He wanted to be an American, to be accepted by the American society, and so wherever he was he wanted to be accepted. Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union [INTERVIEW] He had the presence of mind then to do that. I think they're inseparable. Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans: TRICENTENNIAL MOMENT ", He is the older brother of Lee Harvey Oswald, and a former Marine and salesman. In one of the Warren Commission's exhibits, Hal Collins is listed as a character reference by Ruby on a Texas liquor license application.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ruby The Dallas Police Department was utter chaos. I think he just liked the atmosphere that you could do anything that you wanted to do, that you could imagine you could do. Finally, I guess, I couldn't stand it anymore. He was, in fact, an American citizen all the time, and still had the rights of the American citizen. On Nov. 22, [1963] it went way downhill. She shared her viewpoints as to whether Oswald was guilty, whether he was a government agent and, whether he was pro or against Castro among others. There is a power that comes from Marxist doctrine, a sense of belonging to something right now that is on the cusp of doing something very, very important. He moves into his own apartment and everything. He is the older brother of Lee Harvey Oswald, and a former Marine and salesman. This was driven entirely by his own biography and history. He would talk about anything else. But then, Oct. 31, we hear that he's in Russia. He knew something they didnt know, and he would keep it to himself. But I think he was disappointed. What was going on there? In his new book, The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union Peter Savodnik, a journalist who lived and worked in Moscow and has extensively traveled around the former Soviet Union, dives into the foreign life of America's most notorious assassin. They wasn't going to convince him to say something. As far as material goods the car taking her to a grocery store the first time you cant believe how excited she was. He was toying with them. The appeal to Lee of something like that Marxism, communism, socialism, would be something unique, something different -- not [an] everyday occurrence. His comment was she is "too much like Maw." After obtaining a hardship discharge from the Marines, Lee Harvey Oswald left the United States for the Soviet Union in 1959. First, the $64,000 question: Why did Lee Harvey Oswald kill John F. Kennedy? What kind of a Marxist was he? Warren Commission Report: Table of Contents - National Archives I wrote him back that, to my knowledge, nothing he has done warrants any charges, because they did not let him accomplish anything over there, i.e., the U.S. Embassy did not accept his citizenship rejection. The fact that he could put on a facade and pretend to be somebody he wasn't -- to me, it gets down to what happened later on. You had said that he had very much been on his own in New York. Hes on a downhill run. They've got your rifle. [To those who say,] He didnt own a rifle. We know he owned a rifle. It seemed like we were never in a location [more than] six or seven months, maybe a year at the most. He is the author of the 1981 book, The Plot To Kill the President, and in the late 1960s he campaigned for and helped write much of the anti-racketeering legislation that would usher in the demise of the Mafia. In comparison to yourself, what was Lee missing from his childhood? He played an awful lot of hooky up there. I mean, I watched the deterioration of a human being. Talk about his mothers importance to him. discussion+glimpse of a life+links & readings+teacher's guide Aline Mosby was one of the first women assigned to cover the Kremlin, while stationed in Moscow in 1959 she interviewed a self-exiled Lee Harvey Oswald, who. So hes very upbeat up on it. He always enjoyed books, but then he started exploring other areas. To me, you cant reach but one conclusion. You look at the factual data, you look at the rifle, you look at the pistol ownership, you look at his note about the Walker shooting. If it was any other murder case other than the president of the United States, it would have been resolved right then. When you learned he had defected, did you have any explanation? , I think Ive come to an understanding of Lee that I have now that I didnt, of course I mean, I watched the deterioration of a human being. He did not and would not talk to any of the interrogators about anything of substance. When I returned home from work that evening, I asked him about it, and he said, Well, everything went all right. He wants to do like Hemingway. He wants to get some experience and write about it. He was using his own imagination. The two events -- the failed assassination of Walker and the successful assassination of Kennedy -- just represent a ratcheting up, and eventually there's this culmination of violence, which is meant to enable Oswald's escape from his life, and this way, the