Autobiography of Lee Harvey Oswald:: My Life in My Words

Contents

Introduction

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

My First 21 Years

Chapter Two

My Russian Adventure

Marriage and Preparation to Return to the U.S.

Chapter Four

Repatriation

My Attempt to Kill General Edwin Walker

Chapter Six

My Fair Play for Cuba Activities in New Orleans

Chapter Seven

My Radio Interviews

Chapter Eight

My Trip to Mexico City

Chapter Nine

My 48 Hours of Fame

Chapter Ten

Whatever Happened to the People in My Life?

Sources

Appendix I

Oswald’s Exact Writings

Appendix II

Oswald’s Book About Russia

Appendix III

Testimony of Jack Ruby

Appendix IV

Medical Treatment of President Kennedy

About the Editors

Introduction 

This book developed out of a personal quest to understand Lee Harvey Oswald through analysis of his own words. Thus I collected his recorded words and arranged them in chronological order from his youth to his death. It has allowed me to develop some understanding, from a background in the field of psychology, to answer the question of whether Oswald was capable of or likely to have assassinated President Kennedy and whether he did it alone. Because the murder of Oswald by Jack Ruby created more chaos, Ruby’s movements are tracked following the assassination, which helps to explain his own act.

Previous works on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy dissatisfy many people because they are written from the standpoint of justifying this or that conspiracy point of view. This work offers Oswald’s words so that readers can decide for themselves what they think.

Some details about Oswald’s activities have been added to put his words in context. These details come from records in the public domain, as do his words. The main documents in the public domain about Lee Harvey Oswald come from the 26-volume President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, commonly called the Warren Commission of 1964, and the 12-volume Hearings Before the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives of 1978. The records given to President William Clinton by Soviet Premier Boris Yeltsin in August 1992 have been helpful in clearing up points about Oswald’s life in Russia.

Additional information came from the transcript of Jack Ruby’s trial for killing Oswald, loaned to me by the son of the judge who tried Jack Ruby for killing Oswald. (State of Texas v. Jack Rubenstein). Judge Joe B. Brown, Jr., kindly consented to give me those documents when I prepared the book Dallas and the Jack Ruby Trial using the diary of Judge Joe B. Brown, Sr., composed during Ruby’s trial.

My closeness with the horrifying events in Dallas began in late 1962 when Major General Edwin Walker was ordered by Attorney General Robert Kennedy to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. This evaluation was ordered because he made peculiar comments when he was arrested for interfering with the enrollment of James Meredith at the previously all-white University of Mississippi at Oxford. Working in the Psychiatric Unit of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, at that time, I was required to verbally administer the only psychological test which Walker consented to take—namely the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Walker had been advised by his lawyer to fill out no test material by hand and to participate in no other psychological consultation. As a result I spent some 3 ½ interesting hours talking with Walker.

Many movie reviewers believe that Walker was the source of two depictions of far-right anti-communist generals who nearly precipitated a war. In the movie Dr. Strangelove, General Ripper was played by actor Sterling Hayden, and in Seven Days in May, General James Mattoon Scott was played by Burt Lancaster.

When the newspaper carried the story of an attempt on Walker’s life on April 10, 1963, the perpetrator was unknown, but it caught my interest having recently been involved with his evaluation. Therefore, it was of special interest to learn that Oswald’s wife, Marina, told the police about Oswald’s attempt to kill Walker on April 10th, when they talked with her after the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963.

I had still further interest in this fateful event because before working in the Psychiatric Unit of Parkland Hospital, and before I started my training in psychology, I had been the secretary for Dr. William Kemp Clark who pronounced President Kennedy dead after the team of doctors working on him could do no more. Dr. Clark was the chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Southwestern Medical School, now called University of Texas Southwestern Medical School attached to the charity hospital of Dallas County—Parkland Hospital.

Finally, after a career of psychological counseling, I was selected by Mayor Annette Strauss to become the first Drug Czar of Dallas. I was officed in the City of Dallas government offices and also in the Dallas Police Department on the third floor across the hall from the room where Lee Oswald had been brought for questioning (and in which his assassin sat in the back of the room posing as a reporter). I had access to records contained in the Dallas Municipal Archives and Records Center that included copies of all materials collected from Oswald’s residence and his wife’s residence. Those items were sent on to the Warren Commission and have become part of the public record. Thus I began work on this book in 1992 while working as the Drug Coordinator of Dallas.

I further added information gained from visiting the National Archives in Washington, D.C. in the JFK Assassination, Oswald File. I also spent many hours in the SMU Fondren Library with the complete copies of the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee and in Dallas Public Library FBI Oswald Files. In addition, I viewed the papers donated by Marguerite Oswald in Fort Worth Library Collections, various other collections including the L.B.J. Library in Austin, Texas, countless books on the subject, and even visited the Russian Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, where Oswald went to start his exotic journey to Russia. Despite being in Russia, mainly St. Petersburg, I had too little time to get to Minsk, unfortunately.

As I recovered information on Lee Harvey Oswald, I found a kid who was only a couple of years younger than I, who wanted to live in another country as I did to begin life—I lived in London and Paris from age 19 to 21. I found a kid who wanted to do something important and kept his Historic Diary in Russia, and wrote a book about the life of Russians. This kid came back to America having married a foreigner just as I did at an early age, and he wound up living in the same neighborhood where I lived—Oak Cliff, across the Trinity River from downtown Dallas. He even went to the Texas Theater on Jefferson Avenue where I spent many hours, however he spent only a few minutes there before he was arrested. When he was a kid and when he died, he was treated at Parkland Hospital where I worked. He wound up to be a flop that finally pulled off one important and terrible act. For that, he became more famous than even he imagined, thanks to Jack Ruby who cut off his life before questions could be answered about the Kennedy assassination.

