Oswald arrived in New York on the 13th of June 1962, to a country he abandoned when he was nineteen for life in the Soviet Union.
Oswald was in the immediate period of his arrival focused on avoiding any media attention. At one point Oswald’s mother joked about writing a book, which made Oswald furious and warned his mother of terrible repercussions against Marina and her family from the Soviets if she did any such thing.
Oswald’s return did not go unnoticed and on the 26th of June 1962, Oswald was interviewed by the FBI (Special agent John W. Fain). In the course of the interview it became clear that Oswald would not talk about any of his activities in the Soviet Union, he even went as far as to deny ever having any anti-American sentiments. Oswald denied having any contact with the KGB and refused to take a lie detector to prove his innocence.
Marine Oswald was also in contact with the Soviet Embassy, at a glance her contacts might have seemed standard procedure for a citizen living in a new country, however as the letter was direct to Vitaliy Gerasimov, who was known to be a KGB paymaster at the embassy. Marinas private correspondence with a friend (Ella Soboleva) was traced back by the CIA to a suspected KGB officer Igor Pavel Sobolev
Coincidence or not?
Privately Oswald spoke critical of the Soviet system, in what one friend, Peter Gregory, thought were rehearsed speeches on the failures of Soviet communism. Oswald was however not consistent in his behavior, he would identify himself as a Trotskyite while at the same time he ordered copies of Pravda and Izvestia two papers that were strict party papers.
So why would he want Soviet party newspapers? Could it be part of the tradecraft, codes with instructions?
Oswald purposely alienated himself from his family while at the same time befriended the white Russian community. A person of particular interest is George De Mohrenschildt.
De Mohrenschildt’s had also come under the suspicion of the FBI, both before and after WW2, and was even linked to the KGB when working in Cuba and Venezuela after the war. In the summer of 1960, De Mohrenschildt traveled secretly to Mexico city with his wife and was not seen for almost a year when tin April 1961 they turn up in Guatemala near the Brigade 2506 training locations.
De Mohrenschildt’s relationship with Oswald is rather peculiar, as is the manner in which he met the Oswald’s. He claimed once that he was introduced by Lawrence Orlov, an oil speculator, this has however been denied by Orlov.
For unknown reason he started to spread rumors that Oswald’s marriage was falling apart and tried to get Marina to stay with several other people.
De Mohrenschildt’s motives are not clear, but his links to the Soviets and his disappearing act to Mexico and Guatemala in the midst of the Bay of Pigs invasion does hint to a KGB connection.
Could Mohrenschildt have been “running” Oswald?
In this period Oswald renewed his Marxists activisms and ordered the Carcano rifle, under the alias A. J. Hidell. This is the rifle which he supposedly used later to assassinate President Kennedy and in the assassination attempt of General Walker (a right wing ex-General who was living in Texas).
According to testimony of Marina Oswald, De Mohrenschildt, asked Oswald directly after the missed assassination of Walker: “Lee, How did you miss Walker?”
De Mohrenschildt, has later explained this statement that he at this point knew that Oswald hated Walker and had a gun. However in a memoir furnished to the HSCA in 1979 by his wife – He does not even think that Oswald was capable of killing anyone. Quite a contrast to the version he furnished to the Warren Commission in which he paints Oswald as a kid and not a friend.
De Mohrenschildt is definitely a strange character with even stranger connections that smell KGB a long way
