Oswald's Game
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Kurtz, Michael L. Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination from a Historian’s Perspective. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1982.
Lane, Mark. Rush to Judgment. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966.
Lifton, David S. Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dell, 1982.
Lockwood, Lee. Castro’s Cuba, Cuba’s Fidel. New York: Macmillan, 1967.
Manchester, William. The Death of a President: November 20–25, 1963. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
Mankiewicz, Frank, and Kirby Jones. With Fidel: A Portrait of Castro and Cuba. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1975.
Martin, David C. Wilderness of Mirrors. New York: Ballantine Books, 1980.
McMillan, Priscilla Johnson. Marina and Lee. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.
Meagher, Sylvia. Accessories after the Fact: The Warren Commission, the Authorities, and the Report. New York: Vintage, 1976.
Morrow, Robert D. Betrayal. New York: Warner Books, 1976.
Navasky, Victor S. Naming Names. New York: Viking, 1980.
Newman, Albert H. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: The Reasons Why. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1970.
Nizer, Louis. The Implosion Conspiracy. New York: Doubleday, 1973.
Oswald, Robert L., with Myrick and Barbara Land. Lee: A Portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald. New York: Coward-McCann, 1967.
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. Robert Kennedy and His Times. Boston: Hough-ton Mifflin, 1978.
Stafford, Jean. A Mother in History: Mrs. Marguerite Oswald. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1966.
Summers, Anthony. Conspiracy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.
Warren, Earl. The Memoirs of Earl Warren. New York: Doubleday, 1977.
Wyden, Peter. Bay of Pigs. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.
Yochelson, Samuel, and Stanton E. Samenow. The Criminal Personality. Volume I: A Profile for Change. New York: Jason Aronson, 1976.
PUBLISHED ARTICLES
Anson, Robert Sam. “Congress and the JFK Riddle.” New Times March 19, 1976.
Bergquist, Laura. “My Curious Row with Castro.” Look December 12, 1967.
Branch, Taylor, and George Crile III. “The Kennedy Vendetta.” Harper’s August 1975.
Butler, Ed. “The Great Assassin Puzzle.” The Westwood Village Square Summer 1968.
Committee on Ballistic Acoustics, National Research Council. “Reexamination of Acoustic Evidence in the Kennedy Assassination.” Science October 8, 1982.
Daniel, Jean. “When Castro Heard the News.” The New Republic December 7. 1963.
Janos, Leo. “The Last Days of the President: LBJ in Retirement.” Atlantic July 1973.
O’Toole, George, and Paul Hoch. “Dallas: The Cuban Connection.” The Saturday Evening Post March 1976.
Restak, Richard. “Assassin!” Science Digest December 1981.
Rodgers, Joann Ellison. “The Malleable Memory of Eyewitnesses.” Science 82 June 1982.
Schorr, Daniel. “The Assassins.” The New York Review of Books October 13, 1977.
NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSWEEKLIES
The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, April, October, and November 1963, selected issues.
The Militant, December 1962–November 1963. Published in New York.
New Orleans Times-Picayune, April–September 1963.
Time, August 1962–November 1963, selected issues.
The Worker, April–June 1953 (when it was called The Daily Worker), selected issues. August 1962–November 1963. Published in New York.
OFFICIAL REPORTS
The Final Assassinations Report: Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives. (New York: Bantam, 1979).
Hearings Before the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Testimony of witnesses, Vols. I-XV, and published exhibits, Vols. XVI-XXVI, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964).
Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964).
U.S., Congress, House, Select Committee on Assassinations, Investigation of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Hearings and Appendices, 95th Cong., 2nd sess., (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979), Volumes I-XII, Hearing #Y4.As7;K.38.
U.S., Congress, Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 94th Cong., 1st sess., (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975), S. Rept. 94-465, Serial Set # 13098-8.
U.S., Congress, Senate, The Investigation of the Assassination of President Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, Book V. Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 94th Cong., 2nd sess., (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976), S. Rept. 94-755, Serial Set #13133-7.
Notes
The following abbreviations are used in citing official reports:
Report of the President’s Commission (Warren Report) WR
The published hearings and exhibits of the Warren Commission Volume and page number only—e.g., II, 20
The final report of the Select Committee on Assassinations (House Assassinations Committee) HACR
The hearings and appendices of the House Assassinations Committee HACH (followed by volume and page number)
The interim report of the Church committee Interim
The final report of the Church committee, Book V Book V
INTRODUCTION
Page
14. Mrs. Kennedy’s reaction: Manchester, 407.
Rifle ordered by Oswald: WR, 118–121.