Feeling as if I could identify with some of Oswald’s early interests, I decided to approach this book, the most complete account of his words anywhere, by using the autobiographical approach. He would not have appreciated having all of his words used for a book about him because he was a deceptive man, and kept much of himself hidden from those around him.

Serious truth seekers will find Oswald’s words answer the workings of his mind and yield a profoundly illuminating portrait of the accused assassin of President Kennedy.

List of Illustrations 

Cover, Lee Harvey Oswald showing off to a camera in his 9th grade schoolroom in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1.1 Lee at age 8 with a cap pistol and brother Robert’s military academy hat in 1947.

1.2. Lee in the second grade in Fort Worth.

1.3. Lee around 12 years of age.

1.4. Lee at age 13 visiting a zoo in New York City.

1.5. Lee showing off to a camera in his 9th grade classroom in New Orleans in 1954.

1.6. Lee in his Civil Air Patrol uniform at age 15 in 1955.

1.7. Lee in front of a height chart when he entered the Marine Corps at age 17.

1.8. Lee firing an M-1 during Marine Corps rifle training.

1.9. Lee (center) with Marines and natives in the Philippines in 1958.

1.10. Lee’s passport picture in 1959.

1.11. Lee registered with Selective Service after discharge using this card to make an alias later.

2.1. Lee relaxing with Minsk radio factory co-workers between 1960 and 1962.

2.2. Lee fishing with Mrs. Ziger and her daughters, Leanora and Anita.

2.3. Lee preparing a campfire on an outing with the Zigers.

2.4. Lee (right) with Leanora Ziger and one of her boyfriends, Alfred.

2.5. Lee’s birthday party in Minsk on October 18, 1960, turning 21.

2.6. Lee talking to American tourists in front of the Minsk Palace of Culture in 1961.

3.1. Lee and Marina the day of their wedding, April 30, 1961.

3.2. Lee and Marina with her Aunt Luba in Minsk, 1961.

3.3. Lee and Marina on the balcony of their apartment in 1961.

4.1. Lee, Marina’s friend Anatole, and Alexander Ziger

4.2. Marina and Lee with June in their Minsk apartment in 1962.

4.3. The Zigers seeing off Oswalds at the Minsk train station.

4.4. Lee and Marina aboard the train as they left for America

4.5. Lee photographed Marina and June in Poland on their way to the U.S.

4.6. George deMohrenschildt, Lee’s friend who resembled Alexander Ziger.

5.1. Lee and Marina at a bus station photo booth on the way to Robert’s for Thanksgiving, Nov. 22, 1962.

5.2. Oswald’s photograph of Gen. Walker’s house. License plate blackened by FBI to hide the car’s identity.

5.3. Lee photographed by Marina with rifle, pistol in holster, and The Militant newspapers.

6.1. Oswald’s fake Selective Service card for alias Alek James Hidell.

6.2. Fair Play for Cuba Committee handbill Oswald had printed in New Orleans.

6.3. Oswald created this membership card in his fictitious New Orleans Chapter of the FPCC and had Marina write A. J. Hidell over Chapter President.

6.4. Oswald when arrested for disturbing the peace August 9, 1963.

9.1. Mrs. Kennedy’s hand grasped the President’s arm as he clutched his throat just before the fatal shot. Gov. Connally turned to look back to the Book Depository as did others.

9.2. Oswald being taken from the Texas Theater by officers C. T. Walker and Paul Bentley.

9.3. Oswald’s mug shot when arrested for killing Officer Tippit. Later, he was also charged with killing the President.

9.4 November 22 midnight press conference at the Dallas Police Department where Ruby was present.

9.5. Officers bring Oswald out to be transferred to the Dallas County jail as he looks in Ruby’s direction.

9.6. Jack Ruby darts forward to shoot Oswald.

9.7. Jack Ruby shoots Oswald November 24, 1963, in the basement of the Dallas Police Department.

9.8. Oswald was put on a stretcher by a medical student and policemen.

9.9. Oswald was photographed at Parkland Hospital after his autopsy.

9.10. Oswald’s funeral service where reporters had to carry the coffin from the chapel.

9.11. Oswald’s mother, Marguerite, preening before cameras with Judge Joe Brown, who tried Ruby for killing Oswald.

Acknowledgements

I thank all those who have helped in this work and especially those librarians who assisted me in viewing special collections and whose names in many cases are unknown. I want to single out Cindy Smolovik, CRM, CA, President of the Academy of Certified Archivists, who helped me access the documents about Oswald in the Dallas Municipal Archives and Records Center.

I want to thank Katherine Z. Mikkelson, J.D., Associate Director of the ABA Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division for helping me when she was editor of the ABA’s publication The Public Lawyer and directing me to their special issue of Unlocking the Government’s Secret Files on JFK, Volume 8, No. 1.

I thank my daughter, Kathleen Ann Wagoner, legal clerk, for introducing me to Judge Joe B. Brown, Jr. I also thank psychologists Dr. Sharon J. Anderson and Dr. Alan Cheney for urging me to write this book and psychiatrists Dr. James D. Uloth, M.D. (deceased) and Dr. Thomas A. Woods, M.D. for suggesting that I do it as an autobiography. I am extremely grateful to Judge Joe B. Brown, Jr., for his help and his documents relating to his father’s trial of Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald.

I am also grateful to James A. Abbott, former Agent in Charge of the North Texas FBI officed in Dallas, who gave me encouragement, valuable assistance, contact people, and suggested the title of my previous book, The Mind of Oswald.

Special thanks go to Chief Rick Hatler who was my supervisor at the Dallas Police Department when I was Drug Czar of Dallas. Hatler has since retired from the Dallas Police but Nine Fingers was a great inspiration and facilitator for my work and my research.

I am greatly indebted to Janice Beals, whose company, A Designer’s Touch, created the cover and processed the numerous photographs which were taken from the public domain, Warren Commission Report, and National Archives.

But my special thanks go to my husband, historian Bob Cheney, whose support, help and encouragement have been valuable to me for so many years.

Chapter One

My First 21 Years

This book is the story of my life using my own words, my letters, writings, applications, and testimony by others who described what I said. Let us begin with the brief autobiography I wrote in Russia. I went there after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. I wrote a book about life in the Soviet Union which is in the Appendix. At the beginning of my book about Russia, I wrote this thumbnail autobiography which the editor has made slightly more legible since I am a poor speller. You may see all my original exact words, illegible as they may be, in Appendix One. You will also note that whenever my own words are used in this book, they will be in italics.

Lee Harvey Oswald was born in October, 1939, in New Orleans, La., the son of an insurance salesman, whose early death left a far mean streak of independence brought on by neglect. Entering the U.S. Marine Corps at 17, this streak of independence was strengthened by exotic journeys to Japan, the Philippines and the scores of odd islands in the Pacific. Immediately after serving out his three years in the U.S.M.C., he abandoned his American life to seek a new life in the U.S.S.R.

Full of optimism and hope, he stood in Red Square in the fall of 1959, vowing to see his chosen course through. After, however, two years and a lot of growing up, I decided to return to the U.S.A.

This book is not a story about himself. He is only the narrator. He does think, however, that not too many people, at least Americans, have had the opportunity to look into an often incredible and sometimes terrifying world, but a world whose outward appearance is very like our own.¹

While living in Russia, I kept a diary which I entitled Historic Diary. Using the Historic Diary, the book about Russia, the many papers and letters that I wrote, and even my job applications, you will know me through my own words. This knowledge can enable you to understand my motivations, desires, and goals. These are important to know if you want to understand what happened on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

In this book, you will also learn about my assassin, Jack Ruby, taken from Ruby’s testimony to the Warren Commission and his lie detector test in an appendix.

As anyone knows who reads about me, I was born October 18, 1939, in New Orleans, Louisiana. My father, an insurance salesman, died two months before I was born. My mother, Marguerite, had borne a son (John Pic) by her first husband, and another son, (Robert) by my father.

After my father died, mother had to work and tried to put all three of us boys in an orphanage. They would not accept me until I was three years old, so mother entered the two older boys. When I was three, she placed me there for 13 months with my brother and half-brother. Mother then took me out to live with her as she was soon to be married. The marriage did not last long but she kept me with her, often taking me on appointments as a saleslady.

A lively child, I gained the attention of children by telling them what to do, fighting, and by clowning around. On April 5, 1945, I was taken to Dallas’ Parkland Hospital emergency room. I had gotten into a fight with a boy who threw a rock at me, wounding my left eye. I was treated with ice packs to the eye and was released the same day. I would revisit that same emergency room 18 years later on the last day of my life—November 24, 1963.

When I was eight years old, my brother took a picture of me as I donned his military academy hat and held a cap pistol.

When I was 11 years old in early 1950, I wrote the first notes to be saved in permanent records. I was living in Fort Worth, Texas, with my mother who had divorced her third husband. I sent some postcards to my half-brother who was serving in the Coast Guard. Probably prompted by my mother, I asked for money and showed some of the spelling errors that were to plague my written communications for the rest of my life.

1.1 Lee at age 8 with a cap pistol and brother Robert’s military academy hat in 1947.

1.2 Lee in the second grade in Fort Worth.

Dear John

Would you send me a letter teeling all about yourself and icebergs and things like that? Will you send me $1.50?

Lee.

P.S. Send me some sougniers [souvenirs].²

On August 28, 1950, I wrote my half-brother, John Pic, again saying:

Dear John.

All I have to say is get me some ($1.50) money.

P.S. I want $1.50.

Lee³

In December, 1950, I wrote John a third time.

Dear Pic,

I sure am sorry that you can’t come hom for Christmas. I’m sending you this fruit cake.

Mary Christmas from Lee.⁴

1.3 Lee around 12 years of age.

From the age of 11 or 12, I was a discipline problem for my mother. When she was away at work, I had to get myself breakfast, make lunch, go to school, and arrive home unsupervised because she was working long hours. One of my favorite television shows was I Led Three Lives, based on Herb Philbrick, who infiltrated the U.S. Communist Party for the FBI. It was based on Philbrick’s book I Led Three Lives: Citizen, Communist, Counterspy. The show began in 1953 and I was watching it before we went to New York, or so said my brother, Robert. After I began to skip school, mother decided to move to New York City in 1953. We moved in with John Pic and his wife.

1.4 Lee at age 13 visiting a zoo in New York City.

I was truant from school in New York City, often going to the zoo. I was wandering through Central Park one day when I was given a pro-communist pamphlet appealing for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, being tried for conspiracy against the United States. (They were executed on June 19, 1953.) I later told a reporter that the pamphlet became my first knowledge about communism.

I fought with my half-brother’s wife over the television programs. When she objected to me watching my favorite programs, I got angry even though it was their TV. I pulled out a pocket knife and threatened to hurt her if she got in my way. When John arrived home and heard what had happened, he asked us to move out.

