The assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald despaired the nation and spawned more conspiracy theories than UFO sightings. In American history, very few singular events generated as many books, films, and speculation.
Oswald being led down the basement hallway of the Dallas Police Department for additional questioning in his trial. (Mads Madsen)
The obscure and perplexing circumstances surrounding the killing of JFK sustains news stories to this day. Certain files relating to the most shocking death of an American President still remain classified. Nevertheless, the trickle of information relating to Kenndy’s assassination continues to drip.
An Unexpected Visit
A Dallas policeman holds up the rifle used to kill President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. (Bettmann Archive)
Oswald, then 24, made an atypical unannounced visit to his estranged wife and a daughter the day before he shot the President. A neighbor “had the impression that relations between the young Oswalds were ‘cordial,’ ‘friendly,’ ‘warm’ — like a couple making up after a small spat.” However, Marina, Oswald’s wife, knew precisely what her husband was capable of. Six months earlier, the former marine unsuccessfully attempted to kill Edwin Walker, a retired Army general, and anti-communist. He also kept a rifle rolled up in a blanket in the garage.
Unusual Temperament
Oswald served in the Marines, earning the nickname “Osvaldovich†due to his socialist leanings
The same neighbor noted that Oswald was more playful with his daughter, Junie, than ever. He also asked to wash the dishes, a major departure from his normal behavior. In his biography of Oswald, Norman Mailer connected the unusual demeanor to him having “Reached that zone of serenity that some men attain before combat, when anxiety is deep enough to feel like quiet exaltation: You are finally going into an action that will be equal in dimension to the importance of your life.”
Nov. 22, 1963
Oswald questioned by reporters (USnews&worldreport)
According to a Washington Post article, “Oswald woke up late. He told Marina there was money on the dresser. Without her noticing, he slipped off his wedding ring and left it in a cup. He did not kiss her goodbye. Marina went back to sleep. Kennedy’s plane landed at Love Field a couple of hours later.”
Scary Suspicions
He wrote “I want citizenship because I am a communist and a worker,†on his request for Russian citizenship
When word broke of shots fired upon the President’s motorcade, Marina went to check on the rifle in the rolled up blanket. According to Thomas Mallon in his book, “Mrs. Paine’s Garage,” “She checked to see that the blanket roll remained where she’d noticed it a few weeks ago. To her relief, the bundle appeared to be in the same place and condition.” Then the cops were knocking down her door.
Painful Realizations
Oswald's death was captured on live TV. (Theguardian)
The police asked if Oswald owned a gun. Marina’s neighbor said no but when the question was translated to Oswald’s wife, she said yes. She directed them to the rolled-up blanket in the garage. When the police went to check on it, it folded upon inspection; the rifle was miles away in the Texas School Book Depository.
Intelligence Officers Spill
Jack Ruby's killing of Oswald only sparked more conspiracy theories
In 2021, yet another book joined the endless pile of JFK conspiracy texts. “Operation Dragon: Inside The Kremlin’s Secret War on America,” was written by Ambassador R. James Woolsey, who ran the CIA from 1993-1995 and Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former acting chief of Communist Romania’s espionage service and the “highest-ranking intelligence official from an enemy country ever granted political asylum in the United States.” They claimed that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered Oswald, who was a KGB associate, to assassinate the President.
Woolsey and Pacepa also alleged that Khrushchev changed his mind and directed Oswald to drop the plan. However, Oswald, deep in his fervor of the USSR refused and went ahead with the killing. In their book, they write, “Although Oswald wished to remain in the Soviet Union, he was eventually persuaded to return to the US to assassinate President Kennedy, whom Khrushchev had come to despise. Oswald was … given a Soviet wife and sent back to the US in June 1962.” Supposedly, even though the Russian scrapped the plan, Oswald carried on and set on completing the mission. As they say, the rest is history, but none of it is for certain.