14–15. Murder weapon in hand; “It’s all over now”: WR, 171, 178.
15. Wedding ring left behind: WR, 421.
Warren Commission on motive: WR, 423–424, 22–23.
16. Butler on Oswald: “The Great Assassin Puzzle,” 23, 24–28.
18–19. Ruby’s testimony: Lane, 243, 244–245; V, 198–199, 210–212.
19. Lie detector test results: WR, 809–816.
20. Stuckey on Oswald: XI, 170–171.
22. President Johnson’s suspicions: Janos, “Last Days of the President,” 39; Means, King Features Syndicate column, April 24, 1975 (quoted by Schorr, “The Assassins,” 22).
Schorr on Oswald’s threat: “The Assassins,” 20–22.
23–24. Liebeler on Castro’s warning: Lifton, 57; memo of September 16, 1964, from Liebeler to Rankin, “Re: Quote from New Orleans Times-Picayune of September 9, 1963, concerning Fidel Castro’s speech,” National Archives, Washington, D.C.
24. Hoover’s letter: Schorr, “The Assassins,” 21; letter dated June 17, 1964, from Hoover to Rankin (portions deleted), National Archives.
Commission on Oswald’s trip to Mexico: WR, 308.
Slawson and Hoover’s letter: Schorr, “The Assassins,” 21.
24–25. CIA plots withheld from Commission: Book V, 5–6, 7.
CHAPTER 1. A MOST UNUSUAL DEFECTOR
29. Cape Cod meeting: Damore, 165.
Oswald’s activities in Moscow: WR, 690–693, 259–262; XVI, 96.
30. Handwritten note: WR, 261, 262.
Note 1: Oswald had a learning disability (dyslexia), which he largely overcame but which left him a poor speller (XXVI, 812–817). In quoting Oswald’s writings throughout the book, I have corrected his spelling and minor punctuation errors for the sake of clarity.
Understood legal procedure: WR, 693, 262.
“Wound up,” “rehearsing for a long time”: Epstein, Legend, 95.
31. Previous defector: V, 267.
“Lonesome man,” quizzed on Marxist theory: V, 290.
Snyder’s impressions: V, 272, 290; XVIII, 98, 100, 103.
Offered military information to Soviets: XVIII, 98, 100; V, 265.
32. Tone of meeting: McMillan, 82.
Snyder to
State Department: WR, 748; XVIII, 98–103; Epstein, Legend, 96.
Refused phone calls: Oswald, 105.
Robert Oswald’s reaction: Ibid., 98–99.
33. Letter to American ambassador: WR, 262, 263.
November 8 letter to Robert: WR, 694–695.
33—35. Mosby interview and her reactions: XXII, 703–705; XXVI, 90; Epstein, Legend, 98–99, 292 n.18; WR, 388, 695–696.
34-
Note 2: After a controversial trial in 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit wartime espionage and sentenced to death. They had been accused of transmitting atomic bomb secrets to the Russians. After several legal appeals were denied and President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to commute their sentences to life imprisonment, they were executed in New York’s Sing Sing prison on June 19, 1953. During the last months of their imprisonment, a Save the Rosenbergs campaign was mounted by leftist groups and others who felt their conviction, and especially the death sentence, was unjust.
35–36. Priscilla Johnson and Kennedy: McMillan, 3–4.
36–38. Johnson’s interview of Oswald and her impressions: McMillan, 5, 83–85; XI, 448–449, 453; XX, 292–305 passim; HACR, 270.
38. Second letter to Robert: XVI, 815–822; WR, 391–392.
39. Third letter to Robert, Oswald sent to Minsk: WR, 697.
CHAPTER 2. MARGUERITE’S SON
(Except where noted, minor details of Oswald’s early years are taken from the Warren Report, 377, 383, 669–679.)
41. Father’s death and funeral: I, 225, 268; VIII, 47; XXI, 491, 505.
“The son of an insurance salesman”: WR, 395; XVI, 285.
42. Marguerite’s traits in Lee: Oswald, 23, 48.
Lillian on Marguerite: VIII, 98.
Marguerite’s comments: Stafford, 30.
Insurance policy: VIII, 47.
Sneaking out of house: Oswald, 33.
