Lee Harvey Oswald sits at the top of the Depository building waiting for Kennedy’s car to pass by at the perfect time.1 Time passes, Oswald’s chance becomes closer, he starts to get a clearer view, and he can barely stand the wait. He is about to commit one of the greatest assassinations known in American history.
In order to understand this Oswald and what brought him to that floor of the Depository building that day, let’s take a look into his past and see what life was like for him. When Oswald was a teenager he developed strong left-wing political views and became an avowed Marxist. When he was sixteen he joined the Marines in hopes of emigrating to the Soviet Union. He successfully received dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Marines in 1959 and escaped into Russia.2 Oswald lived in Russia for three years before moving back to Dallas, Texas. Oswald visited New Orleans early in 1963 and founded a pro-Castro organization known as the “Fair Play for Cuba Committee,” in which he was the only member. Oswald then returned to Dallas that October and began a low-paying job at the Texas School Book Depository.3
Although Oswald was successful in getting what he wanted, there were complications in his assassination of Kennedy. He fired three bullets, one only wounding Kennedy, the second wounding Governor John Connally, and a third that struck Kennedy in the head, killing him instantly.4
In the few short moments it took for Oswald to assassinate Kennedy, he knew he needed to get out of that building. He quickly rushed out and during his escape managed to kill another man, Officer J.D. Tippett. After killing the officer, Oswald was arrested in a nearby movie theatre at 1:51 pm, and charged with the murder of officer Tippett.5 Oswald was then taken to jail, and was held there for two days before being moved to the county prison.
A series of unfortunate events occurred as Oswald was being transported to the county prison. As he was being transported, Oswald was shot and killed by the owner of a Dallas night club, Jack Ruby.6 Although some may say that what Ruby did was right in trying to get revenge for Oswald murdering a beloved president, he was found guilty of murder with malice and sentence to death. Ruby was a lucky man though; his lawyers were able to fight hard enough to get him out of facing the death penalty.
Lee Harvey Oswald will forever be known as a murderer and assassin. He can be seen as someone that demoralized Americans, and caused so many people to doubt the true nature of people. Oswald has always been seen as an abnormal person, he did so many things that would’ve been red flags if the government had been watching him before the assassination. Oswald was a man of evil nature and will be talked about in history classes across the country until the end of time.
- William Rubinstein, “Oswald Shoots JFK,” History Today 49, no. 10 (October 1999): 15. ↵
- William Rubinstein, “Oswald Shoots JFK,” History Today 49, no. 10 (October 1999): 15. ↵
- William Rubinstein, “Oswald Shoots JFK,” History Today 49, no. 10 (October 1999): 15. ↵
- Tom Wicker, “Kennedy is Killed By Sniper As He Rides In Car In Dallas; Johnson Sworn In On Plane,” The New York Times (New York City, New York), November 22, 1963. ↵
- William Rubinstein, “Oswald Shoots JFK,” History Today 49, no. 10 (October 1999): 15. ↵
- Kalyan B. Bhattacharyya, “Fredric Andrews Gibbs and the Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy,” Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology 20, no. 2 (April 2017): 103. ↵
52 comments
Isaac Rodriguez
The assassination of John F. Kennedy was a tragic moment in U.S history. I have seen many documentaries about the series of events that lead to his death but did not know much about the background of Lee Harvey Oswald. I was not aware that he previously served in the Marines, nor did I know that he was a Marxist.
Kailan Pena
I enjoyed reading this article and found it to be very informative on such an infamous man’s life. Interestingly enough, there are a lot of conspiracy theories saying that it wasn’t Oswald or even that LBJ set it all up, but reading this article and learning that Oswald killed other people along with Kennedy kinda gets rid of any doubt that Oswald really did it.
Carlos Vazquez
A lot of people know Lee Harvey Oswald as the man who assassinated President Kennedy. I had heard of his communist beliefs but I didn’t know he actually spent time in Russia and that he was in the Marines. This article is very well written and informative and it does a good job at describing the life of one of the most famous people of the twentieth century.
Timothy ODekirk
I watched a documentary a couple of years back about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and I was interested in this topic. I just can’t believe how someone like Oswald planned this horrific assassination on the President of the United States and expected to get away. This has been an unfortunate event that will be in everyone’s memory to this day.
Alexandra Cantu
I would’ve enjoyed reading more about Lee Harvey Oswald and how strange of a man he was. This article just touched the surface and I would’ve enjoyed a deeper article about this criminal, but other than that the title of the article was extremely captivating which allowed me to continue reading. This assassination is a tricky one because many believe there may have been another shooter that killed JFK. Nevertheless, Lee Harvey Oswald paid the price for killing Officer Tippett.
Brandon Martinez
I knew who Oswald was before reading the article, but I have never known the history of this man. I never knew he was in the military prior to the Assassination of Kennedy. This article also gives details of clues that Oswald was planning the murder. It is definitely an interesting article that helps uncover information about this infamous man. This article is a good read as it talks about one of the most recognizable events throughout history.
Luis Morales
Everyone in America knows the name Lee Harvey Oswald. It is a name that will go down in history as the name of the man who murdered John F. Kennedy. Great job painting the story of Lee Harvey Oswald. I never knew there were so many signs, or red flags, Oswald did tht should have caught the attention of the government. It is curios to me to think that if Oswald never went into the Marines, he would have never had the chance to assassinate President Kennedy because that is where Oswald was able to learn how to shoot a rifle from such a distance and even be able to hit a moving target.
Derek Esquivel
Lee Harvey Oswald was such a lunatic of a man. I even wonder that if he never went into the Marines would he have been able to even think about assassinating President Kennedy because that is where Oswald was able to learn how to shoot a rifle from such a distance and even be able to hit a moving target. But, it is still crazy to know that a man that was wanting to leave to Russia would just want to come back to the United States and would just want to make an actual attempt to kill the President and ultimately succeeding at what he intended to do.
Miranda Alamilla
Lee Harvey Oswald, a strange man with strange likes. It’s safe to say that Oswald was very much an outcast. The fact that he murdered two people and injured (amongst those three, one being the VP of the US and another being the President of the US at that time) makes me believe that him being killed was ultimately the best and safest thing to be done. However, I also think that it was an easy escape for him.
Hannah Wilson
I feel like there could have been more details in the article but overall it was good. This moment in history shook the nation, and I have never really heard much on Oswald other than he was the assassin. His motive was interesting to say the least. I also did not know who killed him on his way to prison. The whole story is very peculiar and makes you wonder why people do things like this tragedy.