CHAPTER ONE
From October 18, 1939
“I know what
I want to be and how I’m going to do it.”
—Oswald
The goal of this book is to examine Oswald’s own words to
learn what was going on in his mind. If we can understand the man, we can then
decide for ourselves whether and why he might have killed President John F.
Kennedy.
Lee Harvey Oswald was born October 18,
1939, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, an Insurance salesman, died two
months before he was born. His mother, Marguerite, had borne a son (John Pic) by
her first husband, and another son, (Robert) by Lee’s father. After Mr. Oswald
died, she had to work and tried to put all three boys in an orphanage. They
would not accept Lee until he was three years old, so she entered the two older
boys. When Lee was three, he was placed In the orphanage for 13 months until
Marguerite took him out to live with her. She soon married her third husband,
and although her older two boys remained in the orphanage much of the time, Lee
was kept with his mother and new stepfather.
A lively child, Lee gained the attention
of children by telling them what to do, fighting, and by clowning around. On
April 5, 1945, he was taken to Dallas’ Parkland Hospital emergency room. This
hospital later moved from its quarters in the Oak Lawn area to Harry Hines
Boulevard where John Kennedy, Lee Oswald and Jack Ruby all died in later years.
Lee had gotten in a fight with a child who threw a rock at him, wounding his
left eye. He was treated with ice packs to the eye and released.
World events of earth-shaking significance
occurred during Lee’s early years. When he was 5 years old, the United States
dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II.
When Lee was 6, England’s Prime Minister
Winston Churchill gave a speech in America saying that the peaceful
collaboration of Western Allies and the Soviet Union had ended. An “Iron
curtain” had been imposed upon Europe by the U.S.S.R. Following this, leery of
communism, President Truman ordered loyalty checks to be made on government
personnel. Gradually, the investigation of people with Communist backgrounds
expanded.
When Lee was 8, the Communist Party of the
U.S.A. (CPUSA) was responding angrily to the fascist Nazi regime. During World
War II, communists had participated in the French Resistance fighting the
Germans. Some responders were American Communist leaders such as William Z.
Foster, Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, names which would be among
Oswald’s writings in later years. The CPUSA attracted many intellectuals to
its ranks during that time.
During Oswald’s youth, the U.S.
continued to test nuclear weapons and when he was 10, the Soviet Union began to
test nuclear weapons as well. Just before his 11th birthday, 11 leaders of the
U.S. Communist Party were sentenced under the Smith Act of 1940, for conspiracy
to overthrow the government of the U.S. by force. They argued that
“teaching” Marx-Lenin principles and “conspiracy to overthrow” were
quite different and that their conviction violated the First Amendment granting
freedom of speech. One of those 11 was John Gates, editor of The Daily Worker.
After serving five years in prison, he was released and resumed running The
Daily Worker, a periodical to which Oswald would subscribe and even apply to
work for.
Lee was 11 years old when he wrote the
first note to be saved in historic records. Living in Fort Worth, Texas, with
his mother who had divorced her third husband, he sent some postcards to his
half-brother who was serving in the Coast Guard.
Lee’s earliest cards and letters
displayed the selfishness, spelling deficiencies, and demanding ways which would
become some of his permanent character traits. Lee elicited money from his
brother, much as his mother did in letters to her sons and others. These cards
were probably written by Lee at the urging of his mother because they show
little real interest in his half-brother.
It was early in 1950 when Lee wrote his
half-brother John Pic. “Dear John, Would
you send me a letter telling all about yourself and icebergs and things like
that Will you send me $1.50. Lee P.S. send me some sougniers (souvenirs).”
On August 28, 1950, Lee wrote John Pic
again saying, “Dear John, All I have to
say is get me some ($1.50) money. P.S. I want ($1 .50).Lee
The same year in December, Lee 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”
As he entered teen years, Marguerite felt
increasingly unable to control Lee because he skipped school while she was away
at work. Looking for help, she moved with Lee to New York City in 1952, to live
with her oldest son, John Pic, and his family.
By this time, the U.S. was involved in the
Korean War. President Truman had increased the draft to supply forces to the UN
Korean command to oppose Soviet-supported North Korean forces. Congress had
passed the McCarran Act, over Truman’s veto, an act which required Communists
to register and forbade entry to the U.S. by any person from a totalitarian
regime. Harry Gold, Morton Sobell, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg had been arrested
for releasing atomic information to the Soviet Union. Gold and Sobell were sent
to prison. Sobell’s name would appear later in Oswald’s writings.
