See page 169 [where the Feds bullied Marina around]
It is interesting to me to read the accounts of the people who were directly involved with the situation. Robert Oswald appears to be genuine and down to earth. I do believe his account of the "bullying tactics" by the two FBI agents:
From the instant they arrived at the inn, the FBI agents were extremely hostile in their treatment of Marina. Because of their arrogance, Marina refused to cooperate with the FBI agents and after a few minutes she stopped talking to them at all. The agents then decided to use threats. They implied that Marina might not be allowed to remain in the United States -- that she might be forced to return to Russia.
This made me angry. I told one of the agents--one of the pair of agents named Brown--that I didn't think Marina was in any danger of being deported and that I did not like their attempts to intimidate her. He said nothing at that moment, but later he and the other agent called me outside--out of Marina's hearing--and apologized for the effort to use this tactic on her. I wondered at the time what would have happened if Marina had been alone with those agents, who seemed to consider any approach acceptable as long as it offered some promise of success.
I told the two agents that Marina had been very cooperative with the Secret Service men, who had treated her with consideration and had not tried to bully her.
This obviously surprised them. "Have the Secret Service men been questioning Marina?" one of them asked.
This surprised me. I had not realized before just how wide the gulf was between the Secret Service and the FBI. After all, about forty hours had passed since Marina was questioned by the Secret Service, and I would have expected the FBI to have complete reports on that tape-recorded interview and the long tape-recorded interviews with Mother and me. And even if the FBI hadn't received transcripts, did these two agents believe that we had been out there since Sunday night without being questioned at all about Lee?
"Yes," I said. "She's been cooperating completely with the Secret Service, and they have taped interviews with Marina, Mother and me."
They then changed their tactics, and Marina agreed to talk with them...[/i]
On page 179 Robert Oswald writes:
After Lee's arrest, Marina was deeply concerned about her own safety and about the future of Junie and Rachel. Even before the assassination, she had often expressed her fear that the time might come when she would be sent back to Russia. Now she felt that this was far more likely, as her punishment because she was Lee's wife.
Twice I heard her speculate about the way those closest to Lee would have been treated if Lee has assassinated the head of the Russian government rather than the President of the United States. "Robert," she said, "if you and I and the children were in Russia, and something like this happened, we'd all be dead."
LHO reportedly used the same tactic on Marina. This appears to be true and to have had a effect on Marina. Otherwise, why would Robert Oswald say she expressed this fear before the assassination. Robert's opinion of the FBI and their methods is evident throughout the parts of the book that I have read so far. Robert implies that he thought the FBI was suspected by the Secret Service of possible involvement in the assassination. The next section of his book (that I have yet to read) is entitled "Part Four: The investigation--and the Unanswered Questions" so I am looking forward reading to what he wrote.
However, if your are trying to imply that Robert Oswald's account of the bullying tactics is supposed to be evidence of some sinister attempt to make Marina say what they wanted her to say, I point out the parts that I underlined. They apologized and changed their tactics according to Robert Oswald.
