Part 3 of the 1963 SS interview of Marguerite Oswald. She has much to say about Ruth Paine

[Denis Morissette]

The parts concerning Ruth Paine have been forwarded to her. Hopefully, we’ll get her reaction.

 

 

[Paul Brancato]

Astounding interview. 

[James DiEugenio]

Interesting how Life Magazine could pay 150,000 for a film that they never allowed the public to see, but they could not pay for a story from the alleged assassin's mother.

Secondly, FBI agent Bardwell Odum is all over this case in Dallas.  He must have been Shanklin and Hoover's trusted boy.

Ruth was right at the start picturing Oswald as the loner.  And eager to talk to the press about it.

[Denis Morissette]

I met with Oldum in 1994. Unfortunately, I didn’t know enough back then to ask him about the photo. 

[Max Good]

This appears to directly contradict Ruth's story.  Here's what she told me about the Life magazine photographer (Allan Grant) who came to the Paine house:

 

 

 

Quote

A: Yes. He telephoned twice on Saturday. And the first call, he was asking me to contact a lawyer named John Abt, I think in New York, and gave me a phone number. And I was really quite surprised that he was asking anything of me at this point and I was not terribly keen on doing anything for him, but I thought, "Yeah, he needs representation. He should have a lawyer." And so I said I would call. I did, but I didn't get any good answer. I mean, it just rang.  And then he called again later in the evening just to speak to Marina because he didn't know where she was. And I said, "Well, she's not here." And he said, "Oh, she should be there so I can talk to her." Well, that didn't go very far because... Made me wonder if I could figure out where Marina was. So, I realized that they had left... When Marina left with her mother-in-law, who had come to the house after we were all at the police station on Friday, her mother... Her mother-in-law, that is... His mother, Marguerite, lived in Fort Worth and she didn't drive, didn't have a car. She sort of negotiated a chance to stay with me overnight and, unbeknownst to me, invited some LIFE people to come along and that's why there are pictures. That's why this picture exists, is because Marguerite invited this photographer to come to the house and this picture was taken as we were getting ready to go. They were getting ready to go in to try to see Lee at the police station and I expected her to come back that evening, but she did not. And so I called the hotel that the LIFE Magazine reporter said he was in and asked for Tommy Thompson, and Marguerite Oswald answered the phone. And I said, "I'd like to talk to Marina." And no, she wouldn't let me talk to Marina. And I said, "Well, Lee called. He was wanting to be able to speak with her."  And Marguerite Oswald said, "Well, we can't be too concerned about what Lee wants at this point, can we?" I thought, "Oh boy." So, that call didn't go anywhere and then I didn't know where she was moved to later. But, that's a record we wouldn't otherwise have of that Saturday morning and the night before. He took a picture of the night before as well.

 

 

[Joe Bauer]

As much as I have always assumed Marguerite Oswald was an overbearing pill, she was absolutely right and logical in her expressed views of what was going on with Life magazine, Ruth Paine, Marina's translator interviewer and Odom.

Everything Marina was sharing, everything Lee Oswald hating Ruth Paine was blabbing just hours after Lee's arrest and everything Marina's interpreter was eliciting from Marina could and would be used against Lee in so many ways.

And I totally agree with M. Oswald in regards to her asking for some "real compensation" for her and Marina from a huge private profit making media company like Life Magazine for giving them any personal information about Lee and themselves, which they would and then did use to sell millions of copies of their magazine those first few weeks.

I couldn't stand to be around Oswald's mother myself, but she was trying to control an absolutely out-of-control pressured interview situation with no legal help for Marina, herself and especially Lee through all this.

She was right in this.

It was cringing to hear how Ruth Paine immediately gave unfettered access to the media into her home and to Marina and shared so much about Lee to them, just hours after Lee's arrest. As Momma Oswald correctly stated while overhearing many of Ruth Paine's comments to the Life Magazine reporters, Ruth was giving out certain important information about Lee that simply wasn't true.

If people want to criticize Marguerite for mentioning compensation while being asked to share her and Marina's and Lee personal stories, what could be more greedy money minded than Abraham Zapruder's immediate demand for huge compensation from Life Magazine for his film and which he received what ... $150,000 for? ( equivalent to 1 MILLION dollars today! )

Marguerite had a much more Lee and Marina protective perspective in her responses to so much pressure from outsiders to elicit information without legal council and that's exactly what someone should have been doing.

My take on Ruth Paine's welcoming all comers  ( almost cheerfully? ) into her home and openly and immediately sharing personal information about Marina and Lee is that she was doing the opposite of what someone who truly had the best legal protection interests of Marina and Lee in mind would be doing.

Maybe Ruth was relieved to think that Marina would finally be freed from the burdens of being married to a man Ruth felt was a complete and maybe even abusive loser. A man she herself personally hated?

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Joe Bauer