Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?

Resources

Here are some of the resources used in this chapter

The Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald This is a very recent book by the excellent researcher, Larry Hancock, who makes the argument that Oswald always was strongly self motivated and acted in his own interests

Harvey and Lee and https://harveyandlee.net/ by John Armstrong. Armstrong has deeply researched Oswald's life, especially the phenomenon of Oswald impersonators. His conclusion about a longstanding intelligence operation to impersonate Oswald is not well accepted, but his research can be useful if verified.

Review of Dick Russell's book about Richard Case Nagell

Oswald Timeline by W. Tracy Parnell

Lee Harvey Oswald's Cold War by Greg Parker has some insights about Oswald's involvement in the Civil Air Patrol

The Man Who Knew Too Much by Dick Russell has a fantastical story about Oswald's involvement with Cubans

Oswald and the CIA by John Newman The classic book which deconstructed the CIA file records to determine how the CIA was analyzing Oswald in Russia and Mexico City

Creating the Oswald Legend by Vasilios Vazakas Six part series arguing that Oswald's involvement with intelligence agencies was witting

The Twelve Who Built the Oswald Legend by Bill Simpich argues that Oswald was somewhat witting in his close involvement with many intelligence interests in New Orleans and his Russian Sojourn

Oswald Russian Episode by Ernst Titovits, One of Oswald's closest friends in Russia

I Am a Patsy! by George De Mohrenschildt, Oswald's closest friend after he returned from Russia

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Introduction

In this chapter we'll go chronologically through Oswald's life

1939-1956 His childhood in New Orleans
1956-1959 His service in the US Marines in California and Japan
1959-1962 Trip to Russia, marriage to Marina
June 1962-April 1963 The Oswalds in Dallas and Fort Worth
April 1963-August 1963 Oswald in New Orleans
September 1963 Oswald trip to Mexico City
September 1963-November 1963 Oswald in Dallas

There are three key questions as we review Oswald's life. The first is: what kind of a man was he? The Warren Report characterized him as a misanthrope and sociopath. They devoted Chapter 7 of the Warren Report to his life, concluding: “Oswald was moved by an overriding hostility to his environment. He does not appear to have been able to establish meaningful relationships with other people. He was perpetually discontented with the world around him. Long before the assassination he expressed his hatred for American society and acted in protest against it. Oswald’s search for what he conceived to be the perfect society was doomed from the start. He sought for himself a place in history—a role as the ‘great man’ who would be recognized as having been in advance of his times. His commitment to Marxism and communism appears to have been another important factor in his motivation.” So figuring out what made Oswald tick has been an area of prime interest to many people.

The second major question is: what was Oswald's relationship with the intelligence community, especially the FBI and CIA? He was clearly of significant interest to both institutions. Was he being used by either institution and was Oswald a knowing participant in their plans?

Finally, there is some evidence of Oswald's involvement with Cubans in New Orleans in the fall of 1963. What their relationship was and whether Oswald was a witting participant in their plans is still a mystery.

One of the strangest and most intriguing aspects of the Kennedy assassination is the evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald was impersonated by someone who looked like him. As we go, I'll touch on a few sightings of Oswald impersonators, a strange phenomenon that seemed to follow Oswald for the last few years of his life.

Let's dig in!

Oswald's Early Life 1939-1956

Oswald had a difficult family life. His father died before he was born and his mother, Margueritte Oswald, had to put he and his older brother and stepbrother Robert Oswald and John Pic, in an orphanage for periods of time when she couldn’t support them. When Lee was with his mother they moved often and she changed jobs often, perhaps due to her difficult personality. Lee may have inherited some of that personality because when he grew up he moved and changed jobs often as well. Lee seems to have had a relatively well adjusted childhood, given his circumstances. Robert Oswald claimed that Lee’s favorite TV show when he was little was I Led Three Lives. It was loosely based on the life of Herbert Philbrick, a Boston advertising executive who infiltrated the U.S. Communist Party on behalf of the FBI in the 1940s and wrote a bestselling book on the topic, I Led Three Lives: Citizen, ‘Communist’, Counterspy. Robert said "he became really engrossed in that particular television show. I think he just liked the atmosphere that you could do anything that you wanted to do, that you could imagine you could do."

When Oswald was in the seventh grade, his mother suddenly moved to New York City into the cramped apartment of Oswald's step-brother, John Pic. With his southern accent and different clothes, Oswald did not fit in at school and his response was to skip school. Larry Hancock adds some details: His problems were not a matter of his intelligence—by then he was testing with an IQ of 118, the upper range of “bright normal.” Teachers found him courteous, but with problems of dependability and self-control. Happier by himself, one of his favorite interests was the Bronx Zoo. When he was caught there by a truant officer, the officer stated that Lee was clean and well-dressed but was surly and referred to the officer as a “damned Yankee.” That led to an appearance in Children’s Court.

Following that experience with the legal system in New York, his mother moved the two of them again, having found a new and better-paying job with Martin’s Department store in Brooklyn. It should be noted that Lee’s own work experience would later reflect the same pattern as his mother’s, with an inability to hold any single job for an extended period, and the tendency to simply jump from place to place and job to job.

In her newest job, Lee’s mother had a long commute to work, resulting in her leaving home early and returning late—that made further truancy all too easy for Lee, who had been enrolled in yet another junior high (his third school in seven months in New York). Professionals who evaluated Oswald over his truancy and behavior commented that his mother was not spending enough time with him, and that he had become “socially maladjusted”—not surprising given the situation of his constant moves between schools and a minimal family environment. Lee’s continuing truancy problems led to school probation, to counseling, and even time in a special Youth House, where professional personnel noted that he was well-endowed mentally, but that he was withdrawn. They evaluated his problems as largely due to his lack of a real family life, and insufficient attention from his mother—who was described as “self-involved and conflicted.” Perhaps the most insightful remarks on Oswald during that period came from his school probation officer, John Carro. Carro had several exchanges with Lee regarding his truancy. Carro found him to be bright, but tired of being teased by classmates over his accent and clothes. Oswald did not think he was learning anything in school and that it was a waste of time; this early “boredom” in school would evolve into a major element of Oswald’s personality. His mother worked, and he stayed home and read by himself—even at that point in time expressing a desire to go into the Marines, following the path of his brother Robert. Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (pp. 55-57). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Throughout his life Oswald was an avid reader. However despite his intelligence, his spelling was atrocious, leading some to think that he had dyslexia, or perhaps dysgraphia.

Oswald and his mother returned to New Orleans in 1954 and Oswald had a relatively normal high school life. He was close friends with a student named Edward Voebel who described him as a normal kid. They played pool together, joined the astronomy club and both became Cadets in the Civil Air Patrol youth program, which was headed up by Captain David Ferrie, a rabid anti-communist and former Eastern Airlines pilot whom District Attorney Jim Garrison accused of conspiracy in JFK's assassination.

