So far, so good, except for one pivotal fact: Lee had not lost his job. His work was not “seasonal,” as he told the Russians, and the Leslie Welding Company had no thought of firing him. In fact, on Monday, October 8, the day after the gathering at his house, Lee turned up for work as usual, spent all day on the job, and simply walked off that afternoon without telling anyone he was quitting. Company officials were surprised when he failed to show up the next day, and more surprised still to receive a note from him a few days later asking that his last two paychecks be sent to a post office box in Dallas.
It is probable that the Russians would have helped the Oswalds whether Lee had been fired or had simply quit. But Lee was not taking any chances; he did not quit until after he was sure of the Russians’ willingness to help him out. Earlier, he had put himself in a posture to get help, “playing poor” and using Marina and the baby as bait, perhaps without even realizing it himself. But this time it was a matter of cool calculation and conscious manipulation, the timing determined, apparently, by the fact that he had just paid off one of his debts, the $170 due to Robert for the airfare the previous June.
In spite of his grumblings about the Russians and his warnings to Marina about becoming dependent, it was Lee who had made himself dependent. His move to Dallas was predicated on their offers of help in finding a job and on the certainty that they would care for his wife and child until he got on his feet. He could not have made the move without them.
Marina and June spent three nights with the Taylors in Dallas, and Lee came to see them several times. On Monday and Wednesday of that week, Marina was driven to the Baylor University dental clinic by Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, Alexandra’s stepmother, who noticed that Marina brightened at the sight of the dental assistants in their white uniforms and showed signs of wishing to return to pharmacy work herself. Marina had six teeth extracted and new ones put in. The fee of $70 was paid by George Bouhe.
After her last dental appointment, Marina and June took the bus to Fort Worth and settled in with Lyolya Hall. There, except for October 15, when Marina had a final dental appointment in Dallas and spent the night with George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, she and June stayed for nearly a month. Throughout this time their grocery and other expenses were paid by the Taylors and by Mrs. Hall and others in the émigré community. Lee never asked who was paying, did not offer to contribute, and did not tender any thanks.
On Tuesday, October 9, Lee started looking for a job in Dallas. His first act was to call Anna Meller. She appealed to her husband Teofil, who had once worked with a Mrs. Helen Cunningham, now at the Texas Employment Commission in Dallas. Reluctantly, Teo Meller telephoned Mrs. Cunningham and asked her to find work for Oswald, whom he described as a Fort Worth boy who had lived in Russia, married a Russian girl, and had a child. Mr. Meller said that the need was urgent. Mrs. Cunningham was probably aware that Oswald had been a defector to Russia. But she was a kind woman, she liked and respected Mr. Meller, and she wanted to do him a favor. She said she would give Oswald the standard forms. If a prospective employer wanted to know more, he could ask.[6]
Through Mrs. Cunningham, Lee was referred to a graphic arts firm called Jaggers-Chiles-Stovall. He made a good impression on John Graef, head of the photographic department, who thought he was “serious,” “determined,” and “likable,” with a “slight edge” over one or two competitors for the job.[7] On Thursday Graef told Oswald he was hired. Lee was overjoyed. Friday, October 12, was his first day at work.
George Bouhe had tried to help Lee in Dallas. Lee was staying at the YMCA, and Bouhe stopped by to inquire how he was getting along. He may also have given him a little money to tide him over until he found work. Once Lee had a job, Bouhe encouraged him to go to Crozier Tech night school to add to his qualifications and asked him to stay in touch.
Lee’s response baffled Bouhe. The first few evenings after he started work, he called Bouhe from a pay telephone. Each time he said simply, “I’m doing fine.” With these words, and these only, he hung up. No small talk, no thanks, not a single detail about the job. When he moved out of the “Y,” he told Bouhe he was staying at the Carlton Boarding House, in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Later, it turned out that he had never been there at all. Bouhe could see no reason for Lee to conceal his whereabouts. It was part, he says, of what he calls Lee’s “incessant mystery-making.”[8] Lee probably wanted to drop Bouhe. He had by this time gained everything he wanted from him—a new job in a new town and temporary surcease from the responsibility of caring for Marina and the baby.
Both Bouhe and the Mellers were puzzled by his behavior. They did not know of his lies, nor did they know that without their permission he was using their names as references, going so far as to list Bouhe at a false address. But indomitably generous as he was, Bouhe made a decision “not to go all out” for Lee. He was tired of being used and of Lee’s ingratitude. “He always got what he wanted,” Bouhe remarked later.[9] Anna Meller phrased it in a way that reflected her European experience. “He would trample over you in hobnail boots,” she said, “in order to get what he wanted.”[10]
As far as they were concerned, Lee simply violated every rule of human intercourse. He so outraged their notions of what decent conduct ought to be that he stunned them into giving him what he wanted. At first they had no way of dealing with him. But after a while they regrouped, pulled together the bits and pieces of his behavior and made sense of it, and managed to resurrect their defenses. They continued to help Marina after that. But they never helped Lee again.
There were, however, others who would. For one of the curious facts about Lee Oswald is that he always had help when he needed it without giving anything in return. As a result he has left behind two impressions: one, that of a poor, lost soul who had no style for his relationships except to exploit people, and who did not do that very well; the other, that of a cool manipulator who was pulling strings and keeping every situation more or less under his control. It is scarcely any wonder that a thread that runs through the recollections of nearly all the men and women whom Oswald met following his return from Russia was a sense of having been ill-used. Ultimately, not one of them could think of him without pain, outrage, and a feeling of personal betrayal.
— 17 —
Dallas
Lee started to visit Alexandra and Gary Taylor during the few days that Marina and the baby were staying with them in Dallas. He used to come on foot or take the bus from downtown. The Taylors thought the atmosphere between Lee and Marina was one of estrangement, and that they did not like, let alone love, one another, because they never made any attempt to be alone together. Lee seemed to care nothing for Marina or for her feelings. Instead, he spent all his time with the baby, playing and gurgling to her in Russian. But he seemed to have been lonely after Marina and June went back to Fort Worth, for “he popped in and out” of the Taylors’ often for the next few weeks.
Alix has said that Lee “could be very polite if he wished. He could be very sarcastic, very blunt if he wished. He could be a very friendly person if he wished, and he could be very quiet if he wished. It just depended who the people were.”[1] She adds, however, that he could also be “very, very rude. He appreciated absolutely nothing you did for him. He never thanked you for anything. He seemed to expect it of you.” She did not understand why her father’s Russian friends tried to help him. He did not deserve it, they did not owe it to him, and yet she got the feeling that he thought they did.
1
Testimony of Mrs. Donald Gibson (Alexandra de Mohrenschildt Taylor), Vol. 11, pp. 123–153.