Lee Harvey Oswald

Early Life & Upbringing

Born October 18th, 1939, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Lee was the youngest of three brothers. His father, Robert, would pass away just two months before he was born, leaving his mother, Marguerite Claverie, to lead the family and household on her own. The loss of her husband had a deep impact on Marguerite, who struggled to meet the emotional and financial needs of her children. 

Marguerite was an oppressive and overbearing mother figure for her sons. Her family would often move around, city after city, in search of better conditions, ultimately leading to an unstable upbringing for Lee and his brothers. Lee's relationship with his mother was a tense one-- while she did her best to provide for her children, her erratic and overcontrolling behavior left Lee and his brothers walking on eggshells whenever she was present. Marguerite also tended to focus on her hardships and obstacles, leaving Lee to navigate his emotions on his own. 

Lee's older brothers, Robert Jr. and John, played very distant roles in Lee's upbringing due to a significant age gap; the distance was exacerbated by their early departure from the home in hopes of leaving their mother's controlling grasp, but ultimately leaving Lee alone. This extreme proximity to his mother, paired with isolation from the rest of his family, led to Lee being closer to Marguerite than she was to her other two children.

Military Service

     After Dropping out of school, Oswald chose to join the Marine Corps. A young Lee was looking for a sense of structure and purpose in his life, and his choice was likely influenced by his older brothers’ time serving in the armed forces. Unfortunately, unlike his brothers, Oswald found himself struggling to meld to the military’s rigid discipline.  

     Oswald attended basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, where we learned marksmanship, hand-to-hand, and other combat skills. He had earned the qualification of sharpshooter, which required him to make 35 out of 40 shots fired at a distance of 300 meters (over three football fields of distance). Despite his impressive skill, the title was later stripped from him, and he was demoted to a lower tier of marksmanship due to “frequent conflict with authorly and peers.”

Two court-martials would be filed against Oswald over his time of service. The first was received when he accidentally shot himself in the elbow with an unauthorized .22 caliber pastor, the second occurred after an argument turned into a physical altercation with a sergeant. His fellow marines would note that Oswald expressed his anti-American sentiments, which made him an easy target for ridicule. Dispute this, we would continue to voice his support for socialism and his admiration for the Soviet Union, a controversial position given the current status of the Cold War. 

During his time in the corps, Oswald’s fascination with Marxism only deepened. It was common knowledge that he would openly read controversial, leftist literature, including works from great communist thinkers. Oswald’s ideology greatly clashed with the military’s staunch anti-communist stances. As such, Oswald began to plan for his defection to the Soviet Union, and by 1959, he had applied for early discharge, creating a story about his ailing mother. Oswald would leave the Corps in September1959 after almost three years of service. 

Return To The United States

  After returning to the U.S., Oswald and his family settled in Forthwith, Texas, hoping his fluency in Russian would aid him in finding work he deemed worthy of his skills. But despite his language skills, Oswald still lacked the education and specialized training for such positions. He eventually found work as a sheet metal worker and later on as a warehouse clerk, labor he deemed to be beneath him.

  The return to the States also grew the tensions between Oswald and Marina. Knowing very little English, and no context for U.S. culture, Marina was reliant on her husband for all aspects of life outside the home. Oswald understood this deeply, and he presented Marina with an idealized version of American living, all while concealing their financial struggles. Oswald kept full control over his wife's life, shielding her from outside forces that might expose his shortcomings. This left Marina home alone, socializing only with her husband and his chaotic moods and ideological rants.

George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, Russian-speaking immigrants, befriended Marina and tried to mediate her situation. Appalled by Oswald's behavior and the clear indications of physical abuse, George and Jeanne urged Marina to leave her husband. Oswald became increasingly alienated from his wife as her support network in the state began to grow. During this time, Oswald's political activities began to intensify, particularly his support of Castro and the Cuban Revelation.

JFK Assassination 

On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald woke up in his family’s residence in Irving, Taxes; though he had stayed away for work, only coming home for weekends, Oswald had made an acceptance to be with his family this Friday morning. Around 8:00 AM, he left his home and walked to co-worker Buell Frazier's house for a ride. When asked about the long box he had placed in the back seat, he told Frazier that it was holding curtain rods. 

Ballistic evidence suggests that Oswald had nested in a sixth-floor window of the Book Depository. At approximately 12:30 PM, President John F. Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza. The present was struck three times, one of which was a fatal wound to the neck and another in the skull. Oswald was thought to have fled the Depository soon after this instance. 

At 1:00 PM, walking down Mainstreet, he made way to his boarding house in Dallas on North Beckley Avenue. Between the bus stop and the boarding house, he was spotted by Officer J.D Tippit, who stops him. Oswald quickly shot and killed Tippit before fleeing and making his way to the boarding house. 

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At approximately 2:00 PM, Oswald was spotted entering the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff. At about 2:50 PM, Police confronted Oswald in a movie theatre. A brief struggle ensues, after which Oswald was arrested and charged with the murders of JFK and Tippit.

  After two days of impressment, Oswald was shot and killed during a transfer. The shooter was revealed to be local bar owner Jack Ruby. The incident occurred live on national television.