Author Greg Parker found that one of the original objectives of the Civil Air Patrol was to train young men as counter-intelligent agents, to sniff out communist infiltrators in American Industry. One news report stated, "It declared that these recruits would be taught the Russian language, Russian military tactics, Russian politics and all characteristics of the Russian people.” Parker, Greg R.. Lee Harvey Oswald’s Cold War Volume 2 (Lee Harvey Oswald's Cold War) (p. 30). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Oswald, right, in Civil Air Patrol with David Ferrie, left

In her Warren Commission testimony (pp197-198) Lee's mother, Marguerite, claimed that a recruiting officer came together with Lee in his Civil Air Patrol uniform to persuade her to falsify Lee's birth certificate so that Lee could join the Marines at age 16. Parker thinks that officer was likely David Ferrie. The scheme didn't work, but Lee started to study the Marine Corps manual.

Lee also became very interested in Marxism and Communism. Oswald’s early reading and later his own writing both reflect a fundamental interest in the issue of economic justice for the working classes. He later told a reporter his interest began when an old lady handed him a pamplet about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Around that time he wrote the following letter to the Socialist Party of America (page 681):

October 3, 1956

Dear Sirs;

I am sixteen years of age and would like more information about your youth League. I would like to know if there is a branch in my area, how to join etc. I am a Marxist and have been studying Marxist principles for well over 15 months. I am interested in your YPSL.

Sincerely,

Lee Oswald

Oswald in the Marines 1956-1959

Six days after he turned 17, Oswald joined the Marines. His step-brother, John Pic testified that Lee's motivation was "to get from out and under ... the yoke of oppression from my mother." But Oswald was also following in his brother Robert's footsteps, and as he told someone years later, he saw the military as an opportunity for travel and adventure. In boot camp Oswald received a "sharpshooter award", but his final rating in the Corps deteriorated to "marksman", the lowest rating to qualify as a passing score.

Oswald trained as a radar operator and was sent to the air base at Atsugi, Japan from which the CIA operated U2 spy plane surveillance flights. His work required a Secret clearance. Larry Hancock and David Boylan described Oswald's behavior in the Marines as very consistent with his behavior in high school and later life. They say, "while not at all antisocial, Oswald clearly remained inner-directed and somewhat asocial, consistently spending more time with books and other printed materials than in socializing with others. Reading, rather than his peers, shaped his personal attitudes and opinions. And he was never bashful about sharing those with others, from his teen years onward. That assertive behavior had developed during his teenage years and remained a consistent behavior for Oswald—whose personal opinions were quite often at odds with the majority of those around him.

Of course, Oswald’s certainty about his worldview and beliefs is not unknown in teenagers, but Oswald tended to take it a notch or two beyond most, having no concern over the consequences of expressing himself. The president of the astronomy group which Vobel and Oswald were involved with, William Wulf, described Oswald as being highly interested in communism and talking about its importance for the working class. Oswald complained about nobody being interested in such ideas, and Wulf argued with him about it—in the end Wulf’s father overheard them and essentially kicked Oswald out of his house, describing him as loud-mouthed and argumentative.

Oswald’s forceful (“loud-mouthed”) expression of his own views on government, social issues, and geopolitics is classic inner-directed behavior; inner-directed people tend to be rigid, but also more confident—consequently, their gain in confidence comes with a loss of broader social acceptance due to not being in harmony with the opinions generally expressed around them. As he grew older, Oswald continued to display similar behavior, not the violent or antisocial behaviors focused on by the Warren Commission, but more accurately the tendency to be argumentative, sometimes aloof and affected, and at other times simply perceived as conceited and annoying." Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (pp. 60-61). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Hancock and Boylan also described Oswald's ability to follow orders. Oswald often performed quite well on the job. "His job performance and ratings were sufficient to gain him a promotion to Private First Class, and he became eligible for promotion to Corporal. As on previous occasions, when Oswald was interested in something and applied himself, he demonstrated that he could be competent and perform well. A Marine officer, Lt. John E. Donovan—who supervised Oswald during his service on a radar crew at Santa Ana, California (associated with the El Toro Marine base) towards the end of his time in the service—spoke well of his job performance. Donovan found him “competent in all functions,” and observed that he handled himself calmly and well in emergency situations. Donovan also felt that Oswald was not a natural leader, but that on occasions when he did serve as senior man present, effectively as crew chief, he performed competently in that role." Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (p. 67). (Function). Kindle Edition.

However, Oswald could easily get bored with routine. In a recurring pattern, he would start a job with enthusiasm, perform well, but after weeks or months, he would lose interest and be on to something else. Although he started off well in the Marines, he did not keep his bunk neat and he lost his promotion after an altercation in a bar with an officer, and for keeping a derringer against regulations.

Oswald was transferred back to Santa Ana, California with his unit in early 1959. His friend in the Corps, Nelson Delgado described their shared interest in the Cuban revolution and they daydreamed about joining revolutionary movements that would overthrow dictatorships in Central America. Oswald visited the Cuban consulate and started to receive Russian and Socialist newspapers and materials through the mail. Oswald spent most of his free time on the base reading and teaching himself how to read Russian. He took a Defense Language Proficiency test and scored OK on reading and writing but poorly on listening comprehension. There is evidence that Oswald's Russian aptitude was excellent for self study. His bunkmates were good natured about his interest, calling him Oswaldskovitch.

Athough Oswald received another promotion to Private First Class, he was looking for his next adventure. His enlistment was due to be over at the end of 1959, and he applied for and was accepted into Albert Schweitzer college in Switzerland for the spring 1960 semester. He described his goals as a primary desire to study philosophy, to meet with Europeans, and to broaden his scope of understanding. In July, Oswald heard that his mother suffered an injury when a box fell on her nose and in August he applied for a hardship/dependency discharge based on his mother's need for support. His request was approved in 11 days, allegedly record time. He applied for a passport and received it six days later. In mid-September he was released, with a stipulation that he be available for reserve duty if called up. He went home for a few days, then went to New Orleans and booked passage on a freighter to Le Havre, France on his way to the Soviet Union.

Oswald with friends in Minsk

Oswald's Russian Episode 1959-1962

A big question is whether Oswald's trip to Russia was offered to him by intelligence agencies for some purpose. There's no proof, but there are some odd things about the trip which suggest he didn't plan it on his own. Upon arriving in France on October 8, Oswald headed to England and took a plane from London to Helsinki on October 9. Oswald had saved $1,500 in the Marines, and it was very out of character for him to spend $111.90 on a plane flight. He stayed for the next few days at two of the top hotels in Helsinki. Oswald applied for a Russian tourist visa on October 13 and it was issued on October 14. Normally, it took weeks or months for a visiting American to receive a Soviet visa. In October, 1959, Helsinki was only place where an American could receive a Soviet visa quickly, due to an arrangement between the American Embassy and the Helskinki Soviet consul, Gregory Golub, who the CIA had been working with under a CIA program, LCIMPROVE. As Bill Simpich reports, LCIMPROVE seemed to be a program related to acquiring Soviet visas. The CIA was doing favors like arranging romantic extra-marital dates for Soviet consul Golub. On October 13, Golub met with his CIA contact and thanked him for tickets he had been given to a Leonard Bernstein concert. Oswald's visa was approved the same day. It is especially intriguing that Oswald may have made use of the recent LCIMPROVE relationship with Golub on his trip to Russia in 1959, and a CIA report regarding Oswald’s Mexico City trip in 1963 was also captioned with the LCIMPROVE cryptonym.

