Im sorry for my fathers pain, but basically I just want it to be over, one way or another, especially by the time I have kids. She sat us down, with my stepbrother, and started to explain who our father was- that it wasn't Kenneth - and who Lee was and what he had done. In truth, Rachel was a healthy, active teenager. Anyway, the only person I knew up there was Priscilla Johnson McMillan, who wrote my mother's book. After a couple of months of lessons, my parents Russian migr circle became curious about my new friends. Diane Holloway, Lee Harvey Oswald (2000). My first serious boyfriend -that's what he was fascinated about. We lived in poor housing or were taken in by others. It would be great to hear more from Lee's daughters, about the folks who surrounded them as they were growing up. That didn't set well with me. If they could prove somehow that he was innocent, he'd still not be a hero, he'd be a martyr. We beg you not to think ill of us.. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for John F Kennedy Lee Harvey Oswald mother Margaret Oswald signed about 6x9 Picture at the best online prices at eBay! Former Chief Justice of the United States, There is a mistake in the text of this quote. Can there be any American who, having failed to gain stature while he was alive, now haunts us more than Lee Harvey Oswald, asks Norman Mailer in "Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery." November 19 . Now Lees voice rose again. So he moved to Boston and wanted me to join him. In that instant, my father, Pete Gregory, linked the voice to a nurse who sat in the back of his class and had once identified herself as Oswald. Until this phone call, he hadnt realized that she was the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marine who had defected to the Soviet Union only to return two and a half years later with a Russian wife and a 4-month-old daughter. You try to be nice because you don't want to make somebody upset who's going to seek you out if they're kooky enough to do that stuff anyway. . Who was Lee Harvey Oswald? I did not call in the middle of the night however and I did not say I wished to sing my song to her. The doctors advised Marina against viewing Oswalds body, which was yellow and pale, his face bruised, but Marina insisted; she wanted to see the wound that killed him. By Steve Salerno. Or who my father was?. She would get around to it one of these days, she said. Richard Rodrigues Author has 3.4K answers and 465.8K answer views Oct 2 I remember that my mother was very beautiful, that she had been written up in Life magazine. At the same time, an ex-marine defector to the USSR returned the Ft. Worth with his wife and infant daughter. Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. One of the latest authors to wade into the conspiracy waters is Norman Mailer, whose book . Very interesting. Anna Meller could scarcely control her anger over his selfish behavior. didnt want to recruit Oswald. I mean, things werent completely normal. We always had this really bad connection, and when you'd pick up the phone you'd hear that other click. And that is my definition of democracy, the right to be in a minority and not be suppressed, We do not support the man. He sold an article for an astronomical amount back then - I think it was $25,000. Omissions? She looks just like her father, with her mother's eyes. It was distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Then he dropped out of high school and joined the Marines, before being released and traveling to Moscow. As the University of Michigan Heritage Project notes, she was only 22 years old, with two young children, when she was widowed. It was a considerable sum (at one time, Lee gave her $2 a week from his earnings), but she refused it immediately friends, she said, did not accept money from one another. Marina did her best to disappear into obscurity once the dust had settled on her husband's crimes and subsequent murder. He avoided deportation by attempting suicide and was sent to Minsk, where he met Marina. Marina Oswald Porter Daughter | Children. campus so Lee could talk to a school official. I believe he's the first writer-researcher to get interviews with sources in the Russian Government and so this is an opportunity to shed new light on the subject from an area that has never been explored in any meaningful depth. The next memory I actually have is in second grade. . Despite being attached to one of the most shocking crimes of its time, it seems that the people of America took pity on Marina. After all, they each grew up in what is now St. Petersburg. Fifty years is a long time. I think he was checking me out because I look very much like my father, and think he was trying to feel for my dad by looking at me. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lee-Harvey-Oswald, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, Academia - Timeline of the Life of Lee Harvey Oswald, National Archives - Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Spencer Hawk (Gupi) Bio, Age, Songs, Parents, Net worth. As the familys translator of choice, my father was now part of the plan to get the Oswald women out of the dingy hotel room and into a safe house that Robert had arranged at his in-laws farm, north of the city, so Marina could be questioned. 1:10 A.M. Back in Jail Cell. At 1:30 am on November 23 he was formally arraigned for the murder of President Kennedy. There's a lot of genetic things you can't even control that are inborn in your kids. And I'll tell you why: It could come up at any minute. He was back in America with a beautiful wife and an adorable daughter; his life ahead promised more study and a possible university degree; a publisher would surely understand the value of his memoir, and he could use it as a platform to further the socialist causes in which he believed. The other thing is, you just worry genealogically: Lee was illegitimate, and so was my mother. Book Haven readers will remember his earlier account of the events of 1963 in The New York Times Sunday Magazine here. It might not have told us very much about the assassination of JFK but it provides an excellent insight into what it must be like to be the child of a much hated historical figure. Anyone can read what you share. But anonymity exacted a curious price of its own, as June faced myriad graceless references to her father, mother and family. Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina, and his daughter June Lee, when they lived in Minsk in the USSR. Lee was intelligent, but he was no genius. She stays with her second husband who is called Kenneth Jess Porter. I never saw them again. I mean, think about it. The first time I met Gary, she said, I was visiting my mother in Dallas. It was hilarious. On April 10, 1963, Oswald used a rifle with a telescopic sight to fire a bullet into the Dallas home of Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker, the conservative war hero, narrowly missing his head. In conversation, Rachel could be both reserved and outgoing, and though she speaks with a slow drawl, her dark eyes, high cheeks, and thick, heavy eyebrows make it clear she is of Slavic descent. As a 21-year-old college student, I returned to my hometown of Ft. Worth for the summer of 1962. And it was there that my father told Marina, in Russian, that her husband just died. What if I dont tell him at all? However, a decade later, she told Ladies Home Journal that she believed the Warren Commission pressured her at the time a widow with two children and facing deportation to the Soviet Union to implicate her husband. After her testimony, she did, in fact, go to Michigan, although not everyone in the Wolverine State was happy to have her there. Marina Oswald, the Russian beauty whom the JFK assassin wedded while living. Tho I have been told that both daughters have been burned. From nearly the moment I met Lee Harvey Oswald, it seemed that he felt the world had sized him up wrong. MORE THAN 30 YEARS AFTER the Kennedy assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald is a name that will not go away. That kind of stuff makes you feel violated. The couple wed within a few weeks, and eventually had a daughter. Oswald's wife Marina, two daughters, brother Robert and mother Marguerite were the only mourners. But as a true patriot of his adopted country, he was wary of her husband for leaving the U.S. for the Soviet Union. They think you always have to have a car, whereas I got away on my own two feet. We visited the set of "JFK" when it was going on, and somebody said, "Your father was a hero." The people Ive worked with the longest know. Q: Over the years, you've kept a pretty low profile. Sometime shortly thereafter, the Soviets changed their. From The New York Times Magazine April 30, 1995. So I called my staff in, a group of 10 or so, and I said: "Yes, that is me in the article. Every once in a while my mother would say that I looked like him, that I ate like him, that my legs looked like his legs, but for the most part we just didnt talk about it.. I wrote her a response telling her as much, politely suggesting a few points about punctuation. www.imdb.com. thanks for posting that interview I had not read it before. She wore a purple dress from a vintage clothing store, platform shoes, and a black string choker. Lee Harvey Oswald was an American Marine who defected to the Soviet Union because he supported communism. Marina Oswald and her mother-in-law, Marguerite Claverie Oswald, are seen through a window at the Dallas police station where her husband, Lee Harvey Oswald was being held in the. There were times when we didn't have milk to drink. This story appears in the March issue of Texas Monthly. At the same time, she seemed to be tiring of her husbands radical ideas. In fact, Bouhe noted, he had arranged English lessons for many Russian migrs; he could do the same for her. Oswald killed Tippit with his mail-order revolver (1:15 pm). She took