In New York City where Lee lived with his
older stepbrother, the Rosenbergs were sentenced to execution. Their defense was
funded and publicized heavily in New York City by the Communist Party, but they
were executed on June 19, 1953. Two months before their execution, the Communist
Party was ordered by the U.S. government to register as an organization that was
controlled by the Soviet Union.
Some years later, after his defection to
Russia, Lee told reporters of being handed a flyer about the trial and defense
of the Rosenbergs when he lived In New York. It was a pro-communist pamphlet
appealing for clemency for the Rosenbergs and he claimed it was his first
personal knowledge of the Communist Party.
At this time, Dwight D. Eisenhower was
President. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s investigations of Communists was
destroying careers and creating book bans in libraries. An avid reader and
television watcher, Lee Oswald was probably aware of these highly publicized
events and their intensity was likely greater in New York.
Shortly after arriving in his
half-brother’s home in New York City, Lee fought with John’s wife over the
television. When she objected to him watching only his programs on television,
he pulled out a pocket knife and threatened to hurt her if she got in his way.
After this, he and his mother were asked to leave and they moved into another
apartment.
In their own apartment, while Marguerite
worked, Lee often skipped school and was soon caught and put on probation for
truancy. The court requested a psychiatric evaluation at Youth House in New York
City. This evaluation required Lee to remain in the institution from April 16,
1953, until May 7, 1953. The team of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social
workers recommended treatment for 13 year old Lee and counseling for his mother.
In defiance of this recommendation,
Marguerite took Lee back to New Orleans In 1954 where her sister lived. There,
Lee worked as a clerk in a shoe store while attending Beauregard Junior High
School. He had trouble fitting in socially at school and seemed to live for the
moment when he was old enough to enter the Marine Corps. He wanted to follow in
the footsteps of his other brother, Robert, a Marine sergeant. With Robert, he
sometimes went hunting, and often played like a Marine wearing his brother’s
hat and playing with guns.
In 1954, the era of Senator Joseph
McCarthy and anti-communism, the Senate voted to make being a communist a crime.
This denied communists the rights and privileges enjoyed by ordinary citizens.
Pamphlets for and against communism were rife in large cities like New York
City, New Orleans, Ft. Worth and Dallas, Texas, and across much of the country.
One of the issues embraced in pro-communist literature was the need for racial
integration. Oswald’s later writings protested segregation and argued for
integration.
In May, 1954, the Supreme Court ordered
lower courts to use all deliberate speed in admitting Negro children to public
schools. In the deep south, states like Texas met the decision with great
hostility and fought integration for several years.
It was a time in which many young persons,
exerting their independence from parents and the establishment, were intrigued
by the altruistic philosophy of communism. Lee’s interest was probably thought
of by his mother and others as young boys feeling their oats. However, a boy
without a father to hold him in check and a mother fearful of the size and
strength of her son could lose control of her child.
Lee’s brother, Robert, and half-brother,
John Pic, were far away and too uninvolved with his life to supply effective
male models of good behaviour. He gradually became more alienated from others.
Because he attended school utile and criticized authorities openly, he was seen
as a bad influence on youngsters by their parents. He became more openly hostile
toward others as his provocative behaviour caused them to avoid him.
Lee’s open contempt for others was
well-entrenched. In a note In 1954 for a ninth grade boy’s autograph book, he
wrote, “Roses are red, Violites ar blue,
People like you, Should be in a zoo. Lee Oswald”
On June 2, 1955, Lee completed a New
Orleans Personal History form for the tenth grade. In a question about friends,
he wrote in two names which he erased, and completed the form by indicating that
he had no close friends at school. His tendency to be a loner was gaining
strength. On this form, he listed himself as a Lutheran even though he and his
mother never attended church.
He also wrote that he was 135 lbs.,
5’5” and that his father was dead. He wrote that his mother was a store
manager and that he had worked selling shoes for ten weeks under M. Goodman, a
name which would turn up in later years as a false reference. Lee wrote that he
liked “Civics, science, math”, but
liked least “English, art”. He
wrote that he enjoyed “reading and
outdoor sports”,
especially “football”. His present vocational choice was “Biology and Michanic drawing”. He considered his health good
but noted an “abnormal eardrum in the
left ear”. He wrote that after high school, he planned on “Military service and undecided.
