(Testimony of John E. Donovan)
Mr. Donovan.
of a given situation, listen to that officer's explanation, and say, "Thank you very much."
As soon as we were alone again, he would say, "Do you agree with that?"
In many cases it was obvious that the officer had no more idea about that than he did about the polo races---or polo matches in Australia.
And Oswald would then say, "Now, if men like that are leading us, there is something wrong--when I obviously have more intelligence and more knowledge than that man."
And I think his grave misunderstanding that I tried to help him with is that these men were Marine officers and supposed to be schooled in the field of warfare as the Marine Corps knows it, and not as international political analysts. And in some respects he Was probably better informed than most people in the Marine Corps, namely, on international affairs.
Mr. Ely.
Do you remember any specific international events or situations which he questioned officers about?
Mr. Donovan.
No; not particularly.
I know that Cuba interested him more than most other situations. He was fairly well informed about Mr. Batista. He referred to atrocities in general, not in particular. I think that we all know that there were injustices committed under the Batista administration. And he was against that. And he was against this sort of dictatorship.
But I never heard him in any way, shape or form confess that he was a Communist, or that he ever thought about being a Communist.
Mr. Ely.
Did you hear him express sympathy for Castro specifically?
Mr. Donovan.
Yes--but, on the other hand, so did Time Magazine at that time. Harvard accepted him de facto, at face value which is one of our better schools, I suppose. At any rate, what he said about Castro was not an unpopular belief at that time.
Mr. Ely.
What did he say?
Mr. Donovan.
I don't recall any particulars, except that it was a godsend that somebody had overthrown Batista.
Mr. Ely.
Did he ever express to you any desire that he personally would take part in clearing up injustices, either in Cuba or anywhere else?
Mr. Donovan.
He not only never said it to me, I never heard of him saying it to anyone else.
Mr. Ely.
Based on your observation of men throughout your military career, would you say that Oswald constituted a typical case of someone whose interests were different from the rest of the enlisted men? Do you think that his loneliness, his desire to be alone, exceeded that or would you say it was a more or less normal thing for somebody interested in other things?
Mr. Donovan.
Most young men in the Marine Corps, I suppose in all services, have the common bond that they want to get out. He certainly shared that common bond with them. I think that was his only common bend. I don't believe he shared an equal interest in sports. I don't think he shared an equal intense interest in girls. And although I believe he drank, sometimes to excess, I don't believe that he shared even that companionship with them consistently.
Mr. Ely.
You mentioned that the sort of unit with which you were associated was one that drew enlisted men of a higher intellectual caliber. For this reason, were there men in the unit who shared Oswald's interests, or even given this he was still the only one interested in serious reading?
Mr. Donovan.
Not that I know of. But as I have told both the FBI and the Secret Service, he had living in his barracks a boy whose name I am sorry I cannot remember, whose nickname was Beezer.
Mr. Ely.
Would the man's name be Roussel?
Mr. Donovan.
That is it. He was from Louisiana, I believe. And this boy fixed me up with his sister who was an airline stewardess. I took her out on one occasion, I believe that this boy was at least interested enough in Oswald that he fixed Oswald up with her once. And she related to me that he could speak Russian, which I had heard before. And she referred to him as kind of an oddball. You probably have her name and can talk to her.
Mr. Ely.
Was her name Rosaleen Quinn?
Would that ring a bell? You don't remember?
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