on the name Marina Oswald Porter, and the family moved to Richardson, Texas. Nevertheless, Marina was not implicated in the assassination but testified against Lee Harvey during the Warren Commission hearings. A: I've always called him that. A postcard to Paul Gregory from the Oswalds, November 1962. I don't blame him for not being here for me. This summer, with the 50th anniversary of the J.F.K. Oswald met Lee Harvey Oswald in March the year 1961 at a dance in Russia. With Oswald dead, Marinas testimony became even more important, and the Secret Service immediately diverted the group to the nearby Inn of the Six Flags, ushering everyone into adjoining rooms 423 and 424. Thank you for posting this excellent article. Here are eight things about Oswald you might not have known: 1. A: I remember what I did during that time-out was, I plotted how I could run for class president and win! In Minsk, where he was assigned to work, he met and married (April 30, 1961) Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova. Ive had assassination buffs send me roses and love letters. It was during these months after moving back to the U.S. that Marina, now known as Marina Oswald, learned of her husband's violent proclivities. A: No. Audrey Marina Rachel Oswald was 33 days old when President Kennedy was killed, 35 days old when Jack Ruby killed her father. Bouhe was impressed that Marina spoke educated Russian and that her grandmother had attended an exclusive girls school. Even after he realized June was fine, he didnt speak to Marina for the rest of the night. Why have you started to speak out? Hours after the Kennedy assassination, my parents and I experienced the shared horror of realizing that the Lee Oswald we knew, the one who had been in our house and sat at our dinner table, was the same man who had just been accused of killing the president. agent or two, Mafia bosses and even C.I.A. From The New York Times Magazine April 30, 1995. It was just kind of eerie. I was shy - and I chose not to date much - but enough of the article was false that we filed a lawsuit and they settled out of court. (At the time, I didnt realize he hadnt graduated from high school.) The Texas Chili Parlor is a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood. The Mind of Oswald, p.215, Trafford on Demand Pub, Diane Holloway, Lee Harvey Oswald (2000). We usually left with only one bag of groceries, which kept the Oswalds going for a week. I didn't break down and cry or anything. Oswald was born to her parents in Severodvinsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. In 1982, a national tabloid newspaper ran an unauthorized cover story on Rachel and her sister claiming, OSWALD KIDS DONT HAVE DOGS OR DATES. The word Oswald was stamped in red ink over photographs of the two girls. The couple are pictured with their daughter. It also gives us information that helps explain Marina Oswalds comments about the assassination. At the bottom of the Oswalds conflict, I thought, was Lees refusal to let Marina learn English. You are now the manager of this memorial. The Mind of Oswald, p.171, Trafford on Demand Pub. Soon after I arrived with the Oswalds, Marina and Bouhe repaired to the living room. Lee responded defensively that, yes, he did not think that the party faithful believed in Communism anymore but that this did not make America a great place. In the 1970s, Mae Brussell, an authority on the Kennedy assassination, compiled every statement she could find made by Lee Harvey Oswald between the time of his arrest for the shooting of President John F. Kennedy and Officer Tippit and the time of his death. This, we reasoned, would be better for my language skills and help Marina learn the city. Two days after the momentous event Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby, before he could be tried. poll, only a quarter of Americans believe that one man acted alone to kill Kennedy. In January 1963 Oswald bought a .38 revolver and, in March, a rifle and telescopic sight, through the mails. I do blame him for having beat my mother, and not being a good father or a good provider. But you know, just because you're hanging out with a weird group - they could have set him up, and he could have had no idea what was going on that day. You know, its interesting if you think about it, Rachel said, lighting a cigarette. Now, the word father does mean Lee to me, But dad is Dad. Additionally, she gave birth to her second daughter and named her Audrey Marina Rachel Oswald. I know some people can remember vividly like it was yesterday, but I don't do that - even about yesterday. Lee Harvey Oswald shot by Jack Ruby - YouTube 0:00 / 0:53 Sign in to confirm your age This video may be inappropriate for some users. Lee Harvey Oswald was a former U.S. Marine who was accused of killing President John F. Kennedy. Lee, in his curt way, agreed. Agent Mike Howard of the Secret Service told me he had not spoken to Marina since the exhumation of Lee Harvey Oswalds