About this time, Lee told a boy that he
wanted to steal a gun that he saw in a store. The boy was shown the store and
warned Lee that his attempt might trigger an alarm. Lee desisted then and
apparently never attempted to steal the gun.
On October 7, 1955, Lee was nearly 16 and
in the tenth grade at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He
forged his mother’s name on a note to obtain papers to apply for the Marine
Corps. He wrote, “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. Sincirely, Mrs. M. Oswald.” Lee
used lies readily to get what he wanted by this time.
Oswald left school October 10, 1955, and
tried to enlist in the Marines but his true age was discovered. He begged his
mother to, help him lie about his age. She had lied about son John’s age so he
could enter the Coast Guard early. Marguerite met with a lawyer about this but
he refused to cooperate in the subterfuge. Lee was forced to wait until he was
17 to enlist but his mother’s readiness to lie for him probably encouraged his
willingness to lie.
Lee continued school and worked part-time
in New Orleans as a messenger and clerk. Anxious to get involved in the
military, he attended a few Civil Air Patrol meetings. However a new interest in
communism and socialism was taking much of his time and diminished his
enthusiasm for the paramilitary Civil Air Patrol.
Communists were in the news in March,
1956, when the Internal Revenue Service closed down the Communist newspaper (The
Daily Worker) for non-payment of taxes. John Gates, the editor, made a partial
payment which allowed the paper to resume publication.
Premier Nikita Khrushchev had delivered a
secret talk to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party a month earlier. This
talk revealed Stalin’s terrible crimes and was not supposed to be available to
other countries. However, the speech leaked out in June. John Gates printed the
entire text of the smuggled speech in The Daily Worker. The result of this was
that many people who had been involved in the Communist Party of the United
States for idealistic reasons left the Party. The Communist Party of the United
States had boasted some 100,000 members at the end of World War II and now, even
with the Young Communist League, was down to some 20,000 members.
Lee and his mother moved back to Ft.
Worth, Texas, on July 1, 1956, to be near Robert, her middle son. Lee idolized
Robert, who settled in Ft. Worth after discharge from the Marines. Lee avidly
studied Robert’s Marine Corps manual. He continued school and entered the Ft.
Worth High School on September 6th, 1956.
As he approached his seventeenth birthday,
Lee dropped out of the tenth grade on September 28, 1956, to join the Marines.
Despite his growing alienation, he may have welcomed the service to escape his
self-pitying and domineering mother, just as his two older brothers admitted
they had done. Perhaps Lee chose the Marines because Robert spoke highly of the
Corps, or perhaps he wanted to feel superior by being accepted into the
“best” branch of the military.
Judging by a letter written five days
after he dropped out of school, he was divided in his loyalties to his own
country. School and work mates later testified that he often criticized
President Eisenhower, capitalism and American ideals. He even told some boys he
was looking for a communist cell to join. He undoubtedly attracted attention for
his radical beliefs. He must have been torn between his wish to be a Marine and
his contradictory communist/socialist leanings. Some of these feelings were
illustrated by the letter he wrote to the American Socialist Party only three
weeks before he entered the Marine Corps.
“Dear Sirs: I am sixteen years of age
and would like more information about your youth Lague. I would like to know if
there is a branch in my area, how to join, ect., I am a Marxist, and have been
studying socialist principles for well over fifteen months I am very interested
in you YPSL. {Young Peoples
Socialist League) Sincerely, Lee Oswald”
This was a time of world conflict which
was in the news daily. The Hungarian revolution made headlines as an uprising
under the leadership of Imre Nagy who opposed the Russian occupation of his
country. On October23, 1956, Hungarian mobs marched upon the capital In
Budapest, and encited the wrath of the U.S.S.R. who sent in tanks and troops
within days. World opinion was with the Hungarian rebels but the Allies did not
step in to help and although many escaped to other countries, Hungary was
quickly taken over by Soviet troops.
Despite his internal struggle, Lee’s
wish to be a Marine won out and he enlisted. On military forms, he omitted
listing his part-time jobs. For some unknown reason, he lied writing that John
Pie, the brother in New York, instead of Robert, lived next door to him.
On October 24, 1956, Lee completed a
U.S.M.C. Medical History form. He wrote, “I
am in good health”. He acknowledged that he had had “running ears”, and a
“msteroid” operation in 1945. He stated that his usual occupation was
“student”. He also completed forms to designate his mother as his
beneficiary should he be killed.
