TESTIMONY OF RICHARD EDWARD SNYDER

(Members present at this point: Chief Justice Warren, and Mr. Dulles.)

The Chairman. Gentlemen, the Commission will come to order. Mr. Coleman, would you make a statement as to the purpose of the meeting this morning?

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Chief Justice, the first witness is Mr. Richard E. Snyder, who is presently first secretary in the American Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, and was second secretary and consul, American Embassy, Moscow, U.S.S.R., in 1959, and remained in that post in Moscow through at least the middle of 1961.

Mr. Snyder will be asked to testify concerning Lee Harvey Oswald's actions when he came into the American Embassy in Moscow on October 31, 1959, and stated that he desired to renounce his U.S. citizenship, the actions which the Embassy took at that time, and the information which it gave to the State Department.

Mr. Snyder also handled the interview of Oswald when he appeared at the Embassy in July of 1961, and had his passport returned to him, and will be asked to testify about the return of the passport.

Mr. Snyder will also be asked to identify for the record the various Embassy dispatches and State Department instructions which were exchanged concerning Oswald in 1959, 1960, and to the middle of 1961.

The Chairman. Mr. Snyder, it is customary for us to read a statement of that kind to the witness, so you will be apprised of what we are going to interview you about.

Will you please rise and raise your right hand and be sworn?

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give before this Commission shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. Snyder. I do, sir.

The Chairman. You may be seated.

Mr. Coleman will conduct the examination.

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, will you state your name for the record.

Mr. Snyder. Richard Edward Snyder.

Mr. Coleman. And what is your present address?

Mr. Snyder. 118 Geary Drive, South Plainfield, N.J.

Mr. Coleman. Are you presently employed by the Federal Government?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. In what capacity?

Mr. Snyder. As a Foreign Service officer of the Department of State.

Mr. Coleman. Where are you presently stationed?

Mr. Snyder. In Tokyo, American Embassy.

Mr. Coleman. Directing your attention to the fall of 1959, were you employed by the Federal Government at that time?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Where were you stationed?

Mr. Snyder. At the Embassy in Moscow.

Mr. Coleman. What was your title?

Mr. Snyder. Second secretary and consul, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I take it that you have had called to your attention a copy of the joint resolution which was adopted by Congress with respect to the Commission.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. And I also take it that since you have been back in the country that you have had an opportunity to look at the various State Department files dealing with Oswald.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Calling your attention to the date of October 31——

Mr. Dulles. Could I ask one question, Mr. Coleman, about that? What previous posts had you had before going to Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. Well, my first post in the Foreign Service——

Mr. Dulles. I am interested as an old Foreign Service officer.

Mr. Snyder. I see. I served for a brief time in HICOG in Frankfurt, Germany and then for about 2 years in Munich, in the consulate general, which was my first post in the Foreign Service.

My second post, I spent 1 year in the boondocks of Japan, in Niigata, on the Sea of Japan, in a one-man cultural center.

Mr. Dulles. As a Foreign Service officer?

Mr. Snyder. As a Foreign Service officer; yes, sir. I was assigned to this duty at a time when USIS was still part of the State Department, and when I reached my post it had already been separated, so I was on loan to them. And then a year and a half in Tokyo. Then a summer and an academic year at Harvard, in Russian area studies.

Mr. Dulles. In what school there?

Mr. Snyder. In Littauer.

Mr. Dulles. Did you learn Russian at that time?

Mr. Snyder. No; I had had Russian in college before.

Mr. Dulles. So you speak Russian fairly fluently?

Mr. Snyder. Fairly fluently; yes, sir.

Mr. Dulles. And then Moscow was your next post?

Mr. Snyder. And then Moscow for 2 years; yes, sir.

Mr. Dulles. What 2 years?

Mr. Snyder. July of 1959 to July of 1961. I arrived there just before the Vice President.

Mr. Coleman. Directing your attention, sir, to October 31, 1959, did you have occasion to see Lee Harvey Oswald on that day?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Had you ever seen him before?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir.

(At this point, Representative Ford entered the hearing room.)

Mr. Coleman. Had you ever heard about him before?

Mr. Snyder. No.

Mr. Coleman. Could you state for the Commission just what happened when you saw Mr. Oswald on October 31. 1959, indicating the time of day, what he said, and what you did?

The Chairman. Before you answer that question, may I say that this is Congressman Ford, a member of the Commission.

This is Mr. Snyder of the State Department now stationed in Tokyo, and who was stationed at the Embassy in Moscow when Oswald attempted to defect.

Representative Ford. Thank you.

Mr. Snyder. Well, as for the time of day, I am afraid I draw a blank. I can make some assumptions as to the time of day, for what they are worth.

But since I told Oswald—and you will come to this, I think, a little later on—that the Embassy was closed theoretically at the time, I presume this was a Wednesday afternoon or perhaps a Saturday afternoon, but I just don't recall.

Mr. Coleman. For the record, I think it was a Saturday, sir.

Mr. Snyder. Was it a Saturday?

So, at any rate—if it had been a morning, I could not have used this particular approach with him. So I presume it was an afternoon.

Oswald came into the Embassy without prior announcement. He didn't call or in any other way communicate with us, to the best of my knowledge.

Mr. Dulles. You had no way of knowing he was in Russia?

Mr. Snyder. I had no previous knowledge of his presence; no, sir.

At any rate, he came in to me cold, so to speak. I was told that an American wanted to see me, wanted to see the consul. And I am not sure whether I went out and brought him in or whether he was taken into my office by someone else. At any rate, this was my first meeting with Oswald.

I will be glad to give you such recollections as I have as to his general demeanor and this sort of thing, if you would like.

Mr. Coleman. Yes, sir.

Mr. Snyder. And I might inject at this point something which I mentioned to Mr. Slawson before our session began, and that is that I reviewed the files, our own files, on Oswald, enough to refresh my memory as to the basic facts and the chronology of events and this sort of thing, but I have attempted not to go too deeply into details with the thought that what the Commission is interested in, presumably, is what I honestly remember at the time and not so much what may have been planted in my mind by reviews since that time.

As to his general appearance, I do recall that he was neatly and very presentably dressed. I couldn't say offhand whether he was dressed in a suit and shirt, though I think probably he was. At any rate, he presented a nice physical appearance.

I presume that he was well shaven. Otherwise, I would not have had this feeling about him—that he, in general, was competent looking.

He was extremely sure of himself. He seemed to know what his mission was. He took charge, in a sense, of the conversation right from the beginning. He told me in effect that he was there to give up his American citizenship. I believe he put his passport on my desk, but I am not sure. I may have asked for it. In general, his attitude was quite arrogant.

Mr. Dulles. Could I ask one question there? When you say you presume you asked for it, you mean you asked to see it—you didn't ask to take it from him?

Mr. Snyder. No, I asked to see it. If he didn't put it on the desk, then I asked for it early in the game—one way or the other.

He told me, among other things, that he had come to the Soviet Union to live, that he did not intend to go back to the United States, that this was a well thought out idea on his part. He said, again in effect, "Don't bother wasting my time asking me questions or trying to talk me out of my position."

He said, "I am well aware"—either he said, "I am well aware" or "I have been told exactly the kind of thing you will ask me, and I am not interested, so let's get down to business"—words to that effect.

Well, he was a very cocksure young man at that time.

I am not sure that he sat at all throughout the interview, but certainly in the early part of it he did not.

I asked him—I recall asking him to take a seat, and he said, no, he wanted to stand. He may have relented later on.

At any rate, I did nevertheless probe about and elicited a bit of information about him which was in my report to the Department of State.

Mr. Coleman. Sir, was anyone else present at the time you were talking to Mr. Oswald?

Mr. Snyder. No; I believe Mr. McVickar was in the next room. But there was no one in the room with us at that time.

Mr. Coleman. How long did the interview with Mr. Oswald last, approximately?

Mr. Snyder. Well, I would have to pull it out of the air, really. It would be on the order of magnitude of half an hour. It might have extended to three-quarters of an hour, something of this sort.

Mr. Coleman. Other than the passport, did he give you any other piece of paper?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, yes; he did. He gave me a written statement saying something along the line of what I have said he mentioned to me orally. That is, that he had come to the Soviet Union to live, that he desired to renounce his citizenship, that he was going to become a citizen of the Soviet Union, words to that effect.

Mr. Dulles. We have that written statement, do we not?

Mr. Coleman. I have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 913 a photostatic copy of a handwritten letter which is signed by Lee H. Oswald, and ask you whether that is a copy of the letter that Oswald gave you on October 31, when he appeared at the Embassy?

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 913 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes; I would say it is, sir.

Mr. Coleman. After he gave you the letter and the passport, did he do anything else?

Mr. Snyder. No; after his initial statement of purpose and intent, and after giving me this statement, the interview was then pretty much in my hands. He was, I would say, a reluctant interviewee from there on.