homicide is as much a suicide. Lee Harvey Oswald is dragged from the Texas Theatre by Patrolman C.T. He finally got a job that wasn't exactly what he really wanted, but it was a start. Usually, it has to do with a man, sometimes it has to do with a job, but the threat that courses through his childhood and adolescence is a frenetic, harried, peripatetic that is entirely his mother's concoction. That was a training ground [for] his imagination. I would love to be able to say that Lee was not involved in any way whatsoever, or much less to the extent that I believe that he was. It's about escaping the status quo and achieving some kind of greatness, as it were. A former litigator, Posner is a fulltime investigative writer. I said, "Lee, they've got you charged with the death of the president, shooting a police officer. [37]Within hours of Ruby's arrest for shooting Oswald, a telegram was received at the Dallas city jail in support of Ruby, under the names of Hal and Pauline Collins. I don't know at what age Mother verbalized the effect that she felt he was a burden to her. Well, his concern was, was there anything that I was aware of that [there] were going to be charges placed against him from anybody? New book by Hoover fellow recounts his experiences knowing JFK's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. From the Archives: How the World's Deadliest Ebola Outbreak Unfolded, Russias Invasion of Ukraine, One Year Later, War Crimes Watch Ukraine: More Than 650 Documented Events, From the Archives: How the U.N. & World Failed Darfur Amid "the 21st Century's First Genocide". But Lee had that same personality type. He started teaching this mans son how to write and talk Russian. How would he have reacted to that? Well, he went to do the things he always liked to do -- got to the movies if he had the money, go to the library and read if he didn't have it. What attracted her to Oswald and why did she come back with him to the United States? Sat, Feb 25, 2023 LOGIN Subscribe for $1 That was it. You could tell by the tone of the language, not that we could understand the Russian language, but the tone and the facial expressions that they were having an argument. Well, it took him a little bit longer than that, but he started trying after a year to come back. This would have to be at the federal level. And his disenchantment began to morph into a kind of anger and frustration. He's already tried living with Mother for about a week to 10 days, and that went the way it usually goes. And this opened up certain avenues or possibilities that would not have been available to him otherwise. An End to Conspiracy? Rare Photo of Lee Harvey Oswald's Arrest - Time If we go and get right down to the bottom line, we have to say, really and truly, in all candor, [she did] a lousy job, a lousy job. Stew Peter's interviews Lee Harvey Oswald's Girlfriend about the Tragically, he accomplished that. The main thing was getting a job and a manuscript. What do you do with his rifle? Hed actually applied for Albert Schweitzers school in Switzerland, and been accepted for that summertime or fall semester. Five or six eyewitnesses there. I said, "If that never came about, if you didn't really betray the country and you only attempted to do it -- and they didn't let you do it anyway -- legally, then it seems to me you have a basis." Oswald in a way sort of set up the disaster that was to come before he even arrived in Moscow. There is no question in my mind that he also shot Officer Tippit. We had an old black-and-white. You look at that last year his work, and his family, trying to go to Cuba, trying to go back to Russia. That's almost unbelievable. He had a rifle, he had positioned himself, he prepared in advance to take his shot, after he took the shot he left the rifle there, and then walked away and found his own way home. I tell him it may or may not be. It maybe opened up some doors for him. Saltar al contenido principal.com.mx. With John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Nigel Barber, Raymond Burns. Historically in his life, it was always done by himself. He pressed the lieutenants, he pressed the platoon leaders. Last month Secretary of State John Kerry, commenting in an interview on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, said: "To this day, I have serious doubts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I anticipated, and I said to the family, Hell be back within a year. Well, it took him a little bit longer than that, but he started trying after a year to come back. Lees trying. Thats almost unbelievable. This is mind over heart. Nothing illustrates the thinness, the superficiality of Oswald's ideology as his growing disillusionment with the Soviet Union. I asked him about this lawyer in New York and I told him I would get him one down here, meaning in Texas. Theyve got the camera. The Hartford Files But the Marine Corps has got set procedures and so forth to follow. You look at the factual data, you look at the rifle, you look