According to Oswald’s “Historic Diary” Oswald arrived in Moscow on October 16, 1959. On October 21, Oswald applied for Soviet citizenship and was rejected. He staged a non-serious suicide attempt in his room shortly before he was to be picked up for an afternoon appointment and was taken to hospital for a week.

On Saturday, October 31, Oswald arrived at the American Embassy and attempted to renounce his American citizenship. The incident is described and analyzed in John Newman’s book Oswald and the CIA. Oswald delivered a prepared speech to consul Richard Snyder about his intentions to give up his citizenship. Some people feel that Oswald’s performance may have been for the benefit of the Soviet authorities who presumably had bugs in the embassy. When Snyder tried to talk him out of defecting Oswald said that he had been forewarned that Snyder would try to talk him out of it, though it wasn’t clear who would have forewarned him. He also told Snyder that he had been an electronics specialist in the Marines and intended to make all his specialized classified knowledge available to the Soviet Government.

Instead of arresting Oswald then and there for treason, Snyder took Oswald’s passport and told him to come back next week to sign the forms needed to complete the process. Oswald never returned and thus his defection was never finalized.

Oswald was permitted to stay in Russia; he was transferred by the Soviet government to Minsk and given a job in a radio factory, with a luxury (by Soviet standards) apartment and a generous salary plus stipend equivalent to the salary of the head of the factory. This period in Oswald’s life is described in Ernst Titovet’s book Oswald Russian Episode. Oswald seemed to enjoy himself. He had a small group of friends, he attended plays, clubs, outings and dances. His friends called him Alek, apparently because the name Lee was very foreign to them. He fell in love with several girls and on April 30, 1961 he married Marina Prusokova after a two month whirlwind romance. Marina seemed to be very interested in foreigners. Her address book had the address of another American defector, Robert Edward Webster who had preceded Oswald by defecting to the Soviet Union in July 1959. He was a plastics engineer who had defected at a trade fair in Moscow. Marina Oswald somehow got her story mixed up when she told a friend that Lee went to Russia on behalf of an American company at a exhibition in Moscow; it must have been Robert Webster she was referring to. A recently declassified CIA report with information from a KGB defector described Marina as a KGB prostitute who was used to entrap Oswald, and described Oswald as a KGB agent since he freely shared information with the KGB. Their whirlwind romance demonstrated their attraction to each other but not their long term compatibility. As we'll see later, after they returned to America, Marina did not share Oswald's intellectual interests, and he did not share her interest in a well-off lifestyle.

In late 1960, Oswald had become disillusioned with the Soviet system and wrote a letter to the American embassy asking if he could return to the US without prosecution. After a long bureaucratic process with both the US and Soviets, he obtained exit visas for himself, Marina and their baby daughter June, and was lent the money by the US State Department for a return journey. In June 1962 Oswald and his family returned to Fort Worth, Texas. In uncharacteristic leniency during the heightened tensions of the cold war, the US Government claimed they never debriefed him upon his return about any aspects of his trip or to ask him if he carried through on his threat to divulge classified information. The HSCA confirmed with the CIA that they never debriefed Oswald, despite the fact that a classified report on the Minsk Radio plant was supplied to the CIA in June 1962 by a “former Marine” who had defected to the Soviet Union and worked in the plant. See Report A and B courtesy of John Armstrong.

As outlined in John Newman’s book Oswald and the CIA and John Armstrong’s Harvey and Lee, the CIA Chief of SR/6, Tom Casasin, admitted that “we showed operational interest” in “the Harvey story” in the summer of 1960, however any relevant files have been withheld or destroyed by the CIA.

So how do we understand Oswald’s Russian Trip?

We could accept the Warren Commission view that it was a search for a better life by a person who was perpetually unhappy. However, that doesn’t explain the strange circumstances regarding Oswald’s quick release from the Marines, his travel through Helsinki, his coached performance at the US Embassy in Moscow, or his welcome home after threatening treasonous acts. It is possible that Oswald was not involved in intelligence and just went to the Soviet Union seeking adventure. On the other hand, conspiracy theorists propose three explanations for Oswald’s trip as part of US government programs:

False Defector Program

The first explanation is the False Defector Program. During 1959 the US Government had next to no HUMINT sources behind the Iron Curtain and were desperate for first person information about Soviet society. A number of apparently false defectors were sent over to the Soviet Union where they lived for a period of time and then came back home. Robert Edward Webster, the plastics engineer who defected at a trade fair in Moscow was a good example of a false defector.

The State Department in the late 1950’s was still smarting from Joe McCarthy’s attacks. Otto Otepka, who worked in the State Department Office of Security initiated a study on USSR defectors, including Oswald. Author Joan Mellon documents Bobby Kennedy’s persecution of Otepka with a suggestion of an RFK interest in Oswald. Peter Dale Scott has a more nuanced analysis of Oswald and Otepka.

The false defector program was highlighted on the day of the assassination in a phone call from the US Department of Defense to the FBI which warned that Robert Edward Webster might have been in Dallas on 11/22.

The HSCA did a study of 11 defectors to the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1964 who were most similar to Oswald, and found many similarities in terms of Soviet earnings, interrogation by KGB and CIA, and ability to return to the US.

U2 Program Sabotage

Another idea about Oswald’s defection is that he was sent over to actually give the Soviets information on the U2 spy plane so that they could shoot it down. Khruschev had had a pleasant visit to the US in September 1959 and Eisenhower was due to have a trip to the Soviet Union in 1960. The theory is that US hard liners, wanting to prevent a thaw in US-Soviet relations created the U2 incident in which Gary Powers was shot down over Russia on May 1, 1960. The CIA may have been willing to sacrifice the U2 program because the Corona satellite surveillance program started in June 1959 and the U2 program over Russia was obsolete. In addition the U2 was soon to be replaced by Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird. The evidence for this theory is that U2 pilot Gary Powers was suspicious that Oswald’s defection was linked to his being shot down, and Oswald wrote in a letter to his brother about seeing Powers in Moscow.

The counter argument is that it doesn’t appear that there was any classified information which Oswald could have given the Soviets to help them shoot the U2 down; they knew the flight characteristics of the plane and were able to take it down with a new missile; or perhaps the CIA got the plane to come down another way. However in the book, JFK: The Cuba Files, Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuba’s counterintelligence service recounts that he talked to a KGB friend of his, Pavel Iatskov, a colonel of the First Directorate of the KGB who told him in 1989 that Oswald had proffered information that was very helpful to Soviet state security. Iatskov said that he had heard that Oswald had been a US intelligence agent and that his defection to the Soviet Union was intended as an active step to disrupt the growing political climate of detente between the two superpowers.