43. Marguerite on babysitters: I, 254–255.
Oswald brothers at orphanage: Oswald, 34–35; I, 271; WR, 671.
Pic on Ekdahl: XI, 21.
Ekdahl marriage: WR, 672–673.
43–44. Marguerite and other woman: I, 250–251.
45. Robert on Lee’s imagination and love of intrigue: Oswald, 46–47.
Ekdahl divorce: I, 251–252; XI, 29; Oswald, 39.
Evans on Marguerite and Lee: VIII, 50–51.
45–46. Marguerite on Lee and neighbor boy: Stafford, 51–52.
46. Oswald solitary: WR, 675; VIII, 52, 119, 121–122.
Marguerite on Lee’s childhood: I, 225.
“Back down in lower class”: WR, 674.
Robert on “burden”: Oswald, 39, 42.
Marguerite’s false affidavit: WR, 378.
Pic’s comments on Marguerite: XI, 73–74, 75.
Pic’s resentment and enlistment: Oswald, 42; WR, 378, 675.
Letters to Pic: XXI, 73, 74, 109–110.
Robert’s enlistment and Lee’s plans: Oswald, 49.
48. Move to New York: Oswald, 50; WR, 675.
Pic’s impressions of Lee: XI, 39; Oswald, 51.
Mrs. Pic’s recollections: XXII, 687.
48–49. Pic and Marguerite on knife incident: XI, 38, 40; I, 226–227.
49. Oswald’s truancy and comments: XIX, 315, 189; VIII, 210.
50. Truancy court and hearing: XIX, 309.
Sokolow’s report: WR, 381.
50–52. Evelyn Strickman’s report: XXI, 485–509.
53. Strickman on Marguerite: XXI, 507.
Hartogs on Oswald: VIII, 214; VII, 223–224; Hartogs and Freeman, 318–320; XIX, 315, 317 (recommendation).
Oswalds’ promise to cooperate: XIX, 317.
Canvass by The Worker’s supporters: The Worker, May 21, 1953.
55. Mother’s Day leafletting: The Worker, May 8, 1953.
The Worker on Rosenbergs as victims: Front-page articles, June 1 and June 21, 1953.
Oswald’s view of people as cardboard figures: McMillan, 482 (quoting Michael Paine).
56. “The key to my environment”: XX, 300.
57. Thornley on Oswald’s conviction: WR, 388.
Rosenberg and Mooney pamphlet: Nizer, 16.
58. Robert’s visit: Oswald, 61–62; I, 301–302, 308–310.
Pic on psychiatrist: XI, 42, 43–44.
Teacher’s report: XIX, 319.
59. Continuation of parole and Big Brothers: WR, 678–679; XIX, 321.
CHAPTER 3. DROPPING OUT, JOINING UP
61. Marguerite on averting a “tragedy”: XXI, 83.
Oswald quiet and studious, read encyclopedias: VIII, 51, 55, 62, 63, 178.
61–62. Lillian’s recollections: VIII, 124–125.
62. Bus incident: Oswald, 68; WR, 383; VIII, 15, 124, 159, 174.
Move to French Quarter: WR, 680.
Voebel’s testimony: VIII, 7, 9–10.
Plans “military service”: WR, 679.
62–63. Civil Air Patrol, Ferrie: WR, 679; VIII, 14; Oswald, 69.
Statements to Mosby: XXII, 703.
Marguerite’s knowledge of Marxist books: I, 198.
Letter to school authorities, false affidavit: WR, 680, 681.
64. McBride’s testimony: WR, 384; XXII, 710–711.
Eastland hearings and his comment: New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 6, 1956; New York Times, April 23, 1956, 40, and April 25, 25.
64–65. Wulf’s testimony: WR, 384; VIII, 18–21.
65.
Note 1: As McBride recalled it, Oswald wanted them to join the Communist party to “take advantage of their social functions.” But since neither Oswald nor the Party was known to be interested in “social functions,” it’s likely that McBride mistook his use of the word “socialist” for “social.”
“I Led Three Lives”: Oswald, 47; I, 200.
Weinstein and others on the typical assassin: Restak, “Assassin!” 80–82.
66. Yochelson and Samenow: For a summary of the book, see Science,February 3, 1978, 511—514; Newsweek, February 27, 1978, 91.
Samenow’s comments, “wraps himself in … secrecy,” and “sees himself as unique”: Interview on “Good Morning America,” ABC-TV, February 28, 1978.
