Mr. Ballen. No; he didn't indicate anything like that. I did express a little puzzlement as to how he was able to get out with his wife.
Mr. Liebeler. What did he say about that?
Mr. Ballen. He shrugged that off and said, "Well, it's just a matter of sticking with it with the necessary bureaucrats, both Russian and the United States, of staying with the necessary bureaucrats to get out; and I got out."
I would add this. Jeanne De Mohrenschildt was making a serious effort to help out socially and economically the Oswalds, and she was reporting to us that on given evenings the De Mohrenschildts were visiting with the Oswalds, and that their whole life was pretty miserable. They were just sitting alone in the apartment and looking at each other and fighting with each other, and that it was necessary to bring these two people out into the fresh air and have them meet people and mingle and otherwise.
George asked me and also asked my wife to invite the Oswalds to our house for dinner and help these people out. This was a type of thing that we have done quite frequently, but there must have been something in my report to my wife about my meeting with this chap that my wife didn't pick up this suggestion, and never did extend that invitation to the Oswalds. In other words, my wife has never met either one of them, but based upon this meeting and the final impressions that I had of this chap is that we just didn't want to be involved with him. He was too independent a thinker. I am not talking on politics now. And my wife never did extend that invitation to them, which she otherwise would have done, as we have done to many, many people who recently moved into Dallas from afar.
Mr. Liebeler. Can you remember with any great specificity the things that Oswald said or did that led you to the conclusion that he was such an independent fellow?
Mr. Ballen. It was his overall mannerism, and he would have, did have, a habit of closing off discussion on a given subject by a shrug of the shoulders; and it was just an overall impression that I ended up with.
Mr. Liebeler. Did Oswald indicate to you that he had traveled within the Soviet Union in any way?
Mr. Ballen. I had the impression that he had done considerable traveling there.
Mr. Liebeler. Do you remember whether he told you that, or how did you get that information or impression?