at the pistol ownership, you look at his note about the Walker shooting. And why it wasnt stopped sooner. He seemed to really get involved with it. But then, Oct. 31, we hear that hes in Russia. Who was Lee Harvey Oswald? | Stanford News This video contains Oswald's complete television interview. Maybe the next time he went to the library, he would follow up on it, and say Well, lets really see what this is about. That to me is very plausible for him to do. How would he have reacted to that? He never did answer. In the Soviet Union, he was a celebrity, at least for a little while. If it didn't work for Russia, he was going to stay in Europe anyway. But she certainly conveyed it to John and I at very early ages. He was seeming to be pretty adamant about it. We're talking seven, eight, nine, 10 years old. She had certain characteristics that were so much like Lee: the time and circumstances always seemed to be against her; the world owed her a living; she wanted to be somebody. There's another seed that's planted in him that stayed there forever. Historically in his life, it was always done by himself. His plans, as we well know now, were already made to go to Russia, rather than to Cuba. Thats the shocker. Yes, Oswald moved twenty times with his mother before he turned seventeen, which is when he joined the Marines. Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? | FRONTLINE - pbs.org He pressed the lieutenants, he pressed the platoon leaders. Living in Fort Worth, TV was making its debut. I think that's an understatement. One was he wanted to get his manuscript typed up and written. Then he joins the Marines, and then he has a lot of people barking at him, a lot of discipline. Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? | FRONTLINE He gave it to me either the first or second night to read. But Lee had that same personality type. She had been overbearing or whatever. All these ups and downs hes having, he keeps trying to get up and make it at some level, but hes not succeeding. But at the same time, he always was trying to get away from her. He toyed with the interrogators down at the Dallas police station, all that weekend [after the assassination]. Fingeroth also conducted interviews with Ruby family members and associates. Oswald lacked the historical or political consciousness of a genuine radical. Lee Harvey Oswald Shooting: Interview with Eyewitnesses - YouTube When Lee is discharged, early discharge in September 1959, he returns to Fort Worth for about three days. Here was a start. As this realization deepens and becomes more omnipresent and more unavoidable, he feels a greater and greater need to get out, to escape. He said no, he wanted that one up there. They didn't finalize that. But when you take the second look and the third and the 40th and the 50th, hey, enough's enough. At 11:21 am CST while authorities were escorting Oswald through the police basement to an armored car that was to take him to the nearby county jail Ruby stepped out from a crowd of reporters and fired his .38 revolver into Oswald's abdomen, fatally wounding him. Settling the Controversy Over Photo of Lee Harvey Oswald Later, after the Kennedy. He was just out of the Marine Corps. In this interview, Posner talks . Lee would rebel against the discipline of the Marine Corps when he had the opportunity to, when the leeway was there. The result of the whole mismanagement was Lees death. Its there; put it to rest. I think the way Lee learned New York was just apply himself to it. What do you say to people who are so convinced or are trying to believe in his innocence? The first thing he says is and he points to it Its tapped. I tell him it may or may not be. I asked him, I said, Lee, what in the Sam Hill is going on? He said, I dont know what theyre talking about. I said, Lee, theyve got you charged with the death of the president, shooting a police officer. JFK Unsolved: The Real Conspiracies examines - 6abc Philadelphia He went the following day, had the meeting. [He wanted to] get established and start the American life, live the American dream. Convinced that his brother was solely responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Oswald offers details in this interview about Lees formative years and young adult life, and describes how his brothers love of television shows on intrigue and espionage such as I Led Three Lives, became the training ground for his imagination. He says that the hard physical evidence from the assassination leads him to one conclusion: The Warren Commission was correct. This interview was conducted in 1993 in conjunction with the first broadcast of FRONTLINEs Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? I wasn't real sure what the explanation was. While he does not see Oswald as a Soviet, CIA or FBI recruit, he is careful to point out many of the unanswered questions regarding Oswald's mysterious associations and possible ties to the mob. What did he do? Follow him on Twitter @davidastinwalsh. Theyve got your rifle. He