Mr. Liebeler. Asked who?
Mr. Bouhe. Both of them Lee and Marina. "Well, it is certainly unusual that they let you out. How did you do it?"
It was a completely innocent question at that time.
"Well, we just went to the right office."
And they in the office said, "All right, take it away," or something to that effect in Russian.
Mr. Liebeler. Now did you have any discussions with other friends of yours here in Dallas as to whether or not Oswald was possibly an agent of the U.S.S.R.? And I want you to confine your answer to the time prior to the assassination.
Mr. Bouhe. The majority of our Russian background colony having suffered very much under the Soviet and Hitler rule, even after 10 and 12 or more years of good peace and comparative prosperity in this country, are still constantly on the suspicion of anything that comes from Russia.
Many of them shook heads, saying, well, I don't know, maybe he is a Soviet spy. At least I came to a conclusion, right or wrong, that the man came to the American Embassy in Moscow asking for the permit to return to his native land. It took 2 years of something to process that application. To me, these 2 years meant that probably it is not only paperwork between the Moscow Embassy and Russia, but probably some investigation.
Therefore, I felt that whatever investigating agency of the United States, whether it is Secret Service, CIA, or anybody else concerned with repatriation with such a suspicious character, took their good little time of 2 years to process his return back to the United States. That processed his right to bring his wife and also gave them 400 some odd dollars to come here because they didn't have any money.
At this point I want to state that when Mr. Gregory invited me to dinner the first time, I checked with Mr. Max Clark as an attorney friend to the effect that is this a sort of a cloudy deal, and I am sticking my neck out in my meeting the person? And after a couple of days, I don't remember exactly Mr. Clark's answer, but there were words to the effect that since he was processed through the proper channels, apparently there is nothing wrong, but you have to be careful. I think these were the words. Then I accepted the invitation for dinner.