The Hunt for Popov’s Mole

The final idea about Oswald’s trip to Russia is described by Peter Dale Scott in Oswald and the Hunt for Popov’s Mole. Apparently the Americans had a Russian General named Popov who was spying for the Americans. Popov told Americans that he had heard that the Russians knew all about the U2. CIA Counterintelligence Chief James Jesus Angleton would have been concerned about a Soviet spy in the CIA. Oswald’s trip in this case would have been a counterintelligence dangle, to see if the Russians were interested in Oswald’s U2 information. If the Soviets asked the mole in the CIA for more information on Oswald, the mole's request for information would unveil him. This project would have been run out of Angleton’s Counterintelligence group in the CIA. This is the same group involved in lying about Oswald in the Mexico City incident, and it is clear (from John Newman’s Oswald and the CIA) that Angleton's group held tight control of Oswald's CIA files prior to the assassination. But apparently, no mole within the CIA emerged, asking for information on Oswald.

Oswald impersonations while in Russia

J. Edgar Hoover

Oddly enough, the first mention of an Oswald imposter was made in June 1960 by J. Edgar Hoover himself after Oswald travelled to Russia. Hoover jumped to the strange conclusion: “Since there is a possibility that an imposter is using Oswald’s birth certificate, any current information the Department of State may have concerning subject will be appreciated.”

U.S. Passport Office
According to John Armstrong, on March 31, 1961, Edward J. Hickey of the US Passport Office wrote a memo to John T. White, stating “there is an imposter using Oswald’s identification”

Author John Armstrong interviewed Army Intelligence officer Colonel Phillip Corso in 1995 and 1996. Corso purportedly said that Warren Commission member Richard Russell had asked him to conduct a discreet inquiry into the assassination. After contacting Francis Knight, head of the US Passport office, Corso reported that there were two passports issued to Lee Harvey Oswald and they had been used by two different people. In addition, William Sullivan, head of FBI Domestic Intelligence Division purportedly told Corso that two birth certificates in name of Lee Harvey Oswald were used by two different people. Harvey and Lee pp332, 362

Dr. Erique Lorenzo Luaces
In May 1961, Dr. Enrique Lorenzo Luaces, a professor of engineering at the University of Santiago, Cuba reportedly met Lieutenant Harvey Oswald, a purported arms expert in Havana. Following the assassination, J. Edgar Hoover reported that Oswald had traveled to Cuba several times, but the Warren Commission determined that Oswald had never been to Cuba.

Bolton Ford
On January 20, 1961, two men came into the Bolton Ford dealership in New Orleans and asked for a bid to buy 10 Econoline vans for the Friends of Democratic Cuba. This was an anti-Castro organization founded by New Orleans members of the CRC and former FBI agent Guy Banister, who was seen with Oswald during the summer of 1963. Another founder of the Friends of Democratic Cuba had been Oswald’s employer during 1955-1956. One of the men identified himself as Oswald. Following the assassination the manager gave the bid form to the FBI which had the name Oswald on it.

The Oswalds in Fort Worth June 1962-April 1963

When the Oswalds returned to America, they were quite poor and Lee's job prospects were limited. While overseas, the Navy had changed Lee's discharge status from honorable to dishonorable, ostensibly because he left the country for the three months he was on reserve duty status. A dishonorable discharge made it difficult to find good work.

J. Walton Moore, a Dallas CIA employee with the Domestic Contacts Division reached out to an older geologist, George De Mohrenschildt and asked him to keep an eye out for Oswald. Or maybe De Mohrenschildt reached out to Moore for the OK to contact Oswald. In any event, De Mohrenschildt welcomed the Oswalds into the Russian emigre community, who provided temporary housing and job search assistance to the young couple. De Mohrenschildt became a close friend to Oswald, and they would often debate Oswald's favorite topics of political and economic systems, politics, and social justice.

Marina, Lee and June Oswald in 1962

As De Mohrenschildt later wrote in his book, I Am a Patsy!, "Lee was indeed all wrapped up in his work, books, his ideas on equality of all people, especially of all races; it was strange indeed for a boy New Orleans and Texas poor white family, purely Anglo, to be so profoundly anti–racist. 'Segregation in any form, racial, social or economic, is one of the most repulsive facts of American life', he often told me. 'I would be willing any time to fight these fascistic segregationists — and to die for my black brothers.'" "What I liked about him [Oswald] was that he was a seeker for justice — that he had highly developed social instincts. ... Maybe, had he [Oswald] lived longer, he would have fitted better into the scheme of American life, he would have joined the group of love–children, would have grown a beard and certainly would have been among the protesters against the war in Viet–Nam." Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (pp. 135-137). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Oswald wrote often to his friends back in Russia, sending them letters and books and describing his new life in America. He subscribed to several Russian publications, including a newspaper published in Minsk. Oswald's letters noted that Marina was having difficulty assimilating to life in America as she did not speak English, nor showed any interest in doing so. Their relationship was rocky. Marina was critical of Oswald for not being more successful and complained about their lack of material things like an apartment of their own or a car or a dishwasher. Oswald did find menial work in jobs around the Dallas/Fort Worth area and often left Marina with friends and took a room in a rooming house near his work during the week. Both he and Marina wanted to be together and he was able to afford to rent a few apartments, but his work was unstable and they often moved or Marina would move back with friends. During one estrangement, "Marina testified that at this meeting Oswald professed his love for her. She stated: “I saw him cry . . . [he] begged me to come back, asked my forgiveness, and promised that he would try to improve, if only I would come back.” On another occasion she said: “. . . he cried, and you know a woman’s heart—I went back to him. He said he didn’t care to live if I did not return.” That same day she decided to return to him. ... It seems that one of the disconnects between him and Marina was simply Lee’s overriding interest in books—serious books, literature, politics. Marina noticed a few of the books he was reading, books of a historical nature, including H. G. Wells’ two-volume “Outline of History,” and biographies of Hitler, Kennedy, and Khrushchev. According to one complaint expressed by Marina, Oswald was much more interested in books and reading than in sex. While Lee retained an attachment for Marina and appeared genuinely fond of baby June, he was apparently not showing his wife much in the way of regular, ongoing affection, certainly not at the level he had when dating Marina or in the months immediately after their marriage in Russia. Marina complained to de Mohrenschildt’s wife Jeanne that even though Lee was working regularly he spent most of his time by himself at home, and generally paid little attention to her, either in conversation or physically. “He comes home tired, hardly talks to me, only to the baby, then reads Russian books and is seldom tender and loving to me.” Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (pp. 147-148). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Despite the black mark of a dishonorable discharge, Lee kept searching for a good job. He was evaluated at the Texas State Employment Commission and found to have “outstanding verbal-clerical potential” and a potential for both skilled and semi-skilled jobs, with even some indication that he could do college-level work: “well-groomed and spoken, business suit, alert replies—expresses self extremely well.”

Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (p. 140). (Function). Kindle Edition.

