FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

D" 1 "

79/7 /(,7

Mr . ROBERT J . FITZPATRICK, S .J ., Scholastic, JesuitHouse of Studies, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, advisedhe recalled LEE HARVEY OSWALD very well . FITZPATRICK said hewas studying the Russian language and learned EUGENE MURRETT, an-other Jesuit Scholastic, was a cousin of OSWALD and that OSWALDspent three years in Russia . He said that arrangements werethen made to have OSWALD speak to a group of the Jesuit Scholas-tics , at the seminary there . He explained that the seminaryhad invited various speakers to address the Jesuit Scholasticspreviously and this was in connection with the same series oflectures . He recalled previous speakers had included a Protest-ant Minister and a Jewish Rabbi . He said it was believed OSWALDwould have some information which would be extremely interestingto them .

FITZPATRICK recalled OSWALD, OSWALD's wife, who wasnamed MARINA, and their two year old daughter named JUNE, cameto Mobile, Alabama, on Saturday, July 27, 1963 . He said thatthe OSWALDs were accompanied by the parents of EUGENE MURRETT .He also said they were accompanied also by MURRETT's brotherand sister and their respective spouses and several children .FITZPATRICK said,he did not attend OSWALD's talk, but stayedwith the MURRETts and OSWALD's wife . He further informed thatMrs . MURRETT was very anxious to talk with Mrs . OSWALD withoutLEE OSWALD being present . He explained Mrs . MURRETT told himshe never had the opportunity to communicate at anygreat lengthwith Mrs . OSWALD inasmuch as OSWALD had to translate for her .He said that as a result of this, he and Mrs . MURRETT and Mrs .OSWALD walked throughout the seminary grounds for approximatelyan hour .

FITZPATRICK stated that apparently MARINA OSWALD couldnot speak English except for a few words such as yes and no . Hesaid, however, she appeared to be a very fine woman in hisopinion . He said that Mrs . OSWALD told him she had been raisedin the Russian Orthodox faith until she was approximately tenyears of age, when her relations died . He said Mrs . OSWALD hadabout the equivalent of what could be considered a high school

D � 11/30/63 a Mobile . Alabama f11Y i No Bo-9S

SA HARRY J . DEONAN andh, SA JOHN J_ SWEENEV~n

Do. dicra1

12/1/63

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10

COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2678

2MO 89-25

education in the United States .

He said Mrs . OSWALD stated she was not a communistand lc,ed Russia and the Russian people . he explained thatMrs . OSWALD's love for Russia was not the same type an thathe had heard expressed by Nazis for the German fatherland .He further informed Mrs . OSWALD sated there were many In-conveniences in Russia ; however, people had no difficultymaking a living there . He recalled Airs . OSWALD stated she hadno living. relatives In Russia and said she met OSWALD at afactory dance in Minsk and that they were subsequently married .

FITZPATRICK said Mrs . CSWALD told him she liked theUnited States very much and there appeared to be no conflictwith this and her love far Russia . He said she stated she hadno opportunity to learn English inasmuch as OSWALD kept hercompletely away from other people . He said Mrs . OSWALD appearedto be very happy with OSWALD ; however, OSWALD was definitelythe head of the family . He , further informed Mrs . OSWALD indi-cated her husband did a great deal of reading, but that itappeared scattered and apparently had no direction or planning .

FITZPATRICK stated Mrs . OSWALD only mentionedresiding in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana ; however, intalking to her he received the impression the OSWALDs hadlived in other cities of the United States . He stated Mrs .OSWALD said her husband was presently out of work and they werehaving a difficult time financially . He said she told himOSWALD is away from home a great deal and she did not know anyof his associates or any of his activities . He further recalledthat Mrs . OSWALD stated she and her husband had a difficulttime getting out of Russia, but she did not explain this remarkfurther .

He said Mrs . OSWALD was very neatly dressed, but herclothes did not appear to be expensive . He said OSWALD,although not shabbily attired, did not appear to know how towear clothes properly .

FITZPATRICK also recalled that Mrs . MURRETT had himask Mrs . OSWALD if she would care to go to Mass with her thefollowing morning, which was Sunday . He said Mrs . OSWALDstated she would like to do this very much, but could not becauseof her husband . He further added that on at least two occasionsin his talk with Mrs . OSWALD she said a Russian word whichindicated OSWALD was "without God .