He had announced initially his desire not to discuss the matter with me, but simply to get on with the business for which he had come and, therefore, anything else that was to be said was up to me to get said.

Mr. Coleman. Did you at that time go through whatever formalities are required for a person to renounce his citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. No; I did not.

Mr. Coleman. What does an American citizen have to do at the Embassy to renounce his citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. Well, the law requires, in general, that an American citizen, to renounce his citizenship, must appear before—I am not sure whether the law confines it to a consular officer—but at any rate must appear, in the case of the Foreign Service, appear before a consular officer, and swear to an affidavit in the proper form, something of this order. In practical terms, it means that the consul draws up a statement, the content of which—the exact wording of which is contained in our regulations, and has the person swear to it in his presence.

Mr. Coleman. Well, did Mr. Oswald ask for such an affidavit?

Mr. Snyder. I don't think he asked for such an affidavit in those terms. I am not sure that he understood that completely, what the procedure was. But he did ask to renounce his citizenship.

Mr. Coleman. Well, did you provide him with the affidavit?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir; I did not.

Mr. Coleman. Why didn't you provide him with the affidavit at that time?

Mr. Snyder. Well, as the consul and, of course, the responsible person at the time, it didn't seem to me the sensible thing to do—in the sense that—I can't, I suppose, speak for all consuls, but it is sort of axiomatic, I think, in the consular service that when a man, a citizen comes in and asks to renounce his citizenship, you don't whip out a piece of paper and have him sign it. This is a very serious step, of course, an irrevocable step, really, and if nothing else you attempt to provide enough time for—to make sure that the person knows what he is doing. You explain, for one thing, what the meaning of the act is; and, secondly, again speaking for myself—I cannot speak for the Foreign Service in this—provide a little breather, if possible make the man leave your office and come back to it at a later time, just to make sure—for what value there is in making sure—that the man's action is not something completely off the top of his head.

Representative Ford. Mr. Chairman, would it be helpful for the record to have put in the record at this point whatever the law is in this regard, and whatever the Department regulations are on this point?

The Chairman. That may be done; yes.

Mr. Coleman. I would like to say, sir, at 2 o'clock the Legal Adviser to the State Department is coming in, and he is going to put it in at that time.

Mr. Dulles. May I ask a question at this point?

Mr. Coleman. If you want it in now, we can indicate the sections which are applicable.

Representative Ford. I think there ought to be some citation at this point, because the witness is talking specifically about the process of the law and the regulations.

The Chairman. Do you have the law there, Mr. Snyder—is that the law?

Mr. Snyder. I brought nothing with me, myself.

The Chairman. I saw a book there that you were looking at, and I thought that would suffice.

Mr. Snyder. Shall I read the section of law, sir?

This is the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 349(a)(6).

Section 349(a) states, "From and after the effective date of this Act, a person who is a national of the United States, whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by"—then section 6 under that, subsection, states, "making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State."

Mr. Coleman. Sir, the Secretary of State has promulgated regulations which are found in 22 Code of Federal Regulations, sections 50.1 and 50.2 and they are also reproduced in 8 Foreign Affairs Manual, section 225.6.

Basically, as I understand it, those regulations provide the form in which the citizen is to make the renunciation, and it is to be done in four copies, and then one copy is to be given to the person who makes the renunciation. Is that your understanding?

Mr. Snyder. This is my understanding; yes, sir.

Representative Ford. Are those forms available? Are they printed up, or do you have to draft them? What is the circumstance?

Mr. Snyder. They are not printed forms, to my knowledge, Mr. Ford—at least I have never seen a printed form. The only time that I have used them in my Foreign Service experience I have had them typed up on the spot.

The Chairman. You may continue, Mr. Coleman.

Mr. Dulles. We ought to have in the record, Mr. Chief Justice, a copy of that form—either here or later.

The Chairman. As I understood, someone from the State Department is coming here to testify on the procedures, and the witness did not bring anything with him, he says.

Mr. Snyder. That is right, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, when you were talking to Mr. Oswald on October 31, 1959, did he say anything with respect to applying for Soviet citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; this was contained in his written statement, for one thing, and I believe that he also stated this to me orally.

Mr. Coleman. Did he say anything with respect to having any information since he had been in the Marine Corps that he would be willing to make available to the Soviet Union?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; he did. He stated again, in effect, that he would make available to the Soviet authorities or to the Soviet Union what he had learned concerning his speciality—he was an electronics specialist of some sort, a radar technician—at any rate, he would make available to the Soviet Union such knowledge as he had acquired while in the Marine Corps concerning his specialty.

He volunteered this statement. It was rather peculiar.

Mr. Coleman. You say that the interview lasted about a half an hour. I take it he then left. Did he say he was going to return?

Mr. Snyder. No; I don't believe he did. He gave no particular indication of when he would return, if he would return, or this sort of thing.

Mr. Coleman. Do you recall just what he said when he left your office?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I show you a document——

Mr. Dulles. Could I ask one question there? Did he take his passport or did he leave it?

Mr. Snyder. No; I kept it.

Mr. Dulles. You kept the passport?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I show you a document which has been marked Commission Exhibit No. 908, and it is a Foreign Service dispatch dated November 2, 1959. This is from Embassy, Moscow, to the Department of State, Washington. It is signed by Edward L. Freers, but on the first page there is an indication it was actually drafted by you. Do you recall drafting the original of that document?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 908 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. That statement was drafted within a day or two after you had the interview with Mr. Oswald. I take it it reflects what happened at that time.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Dulles. Was there any cabled report of this incident?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; I cabled a report on the 31st, Mr. Dulles. Commission Exhibit No. 908 is a somewhat fuller report, 2 days later.

Mr. Coleman. To answer Mr. Dulles' question, I show you a document which has been marked Commission Exhibit No. 910, which purports to be a copy of a cable from Moscow to the Secretary of State, and ask you whether that is the cable which was sent off on October 31, 1959.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 910 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I also had marked, and I would like to show you, Commission Exhibit No. 909, which is a copy of a telegram from American Embassy, Tokyo, to Secretary of State, dated November 27, 1963. This telegram purports to be an interview which the Ambassador in Tokyo had with you immediately after the assassination in which you attempted to recall what happened on October 31, 1959, when Mr. Oswald appeared at the Embassy.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 909 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. I ask you if you can identify that telegram?

Mr. Snyder. Might I just inject something? I notice in my reports, on my first interview with Oswald, that I mention the Petrulli case. You might at this time or later on wish to refer to the Petrulli case.

Mr. Dulles. Mr. Chairman, this cable is very short and quite significant. I wonder if it could not be read into the record at this point, just for the continuity of the record.

Mr. Snyder. There is a slight problem of classification on these, Mr. Dulles. I don't know how public the records are.

Mr. Dulles. Maybe you could paraphrase it, then. You mean it is a question of codes?

Mr. Snyder. It is a question of code security; yes, sir.

The Chairman. If this is in the record, it will be published.

Mr. Coleman. Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

The Chairman. Back on the record.

Mr. Coleman. Would you be kind enough to read Commission Exhibit No. 910 into the record?

Mr. Snyder. In paraphrase?

The Chairman. Paraphrase, yes; in your own way.

Representative Ford. Of course keeping the intent of what was said precisely as it was sent.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

A person appeared at the Embassy today, October 31, identified himself as Lee Harvey Oswald, and stated that he had come to renounce his American citizenship. He was the bearer of U.S. passport No. 1733242, date of issuance September 10, 1959, which showed him to be unmarried and gave his age as 20, or which showed him to be 20—it gives his date of birth. Mr. Oswald stated that he had applied for Soviet citizenship in Moscow. He stated that he had entered the Soviet Union from Helsinki, Finland, on October 15. He said that he had contemplated this action for the previous 2 years. The main reason given was that "I am a Marxist." He has a mother living at 4936 Collinwood Street, Fort Worth, Tex., which was also his last address.

His attitude was arrogant and aggressive. He stated that he had recently been discharged from the Marine Corps. He also volunteered the information that he had offered to the Soviet authorities any information which he had acquired as an enlisted radar operator in the Marines.

In view of the Petrulli case, the Embassy proposes to delay completing the renunciation procedure until the action of the Soviet authorities on his request for Soviet citizenship is known or the Department advises.

A dispatch follows.

The press has been informed.

The Chairman. Would the Commissioners like to see the document itself?

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, could you tell the Commission what the Petrulli case was?

Mr. Snyder. Yes. The Petrulli case I remember quite well.

Mr. Petrulli was an American citizen who came into the Embassy some weeks before, I believe, asking to renounce his American citizenship. Mr. Petrulli hung around Moscow for quite some time, again a number of weeks, and perhaps as long as 3 weeks or a month. He had entered the Soviet Union as a tourist, I believe.

It is not clear what intent he had when he arrived.

