Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Japan Incidents and Court-Martial Disciplinary Actions

In Japan, Oswald’s newfound self-confidence and pugnaciousness led to an incident in which he spilled a drink on one of his sergeants and abusively challenged him to fight. At the resulting court-martial, Oswald testified he had been drunk, felt the sergeant had a grudge against him, had unsuccessfully sought a transfer from the sergeant’s unit, and had only wanted to discuss the matter with the sergeant, spilling the drink accidentally. The hearing officer accepted the latter claim but found Oswald guilty of wrongfully using provoking words and sentenced him to 28 days, canceling the suspension of a 20-day sentence from an earlier court-martial for possessing an unauthorized pistol with which he had accidentally shot himself.

Transfer to Reserve, Discharge After Defection, and Appeal Efforts

At his own request, Oswald was transferred from active duty to the Marine Corps Reserve under honorable conditions in September 1959, three months before his regularly scheduled separation date, ostensibly to care for his mother who had been injured in an accident at her work. After it was learned that he had defected to the Soviet Union, he was given an undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps Reserve, where he had been assigned on inactive status following his active-duty transfer. In an attempt to reverse this discharge, Oswald wrote to then-Secretary of the Navy Connally on January 30, 1962, stating that he would employ all means to right this gross mistake or injustice.

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII examines Lee Harvey Oswald’s grievances related to his military discharge, his adoption of Marxist ideology, motivations for defecting to the Soviet Union, and associated actions including a suicide attempt and renunciation of U.S. citizenship.

Oswald’s Discharge Grievances and Target Analysis

Analysis of Oswald’s undesirable military discharge finds he knew neither President Kennedy nor Governor Connally were directly responsible for his discharge, and he never expressed hostility toward either man prior to the assassination. Marina Oswald testified Lee never spoke ill of Kennedy, and while in the Soviet Union he spoke positively of Connally, even stating he would vote for him for Governor when he returned to the U.S. Oswald remained concerned about his discharge, which he felt was unjust as it was not tied to his active duty conduct and he received no notice of the original proceedings due to his unknown whereabouts; he petitioned the Navy Discharge Review Board, which declined to modify the discharge in a July 25, 1963 letter. While the Commission considered whether Connally was Oswald’s target due to the indirect connection to his discharge, analysis shows it would have been nearly impossible for Oswald to hit Connally without first hitting the President, and Oswald had far more favorable opportunities to target Connally on other occasions. It is therefore concluded that any motivation from the discharge was general hostility toward the U.S. government and its representatives, not a grudge against a specific individual.

Interest in Marxism

Oswald first developed an interest in Communist ideology after moving with his mother from New York to New Orleans, where he began reading Communist literature. He told a reporter he became interested in Marxism around age 15 after receiving a pamphlet about the Rosenbergs, marking the start of his ideological engagement.

Oswald’s Adoption of Marxism

Oswald fully adopted Marxist beliefs after joining the Marines, and his pro-Soviet sympathies became widely known in his unit: associates called him “comrade” or “Oswaldskovitch,” he consistently chose red chess pieces citing a preference for the “Red Army,” studied Russian, read Russian-language newspapers, and followed developments in the Soviet Union. Associate Jerome Thornley testified Oswald held an “irrevocable conviction” in the correctness of his Marxist beliefs that could not be shaken by years of formal argument. This conviction was demonstrated in an incident after Thornley read Oswald’s suggested copy of George Orwell’s 1984: when Thornley joked that a revolution would fix the stupid mandatory parade requirement, Oswald screamed “Not you, too, Thornley” in visible distress, interpreting the comment as a criticism of his political views, and the two never spoke again.