On October 24, 1956, Oswald wrote in “three
years” on the enlistment contract he signed for the U.S. Marine Corps. The
next day, his information and index forms were completed by the military and
signed by Oswald. They showed his picture against a height scale measuring
5’9”. He entered service October 26, 1956, and was trained as an aviation
electronics operator. During his tour of duty, he 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, he completed military
aptitude tests in four major areas of ability. His overall score was 103,
slightly below the military average of 107.
In November, 1956, the American public
re-elected Dwight D. Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson. The following month, Fidel
Castro (who had just been released from prison after serving a sentence for
revolutionary activities) landed with a small group of guerrillas in Cuba to
overthrow the government of dictator Batista.
Lee Oswald found himself in the military
serving under the ultimate command of a President whom he had already criticized
for several years. Almost from the beginning, Lee resented Marine authorities.
He disliked being told what to do and hated being evaluated by others. He
reacted by violating rules. He bought an unauthorized gun which was discovered
when he accidentally shot himself in the elbow. He was assigned to three months
of kitchen patrol (K.P.) duty for this. Angry at this punishment, he argued
about it with his sergeant in a bar. He spilled a drink on the non-commissioned
officer and then invited him outside for a fist fight. For this and the
possession of an unauthorized weapon, he received two courts martial, a demotion
from E-3 to E-2 and served a month in the brig. His request to continue service
in Japan, a place he liked according to Marines who later testified, was
rejected.
The United States was receiving bad press
world-wide because they had to send federal troops to ensure the enrollment of
Negro students at a Little Rock, Arkansas, high school in September, 1957. The
federal troops were under the command of Major General Edwin Walker. Walker
became a target of Oswald’s criticism later in 1963.
Russia was enjoying good press because on
October 4, 1957, the first satellite, called Sputnik, was launched into orbit
around the earth. The next month, they sent up another satellite carrying a dog.
The world and America, accustomed to thinking of the U.S. as superior in
technology, were amazed. Critics of American schools decried the lack of
discipline in the study of scientific subjects in American schools.
In January, 1958, because of lack of
funds, the Communist Party could no longer publish a daily newspaper and was
forced to become a weekly. It was retitled from The Daily Worker to The Worker.
In the minds of many, the Communist Party of the U.S.A. had ceased to exist.
When John Gates was editor of The Daily Worker, they had published criticisms of
the shortcomings of the Soviet Union when necessary. The Worker was now under
the leadership of William Z. Foster, Ben Davis, and Gene Dennis. The Worker and
the Communist Party of the U.S.A. began taking their cues from the Soviet Union
and rejected every criticism of the Soviet Union.
Also in January, the United States entered
the space exploration race with the Soviet Union by launching their first
satellite. Several more American and Soviet satellites were launched during
1958. At the end of the year, Premier Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union
planned to turn over East Berlin to the East German government which implied
that West Berlin would become a blockaded city.
Dispirited with his Marine service, Lee
became more insolent, less industrious, and openly read and discussed Marxism,
socialism, communism and pro-Castro sentiments with some servicemen.
The U.S. government had dissociated itself
from the corrupt and brutal Batista regime in Cuba during March of 1958 and
quickly extended diplomatic recognition to Cuba under Castro. In April, 1959,
Castro visited the United States and received much support despite his
executions of Batista supporters. However, it shortly became clear that
Communists were firmly entrenched in Cuba and this recognition was withdrawn. As
a pressure on Castro to change his stance, the U.S. government Imposed a sugar
embargo on Cuba. This was undermmed by the Soviets when they quickly offered to
buy all the sugar Cuba wanted to sell.
Lee openly studied Russian from books and
became known as a quirky individual and a loner. After studying Russian for some
weeks, he requested a U.S.M.C. language test on February 25,1959, to gauge his
learning. Even though he scored poorly, getting only two more questions right
than wrong, he was not dissuaded.
Lee began to form a plan to go to Russia.
To facilitate getting a passport, he applied to the Albert Schweitzer College in
Churwalden, Switzerland, on December 22, 1958. He probably assumed that if he
was accepted by a European college, getting a passport to Europe would be no
problem. On this form, dated March 4, 1959, he presented himself In the best
possible light by overstating his qualifications and his height.
APPLICATION
TO ALBERT SCHWEITZER COLLEGE IN SWITZERLAND
(Asterisks indicate known lies on this form.)