But, at any rate, he did apply for Soviet citizenship while in Moscow, and he did come into the Embassy, and was interviewed by me to renounce his American citizenship. I did not, in accordance with the thinking which I outlined to you earlier—I did not accept his renunciation the first time he came in, but did accept it when he subsequently appeared, and insisted that is what he wanted to do.

The case had a—I might skip over the minor details, but it had a rather rapid denouncement, when the Soviet authorities, after having looked him over for a number of weeks, decided they did not want him as a citizen or resident of the Soviet Union. And when we subsequently learned, that is I learned, from my reporting to the Department, and correspondence with them, that Mr. Petrulli had been discharged from the Armed Forces some time earlier on, I believe, a 100-percent mental disability—the Soviet, I think it was the head of the consular section of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, called me into the Foreign Ministry one day and said words to the effect that an American citizen Mr. Petrulli, has overstayed his visa in the Soviet Union, he is living here illegally, and "We request that you take steps to see that he leaves the country immediately."

I told the Soviet official that to the best of my knowledge Mr. Petrulli was not then an American citizen, he having executed a renunciation of citizenship before me.

The Soviet official said in effect, "As far as we are concerned, he came here on an American passport, and we ask that you get him out of here."

Well, again to end what was a long, involved and terribly time-consuming story at the time, it was determined by the Department that Mr. Petrulli's renunciation was null and void because he was not competent, and therefore he was an American citizen, and we shipped him home.

The Petrulli case, as I say, was very much in my mind when Mr. Oswald showed up.

Mr. Coleman. After you sent the telegram, which is Commission Exhibit No. 910, to the State Department, I take it that the first word that you received from the State Department is a telegram which I have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 916.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 916 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes.

Mr. Coleman. Now, by paraphrasing, could you read the second paragraph of that telegram into the record?

Mr. Snyder. "For your information, in the event that Mr. Oswald insists on completing a renunciation of his United States citizenship, the Embassy is precluded by the provisions of section 1999 of the Revised Statutes from withholding the right to do so without regard to the status of his application for citizenship which is pending before the Soviet government and without regard to the Petrulli case."

Mr. Coleman. At the same time that you were notifying the State Department that Oswald had appeared, someone in the Embassy also sent a telegram to the Navy Department, didn't he, advising that Oswald, a former Marine, had appeared at the Embassy and stated that he was a radar operator in the Marine Corps, and that he had offered to furnish the Soviets the information he possessed on radar.

I have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 917 this telegram and ask you whether that is the telegram that went forth to the Navy Department.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 917 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. I don't recall that I saw this telegram at the time. But I would say from the content of it, and the form, that it is clearly a telegram sent by the naval attaché of the Embassy to his home office.

Mr. Coleman. We also have had marked as Commission Exhibit No. 918 the telegram which the Navy sent in reply to Commission Exhibit No. 917.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 918 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. Have you seen that before and can you identify that?

Mr. Snyder. I do not recall having seen this telegram before; no, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Now, sir; the next contact that you had with Oswald was by a letter dated November 3, 1959, which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 912, is that correct?

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 912 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes—to the best of my knowledge, this was the next thing that I heard of Oswald—the next thing I heard from Oswald.

Mr. Coleman. How did the original of Commission Exhibit No. 912 come into your possession?

Mr. Snyder. I believe it came through the mail.

Mr. Coleman. And after you received Commission Exhibit No. 912, what did you do?

Mr. Snyder. I wrote Mr. Oswald a reply, I believe, the same day.

The Chairman. Exhibit No. 912 was a request to revoke his application to renounce citizenship, was it not?

Mr. Coleman. No, Mr. Chief Justice; Commission Exhibit No. 912 is a letter from Mr. Oswald complaining that the Embassy had not permitted him to renounce.

The Chairman. I misread it. Yes; that is right. Excuse me.

Mr. Coleman. You say you wrote Mr. Oswald a letter the same day?

We have had marked as Commission Exhibit No. 919 a letter from Richard E. Snyder, to Lee Harvey Oswald, dated November 6, 1959.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 919 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. I show it to you and ask you is this a copy of the letter which you wrote to Mr. Oswald?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Representative Ford. Mr. Chairman——

Mr. Dulles. Could we have some indication of what that letter is, for the record.

The Chairman. Referring back to Exhibit No. 912, where I was acting apparently under some misapprehension I read the first three lines and it said "Nov. 3, 1959. I, Lee Harvey Oswald, do hereby request that my present United States citizenship be revoked." Well, that is consistent with what was said.

Representative Ford. I think that is a pretty categorical statement.

The Chairman. Yes; it is.

Representative Ford. He subsequently, in Exhibit No. 912, makes a protest about the fact that he was not accorded that right previously. But I don't see how we could come to any other conclusion but the first three lines are a specific request for the right to revoke his American citizenship.

The Chairman. Yes; but I had misread that first sentence, and I had asked if it wasn't a revocation of his original request. I was in error when I said that. You are correct, absolutely, on your interpretation of it.

Mr. Coleman. As a result of receiving Commission Exhibit No. 912, you wrote Mr. Oswald a letter which has been—a copy of which has been marked and identified as Commission Exhibit No. 919, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Earlier in your testimony, when asked about what a citizen has to do to renounce his citizenship, you referred to section 349(a) (6).

I would like to call your attention to the fact there is also another provision—section 349(a) (2)—which provides that an American citizen shall lose his nationality by "taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof."

Did you consider whether the Oswald letter, marked as Commission Exhibit No. 912, was such an affirmation or other formal declaration?

Mr. Snyder. There is a considerable body of law, I believe, interpreting this provision of law as to what constitutes an affirmation or other formal declaration. I believe that I was quite aware at the time that a mere statement did not constitute a formal declaration within the meaning of the law.

Mr. Coleman. Did——

Mr. Dulles. May I ask one question about Exhibit No. 912?

In the second paragraph of this letter, Exhibit No. 912, Oswald says, "I appered [sic] in person at the consulate office of the United States Embassy, Moscow, on Oct. 31st, for the purpose of signing the formal papers to this effect. This legal right I was refused at that time."

Do you know how he learned about his legal rights? Did you tell him his legal rights in your conversation with him? Or where did he get the information about his legal rights, if you know about that?

Mr. Snyder. Well, to the best of my knowledge, Mr. Dulles, I did discuss with Oswald both the significance of his act and the legal basis of it, and so forth. And I believe that in the letter which I wrote to him——

Mr. Dulles. Which was subsequent to Exhibit No. 912, was it not, in answer to 912?

Mr. Snyder. In answer to Exhibit No. 912—in the letter which I wrote, replying to this, I purposely used the word, I think, "again", or words to that effect, and I put that word in there at the time, indicating that he had been told this before, and that I was repeating it to him.

Mr. Coleman. You are talking about Commission Exhibit No. 919, the third paragraph, is that correct, where you use the word "again"?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; that is correct.

In other words, at the time Oswald was there, the reason which I gave him for not taking his renunciation at the time was not that he was not legally entitled to have it, but that the office was closed at the time. In matter of fact, I don't think I had a secretary there to type out the form and so forth. But this is really quite beside the point.

But the reason which I gave him was not that I had any legal right to refuse him—that is, it wasn't based on a provision of law, as it was based on simply the fact that the Embassy was closed at the time.

Mr. Coleman. You will recall in Commission Exhibit No. 913, which was the first letter that Oswald gave you, that the last paragraph states, "I affirm that my allegiance is to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics," and once again I take it that you didn't think that that was the type of oath or affirmation which is set forth in section 349(a) (2)?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir; that is right.

Mr. Slawson. Mr. Snyder, in reference to the same document, Commission Exhibit No. 913, do you think that Mr. Oswald, when he appeared before you and gave this to you, believed in his mind that this was sufficient to renounce his citizenship?

The Chairman. How could he tell what was in his mind?

Mr. Snyder. I really don't know.

Mr. Slawson. Do you believe that if you had given Mr. Oswald the opportunity to carry through with the procedures, that he would have renounced his citizenship at that first appearance?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; I have every reason to believe he would have.

Mr. Coleman. Sir, I also would like to show you a copy of a passport issued by the United States, which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 946, and ask you whether that is the passport that Mr. Oswald gave to you when he came into the Embassy on October 31, 1959.

Mr. Dulles. May I ask a preliminary question about Exhibit No. 913?

This is undated. Do we know the date of the receipt of this by the Embassy?

Mr. Coleman. Yes, Mr. Dulles; the testimony is that when Mr. Oswald came into the Embassy, sir, he handed this document to Mr. Snyder.

Mr. Dulles. That is the first time he came in, he handed this document to you?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

This is undoubtedly his passport; yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. After you received Commission Exhibit No. 919, which is the second letter from Oswald, the letter dated November 3, 1959, you then prepared and sent to the Secretary of State in Washington an airgram which the Commission has had marked as Commission Exhibit No. 920.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 920 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. I show you the document and ask you whether you prepared the original thereof and sent it to the State Department?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Representative Ford. May I ask a question here?