CordmissioN EXHIBIT No. 2678-Continued

3MO 89-25

FZfZPA'IRICK ais� recalled [ors . 03WAf.D indicated thatneither she nor her t .usb .r .d i .ai been t, : b11,ee1ous~y .

fI':ZPATaIC ";

OSWALD :, .t . :about 20 minutes after nis sp~ ct it t.

',at Se ! ,:ry .. .He

said this talk with OSWALD was 1r: the presence of Mrs . OS'WP.LDand the MURRETT family ::nd a p "rent deal o: it was In the Russianlanguage . He said OSWALJ appenrcd to be a oe,y tense acid Igh-strung person . He said OSWAi.D never smiled an<i did not appAarto be at all friendly . lie recalled OSWALD spoke fairly goodRussian; however, it deflnltely was not as smooth or correctgrammatically as Mrs .

CSWAID . .

He further 7,t:

tcd OS'WAI .Dd id

r,ct r

tic% politlr,s

rohim and evaded several qucst'oas tie asked OSWALD as to how hemanaged to leave Russia, ri1tia his wile .

FITZPATRICK also stated that he asked Mrs . OS'WALD ishe would care to correspo :,d with him In Russian and she toldhim she would be very happy to do s . He said Mru, OS'dAhUtold

'Im she would

answer tvc

,ct !̀. r,

arici

also aculd

correctr.,111.s wrILing, and return Iii:; 1c';ter .> tc

- F.e said ne wrotetvmFirs . OSWALD a letter In

"o lc-'-lob t :e mailed about August

8, 1963, and addressed 1C to 1fJ~~aslne Street, N~w 0";"i"Louisiana .

He advised ie p1acaci h1 :; return address on ailsletter ;

however,

he has never received .;r

, answer from F.OSWALD and his letter was never roLornedto him. fI',ZPATRICKsaid that he learned later fro,. EJCENE ,!URRETT that the OSWAL-,had moved from New Orleans (rout the L_ . .f he mailed th1 ;letter .

He said he last saw OSWALD about neon, Sunday Jul;28, 1963, when the OS'WALIIS and thc MUlii2E'TT family had s epped byLto say goodbye to EUGENE. MURHETT before --eL,:rnlng t., NewOrleans . On tt .i s occasion he did not have any eor,versatIonwith either OSWALD or tho MURRETT family, but merely waved n .them as they drove away from Spring Hi1I College .

FITZPATRICK said that as soon is he heard OSWAi.D hadbeen arrested as a suspect In the assassination of PresidedJOHN F. KENNEDY, he immediately contacted several of the JesuitScholastics who had attended 0SWALD's speech . He said heobtained the Impressions of these individuals of OSWALD and someof the remarks OSWALD made during his talk . I"'ITZPATRICK saidhe immediately typed up a summary of these impressions andthen rec0ntacted the same ?.ndividuals to determine if this

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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 2678-Continued

uMo B,+ ~5

summary were correct. FITZPATRICK said he then made severaladditions and deletions and subsequently typed up a five pagesumnisry of OS'WALD's speech and several questions which wereasked him by those in attendance .

FITZPATRICK made av,11able the following five pagesummary mentioned above :

"(:n Saturday, July 27, 1963, a relative of LeeOswald, a member of the community at the Jesuit Houseof Studies, asked Mr . Oswild if ne would address thescholastics on his experiences in Russia . Therequest was not unusual, for the scholastics tryfrom time to time to have either prominent personsor others who have something Interesting to relatespeak to the scholastics on their experiences . Be-cause Mr . Oswald was an American who had gone to liveIn liussla and who had returned, obviously for a reason,St was thought that he might be able to communicatethe nature of the Russian people themselves betterthan any official reports might . Those who went to11sLen to him expected to hear a r.,ad who had beendisillusioned with Soviet communion; and had chosenAmerica to it . What they heard was only partiallythis .

e major points of Mr . Oswal~ :'s address anddetail.,.,from it are given below, o never in

verbatim form, but always true to his Intent, at leastas tie was heard by a number of people .

"Iie worked -'n a factory In Minsk. When he appliedfor permission to live In the Soviet Union, theRussian authorities had assigned him to a fairly welladvanced area, the Minsk area . He said that this wasa common practice : showing, foreigners those places ofwhich Russians can be proudest .

