ALS signed “Your Brother, Lee,” one page, 5.5 x 8, January 5, 1962. Handwritten letter to his brother, Robert Oswald, sent from Minsk while living as an expatriate in the Soviet Union. In full: "Well, I've been told that we'll get our visa's about the 1st of February if everything goes quickly. If we do get our visa's we should arrive in the U.S. before the 1st of March. All of this of course may change any way the Soviets like it to change. We spent the New Year at some friend's place, I had wanted to call you on New Year's Eve, but since they are going to grant our visa's soon I thought I'd wait a month or so and maybe we'll get to see each other. I really do not trust these people, so I shall wait untill I'm in the U.S. before I become overjoyed. It's quite cold here, about 10 below zero in a wet climate. We received your card, thanks a lot for the thought. When we do leave we shall leave by plane from Moscow to N.Y. I really don't know how I'll feel to be back in the States. Write soon." Includes the original hand-addressed airmail envelope, 6 x 4.5, addressed by Lee Harvey Oswald to his brother, "USA, Fort Worth, Texas, 7313 Davanport St., Mr. R. Oswald," adding his surname and return address in Cyrillic at the lower left. In fine condition.
This was Warren Commission Exhibit No. 313, and is illustrated in the Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XVI; it is also quoted in The Mind of Oswald by Diane Holloway, who observes that the letter 'showed ambivalence about returning to America. He rarely admitted his feelings to anyone, probably to avoid criticism, and this comment shows how much he trusted his brother at this point. His brother was probably his only real confidante during this period...Whether this ambivalence was about his marital, political, financial or work potential in the United States was unstated.'
Less than two years after defecting to the Soviet Union, Oswald completely reversed his stance and decided to return to the United States with his new, then-pregnant wife, Marina. Having secured his US Passport, Oswald has spent the preceding months awaiting approval from the Soviet government for his and Marina's exit visas. As the arduous process dragged on, he even wrote to Senator John Tower of Texas, begging him to 'rise the question of holding by the Soviet Union of a citizen of the U.S., against his will and expressed desires.' The couple finally received word that their requests had been granted by Soviet authorities on Christmas Day, 1961, but still needed permission from the United States Department of State in order to return home. It would not be until June 1962 that Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina, and their newborn daughter arrived back in the United States.
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