When Oswald first came in, and either placed his passport on the desk or the table, or you asked for it, did you note that he had overstayed his visa by 5 days?

Mr. Snyder. I can't recall that I did or did not, Mr. Ford.

Representative Ford. Is that something that you would normally examine and determine under circumstances like this?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, I might if there were some reason to look at it—if it were particularly relevant to something I was thinking at the time or asking about at the time.

In terms of Soviet practice, it is not really too relevant. That is, if the Soviet authorities find it to their interest to keep a person around, then there is no problem. And if they do not, one does not overstay one's visa in the Soviet Union.

Representative Ford. But if it is, for some Soviet reason, a good reason to keep somebody around beyond the time of their visa, wouldn't that be of some interest to us—I mean to the United States officials?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, yes; but, of course, that assumption was already strongly made in the Oswald case by other circumstances in this case. There was no question in my mind that Mr. Oswald was there in Moscow for the purposes for which he stated he was in Moscow, and that this was known to the Soviet authorities, for he said he had applied for Soviet citizenship.

Representative Ford. Is it the usual thing for them to let an individual stay beyond their visa termination date?

Mr. Snyder. Well, I would say it is not usual. Again, one can never cite a list of specific instances in these things, but I think that when you are working as a consul in Moscow for a couple of years, you have a considerable feel for these things, and that I would say it is not usual—people simply do not overstay their visas in the Soviet Union without the knowledge, by and large, of the Soviet authorities.

And this is because of the nature of the passport registration system at your hotel, and all of this sort of thing. It simply is not normally done by oversight or by lapse either on the part of the individual or on the part of the Soviet State.

Representative Ford. When he presented the passport, or when you were given the passport by him, did you examine it?

Mr. Snyder. I undoubtedly examined it.

Representative Ford. Where in the passport would this fact be noted that he had overstayed his visa by 5 days?

(At this point, Senator Cooper entered the hearing room.)

Mr. Snyder. It may either be on the original visa or on the police stamp placed in his passport at the time. This is to the best of my recollection.

Mr. Coleman. Congressman Ford, as I understand it, one of the stamps in the passport, which would be in Russian, indicates the visa that he got in Helsinki, and also indicates the length of time he was permitted to stay.

Representative Ford. So it is clearly a Soviet document in the passport?

Mr. Coleman. Yes.

Mr. Snyder. I could probably find these for you, if you would like.

Representative Ford. When Oswald came in, did you notice anything peculiar about his physical appearance—any bruises, any injuries of any kind?

Mr. Snyder. No, no; as I said—you may not have been here, Mr. Ford, at the time I made my original comments on his appearance.

He was very neatly dressed, very well composed, and to all outward appearances a respectable-looking young man.

Representative Ford. I was there then, and I was interested because I think we have testimony to the effect, or we have documentation to the effect, that he had tried to commit suicide prior to his coming to the American Embassy for the purpose of renouncing his citizenship. In other words, he had cut his wrist and had been in a Soviet hospital or medical facility. And I was wondering whether you had noticed that.

Mr. Snyder. No, sir; I did not.

Representative Ford. You did not.

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, on November 2 you sent forward Commission Exhibit No. 908, which is the Foreign Service dispatch. You had also sent forth 2 days earlier a telegram advising them about Oswald.

And on November 12 you had sent forth Commission Exhibit No. 920. Now, according to the files that we have, except for Commission Exhibit No. 916, which is the telegram asking where the dispatch was, we have no other communication during this period from the Department to the Embassy giving you advice on what to do in the Oswald case.

Was there any messages that went back to the Embassy, other than Commission Exhibit No. 916, during that period?

Mr. Snyder. I can't really say, Mr. Coleman, that I have personal recollection. But I have no reason to believe that there was anything else came in, other than what is now in our files.

Mr. Coleman. Well, would you expect to get some answers to those dispatches that you were sending forward to Washington?

Mr. Snyder. Not really—not really. The thrust of information in something like this is from the field to the Department. The Department really answered the only thing which I asked them. That is, I told the Department what I intended to do concerning his request for renunciation, and the Department responded to that. And this was really all I would have expected from them at the time.

I would have expected—if the Department had had any information concerning Oswald in its files—I would have expected them to let me know if they had indication, for instance, that Oswald was mentally unbalanced or emotionally unstable or anything else of this sort, anything which might look like a repeat of the Petrulli pattern, I would have expected them to let me know this, so I would know how to handle the case.

Mr. Coleman. Sir, 3 days before Mr. Oswald came into the Embassy, did you have occasion to write a letter to Mr. Boster in Washington, asking him how you should handle these matters of attempted renunciation of American citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. Well——

Mr. Dulles. Is this the first time he came into the Embassy?

Mr. Coleman. This is 3 days before he came.

Mr. Dulles. The first time?

Mr. Coleman. Yes, sir.

Mr. Snyder. I recall writing. I think probably the letter you have in mind—

Mr. Coleman. I show you Commission Exhibit No. 914 which is a letter dated October 28, 1959, from Mr. Snyder to Mr. Boster, and ask you whether that is a letter you sent.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 914 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. Is that a copy of the letter that you sent to Mr. Boster?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Doesn't that letter, at the bottom, indicate that you were attempting to get advice on how to handle an attempted renunciation of American citizenship? At the bottom of the first page.

Mr. Snyder. Yes; this is a letter which I wrote to Gene Boster. This letter, I might add, did not refer to any particular case, but was a letter in which I had put down ideas which had been circulating in my mind for some time, based on my initial handling of cases in Moscow. And it was by way of putting down, as I say, some general ideas on the subject, and asking Gene what the Department felt about this general area of notions. It wasn't directed at any particular case.

Representative Ford. Do you feel that the regulations then, as well as now, and the law as well, are archaic in this regard?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, no; it is simply that—not the law, and certainly not the regulations—and certainly not the law, can ever take the place of the judgment of the officer on the spot.

Mr. Dulles. Was this motivated by the Petrulli case?

Mr. Snyder. No; I don't think it was. The Petrulli case was a clear-cut case, there was no problem with the Petrulli case, legal or otherwise.

It was motivated, as best I can recall, by my experience with a few other cases. Well, let's say—let's go back a little bit further, in a more general vein. The kind of people, the kind of Americans, and I suppose not only Americans but Frenchmen, Englishmen, and otherwise, who occasionally drift into the Soviet Union and state that they want to roll up their sleeves and go to work for socialism for the rest of their lives, or something of this sort, are usually quite a peculiar kind of person.

In the first place, they are rarely Marxists in any meaningful sense of the term. That is, they don't really know what it is all about. They probably don't know two words about Marxist theories, or Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, or anything else. Even less do they know anything about the country that they have chosen to spend their lives in, theoretically.

Almost universally they have never been to the country before. They speak no Russian. And they are rebounding from something—in some cases, such as the Petrulli case, the man is simply incompetent. In other cases, as in the Webster case, he appears to have been fleeing from his wife and the general responsibilities of his prior position, and finding that he could not escape from them in the Soviet Union either.

In the case of Oswald, a man who, for one reason or another, seemed to have been uncomfortable in his own society, unable to accommodate himself to it, and hoping he will make out better some place else.

At any rate, almost universally, the pattern is of a person who is not acting out of any ideological grounds. He simply doesn't—and I think this is essentially true probably of Oswald—this was my feeling in speaking with him—that Oswald really knew nothing about Marxism and Leninism, that he professed to be modeling his life after.

Mr. Dulles. Isn't it possible, though, from this discussion—maybe this should be asked to your legal adviser—that our procedure under law about renunciation may be in conflict with general international law, because if he comes into the country with an American passport, as an American citizen, I gather under ordinary international law we have to take him back. We are responsible for him. And no renunciation he makes changes that, as the Petrulli case shows.

Now, in the Petrulli case you had a situation where he was incompetent, and you could throw the thing out on the ground he didn't know what he was doing. But in these other cases, maybe you can't.

Mr. Snyder. Well, in the specific instance and circumstances of the Soviet Union, you obviously have a major problem, there is a major state problem.

Mr. Dulles. That might arise in other cases. Isn't that true in any case—If an American citizen arrives with an American passport, the country where he arrives doesn't have to keep him, does it? Isn't it our responsibility to take him back?

Mr. Snyder. Well, this is a point——

Mr. Dulles. That is a question of law.

Mr. Snyder. This is a question of law which I really cannot answer.

And where we have an extradition treaty, I think there is no great problem, perhaps, or at least the problem is somewhat different from where we do not have an extradition treaty, as in the case of the Soviet Union.

And I just don't know whether we are in the last analysis required to take back a person who is no longer one of our citizens, and under circumstances where we do not have an extradition treaty with the nation, where that person now resides.

