Mr. Gregory.

No.

Mr. Liebeler.

Would it be fair to say, Mr. Gregory, that it was through Oswald's contact with you that he subsequently made the association with and contact with the other members of the Russian community in Dallas and Fort Worth?

Mr. Gregory.

I think that would be a fair statement, yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

I have no more questions.

The Chairman.

Congressman?

Representative Ford.

I have one more, Mr. Gregory.
I believe Marina has testified when she first met Lee Harvey Oswald it was approximately 17 months after he had arrived in the Soviet Union. She testified, also, that she could not tell whether he was a native born resident of the Soviet Union or a foreigner by the way he spoke.

Mr. Gregory.

Yes.

Representative Ford.

Is that unusual?

Mr. Gregory.

Well, frankly, I don't know. You see, Congressman, the city of Minsk is what we call, they call it, not we call, they call it in the White Russia Republic. You know they called this the Union of Republics, you know, in the White Russian Republic, and Minsk, I guess, is the capital of it.
It is fairly close to Poland, and there are all sorts of people, Poles, Lithuanians, probably Latvians, that lived in that part of the country, and none of those people speak pure Russian.
Now, whether she had reference, whether that had anything to do with her statement--

Representative Ford.

Her observations?

Mr. Gregory.

Right; I don't know.
Now, I thought that Lee Oswald spoke with a Polish accent, that is why I asked him if he was of Polish descent.

Representative Ford.

But leaving--

Mr. Gregory.

But, otherwise, I would say it would be rather unusual, rather unusual for a person who lived in the Soviet Union for 17 months that he would speak so well that a native Russian would not be sure whether he was born in that country or not.

Representative Ford.

That would be a very unusual kind of a person?

Mr. Gregory.

It would be, yes.

Representative Ford.

Or a person who had unusual training?

Mr. Gregory.

Right, or unusual ability or training, yes, that is right.

Representative Ford.

That is all, Mr. Chairman.

The Chairman.

Thank you very much, Mr. Gregory. You have been very helpful.
(Whereupon, at 1 p.m., the President's Commission recessed.)

The Chairman.

Monday, March 16, 1964

Testimony of Comdr. James J. , Comdr. J. Thornton Humes

The Chairman.

The President's Commission met at 2 p.m. on March 16, 1964, at 200 Maryland Avenue NE., Washington, D.C.
Present were Chief Justice Earl Warren, Chairman; Senator John Sherman Cooper, Representative Gerald R. Ford, John J. McCloy, and Allen W. Dulles, members.
Also present were J. Lee Rankin, general counsel; Francis W. H. Adams, assistant counsel; Norman Redlich, assistant counsel; Arlen Specter, assistant counsel; and Charles Murray, observer.

Comdr. James J. Humes