Oswald's Tale by Norman Mailer Page B

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. 1

    Oct. 31. 2 o’clock.
    A knock. A reporter by the name of Goldstene wants an interview. I’m flabbergasted. “How did you find out?” “The Embassy called us,” he said. I send him away. I sit and realize this is one way to bring pressure on me by notifying my relations in the U.S. through the newspapers. They would say, “It’s for the public record.”
    A half hour later, another reporter, Miss Mosby, comes. I answer a few quick questions after refusing an interview. I am surprised at the interest. I refuse all calls without finding out [first] who it’s from. I feel nonplussed because of the attention.

    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 . . . did apply for Soviet citizenship while in Moscow [and] was interviewed by me to renounce his American citizenship. I did not, in accordance with the thinking 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 . . . rather rapid denouement, when the Soviet authorities, after having looked him over for a number of weeks, decided that they did not want him as a citizen or resident of the Soviet Union . . . we subsequently learned . . . that Mr. Petrulli had been discharged from the Armed Forces . . . [with] a 100-percent mental disability [and] the head of the consular section of the Soviet Foreign Ministry called me into the Foreign Ministry one day and said [that] Mr. Petrulli has overstayed his visa in the Soviet Union . . . 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, [the State Department decided] that Mr. Petrulli’s renunciation was null and void because he was not competent . . . and we shipped him home.
    The Petrulli case, as I say, was very much in my mind when Mr. Oswald showed up. 2

    November 1
    More reporters. Three phone calls from brother and mother. Now I feel slightly exhilarated, not so lonely.

    REPRESENTATIVE FORD. Was [Oswald] satisfied or dissatisfied with the result of his conference with you?
    MR. SNYDER. I think he was dissatisfied, if anything . . . It is quite possible that this was to be his big moment on the stage of history as far as he was concerned. He may have contemplated this for some time . . . as he said—and thus my refusal at that time may have been a hurdle which he was totally unprepared for . . . 3

4
    What’s My News?
    He still didn’t know whether he could remain in the country. They were deliberating. To Rimma, his situation began to seem bad. He had no money. At the Metropole Hotel, it was no longer Deluxe for him like at the Berlin Hotel, but still, he had a good room. Only now it was cold. Not winter, not yet snow, but cold outside. No tour, no sightseeing, no money for food, and who should pay for his hotel?
    She went to Rosa, and both of them talked about the poor condition of his clothing to Alexander, who approved a purchase in GUM department store of one good hat. Lee Harvey Oswald liked it very much and tried to hug Rimma and Rosa and kiss them. He was very happy. Affectionate, yes, yes, emotional. And Alexander had no fear of buying this hat, because, certainly, he would report it.
             
    From Tachikawa