Among those who have helped me, there is one to whom I owe everything, my husband, George McMillan, for his love, his confidence, his sacrifices.
There are two other persons without whom I might not have completed this book. They are M. S. Wyeth Jr. of Harper & Row, whose fastidiousness and gentleness I treasure. And Burton Beals, the editor’s editor, a man of talent and rare grace.
I should like to thank John Leggett, who helped bring this book into being.
And Katherine N. Ford, for her wisdom and support.
I wish to thank Marion M. Johnson, of the National Archives, for help impeccably rendered over the years.
And my cousin, David C. Davenport, who gave Marina and me a haven during the unquiet weeks of September and October 1964, just after the Warren Report was issued, and who has been unflagging in his loyalty.
Others who gave Marina and me valued help in 1964 were Declan P. Ford, Jerome Hastings, Pat S. Russell Jr., and Bette and Bill Slack.
I should like especially to thank four persons who made themselves available over the years in interviews, telephone conversations, and letters, often in a uniquely encouraging way: Samuel B. Ballen, Michael Ralph Paine, Ruth Hyde Paine, and Richard E. Snyder.
Others who were generous in answering my inquiries include Professor Frederick C. Barghoorn, David W. Belin, Dr. Kenneth Dinklage, Dr. James W. Hamilton, Dr. John K. Lattimer, John A. McVickar, Professor John Mersereau, Robert Oswald, the late Francis Gary Powers, Edward L. Ramsdell, Dr. David A. Rothstein, Larry Seigle, William K. Stuckey, and Mrs. Gladys A. Yoakum.
I should like to thank Professor John H. Mansfield of the Harvard Law School for two 1965 memoranda pertaining to Marina Oswald’s deportability and to the question of her criminal liability under Texas law in 1963; Benjamin B. Sendor for a memorandum on the Texas penal code in 1963; and John B. White, formerly of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for his study of the March 31, 1963, photographs of Lee Oswald, and for his brilliant interpretation of High Noon.
Several valued colleagues in the field of Soviet affairs have helped me with questions that range from interpretation of Khrushchev’s policies during the 1959–1963 period to the light that Lee and Marina’s use of Russian in conversation with each other casts on their relationship. These colleagues are Edward L. Keenan, the late Leonard J. Kirsch, and Angela Stent Yergin of the Russian Research Center at Harvard; Mervyn Matthews of the University of Surrey, England; Peter Reddaway of the London School of Economics; and Colette Shulman.
Before interviewing Marina Oswald, I consulted members of the psychoanalytic community. Since none has seen the final product, I prefer to thank them anonymously. I should, however, like to give special thanks to Dr. Sidney Isenberg, of Atlanta, Georgia, and to Dr. Irving Kaufman of Newton, Massachusetts, for their perceptiveness, their kindness, and their willingness to give even more help than I asked.
I should like to thank Brad Leithauser, Mary Jo Salter, and Carol Watson for the very special gifts they brought to this book.
And I thank Edward Crankshaw, Robert J. Korengold, Colgate S. Prentice, and Strobe Talbott for their help and encouragement.
It would have been difficult for me to finish this book without Dr. Ruick S. Rolland and Dr. Doris Menzer-Benaron.
And I thank my brothers, Stuart and Coit Johnson, and my sister, Eunice Campbell, for their love.
Finally, I thank Marina Oswald Porter for her complete cooperation, for her loyalty, and for the enormous trust that she has placed in me.
Priscilla McMillan
Cambridge, Massachusetts
August 1977