Qualla: Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. On the morning of November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald rode to work with his co-worker Wesley Frazier, carrying a long paper package he said contained curtain rods. He left behind, at his wife Marina's temporary home in Irving, Texas, $170 in cash and his wedding ring. By 12:30 that afternoon, three rifle shots from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository had killed President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza. Forty-five minutes later, Oswald shot and killed Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit on a residential street. Within the hour, he was arrested in the Texas Theatre after trying to shoot another officer. Two days later, Oswald himself was dead, shot on live television by nightclub owner Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters. He was 24 years old.

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Lee Harvey Oswald: A Restless Life

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain. Oswald was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1939, two months after his father died of a heart attack. His early life was defined by instability: 21 moves and 12 different schools before he dropped out at 17 to join the Marines. A juvenile reformatory psychiatrist in New York de...

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Image: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration | Public domain

Lee Harvey Oswald: From Minsk to Dallas

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Weatherdrew at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. In October 1959, just before turning 20, Oswald defected to the Soviet Union with $1,500 saved from his Marine Corps salary. When his citizenship application was refused and he was told to leave, he slashed his wrist in his hotel bathtub. The Soviets relented and sent him to Mins...

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Image: The original uploader was Weatherdrew at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lee Harvey Oswald: Twelve-Thirty in Dealey Plaza

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain. The presidential motorcade route, published in local newspapers days before Kennedy's visit, passed directly beneath Oswald's workplace. As Kennedy's open-top limousine moved through Dealey Plaza at approximately 12:30 p.m. on November 22, Oswald fired three shots from the southe...

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Image: Federal Bureau of Investigation | Public domain

Lee Harvey Oswald: The Final Forty-Eight Hours

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. By 1:00 p.m., Oswald had taken a bus, then a taxi, back to his rooming house at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, where he retrieved a jacket and a .38 caliber revolver. At approximately 1:15 p.m., Dallas patrolman J. D. Tippit pulled alongside Oswald, who matched the broadcast descript...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Lee Harvey Oswald: What Remains

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dallas Police Department, Public domain. The Warren Commission concluded in 1964 that Oswald acted alone, a finding supported by the FBI, Secret Service, and Dallas Police Department. The House Select Committee on Assassinations largely concurred in 1979, though late-introduced acoustic evidence briefly suggested a poss...

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Image: Dallas Police Department | Public domain