In our own apartment, mom continued her pattern of working and leaving me to my own activities. When a truancy officer found me outside of school, I was put on probation for truancy. When my probation officer John Carro⁵ told the court I had missed 46 full days and 8 half days from October 1, 1962, to January 15, 1953, and had refused to register in school and had not attended school since that time, the court requested a psychiatric evaluation at Youth House in New York City. This evaluation required me to remain in the institution from April 16, 1953, until May 7, 1953. A team of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers recommended treatment for me and counseling for my mother. Among the many reports about me from school authorities, I was reported to scoff at the American flag and refused to stand and pledge allegiance with the other students.

While I was in Youth House for the evaluation, on April 28, 1953, one staff person wrote this Special Behavior Report on me addressed to ten staff members. (Warren Commission Exhibit #1339)

Lee has constituted a problem here of late. He is a non-participant in any activity on the floor. He has made no attempts at developing a relationship with any member of the group and at the same time, not given anyone an opportunity to become acquainted with him. He appears content just to sit and read whatever is available. He has reacted favorably to supervision; does what is asked of him without comment. There appears to be nothing on the floor of interest to him. Each evening at 8:00 PM he asked to be allowed to go to bed. Members of the group appear to respect his seclusiveness. Perhaps this boy should have a talk with his Case Worker—perhaps he will become more communicative from this point.

Psychiatrist Dr. Renatus Hartogs summarized his report⁶ on me by stating:

This 13-year-old well-built boy has superior mental resources and functions only slightly below his capacity level in spite of chronic truancy from school which brought him into Youth House. No finding of neurological impairment or psychotic mental changes could be made. Lee has to be diagnosed as personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and passive-aggressive tendencies. Lee has to be seen as an emotionally, quite disturbed youngster who suffers under the impact of really existing emotional isolation and deprivation, lack of affection, absence of family life and rejection by a self-involved and conflicted mother.

Dr. Hartogs recommended that I be placed on probation on condition that I seek help and guidance through a child guidance clinic. There, Dr. Hartogs suggested that I should be treated by a male psychiatrist who could substitute for the lack of a father figure. He also recommended that my mother seek psychotherapeutic guidance through contact with a family agency. The possibility of commitment was to be considered only if the probation plan was not successful.

My withdrawal was also noted⁷ by Mrs. Evelyn Siegel, a social worker, who described me as a seriously detached, withdrawn youngster. She also noted that there was a rather pleasant, appealing quality about this emotionally starved, affectionless youngster which grows as one speaks to him. She thought that I had detached myself from the world around me because no one in it ever met any of his needs for love.

She observed that since my mother worked all day, I made my own meals and spent time alone because I didn’t make friends with other kids. She thought that I withdrew into a completely solitary and detached existence where he did as he wanted and he didn’t have to live by any rules or come into contact with people.

Mrs. Siegel concluded that, Lee just felt that his mother never gave a damn for him. He always felt like a burden that she simply just had to tolerate… Lee confirmed some of those observations by saying that he felt almost as if there were a veil between him and other people through which they could not reach him, but that he preferred the veil to remain intact. He admitted to fantasies about being powerful and sometimes hurting and killing people, but refused to elaborate on them. He took the position that such matters were his own business.

A psychological human figure-drawing test corroborated the interviewer’s findings that I was insecure and had limited social contacts.⁸ Irving Sokolow, a Youth House psychologist, reported that he found me a somewhat insecure youngster exhibiting much inclination for warm and satisfying relationships to others. There is some indication that he may relate to men more easily than to women…

I scored an IQ of 118 on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, classified as bright average. (This was only one point less than John F. Kennedy recorded in 1931 for a school entrance evaluation. Kennedy, of course, also had notoriously poor spelling skills as can be seen in books describing his early writings and letters.)

According to psychologist Sokolow, my tests indicated a present intellectual functioning in the upper range of bright normal intelligence. Sokolow said I was presumably disinterested in school subjects but I operated on a much higher than average level. On the Monroe Silent Reading Test, my score indicated no retardation in reading speed and comprehension; I had better than average ability in arithmetical reasoning for my age group.

I told John Carro, my probation officer, that I liked to be by myself because I had too much difficulty in making friends. The reports of Carro and Mrs. Siegel also indicated an ambivalent attitude toward authority on my part. Carro reported that I was disruptive in class after I returned to school on a regular basis in the fall of 1953.

I still refused to salute the flag and was doing very little, if any, work. I didn’t want to do anything the authorities suggested. I told Mrs. Siegel that I would run away if sent to a boarding school. On the other hand, I also told her that I wished mother had been more firm with me in her attempts to get me to return to school.

The reports of the New York Youth House authorities indicated that mother did not appear to understand her own relationship to my psychological problems. Mrs. Siegel described her as a smartly dressed, gray-haired woman, very self-possessed and alert and superficially affable, but essentially a defensive, rigid, self-involved person who had real difficulty in accepting and relating to people and had little understanding of my behavior and of the protective shell I had drawn around myself.

I told my probation officer that I did not like teachers, school or the children in school. I stated, I like myself. When Carro inquired as to my relationship with my mother, I stated, Well I’ve got to live with her. I guess I love her. I told Carro that I had too much difficulty making friends and had more fun being alone.