toyed with the interrogators down at the Dallas police station, all that weekend [after the assassination]. WGBH educational foundation, In Fight Against ISIS, a Lose-Lose Scenario Poses Challenge for West. So he's very upbeat up on it. " I'm just a patsy!"Lee Harvey Oswald Oswald the Assassin? This would have to be at the federal level. But she certainly conveyed it to John and I at very early ages. Author Norman Mailer, and others, have questioned why Ruby would have left his two beloved dogs in his car if he had planned on killing Oswald at police headquarters.The House Select Committee on Assassinations in its 1979 Final Report opined: Ruby's shooting of Oswald was not a spontaneous act, in that it involved at least some premeditation. Why was he asking for this lawyer, John Abt, up in New York? This interview was conducted in 1993 in conjunction with Frontline's first broadcast of "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? He toyed with people like that. This interview was conducted in 1993 in conjunction with Frontline's first broadcast of "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?" Photographs and documents also are on display. Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV - The Times of Israel He's on a downhill run. Now apparently, for whatever reasons or however they checked it out, they found out whatever he knew wasnt necessarily anything theyd be interested in. JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald: Insights from an interview - McCuistion TV So then what happens, and how does he get to Dallas? You look at the general opportunity -- he was present. Two, Jack Ruby did inestimable harm to the whole process of America coming to terms with what happened. He started becoming more and more independent and out on his own because Mother was working all the time, no brothers around, no father figure around, no adult that he was acquainted with that he could rely on to and talk to. So, to me, that was his back-up plan if everything else failed. During the conversation, Hoffa claimed that Ruby was assigned the task of coordinating police officers who were loyal to Ruby to murder Oswald while he was in their custody. (TV) Summary. The National Archives released almost 1,500 documents including CIA cables and memos on Lee Harvey Oswald in the months before the JFK assassination. What did he have in the back of his mind? But he finally said, Brother, you wont find anything there.. One, we tend to think of Kennedy as having been so great and really all-powerful, almost mythological, and at the same time we tend to think of Oswald as so low, that it seems unfathomable that somebody so low, so inconsequential, could topple someone so great. This interview was conducted in 1993 in conjunction with Frontline's first broadcast of "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? Why do you think that so many Americans still cannot accept that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of John F. Kennedy. He began to tire of Minsk as his celebrity began to wear off. This interview was conducted in 1993 in conjunction with Frontline's first broadcast of "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? She could really become somebody from New York real easy when shes in Texas, putting on the air[s], whatever you call it. He wasn't present when they took a head count [at the Texas School Book Depository]. . This is a lawyer well known for being involved in left-wing causes. He had the superficialities of radicalism, but that's what appealed to him: the sense of belonging, of being very serious. Now apparently, for whatever reasons or however they checked it out, they found out whatever he knew wasn't necessarily anything they'd be interested in. When you learned he had defected, did you have any explanation? Mother would be putting him with a nanny, or a babysitter, or in an orphan home with us, just to get us out of her hair. You've got the backyard picture. He's failing at almost every level. But you go back to the death of Dad two months before he was born, that's a tremendous impact. No. The Most Risky Job Ever. Reporting on ISIS in Afghanistan. There's something about a sort of metaphysical break when it comes to his migration to the Soviet Union, and I think that in a way he set himself up for not only failure but terrible disappointment. To try to understand why Lee did what he did on Nov. 22 is a cumulative effect of all his past plans and efforts and failures. He said no, he wanted that one up there. By Melissa De Witte Those alive when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news the president had been shot. So Oswald benefitted from all that. Interview - Robert Oswald | Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? - PBS What Lee Harvey Oswald's Mother Told Me - The Daily Beast Thats the way I read him at the time. The appeal to Lee of something like that Marxism, communism, socialism, would be something unique, something different not [an] everyday occurrence. Aline