I WISH TO ATTEND: spring
course begins April 12, 1960
FULL NAME: Lee H. Oswald
PERMANENT ADDRESS: MCAF, MACS-9 Santa Anna,
California
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/18/39 LAND OF BIRTH:
America
*HEIGHT: 5/11” (Height with boots?}
WEIGHT: 160
NAME OF PARENT: Mrs. M. Oswald
ADDRESS:313Templeton Dr., Ft. Worth, Texas
*HIGH SCHOOL: Completed high school by
correspondence
*DATES: Jan 58”
*AVERAGE GRADE: 85, passing 65 on scale of
100. = B+
COLLEGE: None TYPE OF CURRICULUM: Science,
English, Woodworking, Civics, Mechincal Drawing, art, Math (in H.S.)
*AVERAGE GRADE: 85%
SPECIAL INTERESTS: Philosophy, Psychology,
Ideology, Football, baseball, tennis,
Stamp collecting
EXTENT AND NATURE OF PRIVATE READING: Jack
London, Darwin, Normal V. Peale, Sciencetific books, Philosophy ect.
*ACTIVE PART TAKEN IN ORGANIZATIONS: Student body
movement in school for controll of Juvenile Delinquency. Member YMCA and AYA
associations
VOCATIONAL INTERESTS, IF DECIDED UPON: To
be a short story writer on contemporary American life
REASONS FOR WISHING TO ATTEND: In order to
aquire a fuller understanding of that subject which interest me most,
Philosophy. To meet with Europeans who can broaden my scope of understanding. To
recive formal Education by Instructers of high standing and character. To
broaden my knowledge of German and to live in a healty climate and Good Moral
atmosphere.
*PLANS TO BE PURSUED AFTER COLLEGE: To
attent the short summer course of the University of Turku., Turku, Finland. Then
to return to America arid pursue my chosen vocation.
*FAMILIARITY WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGES: Russian
(equal in fulency to about one years education or schooling. I do speak a very
little German.
GENERAL CONDITION OF HEALTH: Good
HAVE YOU HAD A SERIOUS ILLNESS OR NERVOUS DISTURBANCE? No
DOES SUCH A CONDITION STILL EXIST? No
ARE YOU AT PRESENT RECEIVING MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC CARE? No
REFERENCES: Mr. A. Botelho, MCAF, MACS-9,
Santa Anna, Calif. Mr. R. Calore, MCAFMACS-9, Santa Anna, Calif.
Oswald wanted to sound intelligent and courted the school with praise
saying he wanted to live in a “good moral atmosphere”. He lied about his
education since he did not complete high school equivalency testing until three
weeks later, on March 23, 1959, when he passed with an average score of 77.
Also, even though he stated he was in an organization to control juvenile
delinquency, outside of his own psychiatric evaluation and probation for
truancy, he was in none.
In “Plans to be pursued”, he mentioned
plans to go to Finland because It was easier to get a Soviet visa In Finland. He
may have wanted evidence of college acceptance in case he needed it for travel
papers, so he asked to send a deposit with this next college form on March 19, 1959.
SUPPLEMENT TO COLLEGE APPLICATION FORM
I HEREWITH APPLY TO
ATTEND THE STUDY COURSE FROM: April 12,
1960 to June 27, 1960
NAME: Oswald, Lee Harvey AGE: 20
MOTHER TONGUE: English
*OTHER LANGUAGES: Russian (equal in
fluency to 1 year of schooling)
*OCCUPATION: Student
NATIONALITY: American
ADDRESS: MCAF, MACS-9, Santa Anna,
Ca1ifornia, U.S.A.
REMARKS: 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."
Lee H. Oswald
Lee wrote his brother in the spring and vaguely alluded to future plans.
Perhaps he did not want to discuss plans to which his brother might object.
“Dear Robert, Well, I just got back off
a short manuver to camp Pendleton.. The C Rations are still still lousy, in case
you’ve forgotten. How Is the baby and How is Vida? [Robert’s wife,
Vada] Well, pretty soon I’ll be getting
out of the corp and I know what I want to be and how Im going to do it, which I
guess is the more important thing in life. I know I haven’t written in along
time please excuse me. Well, their really isn’t too much news here, but I
would like to hear from you and the family. Write soon. Your brother. Lee
Having never applied for a passport,
Oswald may have thought he needed to demonstrate a good reason to go to Europe,
such as for his education. With documentation from this Swiss college, he may
have reasoned that he could get clearance to travel in other European countries.