John Carro reported that I said I would like to go into the service when I was 18. I told Carro that I had two brothers in the service, but didn’t miss them. Questioned as to my aim in life and what I wanted to do, I replied, I want to let me go home and be by myself. Carro asked whether I would attend school when I returned home. I replied, I have a choice between going to school here or in an institution. Does it matter? Okay, I go to school here. I stated that while I liked Youth House, I missed the freedom of doing what I wanted. I indicated that I did not miss my mother.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Hartogs, concluded his report:

We arrive therefore at the recommendation that he should be placed on probation under the condition that he seek help and guidance through contact with a child guidance clinic, where he should be treated preferably by a male psychiatrist who could substitute, to a certain degree at least, for the lack of a father figure. At the same time, his mother should be urged to seek psychotherapeutic guidance through contact with a family agency. If this plan does not work out favorably and Lee cannot cooperate in this treatment plan on an out-patient basis, removal from the home and placement could be resorted to at a later date, but it is our definite impression that treatment on probation should be tried out before the stricter and therefore possibly more harmful placement approach is applied to the case of this boy. The Big Brother Movement could be undoubtedly of tremendous value in this case and Lee should be urged to join the organized group activities of his community, such as provided by the PAL [Police Athletic League] or YMCA of his neighborhood.

On May 7, 1953, Justice McClancy presided over my court hearing, reviewed my records, and continued me on parole to September 24, 1953. His Honor advised I was to return to school as soon as possible to attend school regularly. Agencies were to return the case to court should I fail to do so. Justice McClancy requested that a referral be made to Community Service Society for possible therapeutic treatment for me.

Probation officer John Carro interviewed mother and me and advised that a referral would be made to a Family Agency, and to keep these appointments when she was notified. Both mother and I promised to cooperate.

Carro continued to try to get agencies to take me and mother into treatment but either I did not show up or the agency said their waiting list was too long. Finally, on September 24, 1953, mother telephoned to say she would be unable to appear in court. She said she felt it unnecessary to return to court as I had made a marvelous adjustment. I returned to school on May 7th and had a very good attendance record thereafter. At that time I was in the 9th grade at P.S. 44 and was soon elected class president. The probation officer spoke with mother about having me attend their Treatment Clinic. Mother was very resistant to this plan and was unwilling to enter into any sort of arrangement at that time. She indicated that I seemed to be doing well and would like me to be left alone for fear that an agency stepping into the picture would have a harmful effect. Carro advised mother that we would continue me under the supervision of the court longer to see how I adjust.

Carro obtained a report from my school on October 21, 1953. My conduct was described as unsatisfactory. The school reported that I had shown no improvement. Mother was said not to cooperate with the school authorities. She did not answer to a summons to come to school about my welfare. My teacher, H. Rosen, wrote, During the past 2 weeks practically every subject teacher has complained to me about the boy’s behavior. He has consistently refused to salute the flag during early morning exercises. In many rooms he has done no work whatsoever. He spends most of his time sailing paper planes around the room. When we spoke to him about his behavior, his attitude was belligerent. When I offered to help him he brushed out with, ‘I don’t need anybody’s help’.

Mother called Carro on October 29, 1953, stating that she was unable to appear in court. She had the keys to her employer’s doors and would have to be there. She indicated she would be able to come some other day if notified by a Probation Officer. Carro asked the court to continue me on probation. Judge Sicher continued me to 11/19/53 and directed Carro to make a referral to Berkshire Industrial Farm. If Berkshire Farm couldn’t take me, Judge Sicher gave permission to refer me to Children’s Village for institutional placement.

On November 11, 1953, Carro contacted Mr. Rosen, my teacher at P.S. 44. Mr. Rosen indicated that since mother’s visit to the school to discuss the situation with them, I had been getting along very well in school. I was now saluting the flag and showing a great deal of improvement. Mr. Rosen stated that I was no longer a behavior problem in the school. On that date, mother, I, and counselor Nielson appeared before the court. Mr. Nielson indicated that mother desired to have me discharged from supervision of the court, as she felt that I was presently no problem and that she was capable of coping with me.

His Honor counseled mother at some length and advised her that it would be for my best interest to cooperate with any plans that the court might have to offer. Judge Sicher instructed Carro to refer me to the treatment clinic and to make a reference to the Protestant Big Brother organization. I was paroled to January 25, 1954, for a report on that date.

On January 5, 1954, mother telephoned and spoke with probation officer Dunn in the absence of Mr. Carro, who was on vacation. She said that she had to leave the city. After a long discussion and not receiving definite information, Dunn advised her to be at court to see Mr. Carro on January 11, 1954, with me. Mother agreed to do so. In the afternoon, Mr. Groetz of the Protestant Big Brothers indicated that he would telephone on the morning of January 11. Mr. Groetz indicated that he believed mother was anxious and willing and found her most cooperative.

On January 26, 1954, the probation office received a letter from mother indicating that she had left and taken me with her to New Orleans, Louisiana. On March 11, 1954, Attendance Officer Mrs. Barnes and Probation Officer Carro were before the court. Mrs. Barnes indicated that they had no information as to the whereabouts of my family. Justice Delany discharged the case on this date since I was no longer in their jurisdiction.

I never received that help. Few social agencies even in New York were equipped to provide the kind of intensive treatment that I needed, and when one of the city’s clinics did find room to handle me, advantage was never taken of this opportunity.

1.5 Lee showing off to a camera in his 9th grade classroom in

New Orleans in 1954.

We left New York in January of 1954 and mother took me to New Orleans where her sister lived. There, I got a job as a clerk in a shoe store while attending Beauregard Junior High School. I finished the ninth grade but was teased at school because of the northern accent which I had acquired.

I concluded that school had nothing to offer me. Mother exercised little control and thought I could decide for my self whether to go on with school. Neighbors and others who knew me then recalled an introverted boy who read a great deal. I took walks and visited museums, and sometimes rode a rented bicycle in the park on Saturday mornings. My aunt, Mrs. Murret, believes that I talked at length with a girl on the telephone, but no one remembers that I had any dates. A friend, Edward Voebel, testified that I was more bashful about girls than anything else.⁹

Several witnesses testified that I was not aggressive. I was, however, involved in some fights. Once a group of white boys beat me up for sitting in the Negro section of a bus, which I apparently did simply out of ignorance. Another time, I fought with two brothers who claimed that I had picked on the younger of them, three years my junior. Schoolmate Voebel said a big guy accosted me on the way home from school and punched me in the mouth, making my lip bleed and loosening a tooth. Voebel took me back to the school nurse to attend to my wounds, and our mild friendship stemmed from that incident.

