Warren Commission (02 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (02 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. REDLICH. The final document I would like to show you is a photostat
of a letter which you presented to the Commission today, purporting to
be a letter written in Russian together with an English translation. It
starts, the English translation starts with the words "As the widow of
Lee Oswald." I show you Commission Exhibit No. 333 and ask you if this
is a photostat of the letter which you submitted to the Commission this
morning.
Mr. MARTIN. Yes, apparently so.
Mr. DULLES. Who is that letter to?
Mr. REDLICH. We don't know yet.
Mr. DULLES. You don't know yet?
Mr. REDLICH. I will develop that in the questioning. I mark this
Commission Exhibit No. 333, being a Russian letter and what purports to
be its English translation and ask that it be admitted in evidence.
Mr. DULLES. Can you identify that any further than just a Russian
letter?
Mr. REDLICH. On the top appears a date, and the day of the month is the
20th. I am unable to tell what month it is.
Mr. MARTIN. But the year is 1964, and the words "Dallas, Texas" then
appear under the date.
Mr. DULLES. That helps identify it.
Mr. REDLICH. I ask that it be admitted in evidence.
Mr. DULLES. Any objection?
Mr. LEECH. No objection.
Mr. DULLES. It is admitted.
(The photostats of a Russian letter with an English translation were
marked Commission Exhibit No. 333 for identification and received in
evidence.)
Mr. REDLICH. Mr. Martin, with your permission I would just summarize
the contents of this letter, and if I have summarized it inaccurately,
just say so. This letter requests that the death penalty not be applied
to Jack Ruby, the person who has been charged with the murder of Lee
Harvey Oswald. Is that inaccurate?
Mr. MARTIN. No; that is correct.
Mr. REDLICH. That is a correct summary of the contents of the letter?
Mr. MARTIN. Yes.
Mr. REDLICH. Do you recall to whom that letter was written?
Mr. MARTIN. She originally wrote the letter to Melvin Belli.
Mr. REDLICH. By "she" you mean Marina Oswald?
Mr. MARTIN. Marina. I advised her against----
Mr. REDLICH. Melvin Belli?
Mr. MARTIN. Is the attorney for Jack Ruby. I advised her against
such an action, because of the possibility of the letter itself in
translating from Russian to English being misinterpreted and used in a
manner that might be derogatory to Marina Oswald. I suggested that she
send this letter to Henry Wade who would be the prosecutor in the case.
Now whether she changed the salutation on the letter I don't know.
I can't read Russian. And the salutation was not translated in the
translation. The translation was made by Katya Ford.
Mr. REDLICH. To the best of your knowledge has this letter ever been
sent to anyone?
Mr. MARTIN. No sir, it hasn't.
Mr. DULLES. You say it has not been?
Mr. MARTIN. It has not been.
Mr. DULLES. That is your belief or you have knowledge that it has not
been?
Mr. MARTIN. I have the original. Now if a letter has been sent, it
would be a different letter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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