In October 1962, Oswald was referred to Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall Co. by the Employment Commission, and was hired as a photographic trainee. Jaggars-Chiles-Stoval did typesetting and some printing of classified photographic maps for the military. Oswald had always had an interest in photography and he may have continued that interest after-hours, if he made the fake Alek James Hidell ID's and perhaps even the backyard photographs at Jaggars. During this time Marina and Lee were mostly together, living in apartments on Elsbeth St and West Neely Street. In March 1963 Oswald allegedly ordered the Mannlicher Carcano rifle and 38 Special pistol and Marina allegedly took the backyard photographs. While many dispute the authenticity of the photos, it is interesting that one of the newspapers that Oswald is holding up is the March 11 edition of The Militant. That issue contained a letter to the editor titled "News and Views from Dallas" signed by the initials "LH". The views expressed, supporting the Reform movement for social justice within the Democratic Party, are very much in line with Oswald's views:

On April 1, 1963 Oswald was fired from Jaggars-Chiles-Stoval for poor performance. As was Oswald's tendency, after an initial period of energy and interest he seems to have gotten bored and moved on to to other things, in this case reading and writing about politics. Here are some of his writings in that period that were published by the Warren Commission.

Oswald in New Orleans April 1963-August 1963

Following the loss of his job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stoval Oswald decided to move back to his home town of New Orleans to look for work. With the help of some family friends Oswald found a job at the Reily Coffee Company, and found an apartment. Marina and June joined Oswald in May, having been driven by Marina's friend Ruth Paine. Marina wrote that “. . . our family life in New Orleans was more peaceful. Lee took great satisfaction in showing me the city where he was born. We often went to the beach, the zoo, and the park. Lee liked to go and hunt crabs. It is true, that he was not very pleased with his job . . . We did not have very much money, and the birth of a new child involved new expenses . . .” Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (p. 190). (Function). Kindle Edition.

As before, Lee spent a great deal of time reading, as evidenced by the list of twenty-seven library books Oswald had checked out that summer. They include Ian Flemming spy novels, Profiles in Courage, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Oswald showed less enthusiasm for his work at Reily Coffee, however. He spent a fair amount of time reading gun magazines and chatting about guns with Adrian Alba, the owner of the parking garage next door. Alba testified that Oswald was hopeful that he could get a high paying industrial security job at the Michoud NASA plant in New Orleans; during his time at Reily Coffee, four of Oswald's co-workers had made that move.

Oswald handing out pro-Cuba leaflets in New Orleans

Oswald and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee

Oswald didn't get the NASA job and was let go for poor performance in July. After that, he supported his family with unemployment benefits and plunged into a new found obsession: creating a one-man New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. The FPCC's purpose was to provide support for the Cuban Revolution against attacks by the US Government: its slogan was "Hands Off Cuba". Oswald had written the National Chapter of the FPCC in New York asking for materials to distribute and permission to start a New Orleans chapter. They sent him the leaflets, but advised against publicly starting a New Orleans chapter due to the few expected number of supporters and the expected "serious and often violent opposition".

Oswald's advocacy for the FPCC involved him with right wing anti-Communist Americans as well as anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans. Some see the involvement as cooperative: working together to advance each others' goals; others see the entanglement as a result of the expected reaction between fierce anti-communists and the Marxist Oswald. Was Oswald a witting participant in others' plans?

Oswald began his public activities by approaching Carlos Bringuier who was a Cuban exile in charge of publicity and propaganda for the DRE, the Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil, or Student Revolutionary Directorate which was the largest anti-Castro organization in the US and was funded primarily by the CIA. Oswald visited Bringuier on August 5 and 6, claiming to be anti-Castro and a former Marine offering his military experience to support the DRE's military wing. At that time, the FBI and CIA were actively working to shut down all anti-Castro Cuban military activities that were based in the US and move some of the anti-Castro fighters to Nicaragua. On August 9, Bringuier saw Oswald handing out pro-Castro leaflets and Bringuier confronted Oswald. Apparently Bringuier had tipped off a local TV station which sent a camera crew to film the encounter. The police came and arrested Oswald for disturbing the peace. While in jail Oswald asked to speak with an FBI agent. The report from that interview has mysteriously disappeared, but secondary references suggest that Oswald described the fictional local chapter of the FPCC as having several dozen members and a Chairman named Alek James Hidell. Oswald wrote to the New York office of the FPCC reporting on the incident, but the letter was dated August 1, a week prior to the event. Either the event was a pre-planned publicity stunt, or Oswald screwed up the date in his letter.

People have speculated as to the meaning of Oswald's alias. Alek, of course, was Oswald's nickname in Russia. Oswald may have adopted the name after his close friend and mentor in Minsk: Don Alejandro Ziger. Or it could have been after Castro's middle name, Alejandro. Hidell sounds suspiciously like Fidel. And no one knows where James came from, except perhaps James Jesus Angeton.

Oswald on the Radio

Oswald's media exposure was amplified by appearances on two radio shows. The first (0-36 minutes) was a straightforward interview with Oswald. The second (36-57 minutes) was a debate between Oswald, Carlos Bringuier of the DRE, and Ed Butler of the Information Council of the Americas, an anti-communism propaganda group. Oswald was attempting to burnish his pro-Castro bona fides. DRE and INCA were trying to smear the FPCC. They surprised Oswald by announcing on air that Oswald had tried to defect to Russia and they claimed that Oswald was a Russian dupe and Cuba was a colony of Russia. At 48:30, a somewhat flustered Oswald says, “I worked in Russia. Er... I was... er, under the protection... er, that is to say, I was not under the protection of the American government, but as I was at all times... er, considered an American citizen.”

The Oswald encounter was a coup for DRE propaganda chief Bringuier, whose organization was funded and directed by the CIA for propaganda purposes. Both the FBI and the CIA had active programs to discredit the FPCC during the summer of 1963 which suggests that Oswald may have been acting in some intelligence capacity with these programs. In his book The Kennedy Conspiracy, Anthony Summers points out that the CIA side of the operation was directed by CIA propaganda chief David Atlee Phillips and quotes CIA officer, Joseph Smith as saying: “We did everything we could to make sure it was not successful – to smear it… to penetrate it. I think Oswald may have been part of a penetration attempt.” Anti-Castro activist and Alpha 66 member Antonio Veciana claimed that he saw David Atlee Phillips together with Oswald in Dallas in September 1963.

The Garrison Investigation: Oswald with Right Wingers

The activities of Oswald in New Orleans were the subject of the 1967 Garrison investigation and his trial of Clay Shaw. The Garrison case is often widely derided today by both conspiracy theorists and Warren Commission advocates, however, at the time senior figures in the CIA thought Garrison would be successful obtaining a conviction of Shaw. (See also CIA concerns that anti-Castro Cubans could be implicated by Garrison). It is very difficult to explain evidence linking the ostensible left wing Oswald with extreme right wingers David Ferrie, Guy Banister and Clay Shaw. Oswald stamped his FPCC leaflets with the address 544 Camp Street. This was in the same building, but a different entrance as Banister's office. Bill Simpich says "Banister's secretary Delphine Roberts said that Banister took Oswald under his wing and worked with him on a regular basis.

CIA agent William Gaudet told journalist Tony Summers in a 1978 interview that he had seen Oswald pass out FPCC leaflets in New Orleans and that he "did see Oswald discussing various things with Banister at the time, and I think Banister knew a whole lot of what was going on".

