In my study of the case, one particular thing that started to grab my attention was how Lee Oswald and his wife and child lived during the summer of and early fall of 1963. From July 22 till October 14, Oswald, under the official history, was unemployed during this time. His only source of income was several months of unemployment checks, which amounted to $336. Cash on-hand at the time he was fired from the Reily Coffee Company $202.75. With this meager amount of money, the Oswalds are expected to pay rent and utilities, buy groceries, and then finance all of Lee’s pursuits such as printing FPFC pamphlets, pay one person to help hand them out, pay court costs after his arrest, finance a round trip ticket to Mexico City and five nights at a hotel, and finally, pay the hospital and doctor bills for the birth of his second daughter Rachel.
Oddly, when the Warren Commission compiled this listing of Oswald’s income and expenses they totally ignored the birth of the second daughter Rachel, born on the night of October 10, 1963. That would probably have been their biggest expense with doctor and hospital bills. Yet it is completely ignored. Who paid those bills? Did Oswald have enough money left over from the Mexico trip to afford it? The Warren Report accounting has Oswald with $129.76 after the trip and he received his last unemployment payment of $39.00 in early October before the baby’s birth for a total of $168.76. Was that enough? Did Ruth Paine offer to pay the bills, or at least chip in? George de Mohrenschildt would be a good source but he and his wife left for Haiti in June of 1963 so they most likely would not have been involved. Brother Robert was gainfully employed, did he provide help? I have never read any other source regarding the medical bills for the birth of that child how they were paid.
Oswald’s tax returns are a spotty record. His income tax returns for 1956, 1958, 1959, 1962, and 1963 were released by the HSCA in 1978 (180-10110-10130). His tax return from 1957 has never been released and incredibly, the IRS told the Warren Commission that it could not be found.
Oswald filed no tax returns for the years of 1960 and 1961 while in the USSR. This would have been against the law today, since all American citizens living and working abroad must file a return but only since 1962. Oswald claimed during this period to have renounced his U.S. citizenship but that was just a ruse; he didn’t file the proper paperwork (with all things government related, one has to fill out a form, which he failed to do) and his PassPort file at the State Department was not flagged. Records show that upon his return to the U.S. in June of 1962 he and his wife were virtually penniless. He required a State Department loan to pay for the trip home and got a loan of $200 from his brother Robert and $10 from his mother. While in the USSR his income was greater than the factory manager in Minsk. Where did that money go? Was the exchange rate between the Ruble and the Dollar great enough to devalue his Russian earnings?
It appears the Commission decided to focus solely on the 1962-63 time period, including the summer of 1963, a time in Oswald’s life when he was the least employed. Perhaps it was the easiest accounting method of Oswald’s financial dealings. Or perhaps it was because the Commission was solely dependent upon the FBI, CIA and so on, for evidence and had no independent investigators assigned to the investigation. They could only deal with what they were provided and then there was much they were not provided with.
Remarkably, when his widow Marina went to apply for survivor’s benefits from the Social Security Administration, she was only allowed two years–1962 and 1963. Curiously, all of his other working years from the teenage years through his three years in the Marines were ignored. What is being covered up here? An interesting thing to ponder as we search Oswald’s background. Another circumstantial fact in a possible career as an operative?
The accounting does not include Oswald buying any bullets. He’ll need a clip as well. Nothing of this is documented.
All of the accounting for Oswald’s trip to Mexico City was estimated. Odd considering the FBI down there investigating the matter. It may have been that the Commission didn’t have that information at the time of publication. Director Hoover was annoyed with the Commission‘s work and often delayed handing over documents.
Nevertheless, it appears Oswald was doing things that he may not have had the money for. If so, what was the other source? The Commission debated stories of Oswald being an FBI informant. Perhaps that was a source of his finances, one we are not allowed to know.