As I became more alienated from others, I attended school less and less. I criticized authorities openly, and was seen as a bad influence on youngsters by their parents. My contempt for others showed in a note I wrote in 1954 for a ninth grade boy’s autograph book.

Roses are red, violites ar blue, people like you, should be in a zoo. Lee Oswald.¹⁰

On June 2, 1955, I completed a New Orleans Personal History form for the tenth grade. In a question about friends, I listed nobody. On this form, I listed myself as a Lutheran even though mother and I never attended church. I wrote that I was 135 lbs, 5’5", that mother was a store manager, and that I had worked selling shoes for ten weeks under M. Goodman, a name which would later turn up as a false reference on some of my job applications. I wrote that I liked civics, science, and math but disliked English and art. My vocational choices were biology and mechanical drawing. Under health problems, I noted an abnormal eardrum in the left ear. I wrote that after high school I planned military service and undecided.¹¹

About this time, I told Edward Voebel that I wanted to steal a gun that I saw in a store. I outlined a plan to cut the glass in the window of a store on Rampart Street to steal a pistol. I showed Voebel the store and he warned me that my attempt might trigger an alarm. I never attempted to steal the gun.¹²

On October 7, 1955, I was nearly 16 and in the tenth grade at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tired of school, I forged my mother’s name on a note to obtain papers to apply for the Marine Corps. I needed my birth certificate so I wrote this note to school authorities:

To whom it may concern:

Because we are moving to San Diego in the middle of this month, Lee must quit school now. Also, please send by him any papers such as his birth certificate that you may have.

Thank you

Sincerely, Mrs. M. Oswald.¹³

I left school October 10, 1955, and tried to enlist in the Marines. When my true age was discovered, I was told to wait until I was 17. I begged mother to help me lie about my age, which she had done with John Pic so he could enter the Coast Guard before he was 17. Mother met with a lawyer about this, but he refused to cooperate in the subterfuge for me. Therefore, I continued school and part-time work as a messenger and clerk.

I lived for the moment when I was old enough to enter the Marine Corps. I wanted to imitate my brother, Robert, a Marine sergeant. The two of us went hunting from time to time on visits. I tried to follow in his footsteps by joining the Civil Air Patrol in New Orleans but attended only a few meetings and outings. A new interest in communism and socialism was taking much of my time and diminished my enthusiasm for the patriotic Civil Air Patrol and I soon stopped attending.

1.6 Lee in his Civil Air Patrol uniform at age 15 in 1955.

Mother and I moved back to Ft. Worth, Texas, on July 1, 1956, to be near Robert. I idolized my brother and studied his Marine Corps manual. I entered a Ft. Worth High School on September 6, 1956.¹⁴

As I approached my seventeenth birthday, I dropped out of the tenth grade on September 28, 1956, to join the Marines. Despite my growing alienation, I welcomed the service to escape mother, just as my two older brothers admitted they had done.

Judging by a letter written five days after I dropped out of school, I was divided in my loyalties to my own country and to the military. School and work mates later testified that I often criticized President Eisenhower, capitalism, and American ideals. I even told some boys that I was looking for a communist cell to join. I attracted attention for my radical beliefs. Some of these feelings were illustrated by the letter I wrote to the American Socialist Party three weeks before I entered the Marine Corps.

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 socialist principles for well over fifteen months. I am very interested in your YPSL [Young Peoples Socialist League].

Sincerely, Lee Oswald.¹⁵

I probably heard the news that on October 23, 1956, Hungarians led by Imre Nagy marched upon the Russian-held capital in Budapest, which caused the U.S.S.R. to crush the Hungarians within days. The next day, I completed a U.S.M.C. Medical history form during my enrollment in the military. I wrote that I had "running ears," and had a mastoid operation in 1945. I stated that my usual occupation was student and designated mother as my beneficiary should I be killed.¹⁶

Information and index forms were completed showing my picture against a height scale measuring 5’9", a height I would exaggerate on some later forms.

1.7 Lee in front of a height chart when he entered the

Marine Corps at age 17.

I entered the service October 26, 1956, and was trained as an aviation electronics operator. During my tour of duty, I served in San Diego and Camp Pendleton, California; NATTC, Jacksonville, Florida; Kessler Air Force Base, Mississippi; the fleet Marines overseas in the Pacific; and El Toro, California. Upon entrance, I completed military aptitude tests with an overall score of 103, slightly below the military average of 107.¹⁷

1.8 Lee firing an M-1 during Marine Corps rifle training.

I resented Marine authorities. I disliked being told what to do and hated being evaluated by others. I reacted by violating rules. I bought an unauthorized gun which was discovered when I accidentally shot myself in the elbow. I was assigned to three months of kitchen police (KP) duty for this.

I served one tour of duty in the Philippines and one in Japan. My sergeant denied me an extra tour of duty in Japan which I very much wanted. I argued about it with my sergeant in a bar. I spilled a drink on him and then invited him outside for a fist fight. For this and the possession of an unauthorized weapon, I received two courts martial, a demotion from E-3 to E-2, and served a month in the brig.

1.9 Lee (center) with Marines and natives in the

Philippines in 1958.