67. “The criminal believes he has been wronged”: Yochelson and Samenow, 488.
“Although he had broken the law”: Ibid., 438.
“Although he may forcefully present himself: Ibid., 463.
68. Study rejected by many: Science, February 3, 1978.
Rode bike, visited museums: WR, 679; VIII, 125.
Tried to interest classmate in Marxism: VIII, 81.
B football team, Robert’s comment: VIII, 83; Oswald, 56.
68–69. Letter to Socialist party: WR, 681; XI, 210.
69.
Note 2: Oswald’s letter was discovered in 1964 at the Duke University library by an employee who was setting up a chronological file of a large consignment of Socialist party papers that had been turned over to the library in January 1959 (letter to the author from Virginia Gray, Assistant Curator of the William R. Perkins Library at Duke, February 27, 1970).
CHAPTER 4. THE MARXIST MARINE
71. Warren Report critics on enlistment: Summers, 143.
Robert and Pic on enlistment: Oswald, 49, 57; WR, 384.
Oswald’s explanation: De Mohrenschildt manuscript, HACH, XII, 82; II, 399
Basic training, reading and aviation scores: WR, 681–683.
71–72. Allen R. Felde’s recollection: XXIII, 797.
72. U-2S at Atsugi seen by radar crew, briefings: Epstein, Legend, 55, 279–280 n. 1. (In the late 1970s Epstein interviewed dozens of the men who had served with Oswald in the Marines.)
Bristling at young officers: Epstein, Legend, 68.
Powers on Oswald: VIII, 288.
Bar girls: Epstein, Legend, 70–71.
72–73. Gunshotwoundandcourt-martial:Ibid., 72–73; WR, 683; VIII, 319–320.
73. Second court-martial: WR, 684; Epstein, Legend, 78–79.
Comment on ge
tting out of brig: Epstein, Legend, 79.
Claimed met Communists in Japan: IX, 242–243; XI, 172–173.
Began studying Russian: WR, 684.
74. Guard duty incident: Epstein, Legend, 81–82; WR, 684.
Radar crew: WR, 684.
Donovan’s comments on Oswald: VIII, 290–293, 297, 295, 293.
74–75. Delgado on officer-baiting: VIII, 265.
75. “Pursue Russian”: VIII, 297.
Pro-Russian behavior: VIII, 322, 323, 315–316.
Subscriptions to Russian paper and Worker: VIII, 323, 315, 320, 242.
Critics on pro-Russian behavior: Anson, 158; Summers, 149.
75–76. Donovan on Oswald’s politics: WR, 686.
76. Captain Block: Interview with Epstein reported in Legend, 86.
“Unjustly put upon”: XI, 100.
Delgado on helping Castro: VIII, 233.
Exile raids on Dominican Republic, other countries: Halperin, 320–321.
Morgan’s background: Epstein, Legend, 88, 285–286 n. 2.
Delgado on Morgan and leading expeditions: VIII, 240.
“Do away with Trujillo”: VIII, 241.
Learning Spanish: WR, 687; VIII, 241.
77. Oswald on Cuban purges: VIII, 240, 243, 255.
“Be part of revolutionary movement”: VIII, 241.
Contacted Cuban consulate?: VIII, 241–243.
Oswald on religion, Das Kapital, and Animal Farm: VIII, 262, 244, 255.
77–78. Delgado on Oswald’s marksmanship: VIII, 235.
78. Rifle scores: WR, 681–682; Time, November 24, 1975, 37 (see also I, 233).
Thornley on Oswald: XI, 96, 87, 91–93, 97–98.
79. Extinction without meaning, “no wonder men go into a rage”: Navasky, 426, 422; Becker, 64, 141.
80. “Come the revolution”: XI, 94–95.
CHAPTER 5. THE DEFECTION
81. Commitment to Reserves: WR, 688–689; Epstein, Legend, 89.
Equivalency exam, college application: WR, 687; XVI, 621, 625.
Robert on cover story: Oswald, 99.
82. Oswald’s trips to L.A.: VIII, 241, 251.
Extradition treaties, defection route: VIII, 260–261.
Oswald denies plan to go to Cuba: Epstein, Legend, 89; VIII, 244.
Letter to Robert, Marguerite’s injury: Oswald, 93–94.
Letter to Marguerite: XVI, 581–582.
Marguerite’s affidavits, Lee’s discharge: WR, 688; HACR, 281–282.