was the only one who seemed to have an entree to him.