It is difficult to determine whether these witnesses were telling the truth or trolling investigators about seeing Oswald with Banister. Perhaps the best example linking Oswald to right-wingers are eight witnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald with David Ferrie and Clay Shaw at a CORE voting drive in Clinton Louisiana. However many of these were racists who perhaps were just trying to smear the liberal CORE program. But there are other odd suggestions, such as the claim that David Ferrie had loaned Oswald his library card in New Orleans and was desperately trying to get it back after Oswald was killed. Seemingly the only explanation for Oswald in cahoots with right wingers would be that he thought he was acting in some kind of undercover role in his FPCC advocacy.

Oswald FBI Informant?

Following the assassination a “dirty little rumor” confronted the Warren Commission that Oswald had been an FBI informant, with badge #179, and was paid $200 per month. The origin of the story was a reporter with a confidential government source.

From Gerald Ford’s Portrait of the Assassin:
“The Texas officials slipped into the nation’s capital with complete anonymity. They met with Lee Rankin and other member of the staff and told what they knew. The information was that Lee Harvey Oswald was actually hired by the FBI; that he was assigned the undercover-agent number 179; that he was on the FBI payroll at two hundred dollars a month starting in September 1962 and that he was still on their payroll the day he was apprehended in the Texas Theatre after having gunned down Officer J.D. Tippit! The officials returned to Dallas after their visit on Friday, January 24. Their presence in Washington was unknown to the press or the public.”

William Walter, FBI clerk in the New Orleans office testified that he had seen files on Oswald in August 1963, but did not recall if Oswald was an informant.
William Walter also claimed to have seen an FBI teletype on November 17 warning of an assassination attempt in Dallas. The HSCA concluded that he was a liar.

Note that in Marina Oswald Porter’s April 1996 letter to the ARRB she said that she believed that her husband, Lee Harvey Oswald had been working as an FBI informant. This again is suggestive but far from proof that Oswald was working in some kind of undercover activity.

Oswald's Visit to Mexico City September 26-October 2, 1963

During 1963, Oswald and Marina wrote many letters to the Soviet Embassy in an attempt to get Marina to move back to the Soviet Union. She was not thriving in the U.S. and was pregnant with her second child who was born in October 1963. Their plan was for Marina and the children to go first, to be followed perhaps by Oswald, for whom re-entrance into Russia would be more difficult. Oswald told Cuban authorities that he wanted to wait in Cuba for permission for him to return to Russia. Marina wasn't sure that he would join her in Russia, saying, “his basic desire was to get to Cuba by any means, and that all the rest of it was window dressing for that purpose.”

The circumstances around Oswald's trip to Mexico City are disputed with charges that the FBI fabricated evidence to hide, among other things, the fact that Oswald had travelled one way by car, presumably with a compatriot because Oswald had neither a car nor a drivers license. We'll discuss Oswald's Mexico trip in more detail in Week 9 - CIA. For now we can note that the purpose of Oswald's FPCC advocacy may have been to create a portfolio showing support for Cuba in order to persuade Cuban officials to give him a visa. As noted above, it is interesting that a CIA report regarding Oswald’s Mexico City trip in 1963 was also captioned with the LCIMPROVE cryptonym. Larry Hancock reports that the FBI and CIA had a joint project called AMSANTA "which was built around using actual FPCC members to collect regime intelligence from inside Cuba. The FPCC members were to be inserted via visas and travel through Mexico City. FPCC membership and recommendation was a key element in the effort and its first agent insertion in the summer of 1963 proved to be exceptionally productive." Perhaps Oswald's attempt to get a Cuban visa without the direct endorsement of the FPCC was an exploration of an alternate approach to get Americans into Cuba for intelligence purposes.

Oswald with Cubans

Just as reports of Oswald with right-wingers in New Orleans suggest that they were working together for some purpose, there are several reports of Oswald with Cubans in the fall, which suggest that he was working with them for some unspecified reason, perhaps reporting their activities to the FBI, while they were setting him up to be a patsy in the upcoming assassination of JFK.

The Odio Incident

Sometime around September 25, 1963, while Oswald was supposedly traveling to Mexico City three men visited Silvia Odio and her sister at her apartment in Dallas. Silvia’s father, Amador Odio had been a wealthy Cuban prior to the revolution and was a leader of JURE, a left wing anti-Castro group favored by Bobby Kennedy. According to the HSCA, two of the visitors, “Leopoldo” and “Angelo” asked Silvia for help drafting a JURE fund raising letter while “Leon Oswald”, not speaking Spanish, waited. Silvia was suspicious and after 20 minutes asked them to leave. The following day, Leopoldo called Silvia and told her that the American, Leon Oswald, was an ex-Marine, an excellent shot and advocated killing JFK for not supporting the Bay of Pigs. "Leopoldo" is reported to have said "Leon" would do anything, saying that Leon had 'laughed at' the Cubans, claiming they had 'no guts'". "It would be easy to kill Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs," he allegedly told Leopoldo.

Odio’s testimony proved troublesome to the Warren Commission because of her credibility and the WC’s inability to place Oswald in Dallas on that date. "The Warren Commission requested that the FBI further investigate and resolve it. The FBI did so, with Director Hoover informing the Commission that it had identified the parties involved as three men from Miami. It was all a misunderstanding by Odio, Hoover declared, and the issue could be dropped from further consideration. It would be years later, with new records releases, that FBI investigative documents out of its Miami office revealed that Hoover’s remarks were false, and that the FBI was very much aware internally that nothing had been resolved. There was no confirmation of Odio’s visitors as Hoover had claimed. Actually, the FBI’s field office in Miami had interviewed the three men, and had determined that they were not in Dallas at Odio’s apartment. For confirmation, the three men’s photos were also shown to Silvia Odio and her sister, who stated that they were not the men who had visited her." Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (p. 405). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Robert McKeown

In early September 1963, Robert McKeown lived in Baycliff, Texas, while Oswald was in New Orleans with Marina. McKeown had had a close relationship with Castro, supplying him guns for his revolution but was convicted of weapons trafficking and was serving probation. McKeown told the HSCA that a man identifying himself as Lee Oswald came to his house in early September 1963 and offered him $10,000 for four rifles. McKeown wisely refused, noting that the man could purchase the same rifles at Sears Roebuck for $300. McKeown told author Dick Russell, “One thing is, I knew that Cuban with Oswald from before. Knew him from Cuba. ’Cept he didn’t know I knew. His name was Hernandez.” Russell, Dick. On the Trail of the JFK Assassins: A Groundbreaking Look at America's Most Infamous Conspiracy (p. 136). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Richard Case Nagell

Dick Russell wrote a long biography of Richard Case Nagell, titled The Man Who Knew Too Much: Hired to Kill Oswald and Prevent the Assassination of JFK. Nagell was a Korean War hero and had worked in the Army Counter Intelligence Corp. Over a period of several years he told Russell a story that he was working free lance on behalf of both CIA and KGB to surveil Oswald in the summer of 1963. He related that Oswald was hanging around with two Cubans who were anti-Castro but they presented themselves to Oswald as being pro-Castro. These Cubans were plotting to kill JFK and Nagell claims that the KGB pressured him to kill Oswald to stop the plot. Instead of doing so, he sent J. Edgar Hoover a registered mail package describing the plot, then got himself arrested by firing a pistol into the ceiling of a bank and then waiting outside in his car to be arrested. In his car, authorities found FPCC leaflets, a note with Oswald's New Orleans P.O. Box number, a notebook with the names of confidential CIA personnel from the Los Angeles office, and a military identification ID card with Nagell's photo and the name and signature of Lee H. Oswald.

