LOT RR Auction  /  RR Auction Quality Autograph Auction 361  / 

313

Lee Harvey Oswald

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Lee Harvey Oswald

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2010 Sep 15 @ 22:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS signed “Lee,” three pages on two adjoining lightly-lined sheets, 5.75 x 8, September 10, 1962 [though the contents reveal it to have been written in 1961]. Letter to his brother Robert. In full (with grammar and spelling retained): “Well, apparently I was too optimistic in my last letter, since you thought I would be coming so soon.

The Russians are holding me up, and are giving me some trouble about the visas, so far now I can only wait. In general for an ordinary Russian, its impossible to leave the USSR, simply because he wants too. However, I and my wife have the possibility because of the fact I am still an american citizen and have the U.S. passport.

My Russian documents are good only until Jan, 4, 1962, therefore you can expect that they will let me go before that date, since I will not extend the length of time on these documents after Jan 4, 1962, however the Russians have been known to hold people against international law, and against their wills, but as I say ‘time will show.’

Marina did not write that letter herself, but the words were her’s. I only translated them into English. Marina doesn’t know any English at all, and at home we always speak Russian.

Robert Lee sounds like he is growing into a fine boy and cathy also is quite a grown up little lady, allready 4 years old, it hardly seems possible, I remember when mother phoned me to say she was born on Aug 21th or 22th, I was in Calif., we were getting ready to leave for japan, and we did leave a few days later. A lot has changed since then!!

Well I hope everything is allright and your back isn’t giving you any more trouble. Keep writing.” After his signature, Oswald adds, “Enclosed are some views of Minsk.” In fine condition, with a couple thin strips of envelope adhesive to first page, and a couple of other trivial spots.

It is not clear what Oswald expected to find in Russia, but he quickly grew disenchanted. Following his defection, he was sent to Minsk and assigned to a factory job before finally appealing to the Russian and American bureaucracies to secure reentry into the United States. It was not an easy task, which Oswald admits here. “The Russians are holding me up, and are giving me some trouble about the visas, so far now I can only wait,” he tells his brother here, admitting that “apparently I was too optimistic in my last letter, since you thought I would be coming so soon.” In a barrage of indignant letters to US authorities while searching for help—including Texas Governor John Connally—Oswald outlined complaints and accusations that “the Russians have been known to hold people against international law, and against their wills.” In June 1962, Soviet officials allowed Oswald, his Russian-born Marina Prusakova, and their newborn daughter to leave for the United States. The seemingly routine content here, of a man looking to return to his home and family, shows little evidence of the man who a short time later would alter American history.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot