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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. IX - Page 375« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Ruth Hyde Paine Resumed)

Mr. Jenner.
the part of either Lee Oswald or Marina Oswald with respect to the Kennedys?
Mrs. Paine.
I have related all my recollections.
Mr. Jenner.
Have you related all your recollections respecting the attitude of either of them toward the Government of the United States?
Mrs. Paine.
Yes; I believe so.
Mr. Jenner.
Is there anything you now recall in addition to what you have testified to with respect to the connection of either of them with or contacts, rather than connection--of either of them with the Communist Party in the United States?
Mrs. Paine.
I was not aware of any contact by either of them with the Communist Party in the United States.
Mr. Jenner.
And the same question with respect to the Socialist Workers Party.
Mrs. Paine.
Nor was I aware of any such contact.
Mr. Jenner.
Would you now give us your impression of Lee Oswald's personality? Was he a person who sought friends, was he a man who sought his own comfort, his own consolation?
I am just trying to illustrate what I am getting at. Was he a man who, to use the vernacular, was a loner? Do you know what I mean by that?
Mrs. Paine.
I have heard the word used a great deal.
Mr. Jenner.
A man who preferred his own company, or at least appears to prefer his own company, and does not seek out others, does not seek to make friends, or even has an aversion to the making of friends, that he is reticent, retiring.
Mrs. Paine.
I think it was here this morning that I described him as a person whom I thought was fearful of actually making friends, and, therefore, reticent, who did keep to himself in fact a good deal.
But I think he did enjoy talking with other people at least some of the time. He did watch television a great deal of the total time that he was at my house.
And he would finish the evening meal earlier than the rest of the people at the table and leave to go back to the living room to read or watch television, and not just stay to converse. He would eat to be fed rather than as a social event.
Mr. Jenner.
I see. Just to make sure we have the record clear on this-because it is of interest in other sections of this investigation--except for the one or two instances you have related, his habit was to remain in your home the entire weekend whenever he visited?
Mrs. Paine.
That is right.
Mr. Jenner.
Were there any occasions in which he related or recounted, or she, of his having made any friendships in Dallas?
Mrs. Paine.
He never mentioned anyone he knew.
Mr. Jenner.
Did he say anything about what he did after hours, after work hours in Dallas?
Mrs. Paine.
Only the reference I have already related, of having been to the National Indignation Committee meeting.
Mr. Jenner.
That was the only occasion? What was your impression of what he did, from all you heard and saw in your home when he was there, or any conversations you had with Marina, as to how he occupied his time after work hours, during the week when he remained in Dallas?
Mrs. Paine.
My impression, insofar as I have one, is that he spent evenings at his room, and he had mentioned, as I have said, that the room he had moved to had television privileges, and I, therefore, guessed that he made use of that opportunity.
Mr. Jenner.
Did you have the impression, or what impression did you have on this score as to whether he was a man who had--who somewhat lacked confidence in himself, or might have been resentful that he was not generally accepted as a man of capacity?
Mrs. Paine.
I think he had a combination of a lack of confidence in himself and a mistaken, as I have said, overblown impression of himself, these operating at the same time.
I think he felt that he wanted more skilled work than he was doing at the
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