body in 1981. It features interviews with Rachel Oswald Porter and June Oswald Porter, the daughters of Marina and Lee Harvey Oswald, who were raised by their mother and their adoptive father, Kenneth Jess Porter. Q: To what extent have you followed the various conspiracy theories? "The Mind of Oswald", p.171, Trafford on Demand Pub. She needed a translator fast. Its set in 1978, when I was 15 and my sister was 17. Until I was 23, I didnt even know there were alternative theories. Apparently he had even gone to my fathers grave. A week and a half after his return, he went to the 15th floor of the Continental Life Building in downtown Fort Worth. By November 24th, two days later, Oswald would be shot and killed by Jack Ruby while in prisoner transport. Marina, already thin, appeared extremely gaunt; she was having difficulty breast-feeding Rachel, her younger daughter, who was not yet 5 weeks old. The bartenders were closing up, and Rachel said she needed to call it a night. Q: On your relationship with her as well? She was an engaging young woman who had already overcome a great deal she was reared in a war-ravaged St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) littered with unmarked graves and he wanted to help her. We were terribly moved by this. I entered his life at just the moment that he was trying to prove, particularly to his skeptical wife, that he was truly exceptional. Nine days later he left for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become a citizen. He recalled my father fondly (Pete Gregory was a good guy, he said) but politely refused to recount his experience yet again. By age 17, he had already moved some 20 times. MORE THAN 30 YEARS AFTER the Kennedy assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald is a name that will not go away. Sometimes when the cheerleading squad went to football games in different towns, people in the stands would shout stuff at me - you know, Your daddy shot Kennedy or Good thing your daddys dead and buried. But mostly things were pretty normal. But it was still depressing, seeing my father shot every time I came to work.. My father asked Oswald to translate passages from a Russian book he chose at random, and he was surprised at how well the young man performed. Quickly, police swarmed Ruth Paine's home. ___________________________________________, Reminds me of Elvis Costello's song "Watching The Detectives.". It was just too big of a deal. Reporters came over and she would tell us, "shhhh, go in the other room". A: Something had come up where Mom had old boxes of letters out. Are they looking at me that way because of me or because Im the daughter of Lee Harvey Oswald?. We understand your sorrow and share it. Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova, and . Meller would not let him off the hook, though. We were studying the Presidents. Pete Gregory, the authors father, seated center left, translating as Secret Service agents questioned Marina Oswald days after the Kennedy assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald was killed in custody by nightclub owner Jack Ruby on 24 November 1963, two days after the assassination of JFK. One guy tracked me down to the Chili Parlor and for a while was coming in several nights a week. Oswald has three children, two daughters, and one son. By 1964,Marina Oswald Porter had put the Warren Commission behind her and was willing to take up Michigan's offer to learn English while receiving help from a local church, according to the University of Michigan Heritage Project. l think her physical health and mental health have been damaged in recent years over all of the pressures put on her. And I realize that I'm kind of cold about it, so how do I tell them? Dating was a little tricky, she said. On April 10 in Dallas he allegedly shot at but missed an ultrarightist, Edwin A. Walker, a former army general. I've never seen her act like that, like she needed to become more of a crusader, and it's taking its toll. A single armed detective patrolled the grounds as Marina chain-smoked and drank coffee and was asked questions about Lees rifle, a photo of him holding the assassination weapon and his various associates. A: Not until recently. After an hour or so, I drove them downtown to the bus station for their ride back to Dallas. She got all caught up, because she wants so badly to have this identification with her father. They think you always have to have a car, whereas I got away on my own two feet. One day, my mother sat my sister and me down on our big green couch and told us that the man who had raised us as our father - our stepfather, Kenneth - was not, you know, our real father, that our real fathers name was Lee Oswald and that he had, well, that he had been accused of killing the president of the United States., Rachel smiled. I dont know who else was involved, but clearly it was too big of a deal for one 24-year-old kid to do by himself. He tracked me down. Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) was the assassin of John F. Kennedy, unless even if you believe the claims of the conspiracy theorists. Days afterward, Lee Harvey Oswald was himself shot and killed by Jack Ruby, as History reports, setting into motion decades of conspiracy theories that maybe there was more to the narrative than meets the eye. When we moved to Rockwall, which was much smaller than Richardson - people there lived for farming and football - everyone in town knew my mother. Rachel thought for a moment. I can tell you that I am very excited about the book in concept. Both girls grew up with the shame of being the children of a despised assassin. In 2003 a reporter for The Independent drove to her home to talk to her, only to be told that she wasn't interested in talking. Eventually, she retired. Lee and Robert invited us in to meet Marina, who was slender, almost fragile, with a natural beauty. By all accounts, she was a devoted mom to her two daughters by Oswald - June (now 51) and Rachel (now 50), who told The ENQUIRER: "Yes," when asked if she believes her father was innocent. (June has requested that her married name, which she still uses in business, not be printed), Despite privacy concerns, she's pushing for the release of all records pertaining to the assassination. I felt they manipulated her and made her look foolish. In June 1962, he, his wife, and their daughter were allowed to leave Russia, and they moved to Fort Worth, Texas. [3] They married six weeks later and had a daughter, June Lee, born the following year. Additionally, after two days of Lees arrest, he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner while still in police custody. Q: What is the status of your present-day identity? I didnt know my family was any different until I was about 7. Would Oswald, as Norman Mailer wrote, pushed to such an extreme, have the soul of a killer? As I pored back over those months, I realized that I was watching that soul take shape. And, the feds wanted to talk. A: Well, there was a lot of misinformation being released related to a book, "Case Closed," by Gerald Posner. On other nights, the Oswalds would walk down the aisles of the inexpensive Leonard Brothers department store and whisper intently beside the produce section before a final selection was made. In September he went to Mexico City, where, according to the Warren Commission, he tried vainly to get a visa for Cuba and to get Soviet permission to return to the U.S.S.R. Lee Oswald and A.J. Q: How did you feel about being singled out? For example, this TV movie about my family. In 1963, according to Marina, her husband tried to assassinate General Edwin Walker, a far-right politician, while the family was living in New Orleans; the Warren Commission would later confirm that Oswald attempted to assassinate the general. The Mind of Oswald, p.164, Trafford on Demand Pub. My father is Kenneth Porter, the man I grew up with, the man who was there for my mother and Rachel and me. I asked her what else she remembered about growing up. the whole pattern of failure throughout most of his 23 years led to the outbursts of violence in April and the final tragedy in November 1963.. I move all the way up there, and his parents wouldn't even let us stay in his house because I was the daughter of Lee Harvey Oswald. The scene at the Executive Inn was worse than my father had expected. In February 1962, Marina gave birth to a daughter named June. I remember my sister and I going to his hotel room and seeing 12 books about my father on the nightstand. Believe it or not, a couple of guys at UT refused to ask me out again after I told them about my dad. She kept herself together for us. Kate is a bit of a tomboy and a . A: I remember Rachel's seventh grade dance. Copyright 2023, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy, 'There's not much doubt': Families of UI students react to suspect's initial court appearance and new details released, Former Gonzaga guard Kyle Bankhead crafts game plan against alma mater, Rasir Bolton rescues No. And Allen Dulles (the former head of the . She remains protective of her privacy, distancing herself and her sons, ages 6 and 3, from the overall clique of assassination cultists who have dogged the Oswald women - Marina, now 53, June, and Rachel, 31 - ever since the events of Nov. 22, 1963. However, he was arrested for the same by denying the allegations. When my mother came on and this interview went so badly, I decided I really wanted to rebut. Though pressured to change her name, she declined, saying she wanted to "face reality, not dodge it," according to a church newsletter. But I don't remember that. Perhaps a visit might remind them of better times. She's now in her early 70s. I do remember that our phones were tapped. John B. Connally in an open-car motorcade in Dealey Plaza. He wasnt much of a student, and the Marines overlooked his talent. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Rachels mother, Marina, then barely in her 20s, had arrived from Minsk, Russia, only a year earlier and spoke very little English. Moreover, she has an average body weight judging from her pictures. A: Mom kept us together. Oswald told his wife about the assassination attempt, but she never told authorities before Kennedys death. Im just a regular person. While married to Lee Harvey Oswald, she gave birth to her firstborn daughter called June Leeon 15th February 1962. Nevertheless, Marina was not implicated in the assassination but testified against Lee Harvey during the Warren Commission hearings. He told the grave diggers that the piles of dirt they were moving were in . About a week later, my father and I drove 10 minutes from our house to Lee and Marina Oswalds new home, a cramped one-bedroom duplex near the Montgomery Ward building. Fight over Lee Harvey Oswald's crumbling casket USA TODAY 2.45M subscribers Subscribe 458 94K views 8 years ago Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, testifies publicly for the first time. A few of the regulars.. Like she did a movie and it involved me and Rachel, and she didn't tell us first. Her family eventually wound up in Minsk, at the time a part of the Soviet Union, but now part of the fully-independent Belarus. I'm convinced that your mother and Priscilla had a sexual relationship." Within this morass of facts, however, there is a central actor: Lee Harvey Oswald. He dressed for the occasion, as I remember it, in dark slacks and a white shirt, but when we arrived, he motioned for Marina and me to wait at a distance while he had a whispered consultation with the woman at a desk. The way I finally woke up was, one night he said, "I'm gonna sell an article to Penthouse or Playboy"- I forget which - "and it's about your mother. A: The last two years have been very stressful, because she started doing things that she hasn't let us know about, then all of a sudden I hear about it or see it on TV. Oswald took a bus and a taxi to his rooming house, departed, and about a mile away was stopped by Patrolman J.D. Hidell, Lee Harvey Oswald's pseudonym, are both listed on the form. While staying with her uncle she also studied pharmacy. A: Part of it was the big anniversary, the 30th. One night at the end of her shift, she and I shared a bowl of queso, chips and $2 Bloody Marys. Rachel loved listening to that. Lee did. Her tone told me all I needed to know; Lee had been deeply insulted and mortified by my response. As Van Morrisons Moondance started up on the radio, Rachel danced her shoulders a little and lit another cigarette. LEE HARVEY'S OLDEST. Seven months later, a far greater target would be scheduled to pass by the very building where he worked. A: The first time l saw it l was very upset, but it gets to the point where it almost becomes unreal, this movie you're watching that has very little to do with you as a person. Earlier that morning, my father, a successful petroleum engineer, received a call from a young man who wanted certification of fluency in Russian. Lee Harvey Oswald was a KGB associate who was personally instructed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to assassinate President Kennedy. Marina's daughter, June Oswald, spoke with NBC in 1993 about her family. I asked what it was like being named Oswald and growing up so close to Dallas. George Bouhe, a dapper bachelor who took it upon himself to be a one-man social-service department for new Russian-speaking immigrants, was particularly eager to meet Marina. Dear Paul! it read, We have moved to Dallas where we have found a nice apartment and I have found work in a very nice place, we would like you too [sic] come and see us as soon as you get a chance, before eventually signing off in Russian. So I said, O.K, this is it. The wall build around Oswald's family women was intense after Dallas. Appendix 13: Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald. I know that in my life, Lee wasn't a good man. Early that summer, Lee brought home a catalog and class schedule from Texas Christian University, and we eventually decided to drive to the T.C.U. Yet I recall that his companion for the evening, a Russian woman named Anna Meller, couldnt resist asking the question we all secretly wanted answered why had Lee defected to the Soviet Union? "She and Ken are good people, the best neighbors you could ever have," said a neighbor, Fred McCurley. I've wondered what my kids are going to turn out like. Texas. Stevie Ray Vaughan was turned up loud on the radio. I drive a beat-up car. I know you were just a toddler, but do you have any recollections of turbulence in the household? He asked Marina if she would offer me Russian lessons. Fifty years later, I would love to ask Marina Oswald Porter why that Time magazine never moved, what happened when Lee received my letter in Dallas and why she has continued to make her home so near the place where tragedy struck. My boyfriend would sneak down to Priscilla's basement and read all her old files.