Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Marina Oswald was drilled by the FBI to say the things she said about Oswald to the Warren Commission, and she was the most damaging witness to Oswald. And her questioning went very strangely, considering what wasn't said or asked. Supposedly, she knew full well that Oswald went out and tried to kill General Walker. And then, according to her, he wanted to go out and kill Richard Nixon, but she locked him in the bathroom to stop him from doing it. However, when you marry someone, and you find out later that he's a homicidal maniac, do you just go on living with him? Do you just brush it off? And remember that she had a three year old daughter living with them. So, do you just let your daughter continue living with him?

All of this happened before Oswald left for New Orleans in April 1963. But later, Marina followed him down there with June. And she was excited about it. According to Ruth Paine, when Oswald called with the news that he had a job and that he had gotten them an apartment, Marina exclaimed ecstatically to June in Russian, "Papa loves us."

But, what about the fact that he was a homicidal maniac? She didn't forget about that, did she? How could she carry on like that and go down there to live with him when she knew what she knew? The answer is that she must not have known it at the time, that only later was she brainwashed to say it.

But, getting back to the Warren Commission, the one questioning her was the Chief Counsel of the WC, J Lee Rankin.

Mr. RANKIN. Did you tell the authorities anything about this Walker incident when you learned about it?

Mrs. OSWALD. No.

Mr. RANKIN. You have told the Secret Service or the FBI people reasons why you didn't. Will you tell us?

Mrs. OSWALD. Why I did not tell about it?

First, because it was my husband. As far as I know, according to the local laws here, a wife cannot be a witness against her husband. But, of course, if I had known that Lee intended to repeat something like that, I would have told.

First, the spousal privilege law applies to her not having to testify against her husband at a legal proceeding. You can't be forced to be a witness for the prosecution at your husband's trial. But, it's unclear going the other way. If you know your spouse has committed a crime, especially a violent crime, you are expected to inform police. And if you hide evidence about it, such as his note about it, it could be considered an accessory after the fact. I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not crystal clear about it, but there was certainly a basis by which she could have gotten in trouble. And how did she know anything about spousal privilege? She must have been coached. The FBI must have told her to say that if she was asked why she didn't go to police.

But, what she said about him never repeating it wasn't even true. This came out at the HSCA hearing:

Mr. McDONALD. Mrs. Porter, I just have three more questions for this line of questioning, and, that is, let me direct your attention to April 1963, April 21 specifically.

This was a date on which it is in Priscilla Johnson's book and elsewhere, it has been written that you were told by Lee Oswald that Richard Nixon was coming to visit Dallas.

Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

Mr. McDONALD. Do you recall that incident?

Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

Mr. McDONALD. Tell us what happened, please?

Mrs. PORTER. Well, after the Walker incident, he give me promise that he never do it again. I see him one day, I mean I don't know the exact date, that he was putting his gun, not gun, pistol or rifle, whatever, anyway he said he is leaving, but I knew he had a weapon with him. So I told him where you leaving, and he said "Well, the Nixons is coming to town, so I am just going to look." And I said for that you didn't need--you know, why you taking all this ammunition with you, not ammunition, the gun? And so we wind up having an argument over it, and we had a fight, and he did not go.

Mr. McDONALD. All right, now the book "Marina and Lee" states that somehow you lured him into the bathroom, and then slipped out and held him in there.

Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

Mr. McDONALD. Tell us how that happened?

Mrs. PORTER. Well, it was easier to remember details when you were working so many years ago on the book than right now.

Mr. McDONALD. Try, if you could.

At this time he had the handgun on his person, and he was preparing to go out?

Mrs. PORTER. Yes, I guess.

Mr. McDONALD. And how did you get him into the bathroom?

Mrs. PORTER. Well, we wrestle or whatever you call it. You try with the time passing by not to--it is easier to forget the bad things of your life that bring memories back, so I cannot describe you the fight that we have, you know, in such scrupulous details that you wanted me to.

Mr. McDONALD. But do you recall getting him, maneuvering him into the bathroom?

Mrs. PORTER. Yes.

Mr. McDONALD. How normally--well, was he stronger than you?

Mrs. PORTER. Of course.

Mr. McDONALD. So how did you get him into the bathroom?

Mrs. PORTER. First of all, I was very angry and that maybe give memore energy and I was determined just that I am going to keep him there,and maybe he give in after a while. Maybe he was just trying to make meangry and see where he stand with me. If he really want--I mean he was much stronger than me. If he really wanted to, he could overpower me,definitely.

Mr. McDONALD. I see. And then the book says, and other testimony, that you held him in. You held the door shut.

Mrs. PORTER. The door for a while, yes.

Mr. McDONALD. Did he try to pull the door open?

Mrs. PORTER. But not for very long, yes.

Mr. McDONALD. Did he appear to be pulling very hard?

Mrs. PORTER. Well, it was hard for me to hold on to it. I don't know, if he try his best, you know, or how much power he used.

Mr. McDONALD. Is it your testimony that in your opinion if he really had wanted to get out, he would have been able to?

Mrs. PORTER. I think so.

Mr. McDONALD. Thank you, Mrs. Porter. Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions at this point.

This was a very shaky story. First, Nixon was not in Dallas in April 1963. LBJ made a visit to Dallas that month, but not Nixon. Second, in her first telling, she simply said that she locked Lee in the bathroom to prevent him from going out to shoot Nixon. But then, it was pointed out to her that you can't lock a person in the bathroom from the outside. It can only be locked from the inside. And by the way, I recently made a movie in which a character locks someone in the bathroom, but she did it by reversing the lock. But, not having done that, Marina made it that she just held the doorknob to keep him from getting out. Well, I presume you agree that little 5'2" 100 pound Marina, plus being pregnant, could not possibly have done that. The final exchange between her and the lawyer is ridiculous, where he wants to establish that Oswald could have gotten out if he really wanted to. Therefore what? He wanted to remain in the bathroom? It's ridiculous.

But supposedly, she then knew that it wasn't just a one time thing with Walker, that he was a homicidal maniac. So, what excuse did she have for not going to the police? And why, after all that, would she follow him down to New Orleans to continue living with him? Why would she subject her daughter to the risk of living with him?

None of it makes sense, and it's because the whole story was a lie. Oswald not only didn't shoot at Walker, he didn't even own the rifle with which he supposedly shot at him. Everything Marina said was a complete lie.

So, the big question is: how did the FBI get Marina to say those things? It had to involve intense mental indoctrination, where they drilled her and practiced her and immersed her in this "Oswald was monster" world. And then they sugar-coated it, with among other things, money. You have to remember how dirt-poor they were, but after the assassination, money started flowing in, from Americans all over the country making donations to her, from news organizations wanting her story, from an Italian film production company that paid her a large sum for the film rights to her story (though nothing ever came of it) then Hugh Aynesworth saw to it that she received a tidy sum for Oswald's supposed "Historic Diary" and more. There are hearsay reports that sex was involved, that federal agents were having sex with her. And I have no proof, but I strongly suspect that drugs were involved. For one thing, Marina got extremely thin. She lost a lot of weight between November and February. Now, before you say it was due to grief, go back to what I said before that. We know that drugs, including amphetamines were used in the MK-ULTRA program. Note that Jack Ruby was on amphetamines, and had lost weight from it. But, he was heavy to begin with. She was slender to begin with. And this was the result.