On October 4, 1957, the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched by the Russians. The world was shocked because they were accustomed to thinking of the U.S. as superior in technology. Soon Castro overturned the corrupt and brutal Batista regime in Cuba, and received diplomatic recognition and support. I enjoyed bragging about Russia, and openly read and discussed Marxism, socialism, communism, and pro-Castro sentiments with some servicemen. I began to study Russian from books and became seen as a quirky individual and loner. I was called Ozzie by the guys but earned derogatory nicknames from other Marines for my unpatriotic views.

After studying Russian for some weeks, I requested a U.S.M.C. language test on February 25, 1959, to gauge my learning. Even though I scored poorly, getting only two more questions right than wrong, I was not dissuaded.

I began to form a plan to go to Russia. Unsure of how hard it would be to get into Russia, I applied to the Albert Schweitzer College in Churwalden, Switzerland, on December 22, 1958. I was sure I could get a passport to go there. Next on March 4, 1959, I wrote the college and overstated my qualifications and my height.¹⁸

I listed my height at 5’11" which was, of course, my height with boots. I stated that I completed high school by correspondence which I claimed to pass with a grade of 85. The fact is, I did not take the test until three weeks later and scored only 77. In my application, I claimed to have been in a student body movement in school for control of Juvenile Delinquency but this was, of course, a falsification. When the form asked why I wished to attend the college, I wrote,

In order to acquire a fuller understanding of that subject which interests me most, Philosophy. To meet with Europeans who can broaden my scope of understanding. To receive formal education by Instructors of high standing and character. To broaden my knowledge of German and to live in a healthy climate and good moral atmosphere.

I added that my plans after college were, "To attend the short summer course of the University of Turku, Finland. Then to return to America and pursue my chosen vocation." which I claimed was to be a short story writer on contemporary American life.

I had heard that it was easier to get a Soviet visa in Finland to cross over to Russia so mentioned the plans to go to Finland. I asked to send a deposit to the Swiss College in a form completed March 19, 1959. I wrote,

Please inform me of the amount of the deposit (if required) so I can forward it and confirm my reservation, and show my sincerity of purpose. Thank you. ¹⁹

I next wrote my brother about some future plans in a letter in the spring of 1959, but did not describe anything specific.

Dear Robert,

Well, I just got back off a short maneuver to Camp Pendleton. The C rations are still lousy, in case you’ve forgotten. How is the baby and how is Vada [Robert’s wife]? Well, pretty soon I’ll be getting out of the Corps and I know what I want to be and how I’m going to do it, which I guess is the more important thing in life. I know I haven’t written in a long time. Please excuse me. Well, there really isn’t too much news here, but I would like to hear from you and the family. Write soon. Your brother. Lee—xxx²⁰

On June 19, 1959, I sent my registration fee to the college along with the following comments:

Enclosed please find the registration fee of twenty-five dollars, which I understand is to be placed toward my normal college fees and expenses. I am very glad to have been accepted for the third term of your college next year and am looking forward to a fine stay. Any more information on the school or even the students who will attend next year would be appreciated. Thank you.²¹

In August, 1959, my best buddy in the Marine Corps was Nelson Delgado, a Cuban American. For the past several months, Delgado and I practiced Spanish talking to each other, as we read Spanish language instruction manuals. I was pretty poor, Delgado testified in 1964, able only to use the most basic common phrases.

Delgado testified that William Morgan was a hero for the two of us. Morgan, a loner who had flunked out of school and couldn’t hold a job, had served in the U.S. Army. He was given a dishonorable discharge when it was learned that he left America and went to Cuba where he was welcomed by Fidel Castro as a guerilla fighter who could train other guerilla fighters. Morgan accompanied Fidel and his brother, Raul Castro, as they took over Cuba and ousted Juan Batista in 1959. Morgan had carried out seemingly anti-Castro activities by running guns to Cuba but finally showed his support for Castro. Working undercover for Fidel Castro, he pretended to oppose Castro to locate and target anti-Castro sympathizers. He married a Cuban woman in Cuba. Fidel had made this American a major in the Cuban Army.

By August, 1959, the news of Major William Morgan had made him heroic in the eyes of the two of us loners in the Marine Corps. Morgan had also served at Atsugi where I had served, and he had been involved with a beautiful Japanese barmaid as I had been there as well, according to Delgado and my other Marine buddies. Delgado testified to the Warren Commission.

Mr. WESLEY LIEBELER: Can you tell us some more about your discussions with Oswald concerning the Castro movement or the situation in Cuba?

Mr. NELSON DELGADO: We had quite many discussions regarding Castro. At the time I was in favor of Castro, I wholeheartedly supported him, and made it known that I thought he was a pretty good fellow… And we talked how we would like to go to Cuba and…

Mr. LIEBELER: You and Oswald did?

Mr. DELGADO: Right. We were going to become officers, you know, enlisted men. We are dreaming now, right? So we were going to become officers. So we had a head start, you see. We were getting honorable discharges, while Morgan,…he got a dishonorable discharge from the Army and he went and fought with Castro in the Escambres… So we were all thinking, well, honorable discharge, and I speak Spanish and he’s [Lee]got his ideas of how a government should be run, you know, the same line as Castro did at that time.

Mr. LIEBELER: Oswald?

Mr. DELGADO: Right. So we could go over there and become officers and lead an expedition to some of these other islands and free them too, you know, from –this was really weird, you know, but—

Mr. LIEBELER: That is what you and Oswald talked about?

Mr. DELGADO: Right, things like that; and how we would go to take over, to make a republic, you know….

In August, 1959, a fortuitous event occurred for me. I learned that mother was unable to work because a jar had fallen on her nose. She wrote asking for financial help. I had applied for the Swiss college term of April, 1960, but here was an opportunity to speed up my plans. Knowing that mother had lied for me in the past, I told her in this letter what to do and say to obtain an early hardship discharge for me.