"The factory life impressed him with the care Stprovided for the workers. Dances, social gatherings,sports were all benefits for the factory workers . Mr .Oswald belonged to a factory-sponsored hunting club .He and a group of workers would go Into the farmregions around Minsk for hunting trips . They wouldspend the night in the outlying villages, and thus he

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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No . 2678-Confirmed

MO 89-25

came to know Russian peasant life too . In general,the peasants were very poor, often close to star-vation . When the hunting party was returning toMinsk, ,t would often leave what It had shot withthe village people because of their lack of food .Ile spoke of having even left the food he had broughtwith him from town . In connection with the huntingparty, he mentioned that they had only shotguns, forpistols and rifles are prohibited by Russian law .

"Some details of village life ; in each butthere was a radio speaker, even in huts where therewas n running water or electricity . The speakerwas attached to a cord that ran back to a commonrc.ccivor . Thus, the inhabitants of the but could neverchange stations or turn off the radio . They had tolisten to everything that came through it, day or night .In connection with radios, he said that there was avery large radio-jamir ,,g tower that was larger thananything else in Minsk .

"M,ore about the fact,crles : factory meetingswere held which all. had to attend . Everyone attendedwillingly and in s good frame of mind . Things came upfor discussion and voting, but no one ever voted no .The meetings were, in a sense, formalities . If anyonedid not attend, he would lose his job .

"Mr . Oswald said that he had met his wife at afactory social .

"The workers, no said, were not against himbecause he was ar. American . When the U-2 incidentwas announced over the factory radio system, the workerswere very angry with the United States, but not withhim, even though he was an American .

"}Ie made the point that he disliked capitalismbecause its foundation was the exploitation of thepoor . He implied, but did not state directly, that hewas disappointed in Russia because the full principlesof Marxism were not lived up to and the gap betweenMarxist theory and the Russian practice disillusionedhim with Russian communism . He said, 'Capitalismdoesn't work, communism doesn't work . In the middleis socialism, and that doesn't work either .'

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COMMISSIONEXHIBIT No. 2678-Continued

.0. Saturday, July 27 . 1963, a relative of Lee 0-old, , -be, of

the 0-Ity at the J...it -~-so

f Studios,

9,V.,d ::r .

If

he would address the

on ,In

in R-I.. The

-q-st ... but ..usual, f- -e c-1-ti- try I,- ti,. to lima

to he,,

p-Inent p--ns or .1_-, no h- -tthi,z in-

t-stiog to .Into op-1, to t... .,cnclasttcs on -.1,

5¢¢:...e :!r.�-la was an . . . ... _o ¢ ., w ..,

to 11- in

abb . .ac hot r--!, b,i-ly -,

it - thought that

- ~IZht to -1e to ---i-n t- -- of the 9-1- people

th-s.1- b-t- the. -y

.1 -p-ts A_ht . Th- .,h. went

to 1_s .on to him expected to h- .

.1,. had b... disillusioned

,i- S-1- --hi-, - -_ oh-, :_:.ogles to It . : :not they ho-r .?

only nr-tWQ this .

. .is..],r point, of !:, . 0-al ., ddr... and details from It

Con b.low, probably hover in V-bati., for,, but always true

to I. Intent, at least as he - .:cord by . number or poople,

He ,,or,,d in , f,ot .,y 1. : :-- ..]-w he applied for p-le-to live in the 3,,I,t J,i,,, the .,-111n lut...iti- had a,-

-1 -.,no his, be . f"lly -11 -.nced --, the mih.k -...

3e

J-d t]b-t thin Is 1 1-1. p,,,ti,, : showing foreigners these places

of -1,.o the

con b,

The f,ot,U life lopre-d h'-, with the bar, It provided forthe workers. Dance, o,!,l g,th,rin,,,, ports were .11 b-fits

for the fa,tory worker,.

On.ald belobzed to a f,,t,,y-sp,n

,,red hunting club .

He

no .

,.,p of ...ke,e would

o int.the

far, regions around Xib,k for hunting trips . They would pond the

night in the outlying

and t-Is he cane to know Russian

p...-t life to ..

In general,

the p.-ots were -y poor,

, --,

close to tar,,ti,n. Yfhon the hunting party was returning to Sansk,

COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2679