Representative Ford. Do we have an extradition treaty with the Soviet Union?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir.

Well, we did not at that time, and I don't think we have subsequently. But we did not at that time.

Representative Ford. Do the legal advisers to the Department know whether we have an extradition treaty now?

Mr. Chayes. We do not have an extradition treaty with the Soviet Union.

The only bilateral treaty we have with the Soviet Union, the Senate has not yet given advice and consent—but the only bilateral agreement is the consular agreement.

But so long as I am on the record here, I don't see how the extradition treaty has any bearing at all on the requirement of taking back a former American citizen who may get into trouble in the other country. That would be a matter governed by general principles of international law, and also one's own humanitarian outlook on the particular circumstance, rather than—or there could be treaty provisions perhaps, commerce and navigation, that might bear on it. But in the usual case, I think not.

Senator Cooper. May I ask a question here? It might save time.

Is there any statutory—any statute bearing on this question of renunciation?

The Chairman. Senator Cooper, we just went through that, and it has been put in evidence here, and the statute has been read and it is very simple. All he has to do is go there and renounce before a consul or State officer to satisfy the regulations and requirements of the State Department, and he is out.

Isn't that correct, generally speaking?

Mr. Chayes. Yes, sir.

Senator Cooper. Is there any other statute bearing upon the effect of that renunciation with respect to any application or petition he might make later to renew his citizenship in the United States? Is there any?

Mr. Coleman. I would assume, sir, if he has made a valid renunciation, he is then just like any other non-American that wants to come into the United States. He has to go through one of the immigration quotas.

Mr. Snyder. He must get an immigration visa.

Senator Cooper. I remember during the war and after the war we had problems with persons who had become naturalized citizens, and were returned to their countries, and in effect renounced their citizenship in various ways. As I remember, under certain circumstances they could renew their citizenship with the United States. But, as I understand it, there is no provision of law respecting a citizen of the United States who actually renounces his citizenship.

Mr. Chayes. The issues in all those cases, I believe, were whether the purported expatriating act was actually an expatriating act. Whether they had voted voluntarily or served in a foreign army voluntarily, or something like that.

Senator Cooper. All this matter, the legal side of it, will be put into the record?

Mr. Coleman. At 2 o'clock, sir.

Now, Mr. Snyder, after you wrote that letter to Mr. Boster, which is Commission Exhibit No. 914, you received a reply to your letter which was signed by Nathaniel Davis, acting officer in charge, Soviet affairs, dated December 10, 1959, which has been marked Commission Exhibit No. 915.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 915 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes.

Mr. Coleman. Sir, also on December 1, 1959, you sent an airgram to the State Department indicating that you had been informed that Oswald had left the hotel at which he had been staying in Moscow, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I show you a document which has been identified as Commission Exhibit No. 921, and ask you whether that is a copy of the airgram you sent forward to the Department.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 921 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes.

Mr. Coleman. In Exhibit No. 921, you stated that you felt that he had not carried through with his original intent to renounce American citizenship in order to leave a crack open. Now, what information did you have which led you to put that in the airgram?

Mr. Snyder. I am not sure whether this was my statement or——

Mr. Coleman. Well, would you look at that, sir?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; this was the statement of the correspondent. The correspondent states that.

Mr. Coleman. Oh, you were informing the Department that the correspondent told you that she felt that Oswald may have been leaving a crack open?

Mr. Snyder. That is right. This crack part here is part of the sentence "correspondent states."

Mr. Coleman. Who was the correspondent?

Mr. Snyder. This was Priscilla Johnson.

Mr. Coleman. And I take it you were the one that prepared Commission Exhibit No. 921?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. You also state that no known Soviet publicity on case. I take it you meant by that there had been no mentioning in the Soviet press about Oswald.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Are you saying from the time he came into your Embassy office until the time you wrote that airgram, that there was nothing in the Soviet press about Oswald?

Mr. Snyder. Not to my knowledge.

Mr. Coleman. Is that usual in these cases, where Americans attempt to renounce their citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. I think if there is a usual pattern—and, again, this is difficult to use words like "usual" because there are never two cases alike in this sort of thing—but if there is a usual pattern, it is that there is some exploitation of the defector in Soviet public media, usually after the details of his defection have been settled, particularly the detail as to whether the Soviet Union desires to have him.

Up to that point, publicity in the Soviet press probably is not to be expected.

Mr. Coleman. After you sent the airgram dated December 1, 1959, to the Department of State, which is Commission Exhibit No. 921, you didn't have any more contact with Oswald until some time in February 1961, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. In the meantime, however, there was correspondence between the Embassy in Moscow and the State Department, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Did——

Mr. Snyder. Well, let me see.

Mr. Coleman. I will mark——

Mr. Snyder. I guess there was. There was one or more welfare and whereabouts inquiries concerning him from his mother, which I think was the bulk, if not all, of the correspondence which we were engaged in between those two periods.

Mr. Coleman. Well, one such memorandum which went from the State Department to Moscow was a memorandum dated March 21, 1960, which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 922, which indicates that Representative Wright of Texas had made inquiry with respect to the whereabouts of Oswald.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 922 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. And attached to the operations memorandum which was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 922 is the letter sent to Congressman Wright, which has been marked as Exhibit 923.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 923 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. And also a letter sent to Mrs. Marguerite Oswald, which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 924.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 924 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. In reply to Commission Exhibit No. 922, you prepared and sent to the Department of State an operations memorandum under date of March 28, 1960, which we have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 927.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 927 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. In Commission Exhibit No. 927, you make the statement that the Embassy has no evidence that Oswald has expatriated himself other than his announced intention to do so "and the Embassy is, therefore, technically in a position to institute an inquiry concerning his whereabouts through a note to the Foreign Office."

Do you recall that statement in the operations memorandum?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. Was it your thought, then, that based upon all the documents you had and what transpired on October 31, 1959, and the subsequent letter that Oswald sent, that in your judgment he had not renounced his American citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. The statement which I made in that letter—to be quite accurate, as to its content—was made not for the—that is, the statement wasn't directing itself to the question has Oswald lost his citizenship or not, but rather to the question would we have the right in Soviet eyes to ask about the whereabouts of this man. The Soviet authorities took a very strict line that no foreign government had the right to inquire about any resident of the Soviet Union unless he was their citizen. So that my statement was merely—was meant there to support my conclusion that the Embassy, as far as we could see, would have the right in Soviet eyes to ask about the whereabouts of Oswald—because we had no reason to believe he was not our citizen, and, therefore, we had a perfect right to ask about where he might be.

Representative Ford. In other words, in your own mind, at that point, he had not renounced his citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. There is no question he had not renounced his citizenship; yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. You considered that he was still an American citizen as of March 28——

Mr. Snyder. No evidence to the contrary.

Mr. Dulles. That is, he hadn't taken the procedures required under the law to renounce his citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. He had not renounced his citizenship, and there was no evidence that he had acquired Soviet citizenship. These were the two things under which I think he could possibly have lost his citizenship at that time.

So, for lack of evidence to the contrary, he was an American citizen.

Mr. Coleman. On April 5, 1960—you received an operations memorandum from the Department of State, dated March 28, 1960, which we have had marked as Commission Exhibit No. 929. Do you recall receiving that?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 929 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. The second paragraph of that memorandum indicates that a lookout card or file has been opened or prepared.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. What does that mean?

Mr. Snyder. Never having worked in this end of the Department of State, I can say only what it would mean in general terms—when one says a lookout card has been prepared, it means that an entry has been made in the file in such fashion that should someone look in the file for—under this name or this category, that there would be—that their attention would be flagged by this entry, and their attention would be called to the fact that there is something that they ought to look into. In other words, it is kind of a red flag placed—perhaps red flag is not the word to use here—but it is a flag placed in the file to attract the attention of anyone looking in the file under that.

Mr. Coleman. Then on May 10, 1960, and again on June 22, 1960, you received two operations memorandums from the State Department making inquiries with respect to Mr. Oswald. Can you identify those?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. You remember receiving those?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. The operations memorandum dated May 10, 1960, was given Commission Exhibit No. 928, and the operations memorandum dated June 22, 1960, has been given Commission Exhibit No. 925.

(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibits Nos. 925 and 928, respectively, for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. In response to those two operations memorandums, you, then, on July 6, 1960, sent forth an operations memorandum which has been given Commission Exhibit No. 926, which states that until you get other instructions, you are not going to make any further inquiry or do anything further in connection with Oswald, is that correct?

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 926 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. That is correct.

Mr. Coleman. Then, sir, on February 1, 1961, you received a Department of State instruction which was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 930, which requested the Embassy to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr. Oswald's mother was worried about his personal safety, and was anxious to hear from him.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 930 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. Did you ever make such an inquiry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Mr. Snyder. No, I think I did not.

Mr. Coleman. Do you know just when that Department instruction reached the Embassy in Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. The date should be stamped on the document.