Dear Mother,

Received your letter and was very unhappy to hear of your troubles. I contacted the Red Cross on the base here, and told them about it. They will send someone out to the house to see you. When they do, please tell them everything they want to know, as I am trying to secure an early (hardship) discharge in order to help you.

Such a discharge is only rarely given, but if they know you are unable to support yourself, then they will release me from the U.S.M.C. and I will be able to come home and help you. The Red Cross cannot give you funds of any kind. They can only give you me. And only if you make the right impression on them. Only if they know you cannot and are not receiving help from any other kin, and only if they know you are in dire need now!

Please tell them I will be able to secure a good job, as this is important. Also, send me the names of some actual businesses that I may write them and get an acceptance letter. This last point is not required but it would help my case for a hardship discharge if and when I bring it before my commanding officer. Just inform them I have been your only source of income. Lee.²²

On August 17, 1959, I sent a request for an early dependency discharge to my commanding general. I stated that I needed to support mother, and that no other members of my family could assist her.

Assured by my superiors that I would soon be discharged, I sent an application for a passport to Los Angeles, California, on September 4, 1959. I was so intent upon leaving the United States for Russia that on the application, I set a departure date for 2½ weeks hence from the port of New Orleans. I had no intention of getting a job or helping mother. I again lied about height as I had on the college application. I falsified an occupation saying I was a shipping export agent. However, I also wrote that my purpose in traveling was To attend the college of A. Schweitzer Chur Switzerland, and the Un. of Turku, Finland. To visit all other countries as a tourist. I wrote that I would visit, Cuba, Dominican Republic, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Russia and that my length of stay would be 4 months.²³

1.10 Lee’s passport picture in 1959.

On September 11, 1959, I signed forms to transfer to the inactive U.S.M.C. Reserves to complete the remainder of my six years of service by December 8, 1962. My superior officers were probably happy to be rid of me. I was readily given an early hardship discharge to help mother. I had served 45 extra days of service because of my two courts martial. I left base and returned to Ft. Worth, Texas.

On September 13, 1959, I completed a Selective Service System registration card in Ft. Worth.²⁴

1.11 Lee registered with Selective Service after discharge, using this

card to make an alias later.

I visited mother and brother Robert for only three days. During that week, Soviet Premier Khrushchev was in the U.S. for talks with President Eisenhower and his American tour was widely publicized. I spoke admiringly about Russia, Cuba, and especially Castro. My brother argued against my pro-Castro stance. Then I left for New Orleans, Louisiana, where I had an aunt, my mother’s sister. I told my family that I was going to seek import/export work.

On September 16, 1959, I completed the last step in my plan to leave the U.S. by filling out an immigration form in New Orleans. I again listed a job compatible with travel, shipping export agent, yet stated that this trip was for pleasure. On this form, I wrote nothing about college. I gave two months as length of stay, perhaps imagining that my money might run out if I was unsuccessful in getting into Russia. I had saved up money for over two years toward this goal but it was a meager sum for international travel.²⁵

On September 19, 1959, two days before I sailed for Europe, I wrote mother this letter from New Orleans.

Dear Mother,

Well, I have booked passage on a ship to Europe. I would have had to sooner or later and I think it’s best I go now. Just remember above all else that my values are very different from Robert’s or yours. It is difficult to tell you how I feel. Just remember this is what I must do. I did not tell you about my plans because you could hardly be expected to understand. I did not see Aunt Lillian while I was here. I will write again as soon as I land. Lee.²⁶

I disembarked at LeHavre October 8th. I flew to Helsinki, Finland. I stayed in Helsinki hotels and visited the Soviet Consulate there to obtain a visa to the U.S.S.R. I was surprised at my success. I completed a Soviet Entry Visa Application in Finland on October 13, and listed my occupation as student. I was allowed to proceed to Moscow with a five-day student tourist visa.²⁷

Chapter Two 

My Russian Adventure 

I kept a diary of my stay in Russia, some of which was written as it occurred and some written a while after events. I felt I was doing something extraordinary so I called it Historic Diary.¹ My first entry was October 16, 1959.

October 16: Arrive from Helsinki by train. Am met by Intourist representative and in car to Hotel Berlin. Registration as student on five-day luxury tourist ticket. Meet my Intourist guide, Rimma Sherikova. I explain to her I wish to apply for Russian citizenship. She is flabbergasted, but agrees to help. She checks with her boss, main office Intourist, then helps me address a letter to the Supreme Soviet asking for citizenship. Meanwhile, her boss telephoned the Passport and Visa Office and notified them about me.

I wasted no time in telling my guide that I wanted Soviet citizenship since I only had five days on my visa. She helped me address the following letter to the USSR Supreme Soviet on October 16, 1959. This letter was one of many documents given to President William Clinton by Soviet Premier Boris Yeltsin in an August, 1999, visit made to the U.S. It can be seen on the internet at the AARC Public Digital Library at: www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/other/yeltsin/html/Yeltsin_0021a.htm.

To the USSR Supreme Soviet

16th October 1959

I, Lee Harvey, request that I be granted citizenship in the Soviet Union. My visa began on Oct. 15, and will expire on Oct. 21. I must be granted asylum before this date, while I wait for the citizenship decision.

At present, I am a citizen of the United States of America.

I want citizenship because; I am a communist and a worker, I have lived in a decadent capitalist society where the workers are slaves, I am twenty years old, I have completed three years in the United States Marine Corps, I served with the occupation forces in Japan, I have seen American military imperialism in all its forms.

I do not want to return to any country outside of the Soviet Union.

I am willing to give up my American citizenship