So on June 19, 1959, he sent his 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 excepted 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.”
In July, 1959, Vice President Nixon visited Russia and had a much
publicized kitchen debate with Khrushchev in an American model home center, in
which Nixon acquitted himself well against the Russian premier.
In August, 1959, a fortuitous event
occurred for Lee. He learned that his mother was unable to work because a jar
had fallen on her nose. She wrote asking him for financial help. He had applied
for a school term in April, 1960, but here was an opportunity to speed up his
plans. Knowing that his mother had lied for him in the past, he told her what to
do and say to obtain an early “hardship” discharge.
“Dear Mother Recived your letter and was
very unahppy 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 than 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 to right impresstion on
them. Only if they know you cannot and are no reciving 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 business’s that I may write Them and get an acceptace 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 office. Just inform them I have been your
only source of income. Lee”
On August 17, 1959, Oswald sent a request
for an early dependency discharge to his commanding general. He stated that he
needed to support his mother, and he said that no other members of his family
could assist her.
Assured by his superiors that he would
soon be discharged, he completed an application for a passport in Los Angeles,
California, on September 4, 1959. So intent was he upon leaving the U.S. for
Russia that on the application he set a departure date for 2 1/2 weeks hence
from the port of New Orleans.
He again tried to be “bigger” by lying
about his height as he had on the college application. Among the lies on this
form, he falsified an occupation (“shipping export agent”) which he probably
thought would be compatible with international travel. However, he wrote that
his purpose in travel was, “To attend the college of A. Schwetzer Chur Switzerland, and the Un. of
Turku, Turku, Finland. To visit all other countrys as a tourist”. He wrote
that he would visit, “Cuba, Dominican
Republic, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Russia” and that
his proposed length of stay would be “4 months”.
Perhaps this combination of a job and college plans indicated his own
confusion or was a plan to qualify to travel to other countries one way or the
other.
Either way, this passport application
shows that he never intended to help his mother or stay in the U.S. after his
discharge from the Marine Corps.
On September 11, 1959, Lee signed forms to
transfer to the inactive USMC Reserves to complete the remainder of his six
years of service by December 8, 1962. His superior officers were probably happy
to be rid of Oswald. He was readily given an early “hardship” discharge to
help his mother. He had served 45 extra days of service because of his two
courts martial. He left his base and returned to Fort Worth, Texas.
On September 13th, in Fort Worth he
completed a registration card for the Selective Service System while staying
with his mother. He continued his desired fictitious height of 5’l1”.
Oswald visited his mother and brother for
three days. During that week, Soviet Premier Khrushchev was in the U.S. for
talks with President Eisenhower and his tour of the U.S. was widely publicized.
As a result of their talks, Khrushchev withdrew the ultimatum on Berlin.
Lee spoke admiringly about Cuba and Castro
with his brother, who argued against his pro-Castro stance. Then he left for New
Orleans, Louisiana, where he had an aunt. He told his family that he was going
to seek import/export work but on September 16, 1959, he completed the last step
in his plan to leave the U.S., by filling out an immigration form In New
Orleans. He again listed ajob compatible with travel “shipping export agent yet stated that this trip was for “pleasure”.
On this form, he said nothing about college. He gave “two
months” as his length of stay, perhaps thinking his money might run out by
that time in case he was unsuccessful in getting into the Soviet Union.
Oswald wrote his mother from New Orleans
on September 19, 1959, two days before he sailed to Europe. He wrote that he had
not shared his plans with his mother because she wouldn’t understand him, but
it is more likely that he wanted to avoid criticism.
“Dear Mother: Well, I
have booked passage on a ship to Europe. I would of had to sooner or later and I
think its best
I go now. Just remember above all else that my values are very different from
Robert’s or your’s. 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 harly be expected to understand. I did not
see aunt Lillian while I was
here. I will write against as soon as I land. Lee”
Lee disembarked at LeHavre October 8th and
went to England where he could fly to Helsinki, Finland. He stayed In Helsinki
hotels and visited the Soviet Consulate to obtain a visa to the U.S.S.R. He may
have been surprised at his success. He completed a Soviet Entry Visa Application
in Finland on October 13, 1959, and listed his occupation as “student”.
He was allowed to proceed to Moscow with a five day student tourist visa.