[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

Oswald became involved in U.S. intelligence during his Marine years, was taught the
Russian language by the government, and then went on a secret mission to the Soviet
Union.
Melanson outlined the favorable treatment Oswald received from the U.S.
Embassy in Moscow and the State Department – even though he had ostensibly defected
and threatened to give up secrets, including something of special interest, an apparent
reference to the U-2. Several chances were missed to post a lookout card on Oswald’s
passport by the State Department to flag officials about the reputed Communist. At that
time, the passport office was led by Francis Knight, “whose strident anti-communism was
legendary with the Washington bureaucracy” and one of her assistants was Otto Otepka,
“a zealous red-hunter.” 630 Not only was Oswald’s passport returned, he was given
money by the State Department to pay for his travel expenses. When he reapplied for a
passport in 1963 before he visited Mexico City, he was given one without any trouble.
Melanson argued that the failure to prosecute Oswald upon his returned showed that he
was spy: “The only way that Oswald could be accepted as not being the traitor who
down the spy plane [flown by Francis Gary Powers] is if the Agency had precise control
over the content and number of the ‘secrets’ he delivered to the KGB.” 631
Back in Dallas and New Orleans, Oswald associated with a variety of right-wing
anti-Communists but posed as an extreme left-wing activist. Much of Oswald’s time was
devoted to creating a paper trail linking Communists with liberal groups, including the
630 Melanson, 21.
631 Melanson, 28.
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