Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Lee Harvey Oswald (Part I)

Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18,1939 – November 24, 1963) was an American Marxist and former U.S.Marine who assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy onNovember 22, 1963. Oswald was honorably released from active duty inthe Marine Corps into the reserve and defected to the Soviet Union inOctober 1959. He lived in Minsk until June 1962, when he returned tothe United States with his Russian wife, Marina, and eventuallysettled in Dallas. Five government investigations concluded thatOswald shot and killed Kennedy from the sixth floor of the TexasSchool Book Depository as the President traveled by motorcade throughDealey Plaza in Dallas.

About 45 minutes after assassinatingKennedy, Oswald shot and killed Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit ona local street. He then slipped into a movie theater, where he wasarrested for Tippit's murder. Oswald was eventually charged with theassassination of Kennedy. He denied the accusations, stating that hewas a "patsy." Two days later, Oswald was fatallyshot by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby on live television in thebasement of Dallas Police Headquarters.

In September 1964, the WarrenCommission concluded that Oswald acted alone when he assassinatedKennedy by firing three shots from the Texas School Book Depository.This conclusion, though controversial, was supported by previousinvestigations from the FBI, the Secret Service, and the DallasPolice Department. Despite forensic, ballistic, and eyewitnessevidence supporting the official findings, public opinion polls haveshown that most Americans do not believe the official version of theevents. The assassination has spawned numerous conspiracy theories.

Early life

Childhood

Oswald was born at the old FrenchHospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1939, to RobertEdward Lee Oswald, Sr. (1896–1939) and Marguerite Frances Claverie(1907–1981). Robert Oswald was a distant cousin of Confederategeneral Robert E. Lee and served in the Marines during World War I. Robert died of a heart attack two months before Lee was born. Lee'selder brother Robert, Jr. (1934–2017)[9] was also a former Marine.Through Marguerite's first marriage to Edward John Pic, Jr., Lee andRobert Jr. were the half-brothers of Air Force veteran John EdwardPic (1932–2000).

In 1944, Marguerite moved the familyfrom New Orleans to Dallas, Texas. Oswald entered the first grade in1945 and over the next half-dozen years attended several differentschools in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas through the sixth grade.Oswald took an IQ test in the fourth grade and scored 103; "onachievement tests in [grades 4 to 6], he twice did best in readingand twice did worst in spelling."

As a child, Oswald was described aswithdrawn and temperamental by several people who knew him. WhenOswald was 12 in August 1952, his mother took him to New York Citywhere they lived for a short time with Oswald's half-brother, John.Oswald and his mother were later asked to leave after an argument inwhich Oswald allegedly struck his mother and threatened John's wifewith a pocket knife.

Oswald attended seventh grade in theBronx, New York, but was often truant, which led to a psychiatricassessment at a juvenile reformatory. The reformatory psychiatrist,Dr. Renatus Hartogs, described Oswald as immersed in a "vividfantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power,through which [Oswald] tries to compensate for his presentshortcomings and frustrations". Dr. Hartogs detected a"personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features andpassive-aggressive tendencies" and recommended continuedtreatment.