Mosby was one of the first women assigned to cover the Kremlin, There are no reviews yet. This was a part of his character, that inner self, that we used to say, "Me, myself and I will do something.". You've got all kinds of documented evidence. ", A former litigator, Posner is a fulltime investigative writer. He wasn't political. That's not to suggest it was in any way any less than that, but it's just that we refuse to see it in its true light. However, Bolinas author Josiah Thompson says he has answered one very important question. I asked him about this lawyer in New York and I told him I would get him one down here, meaning in Texas. Posner also discusses the actions, motivations and mob connections of Jack Ruby, who murdered Oswald. Historian Priscilla Johnson McMillan was a reporter in Moscow in the 1950s and interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald shortly after his defection to the Soviet Union. The third thing was he wanted to look into his dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps, because he felt like that was unwarranted because, i.e., he was released with honorable conditions. What do you do with his actions? Marguerite Oswald, mother of slain accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, is shown in New York with attorney Mark Lane on February 17, 1964, after testifying in Washington before. Of course, we can't extricate ourselves permanently or perfectly from wherever it is we come from, no matter how much we try, and we are always functions of our place, even if we wish not to be. He started teaching this man's son how to write and talk Russian. On Nov. 22, [1963] it went way downhill. So from Oswald's vantage point, the Soviet experiment, as he would have seen it, was this marvelous opportunity to transcend where he came from. That's the shocker. Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. His comment was she is too much like Maw. That was our affectionate name for Mother. Plus, Bob Schieffer remembers his own run-in. The result of the whole mismanagement was Lee's death. , Finally, I guess, I couldnt stand it anymore. The continuity there, the lack of stability, I think, entered into that to a large degree. He's always under this impression. Oswald had lived in Russia for three years at the height of the Cold War.This video, culled from NBC-TV's 11/22/63 coverage, includes Oswald's brief television appearance on New Orleans station WDSU-TV in August of 1963.Portions of this TV interview can be seen in various documentaries and films, but rarely is the entire (but brief) interview ever shown. What do you do with his rifle? Why couldn't he find a sense of purpose or place there? He was assuming everything was being recorded, and, unfortunately, it wasnt. We talked about family matters. He would tolerate anything for a little bit. The fact that he could put on a facade and pretend to be somebody he wasnt to me, it gets down to what happened later on. Jolly West visited Jack Ruby in jail and gave him an injection and soon after Ruby died from rapid cancer, Jack was also a patsy! Although Marina declined to be interviewed for FRONTLINE's program, McMillan talks about the perplexing, troubling events of Oswald's life based on what Marina confided to her. What would have been the appeal to him about something like Marxism? Initially, when we started talking, I was concerned about his bruises on his face that he had received at his capture at the Texas theater. Killing Oswald (2013) - IMDb We had an old black-and-white. He didnt elaborate on that. He found a spot, not very far, from where Walker was. He started becoming more and more independent and out on his own because Mother was working all the time, no brothers around, no father figure around, no adult that he was acquainted with that he could rely on to and talk to. This is a must watch till the very end.then another must watch with pen in hand . WDSU Archives: WDSU interview with Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 As far as Lee giving any information to the Russians while he was over there, even though he said he would if they had asked, apparently they werent interested in it. He could project this type of image, and he did; he tried to. The first thing he says is -- and he points to it -- "It's tapped." There is no question in my mind that Lee was responsible for the three shots fired, two of the shots hitting the president and killing him. When he first approached the divided cubicles and I picked up the telephone on my side, he picked up his. All these ups and downs he's having, he keeps trying to get up and make it at some level, but he's not succeeding. LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S COMPLETE AUGUST 1963 WDSU-TV INTERVIEW David Von Pein's JFK Channel 44.3K subscribers Subscribe 415 71K views 9 years ago Three months before he assassinated President. We were away from Lee during the three years of military school, only seeing him during the summer vacations or holiday-type things.