Mr. Coleman. Well, on the copy we have, sir, there is no date. I take it you have no independent recollection?

Mr. Snyder. No; it should have been within a week, though.

Mr. Coleman. I take it, though, you would say that Commission Exhibit No. 930 went by diplomatic pouch.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. This didn't go by cable?

Mr. Snyder. No, that is not a telegraphic form.

Mr. Coleman. On February 13, 1961, you received a letter from Mr. Oswald, did you not?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I show you a copy of a letter which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 931, and I ask you whether that is a copy of a letter you received from Mr. Oswald.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 931 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Representative Ford. Mr. Chairman, it would be helpful, I think, if we would pass these around, or if copies would be available to us at the time. Otherwise—at least I am not able to know what is transpiring between the counsel and the witness.

Are there extra copies of these we could have to examine as the exhibit is submitted to the witness?

Mr. Slawson. We could have them made up, Mr. Ford. I don't think there are any extra ones right now.

The Chairman. Well, suppose before you pass it to the witness you pass it to me, and I will pass it to Congressman Ford, and then over to Commissioner Dulles.

Mr. Snyder. This letter is presumably the reason why no action was taken on the previous operations memorandum. It was overtaken, presumably, by Oswald's letter.

Mr. Coleman. Could you indicate for the record what Oswald said in his letter which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 931?

Mr. Snyder. Perhaps I might just read the letter into the record.

The letter is dated February, no date.

"Dear sirs"——

Mr. Dulles. What year?

Mr. Snyder. 1961.

"Since I have not received a reply to my letter of December 1960, I am writing again asking that you consider my request for the return of my American passport.

"I desire to return to the United States, that is if we could come to some agreement concernig [sic] the dropping of any legal proceedings against me. If so, then I would be free to ask the Russian authorities to allow me to leave. If I could show them my American passport, I am of the opinion they would give me an exit visa.

"They have at no time insisted that I take Russian citizenship. I am living here with non-permanent type papers for a foreigner.

"I cannot leave Minsk without permission, therefore I am writing rather than calling in person.

"I hope that in recalling the responsibility I have to America that you remember your's in doing everything you can to help me since I am an American citizen.

"Sincerely Lee Harvey Oswald."

Mr. Dulles. That is addressed to the American Embassy in Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. It is simply "Dear sirs:" As near as I can recall, it came by mail, through the Soviet mail, addressed to the Embassy.

Mr. Coleman. Had you received a letter from Mr. Oswald at a date of December 1960, the way he mentioned in the first paragraph of his letter?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir; we did not.

Mr. Coleman. This is the first letter you received?

Mr. Snyder. This is the first communication since he left Moscow.

Mr. Coleman. I would next like to mark as Commission Exhibit No. 933 the reply which you made to Mr. Oswald, which is dated February 28, 1961.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 933 for identification.)

Mr. Dulles. When you say since he left Moscow, that was in——

Mr. Snyder. November 1959, sir.

Mr. Dulles. November 1959?

Mr. Snyder. This is what we presume was the date.

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Dulles, we have other evidence that he didn't leave until January 7, 1960.

Mr. Dulles. The last the Embassy heard from him was in November 1959?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. You have been shown Commission Exhibit No. 933. Is that a copy of a letter which you sent to Mr. Oswald?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. At the same time did you inform the State Department that you had received a letter from Mr. Oswald?

Mr. Snyder. I presume that I did.

Mr. Coleman. I have had marked as Commission Exhibit No. 932 a Foreign Service Despatch under date of February 28, 1961, from the Embassy in Moscow to the State Department in Washington. I would like to ask you whether this is the despatch which you sent forth to the Department.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 932 for identification.)

Representative Ford. Do the records show the date that the letter from Oswald was written—yes; February 5—and received February 13. This communication is dated February 28. Is that a long or a short time in communicating with Washington?

Mr. Snyder. I would say it is a long time.

Representative Ford. Is there any explanation why it is a long time?

Mr. Snyder. The only thing I could think of is simply that Moscow is a very busy office, and Mr. Oswald's case was no longer the top of my docket.

Representative Ford. Had there been any communication with the State Department in Washington concerning the inquiries of the mother, other than this?

Mr. Snyder. I don't know, Mr. Ford. The only knowledge I had at the time of inquiries is what I was informed of by the Department. I presume that they informed me of all inquiries—since they could hardly act upon them themselves.

Representative Ford. What is the date of the last inquiry by the mother as to Oswald's——

Mr. Coleman. Sir, I think the record will show that on January 26, 1961, the mother came to the State Department and as a result of that visit, that inquiry of February 1, 1961, went forward, making the inquiry. It has already been put in as an exhibit.

Representative Ford. This is the trouble not keeping copies available. It is a little difficult to follow the sequence.

Mr. Coleman. It is Commission Exhibit No. 930.

Representative Ford. This document, Commission Exhibit No. 930, shows what, as far as you are concerned, Mr. Snyder?

Mr. Snyder. Well, it shows an interest by Oswald's mother in his whereabouts.

Representative Ford. As of what date, and where?

Mr. Snyder. It says that Mrs. Oswald called at the Department of State on January 26, 1961; she personally called at the Department to inquire about her son.

Representative Ford. And that was communicated to the Embassy in Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Representative Ford. When was it received in the Embassy in Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. Well, this doesn't show the date of receipt, but it was sent on February 1, and was received within a week of that time.

Representative Ford. And according to the records, the letter written by Oswald on February 5, 1961, which was received—was received February 13, 1961.

Mr. Snyder. Yes.

Representative Ford. And this document, Commission Exhibit No. 933, shows a reply was given February 28, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. I think that is correct, sir.

Mr. Dulles. Does that mean it took 8 days to go from Minsk to Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Dulles. Isn't that an unusually long time?

Mr. Snyder. Well, not too much of that time is transit time.

Mr. Dulles. That is what I was getting at.

Representative Ford. It also shows it took 15 days to get out of the American Embassy.

Mr. Snyder. You must remember that in my eyes, as the officer on the spot, Mr. Oswald had no claim to prior action from the Embassy among other cases. And although the consular officer attempts to be as impersonal as he can about these things, in matter of fact it is very difficult to be entirely impersonal.

Mr. Oswald had no claim to any unusual attentions of mine, I must say.

I think that the letter from Oswald from the Metropole Hotel to the Embassy took something like 3 days or 4 days.

Representative Ford. What does that mean to you? Does that mean that his correspondence was intercepted?

Mr. Snyder. There was no question about that, Mr. Ford?

Representative Ford. Intercepted by Soviet authorities?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, yes; this has been known for years.

Representative Ford. Common practice?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, yes; every embassy there knows the system, and operates within it. All mail from or to a foreign embassy in Moscow goes to a separate section of the Moscow Post Office, called the international section, and this is the screening office for all mail to and from any embassy.

Representative Ford. As far as you know, is that still the process today?

Mr. Snyder. I am sure it is, sir. The essentials of the Soviet State haven't changed.

Senator Cooper. May I ask a few questions?

I have been examining these exhibits which have been introduced. The first one I have looked at is Exhibit No. 908, which refers to Lee Harvey Oswald's call at the Embassy and your interview with him.

Mr. Dulles. Is that from Moscow to Washington, the State Department?

Senator Cooper. Yes; it is your interview with Oswald.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir; that is right.

Senator Cooper. In this he states that he applied for a Soviet tourist visa in Helsinki on October 14. He applied for citizenship by letter to the Supreme Soviet on October 16, in Moscow. And your report to the State Department said that he appeared at the Embassy on October 31, and presented his request for renunciation in writing.

I assume that you have had other cases of this kind, have you not?

Mr. Snyder. Well, particularly the Petrulli case, yes; a few weeks earlier.

Senator Cooper. Would it be normal in your judgment that this period of time, from the time he applied to the Soviet for citizenship, the Supreme Soviet, which was on October 16, as he said, it would not be acted upon in 2 weeks?

Mr. Snyder. I would think it would be highly unusual if it were acted upon in 2 weeks; yes, sir.

Senator Cooper. Did others talk to him in the Embassy beside you?

Mr. Snyder. Not to my knowledge; no, sir.

Senator Cooper. Did you know whether or not newspaper people, American newspaper people were talking to him?

Mr. Snyder. I know that Priscilla Johnson talked to him. Whether others got to him, I don't know. He wasn't terribly communicative.

Senator Cooper. Did she tell you she talked to him?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, yes.

Senator Cooper. But you do not know whether or not other members of the Embassy staff talked to him?

Mr. Snyder. I have no reason to believe that anyone else talked to him, other than myself, Senator Cooper. That is, at this time. I mean at a later time, Mr. McVickar, I presume, talked to Oswald. He talked to his wife, I am quite sure. I presume that Oswald was with her. But up until the time that I left Moscow, Oswald was my baby, and I don't think anyone else talked to him in the Embassy.

