Lee Harvey Oswald Biography
by Krysta CardinaleLee Harvey Oswald is known as the man who assassinated the beloved United States President, John F. Kennedy. Oswald never actually admitted this crime, and he was killed before ever reaching trial. On November 24, 1963 Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Station, just two days after Oswald murdered JFK.
Oswald was born on October 18, 1939 in Slidell, Louisiana. He and his two older brothers, one his half-brother, were raised by a single mom, Marguerite Claverie. His father died before he was born. Before the age of eighteen, Oswald had lived in 22 different homes, and been to 12 different schools. Their residences were located mainly through out New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dallas Texas. He had also punched his mother in the face, and threatened his sister-in-law with a knife. Oswald was typically introverted and easily excitable. He never received a high school diploma before enlisting in the US Marine Corps in October 1956, a week after his 17th birthday.
Lee Harvey Oswald was small and weak in size compared to the other marines. This earned him the nick name “Ozzie Rabbit,” after a cartoon character at that time. He was very shy and was somewhat sympathetic to the Soviets cause, bringing him no friends. Oswald was trained as a radar operator first at a base in Irvine, California and then in Atsugi, Japan. As Oswald remained in the Marines his support of Communism grew, and he soon taught himself Russian. He got himself discharged early from services by claiming he had to tend to his ailing mother; in reality he had planned a trip to Russia.
After his Marine career, Oswald traveled to Russia in October 1959 at the age of nineteen. He faked applications to several foreign schools to earn himself an international student visa. Once Oswald got to Russia, he immediately went to the US Embassy were he requested to renounce his US citizenship. However, the USSR rejected his application for Soviet citizenship. Oswald reacted to this by a suicide attempt that landed him in a mental hospital. The Soviet was afraid Oswald would cause an international problem so, they moved him out of Moscow and into Minsk. Here he could be closely watched and kept out of the media’s eyes. Oswald did very well during his two-plus year stay in Minsk. He met and married Marina Alexandrovna in 1961. Lee Harvey was always kept under surveillance by the USSR government, who had spies keeping track of his daily activities. Marina soon became pregnant and the paper work to move the family back to the United States was underway. After almost a year, on June 1, 1962 Oswald and his new family left Russia for the United States.
Once back in the United States, Lee Harvey Oswald moved his family into Dallas, Texas. Oswald refused to teach Marina and English and soon began to abuse her. In Dallas, Oswald worked at Leslie Welding Company for three months when he quit. He then got a job at a graphics design company as a typesetter. He was fired after six months for his inefficiency and poor disposition.
First Assassination Attempt
General Edwin Walker was a very outspoken anti-communist activist. He was released of his duties in 1961 by President Kennedy after giving his troops “right wing” or conservative literature. Walker returned to his residence in Texas were he got deeply involved in politics. In February1963 he was caught in the public eye for starting an anti-communist tour called “Operation Midnight Ride.”
Oswald being a passionate communist supporter began observing General Walker. His next move was ordering first a revolver and then a rifle by mail under the alias Alek Hidell. In April that evening he attempted to shoot Walker as he sat as his desk. He would have been successful if the bullet did not get deflected by a wooden window frame. General Walker was injured by bullet fragments. The Dallas police had no evidence regarding who had attempted this assassination. Oswald destroyed all the evidence that would point it back to him. However, Marina kept the note he had given her incase he ever tried an assassination again she would turn it in to the police. This note was later found after his assassination of JFK.
Over the next few years months Oswald moved back to New Orleans, and then back to Dallas. He became an advocate for Fidel Castro and Cuban Communism and wanted to plan a trip there. In order to get his visa, Lee Harvey claimed he wanted to visit Cuba before returning to the USSR, but he had to prove it. So Oswald waited back in Dallas waiting for the Soviet to write a letter allowing this event. While he waited, Oswald began to plan another assassination attempt, this time on President John F. Kennedy.
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Oswald received his visa for Cuba only 11 days before his assassination of President Kennedy. However, he decided to complete his devised plan instead. He once again purchased a rifle under his alias A. Hidell. He left his wife with a couple she had befriended a few years prior. Oswald found himself a temporary job at the “Texas School Book Depository.”
At 12:30pm on November 22, 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy during a motor parade. It was the first live broadcasting of a homicide and national television. Oswald used one of the warehouse windows at his new place of employment. According to the investigation done by the Warren Commission, Oswald immediately hid his rifle and began exiting the warehouse. He was stopped by a Dallas Police Officer and his supervisor on his way out. However, his supervisor identified him as an employee and the two let him leave. Oswald than boarded a bus, but abandoned that idea after getting stuck in heavy traffic.
Officer J.D. Tippit identified Oswald as the description given for the assassin. He began to follow Oswald as he walked the streets heading for another bus stop. After he noticed he was being followed, Oswald shot at the police officer and then began running. Tippit was hit four times and died instantly. Bystanders witnessed the incident and immediately called the police. Oswald decided to duck into the entrance way of a theatre. The Dallas police soon infiltrated the theatre turning on all the lights and found Oswald in a seat located at the back of the theatre. He was arrested and immediately charged with the murder of Officer Tippit. A few hours later he was also charged with the murder of the President.
Jack Ruby Kills Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey was being held in the Dallas Police Station. On the morning of November 24th Oswald was planned to move to a local prison to await trial. He was to be snuck out of the back to avoid the media. However, at 11:21am Jack Ruby kills Lee Harvey Oswald in front of several live TV cameras. There were millions of viewers across the nation who watched Ruby as he assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald. Due to the many death threats on Oswald already, many people wondered excitedly “who killed Lee Harvey Oswald?”
Jack Ruby was a Dallas club owner, with supposed connections to the mafia and many friends on the Dallas Police Force. This is suggested as the reason why he could get so close to Oswald. Ruby was charged with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and was found guilty. He claimed that it was not premeditated and he only assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald on a spur of the moment thing. He said he felt bad for Mrs. Kennedy, and did not want her to have to testify at a trial.
After Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald, he was buried in Rose Hill Memorial Park in Forth Worth, Texas. In October 1981, there was an exhumation of Lee Harvey Oswald. Autopsy reports were done to prove a theory of British writer Michael Eddowes. In the Lee Harvey autopsy he wanted to prove that the real Oswald was switched with a Soviet army member, Alek Hidell during his stay in Russia. If this was true, Oswald never really killed JFK, but an imposter did. The Lee Harvey Oswald autopsy proved, by dental records, that it was really Oswald, and his body was reburied.