ID Card from Dick Russell's book

Nagell's story is fantastical, and except for the slight evidence above and the FBI reports of his arrest and interrogation, could perhaps be ignored. But Nagell's story has some tempting elements: Hoover's foreknowledge of Oswald and an assassination plot could explain why Hoover concluded Oswald was guilty after Oswald had been in custody for only 71 minutes. And Oswald, and an Oswald impersonator being used to frame Oswald was not just a Nagell claim. Larry Hancock, in his book Someone Would Have Talked, described many people who had foreknowledge of the assassination. In the Parrot Jungle incident for example a young Cuban in Miami described before the assassination how his friend Oswald, an excellent marksman who had been to Russia could shoot JFK between the eyes. Another Cuban, John Martino who told his family that JFK would be killed in Dallas, "later in life admitted to his business partner Fred Claasen that the anti-Castro Cubans put Oswald together and tried to frame him as a Castro assassin in a plot to murder President Kennedy. Those Cubans posed as Castro agents and it is more likely that Oswald played along to reveal their agenda as part of his mission to smoke out subversives and pro-Cubans." Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (p. 416). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Oswald Impersonations

Alice Texas

Around the first week in October 1963, many eyewitnesses saw Oswald, sometimes with a non-English speaking wife, child and young baby in and around Alice Texas, 400 miles from Dallas, at the same time the Warren Commission placed Oswald in Dallas and Irving Texas. The real Marina was still pregnant and did not deliver her baby until October 20. Oswald was supposedly driving a car, although the real Oswald didn’t have a car or driver's license.

Furniture Mart

A similar family sighting happened in early November 1963 at the Furniture Mart store in Irving Texas. A man who looked like Oswald drove up with his non-speaking wife, a child and a two week old baby. The store had an outdated gun shop sign outside and the man came in looking for a part to repair a rifle. When they informed him the gun shop had moved he browsed furniture for a while, talking to the proprietor, who gave him directions to Irving Sports Shop.

This could conceivably be the Oswald family, borrowing Ruth Paine's car. The proprietor’s friend who was in the store, Mrs. Hunter, had seen Marina several previous times in Irving. This led to an interesting Warren Commission confrontation between the store proprietor, Mrs. Whitworth, her friend Mrs. Hunter, and Marina Oswald, with both women claiming they had met her and Marina saying she had never seen them before.

Irving Sports Shop

Following the assassination Dial Ryder of the Irving Sports Shop referenced above was contacted by the Dallas Police Detective Ray Turner following an anonymous tip. Mr. Ryder found a work ticket with the name Oswald with orders to mount and boresight a telescopic sight on a rifle. According to the FBI, Oswald’s Mannlicher Carcano rifle was sold from Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago with the telescopic sight already attached. The Irving Sports Shop work order was for a three hole mount, and the Mannlicher Carcano required a two hole mount. The owner of Irving Sports Shop called all the Oswalds in the Dallas and Irving city directory and none of them admitted having a rifle sight recently mounted. Greg Doudna's theory is that Oswald had purchased the rifle but taken the scope off. He took it to Irving Sport Shop to have the scope reinstalled so that he could sell it early in November.

Sports Drome Rifle Range

Several people came forward after the assassination to say they had seen someone who resembled Oswald shooting an Italian military rifle at the Sports Drome rifle range in Dallas in November. He was seen driving to the range and was purportedly an excellent shot. The Warren Commission determined that Oswald was in Irving with his wife during these weekends. The man did not identify himself with Oswald's name, but the Mannlicher Carcano was an unusual rifle. According to Hancock and Boylan, the FBI searched all the shooting ranges around Dallas and failed to recover a single expended cartridge which matched the ammunition used in the assassination.
Homer Wood
Floyd Davis
Malcolm Price
Garland Slack

Downtown Lincoln Mercury

On November 9, 1963 a man calling himself Lee Oswald purportedly walked into Downtown Lincoln Mercury in Dallas and tried to buy a car. Salesperson Al Bogard took the customer for a test drive during which Oswald drove “like a mad man” at speeds around 75 to 85 miles per hour. After looking at every car in the showroom and the lot, the man told Bogard that he was about to come into some big money. After the test drive, Bogard’s boss, Eugene Wilson determined that Oswald had no cash or credit so he couldn’t sell him the car. Oswald replied, “Well, maybe I’m going to have to go back to Russia to buy a car.” He also said he’d be coming into some money in a few weeks and would come back. Several people validated Bogard’s story that he tried to sell a man named Oswald a car prior to the assassination. As Bill Simpich says, "Ruth Paine testified to the Warren Commission that it was not possible for Oswald to have visited the Lincoln-Mercury dealership on November 9, as she was with Oswald all day long that entire Veterans' Day weekend - including their failed trip from Irving to get Oswald a learner's permit at the driver's license bureau in Oak Cliff."

Ralph Leon Yates

On the day before the assassination, November 21, 1963, a refrigeration repairman, Ralph Leon Yates, picked up a hitchhiker on Beckley Street, about a mile from Oswald’s rooming house and drove him to Dealey Plaza. The man had a 4 foot long package wrapped in brown paper with him and talked about shooting JFK from a building and talked about JFK’s parade route. The story seems fanciful, but a coworker of Yates verified that Yates had told him the same story prior to the assassination. At the time of the alleged incident, Oswald was working at the TSBD.

Red Bird Airport - Hijack Plan?

Wayne January operated an aircraft servicing and sales company at Red Bird airport in Dallas. On November 29, he reported to the FBI that a man and a woman came to his shop a few days prior to the assassination wanting to charter an airplane to "Old Mexico". The couple were evasive about where exactly they wanted to go, but asked questions about flight range, which suggested to January that they wanted to hijack the plane to fly to Cuba. Hijacking planes to Cuba became a political statement starting in 1961, but commercial flights were increasingly defended, making private planes less of a risk to the hijackers. January denied their request and turned them away, but noticed a third person sitting in their car, who after the assassination he realized resembled Oswald. Marina reported to the FBI that Oswald had discussed hijacking a plane to Cuba with her, but she had convinced him to enter Cuba legally. If January's report is true and if the person he saw was Oswald, perhaps his confederates had told Oswald they would help him get to Mexico by hijacked private plane.

Wayne January also told a story about working with a Cuban pilot who predicted that JFK would be assassinated. Larry Hancock and David Boylan have looked into the story and have a supposition as to who that Cuban pilot could have been and how he would have learned of an assassination plot.

Motive?

