Autograph Letter Signed “Lee XX,” also signed by his wife “Marina,” 1p, 5.75” x 8”. [Minsk]. November 23 [1961]. To Lee’s mother, Marguerite Oswald. Mrs. Oswald had this letter thinly laminated to protect it before she lent it to the Warren Commission. Part of Warren Commission Exhibit No. 185. Red and white label, 3.5” x 0.5”, affixed at the top: typed “Commission No.” handwritten “185.” This letter is pictured on page 544 of Volume XVI of the Warren Commission Hearings. The envelope, postmarked November 25, 1961, is pictured on page 545. Photocopies of pages 544-545 are included. Fine condition.

      Oswald has written at the bottom: “(I wrote it for her but the words are hers. / Lee XX).” In part, “Dear Mother Today we received your grand gift. I am very surprised that you guessed my taste in color and fabric. Here it is already very cold so your wool stole will be very useful. It is very nice to feel that you are so attentive to me, more so, even than to Lee … I hope you won’t be nervous for us, you shoulde’nt (sic) worry about us too much…”

      The Oswalds had applied to Soviet authorities for exit visas. Just a month later after this letter was written, on December 25, 1961, Lee and Marina were notified that their requests for exit visas had been granted by Soviet authorities.

      From the collection of Dr. John K. Lattimer (1914-2007). The family of President John F. Kennedy chose Dr. Lattimer to be the first nongovernmental medical specialist to review evidence in Kennedy's assassination. On January 7, 1972, at the National Archives, Dr. Lattimer examined 65 X-rays, color transparencies, and black-and-white negatives taken during Kennedy's autopsy, concluding, according to “The New York Times,” that “they ‘eliminate any doubt completely’ about the validity of the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald fired all the shots that struck the President.” This comes with a full LOA from University Archives.

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