Mr. Dulles. Were there other cases, other than the Petrulli and the Oswald case, where Americans attempted to or did renounce their citizenship while you were in Moscow in this period?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir.

Senator Cooper. To whom were you directly responsible in the Embassy?

Mr. Snyder. My immediate superior was Mr. Freers, Edward Freers, who was the Deputy Chief of Mission.

Senator Cooper. Was he informed about this case?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Senator Cooper. Who was the American ambassador at that time?

Mr. Snyder. Ambassador Thompson.

Senator Cooper. Did he know about it?

Mr. Snyder. I presume he did. Ambassador Thompson knew everything that went on in his shop. If through no other means, both the Ambassador and the DCM, the Deputy Chief of Mission, read the correspondence coming in and out, and this is their basic line of information.

Senator Cooper. In your report, Commission Exhibit No. 908, you stated that he knew the provisions of U.S. law on loss of citizenship, and declined to have them reviewed by the interviewing officer. Is that correct? He said he knew how he could renounce his citizenship?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; I attempted to explain to him at the time the seriousness of his move, the meaning of it, the irrevocability of it and the section of law applying. He was quite curt in his manner, and apparently among other things, declined to have me read the law to him.

Senator Cooper. Exhibit No. 920 refers to the letter received by the Embassy from Lee Oswald, who was residing in the Metropole Hotel. It does show that it was dated November 3, and received, according to this, on November 12, no, date sent November 7.

This could be a speculation. It appears to me, though, it is a very well written letter. "I, Lee Harvey Oswald, do hereby request that my present United States citizenship be revoked. I appered [sic] in person, at the consulate office of the U.S. Embassy, Moscow, on Oct. 31st for the purpose of signing the formal papers to this effect. This legal right I was refused at that time. I wish to protest against this action and against the conduct of the official of the United States consular service who acted on behalf of the United States Government. My application requesting that I be considered for citizenship in the Soviet Union is now pending before the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. In the event of acceptance, I will request my government to lodge a formal protest regarding this incident."

Signed "Lee Harvey Oswald."

I would assume that the last sentence referred to the Soviet Union.

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Senator Cooper. From your examination and interview with Lee Harvey Oswald, your talks with him, does that letter appear to be one which he had the capacity to write in that language and form?

Mr. Snyder. That is a difficult thing to speculate on, Senator Cooper. I would say this——

Senator Cooper. It is a very good letter.

Mr. Snyder. At first blush, I would not say that it was beyond his capacity. He did strike me as an intelligent man. He was certainly very articulate. Actually still a boy, I suppose, in a sense—he was 20 at the time I saw him. He was a very articulate person, and quite intelligent. I don't think from what I saw of him that the letter is beyond his capacity to have written.

There is also an element of it which is very much Oswaldish, and that is the last paragraph, the rather strident tones of it. One finds this in his other correspondence with the Embassy, and in the tone which he took when he first spoke with me—extremely strident tone. It is almost comical in a sense, this last paragraph, in its pomposity, its sonorousness. I am quite prepared to believe that the last part at least is Oswald's.

Senator Cooper. One other question.

In your report you noted that he had made statements about the United States, derogatory statements.

Did he ever direct his statements toward any individual in the United States, any official?

Mr. Snyder. No; I have no recollection that he directed his statements against anyone, Senator Cooper. I think that if he had, I would likely have reported this matter. As a matter of fact, on the general subject of the molding of his attitudes, he was not very communicative.

Mr. Dulles. Was he technically correct there in his statement—I believe he said that his application was pending before the Supreme Soviet. Is that technically correct?

Mr. Snyder. That is technically correct; yes, sir.

The Chairman. You may continue, Mr. Coleman.

Mr. Coleman. Now, Mr. Snyder, on March 24, 1961, you sent a Foreign Service Despatch to the Department indicating that you had received a second letter from Mr. Oswald on March 20, 1961, and you said that the letter was postmarked Minsk, March 5, and Moscow March 17. I would like to show you a Commission document which has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 940, and ask you whether that is a copy of the Foreign Service Despatch which you sent forth to the Department.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 940 for identification.)

Mr. Dulles. Could this be very briefly summarized for the record while it is being read?

Mr. Coleman. In this despatch, he sets forth the letter which Mr. Oswald sent, which basically said that it would be hard for him to get to the Embassy in Moscow, and why can't they send the papers to Minsk?

Mr. Dulles. These are the papers about his return?

Mr. Coleman. Yes, papers that he would have to fill out to see if he was entitled to get his passport back.

Would the witness identify the despatch? Is that the one you sent?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; it is.

Mr. Coleman. I take it that the first answer you got from the Department to your despatch of February 28, 1961, which is marked as Commission Exhibit No. 932, indicating the first letter you received from Oswald, and then the second despatch marked Commission Exhibit No. 940, was a State Department instruction dated April 13, 1961, which was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 934.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 934 for identification.)

Mr. Coleman. Is that the despatch which you received?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Senator Cooper. And then again on May 26, 1961, you sent another despatch to the State Department indicating that you received another letter from Oswald, and stating that you thought you would return to Oswald his passport, and that has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 936.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 936 for identification.)

Mr. Dulles. Mr. Chairman, I note a reference in the margin here, in Commission Exhibit No. 934.

Do you know whose handwriting that is in, Mr. Snyder?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir; that is my handwriting.

Mr. Dulles. What does that say?

Mr. Snyder. It says, "May be necessary give him before he can arrange depart."

Mr. Coleman. Now, Mr. Snyder, on or about July 10 or 11, 1961, Mr. Oswald physically appeared at the American Embassy again, did he not?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; I saw him once more—I believe once more—possibly twice.

Mr. Coleman. Actually he came in on a Saturday, did he not, which was July 8, and then you saw him again on the following Monday, isn't that correct? Didn't you actually see him twice during that period?

Mr. Snyder. I think that I must have. As I say, I think I must have, because of my review of the record at the time indicates that I think I saw him on the 8th, and the application was taken on the 10th, which means, I presumably saw him twice.

Mr. Coleman. Do you recall when he came into the Embassy on the 8th and what he said, and what you did?

Mr. Snyder. No; in fact, I have no recollection of his having come in at that time, Mr. Coleman.

Mr. Coleman. In the course of these two interviews on the 8th and on the 10th, he actually filled out an application for renewal of his passport, did he not?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. And you handled that application? That is correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. I next have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 938, a six page document which purports to be an application for renewal of passport, together with a questionnaire which was attached thereto, and ask you whether that is a copy of the application for renewal which you filled out at that time.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 938 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. With reference to his visit on the 8th, it is possible that he telephoned. Again, I don't know quite what our record shows on that.

Mr. Coleman. Well, to help you refresh your recollection, sir, there has been marked as Commission Exhibit No. 935 a Foreign Service Despatch dated July 11, 1961, in which you described the meeting with Oswald. Perhaps you would want to be reading that.

(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 935 for identification.)

Mr. Snyder. This is the interview which I thought I had on the 10th.

Representative Ford. What does it mean in this questionnaire [Commission Exhibit No. 938] where Oswald says, and I quote, "I recived [sic] a document for residence in the U.S.S.R. but I am described as being 'Without Citizenship'"?

Mr. Snyder. This undoubtedly refers to his so-called internal Soviet passport, Mr. Ford. Every Soviet citizen living in urban areas, and also in the border areas, bears an internal passport which identifies him, has certain other information about him, and bears a notation of nationality. There are, as I recall, three varieties of this. One is for Soviet citizens, one is for citizens of foreign countries, I believe, and another is for stateless persons.

The Chairman. What is the last category?

Mr. Snyder. Stateless persons. My mind is not clear at this stage as to whether the passports for foreigners and stateless persons is the same or not. I don't quite recall. At any rate, there is an entry in there which asks to state his nationality. No, it is a separate passport. As I recall the title of it, it is called—it is a separate passport.

Mr. Dulles. Did the Soviet Union ever indicate to the Embassy, as far as you know, that they considered Oswald as stateless, or is that Oswald's own statement?

Mr. Snyder. The only indication is the internal passport which he had, which was made out by local officials, and which may have been based upon a statement that Oswald himself made to them. He may have regarded himself as being stateless, I don't know, at the time he applied for that document.

Mr. Dulles. And that did not necessarily require, as far as you know, reference to Moscow?

Mr. Snyder. No.

Mr. Dulles. You think the local authorities could have done that on their own, and on the information they got from Oswald?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; the term "stateless," I might interject here, is used rather loosely by Soviet authorities, because, in the first place, they have clearly no authority and no basis upon which to determine whether a person is a citizen of a foreign state. I mean only the foreign state can determine that.

So that the Soviet authorities had no basis on which to determine whether Oswald was or was not a citizen of the United States or of six other countries.

Mr. Dulles. Except the fact that they had seen his passport and knew of the existence of his American passport.

