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Claiming that his ii*other was ill and needed
his help, he applied for, and received, a hardship
discharge from the Marines in September, 1959,
and was assigned to the Marine Corps inactive
Reserve; but instead of going home to his mother,
he boarded a ship for the Soviet Union, with
$1600 he had somehow acquired. This was a
move he had been preparing for during his last
two years in the Marines. He arrived in Moscow
on October 15, 1959, and told American reporters
there that it was like getting out of prison. Soon
after his arrival, he petitioned the Supreme Soviet
for Soviet citizenship.
Although Russian officials warned him that
Soviet citizenship was not easy to obtain, Oswald
referred to the Soviet government as "my govern-
ment" and said "even if I am not accepted, on no
account will I go back to the United States."(2)
On October 30, 1959, he went to the American
Embassy in Moscow to renounce his American
citizenship. He told officials he was a marxist.(1)
On November 2, 1959, Oswald formally asked
the U. S. Government to revoke his citizenship.
He signed an affidavit stating:
"I affirm that my allegiance is to the Soviet
Socialist Republic."(3)
Oswald was bitter because the United States
Consul in Moscow suggested that he "think over"
his decision to take an oath renouncing American
citizenship. He turned in his passport to Embassy
officials and left, saying he would let the Soviet
government handle legal details when, and if, he
became a citizen of the Soviet Union.
Upon hearing of Oswald's defection, the Ma-
rine Corps gave him an undesirable discharge
from the Marine Reserve. When word of this
reached Oswald in Russia, he wrote a letter to
John Connally, Secretary of the Navy, saying:
"I shall employ all means to right this gross
mistake or injustice to a bonafide U. S. citizen
and ex-serviceman."(4)
Connally, who had just resigned to run for
Governor of Texas, turned Oswald's letter over
to his successor, Fred Korth-^ and no action was
taken.
In April, 1961, Oswald met Marina Nicholaev-
na Proosakova, a hospital worker in Minsk. After
six weeks, they were married in a state ceremony.
In January, 1962, Oswald, still in Minsk, wrote
Senator John G. Tower (Republican, Texas),
claiming that he, a United States citizen, was
being held in Russia against his will, and asking
Tower to intercede. Tower did not intercede. He
merely sent Oswald's letter to the State Depart-
ment.
In February, 1962, Oswald wrote the U. S.
Embassy in Moscow, asking for a passport to
return to the United States: Russian authorities
had not accepted his request for citizenship, and
Oswald refused to stay in the Soviet Union as a
resident alien.
For reasons not yet made public, the U. S.
Embassy in Moscow (acting on orders from the
State Department) on May 24, 1962, renewed
Oswald's passport, and amended it to include an
infant daughter (born in February of that year) ;
gave Oswald's Russian wife a non-quota visa to
enter the United States; and advanced Oswald
$435.71 for travel expenses back to America.(5)
Oswald and his family arrived in the United
States at the Port of New York on June 13,
1962.(5) During the late summer of 1962, he alleg-
edly was in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, calling
on non-communist refugees, seeking their help in
finding employment. None would have anything
to do with him, because they feared him as a
dedicated communist. They feared that Oswald
was trying to get information about them for the
Soviet secret police — which is known to operate
in the United States, under United Nations
cover.(fi)
Early in 1963, Oswald was in New Orleans,
where he became active (under the name of A. J.
Hidell) in the Fair Play For Cuba Committee.
This organization was founded in New York in
I960 to support Fidel Castro. According to the
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