The Warren Commission theorized that Oswald's motivation in killing JFK was to be recognized as a "great man" in history, but they didn't explain why, if he wanted fame for the assassination, he would deny having killed anyone. In fact, the evening of the assassination, Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig had a brief interview with Oswald in Captain Fritz' office, in which Oswald said "Everybody will know who I am now." In Craig's 1971 book, he wrote "Oswald's tone and attitude was one of disappointment. If someone were attempting to conceal his identity as Deputy and he was found out, exposed--his cover blown, his reaction would be dismay and disappointment. This was Oswald's tone and attitude--disappointment at being exposed!"

In FBI agent Brookhout's interrogation report of 11/25 he states, OSWALD stated that he has nothing against President JOHN F. KENNEDY personally; however in view of the present charges against him, he did not desire to discuss this phase further.

In Secret Service Inspector Thomas Kelley's interrogation report he reported that Oswald said, "I have no views on the President." "My wife and I like the President's family. They are interesting people. I have my own views on the President's national policy. I have a right to express my views but because of the charges I do not think I should comment further."

George De Mohrenschildt was Oswald's closest friend in Dallas and had many discussions with him. In his manuscript I Am A Patsy, he relayed some of Oswald's feelings about the President:

"Lee was not jealous of Kennedy's and Bouviers' wealth and did not envy their social positions, of that I was sure. To him wealth and society were big jokes, but he did not resent them."

"One of the reasons we agree with Mrs. Marguerite Oswald that her son was probably innocent of Kennedy's assassination - and we insisted on this during the Warren Committee interviews (although it was never brought up publicly) - was the following: Lee actually admired President Kennedy in his own reserved way. One day we discussed with Lee Kennedy's efforts to bring peace to the world and to end the cold war. 'Great, great!' Exclaimed Lee. 'If he succeeds, he will be the greatest president in the history of this country.'"

"Kennedy's efforts to alleviate and to end segregation were also admired by Lee, who was sincerely and profoundly committed to a complete integration of Blacks and saw it in the future of the United States. "I am willing to fight for racial equality and would die fighting if necessary," He told me once. Because of his poor, miserable childhood, he probably compared himself to the Blacks and the Indians and commiserated with them. In this he was so different and so noble compared with the Southern trash and rednecks, whose segregationism stems from their fear of the Blacks, of their strength and of the possibility of their prominence in every field of human endeavor. Education for the Blacks was an anathema for them, while Lee was fullheartedly for it. He loved black children and admired their cute and outgoing ways. He also was fond of the black music and folklore with which he as familiar from his childhood days in New Orleans."

"Talking to Lee was a balsam for his raw nerves, a sincere conversation calmed him down and it wasn't bad for me either. Fortunately I remember well so much of what he said. I remember distinctly that one of those evenings together we talked of John F. Kennedy. Lee liked him and certainly did not include him among those despicable politicians he mentioned before. I showed him President's picture of the cover of Time Magazine and Lee said -'how handsome he looks, what open and sincere features he has and who different he looks from the other ratty politicians.'"

"I don't remember exactly the words but Lee spoke most kindly of the gradual improvement of the racial relations in the United States, attributing this improvement to the President. Like most young people he was attracted by the Kennedy's personality but he also knew that JFK's father was a rascal who made money off whisky and being bullish on the stock-market which is betting against this country's economy."

"Lee often mentioned that the two party system did not work well, that other points of view were not represented. He did not see the difference between a conservative democrat and a fairly liberal republican - and in that I agreed with him."

"'Both republicans and democrats really did not oppose each other,' he mentioned one day, 'they do not represent different points of view, but they are both solidly against poor and oppressed.'"

"But regarding JFK, Lee did not have such a gloomy attitude and he hoped that after the Bay of Pigs fiasco Kennedy would accept coexistence with the communist world."

"I did not know Lee to be a dangerous man, a man who would kill like a maniac without any reason - with reason any man is a potential killer - and we proved that he was rather an admirer of Kennedy's. Lee's connections, when we knew him, were fairly liberal, equalitarian, not even communist but rather vague, Marxist believes. He did not try to influence me in any way nor did I try to exert any influence on him."

Conclusions?

We are left with an incomplete explanation of Oswald and his actions. There are indications that Oswald may have been used by intelligence services in his Russian episode and his attempt to get to Cuba. Senator Richard Schweiker, a member of the Church Committee, was quoted by his investigator, Gaeton Fonzi as saying that Oswald “had the fingerprints of intelligence all over him.” (Fonzi, The Last Investigation, page 31). And yet, if intelligence agencies were using Oswald, he was in turn using them to get to Russia and try to get to Cuba, to explore the world and understand how different economic systems affect the poor and downtrodden and those who are discriminated against.

Oswald had little formal education but was self taught. He was inner directed and pursued his own ideas and goals with little care about the opinion of others. He was comfortable and confident, even in the face of danger. When Marina visited him in jail on 11/23 he said, “Oh, no, they have not been beating me. They are treating me fine … You’re not to worry about that. Did you bring June and Rachel? … Of course we can speak about absolutely anything at all … It’s a mistake. I’m not guilty. There are people who will help me. There is a lawyer in New York on whom I am counting for help … Don’t cry. There is nothing to cry about. Try not to think about it … Everything is going to be all right. If they ask you anything, you have a right not to answer. You have a right to refuse. Do you understand? … You are not to worry. You have friends. They’ll help you. If it comes to that, you can ask the Red Cross for help. You mustn’t worry about me. Kiss Junie and Rachel for me. I love you … Be sure to buy shoes for June.” Hancock, Larry Joe; Boylan, David. Oswald Puzzle: Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald (pp. 335-336). (Function). Kindle Edition.

In Oswald's last hours, before the Dallas Police led him to his death, Oswald remained poised, sharp, and controlled. Former Police Chief Jesse Curry told author Anthony Summers in 1977, “One would think Oswald had been trained in interrogation techniques and resisting interrogation techniques.” To the same author, D.A. William Alexander had this to say: “I was amazed that a person so young would have had the self-control he had. It was almost as if he had been rehearsed or programmed to meet the situation he found himself in.” Detective Boyd said, “I never saw another man just exactly like him … just as soon as you would ask him a question, he would just give you the answer right back — he didn’t hesitate about his answers. I mean as soon as you would pop him a question, he would shoot you an answer right back and like I said, I never saw a man that could answer questions like he did.” According to L.C. Graves, “He was quick to answer and quick to make a remark when he was spoken to or asked a question … He is sharp when it comes to talking to the men. He listened to everything, everybody he saw, and he had an answer by the time you got through asking him … He didn’t hung for words, didn’t hesitate at all.” Leavelle said, “He did always smile and never hesitated for an answer, always had an answer.” And Sims said, “He had the answers ready when you got through with the questions.” According to FBI Agent Bookhout, “Anytime you asked a question that would be pertinent to the investigation, that would be the type of question he would refuse to discuss.” And Capt. Fritz concluded, “Every time I asked him a question that meant something, that would produce evidence, he immediately told me he wouldn’t tell me about it and he seemed to anticipate what I was going to ask.”

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