Mr. Snyder. On that basis, they would—well, he was certainly an American citizen when he entered as far as they were concerned; yes, sir.

Representative Ford. Is a person who is stateless the same as a person who is "without citizenship"?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir; this distinction is only in translation, Mr. Ford.

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, in the passport application, at the bottom there is a place where you have to cross out "have" or "have not" in connection with four questions. Could you read into the record the printed part at the bottom of the application?

Mr. Dulles. Would you just clarify for us what application this is?

Mr. Coleman. This is the application for the passport renewal which Oswald signed——

Mr. Dulles. For the American passport to return to the United States?

Mr. Coleman. Well, this is a renewal of the passport.

Mr. Dulles. A renewal of the passport to return to the United States?

Mr. Snyder. It says, "I have—have not—been naturalized as a citizen of a foreign state; taken an oath or made an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state; entered or served in, the armed forces of a foreign state; accepted, served in, or performed the duties of, any office, post or employment under the government of a foreign state or political subdivision thereof; voted in a political election in a foreign state or participated in an election or plebiscite to determine the sovereignty over foreign territory; made a formal renunciation of nationality, either in the United States or before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state; been convicted by court martial of deserting the military, air or naval service of the United States in time of war, or of committing any act of treason against or of attempting by force to overthrow, or of bearing arms against the United States; or departed from or remained outside the jurisdiction of the United States for the purpose of evading or avoiding training and service in the military, air or naval forces of the United States.

"If any of the above-mentioned acts or conditions are applicable to the applicant's case, or to the case of any other person included in this application, a supplementary statement under oath should be attached and made a part hereof."

Mr. Coleman. Mr. Snyder, as I read the application, what you did was to cross out the "have not" which means that Oswald was stating that he had done one of those acts which you have read, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. This is what it would mean.

Mr. Coleman. Which one of the various acts that you have read was it your impression that Oswald was admitting that he had done?

Mr. Snyder. Well, there are two possibilities here. One possibility is that the crossing out of "have not" is a clerical error, and that he did not intend to do this.

Mr. Coleman. How could that be a possibility. Don't you pretty much negate that possibility by the fact that you did require him to fill out the questionnaire which only has to be filled out if he admits that he has done one of the various acts?

Mr. Snyder. No; the questionnaire is filled out routinely in Moscow in any kind of problem case.

Mr. Coleman. Even though the citizen has done none of the acts which are set forth in the passport renewal application?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; well, I say in a problem case. I don't mean an American tourist coming in to get his passport renewed, on whom there is no presumption of any problem at all. But a person who has resided in the Soviet Union——

Mr. Coleman. Is it your testimony this is only a typographical error?

Mr. Snyder. This is one possibility. The other possibility is that he may have said, "I have taken an oath or made an affirmation or formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state."

He had, on several occasions, you know, stated that his allegiance was to the Soviet Union.

He may have put this down—that is, he may have said "have", having that act in mind, knowing that I knew it, and that there was no need to attempt to hide the fact. This is possible.

Mr. Coleman. Do you recall just what you had in mind on July 10 when he gave you that application filled out in the manner it was?

Mr. Snyder. I am sorry, I don't think I understand the question.

Mr. Coleman. Then I will withdraw it and rephrase it. Do you now recall what reaction you had in mind when you received the application which had been crossed out in such a way that indicated that he was admitting that he had done one of the various acts which are set forth on the form?

Mr. Snyder. No; I don't. Of course what I would have been concerned with at the time in more detail really is the questionnaire, which is an expansion of this paragraph, and is much more meaningful. So I would have been concerned both with what he said on the questionnaire and with the facts of his case—whether he thought he committed one of these acts is not material to the fact of whether he had committed it or whether he lost his citizenship thereby.

At any rate, my attention would have been directed to the expanded questionnaire in which he had to fill out individual paragraphs concerning each one of these things, and to a determination of the facts in the case.

Mr. Dulles. Do you recall whether or not that striking out was noted at the time the passport application or extension was considered?

Mr. Snyder. I do not, Mr. Dulles; no.

Representative Ford. Did you have his file out and looking at it, reading it, studying at the time he was there and this came up?

Mr. Snyder. I presume I did, Mr. Ford, but—I am sure his file was there. But in any event, I was the officer handling his case. Having written virtually everything in the file from the outgoing point of view, I was very well familiar with it.

Mr. Coleman. In any event, having received the questionnaire and the application, you determined that Mr. Oswald was entitled to an American passport, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. And you sent forward the application and the questionnaire in the Foreign Service Despatch of July 11, 1961, which has been marked Exhibit No. 935, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. And your recommendation was that the passport should issue—the passport office should issue a new passport, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. I would issue the passport; yes.

Mr. Coleman. And also on the same day, at the end of the interview on July 10, 1961, you returned to Mr. Oswald the American passport which he had given you in 1959. Is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes.

Mr. Coleman. Didn't you stamp that passport before you returned it to him? I show you Commission Exhibit No. 946 and ask you would you indicate to the Commission——

Mr. Dulles. Could I ask one question before the witness answers this question? Was that application and questionnaire considered in the State Department before the passport was issued, or was the passport issued on general instructions before they received this application?

Mr. Snyder. I will have to correct a word we used before. It is renewal, and not issuance.

His passport was good for another 2 years if we renewed, and he was applying for renewal of his passport, not issuance of a new one.

In either event, the issuance or renewal would have been done by the Embassy, by me.

Mr. Coleman. The problem, Mr. Dulles, is the existing passport he had, by its term, would expire September 1961, is that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.

Mr. Coleman. And you felt he would not be able to get out of the Soviet Union prior to September 1961, and therefore his existing passport would have to be renewed?

Mr. Snyder. I don't recall offhand what the purpose of renewing the passport at that time was. There was no prospect of his leaving the Soviet Union at that time, and probably not for quite some time to come, in my estimation, and based upon my experience with other cases he would have required his passport, and I presume this is why I was returning it to him.

Mr. Coleman. On July 10, 1961, you did two things with respect to the passport. First, you returned to him his old passport, isn't that correct?

Mr. Snyder. I think I did. I might reread my despatch and see.

Mr. Coleman. And, second, you accepted his application for renewal of the passport.

Mr. Snyder. Yes; my mind is clear on that. Yes; I recall now.

Mr. Coleman. When you returned to him his old passport, you first stamped the old passport.

Mr. Snyder. Yes.

Mr. Coleman. Will you indicate for the record how you stamped the old passport?

Mr. Snyder. The passport was marked "This passport is valid only for direct travel to the United States." (Commission Exhibit No. 946, p. 6.)

Mr. Dulles. Are you quite clear you returned the passport to him before he made his final plans to return?

Mr. Snyder. I am not entirely——

Mr. Coleman. Sir, before you answer the question, I suggest if you look at the Foreign Office Despatch dated July 11, 1961, you will find that you told the Department what you did at the time.

Mr. Snyder. Oh, yes.

Mr. Dulles. Could that be read into the record—just what he did say about the handling of the passport at that time—that is July what?

Mr. Snyder. July 8, 1961.

This was July 8. "Oswald intends to institute an application"——

Mr. Coleman. Pardon me. Wasn't it really July 10? July 8 was the day he came over to the Embassy just for a few moments. Then he came back on the 10th.

Mr. Snyder. I don't know. It isn't clear from my despatch, I would say.

Mr. Coleman. Would you read——

Mr. Snyder. Actually, if we knew what day of the week the 8th was——

Mr. Coleman. Subject to check, it was a Saturday.

Mr. Snyder. "Oswald intends to institute an application for an exit visa immediately upon his return to Minsk within the next few days. His American passport was returned to him for this purpose after having been amended to be valid for direct travel—for direct return to the United States only."

Mr. Coleman. In that same Foreign Service Despatch you indicated at the end that you were sending to the Passport Office in Washington the application for renewal, isn't that correct?

Mr. Snyder. Yes; that is right.

Representative Ford. May I ask Mr. Snyder—on Commission Exhibit No. 938, where Oswald said, "I have been naturalized as a citizen of a foreign state," and so forth—if that was the only statement that was made, what effect would that have had on his application either for a renewal or a new passport?

Mr. Snyder. Well, it would have the effect of flagging the consular officer to ask some questions, Mr. Ford.

Representative Ford. Would it have automatically disqualified him for renewal or the issuance of a new passport?

Mr. Snyder. No, sir.

Representative Ford. Not under the law or the regulations?

Mr. Snyder. Not to the best of my knowledge. In other words, what he says, to my knowledge, is immaterial to a finding of his loss of nationality. It is the act which counts.

Mr. Coleman. I don't think that is quite the Congressman's question. His question is if he had actually naturalized himself, could he be entitled to get an American passport?

Mr. Snyder. Oh, no; of course, if he had committed the act of accepting naturalization in a foreign state, he could not have. He would have lost his American citizenship.