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

Chapter VIII. She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367] (Part 6 of 6)

The Commission’s evaluation of Jack Ruby’s pre-assassination activities and background yielded no evidence of conspiracy. While Ruby had expressed genuine shock and grief following the President’s death, his behavior on November 22 to 24 revealed nothing suggesting involvement in a plot. His obsession with the Warren sign and Weissman advertisement was openly expressed, and his friendship with handyman Larry Crafard, who departed Dallas suddenly on November 23, appeared innocent: Crafard had been considering leaving for some time. Wanda Helmick’s allegations about telephone calls suggesting conspiracy were undermined by her failure to report the information until June 1964, the lack of corroboration, and the denials of both Ruby and Ralph Paul. Investigation found no evidence that Ruby and Oswald were acquainted. Reports of prior meetings at the Carousel Club came from witnesses of dubious reliability, including Robert K. Patterson, who likely saw Crafard, William D. Crowe, whose memory act was unreliable, and Wilbryn Litchfield, a twice-convicted forger. Ruby and Oswald lived only a mile apart in Oak Cliff, but their daily schedules, transportation patterns, and social circles never intersected in any documented way. Examination of Ruby’s background revealed no ties to subversive activities, organized crime, or political organizations. Allegations linking Ruby to Communist activities in Muncie, Indiana, were unsupported; the witness’s accounts conflicted with Ruby’s military records. Ruby was not connected to ultraconservative causes despite possessing H.L. Hunt radio scripts obtained at a food show. He had no known connections to Officer J.D. Tippit or Bernard Weissman, and the alleged Carousel Club meeting between them was unsubstantiated. Investigation of possible Cuban connections uncovered only a 1959 jeep-sale inquiry and a 1959 trip to Havana with gambler Lewis J. McWillie, neither suggesting conspiracy. Examination of roommate George Senator revealed no involvement; Senator cooperated fully with investigators, his reaction to the shooting appeared genuinely surprised, and he voluntarily submitted to police questioning. The Commission concluded that Ruby acted independently in shooting Oswald, and that the slaying bore no conspiratorial relationship to the assassination of President Kennedy. Senior officials including Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, FBI Director Hoover, CIA Director McCone, and Secret Service Chief James J. Rowley independently reached the same conclusion. As part of its broader inquiry, the Commission examined Oswald’s use of post office boxes and known aliases. Both Oswald and Ruby maintained post office boxes at the terminal annex of the U.S. post office in Dallas, but the Commission found no indication that this coincidence was more than incidental. On November 1, 1963, Oswald rented box No. 6225, his third such box since October 1962, while Ruby rented box No. 5475 on November 7, 1963, in connection with his promotion of the twistboard exercise device. Their different daily schedules and Oswald’s withdrawn personality rendered even the chance encounter at the post office unlikely. Investigators from the FBI and IRS conducted thorough searches for any records associated with Oswald’s name, his known aliases, or members of his immediate family at banks, telegraph companies, and other financial institutions. A photograph of Oswald was exhibited to bank officials in safe deposit box areas, but no bank account or safe deposit box was identified with Oswald during this period, although evidence was developed of a bank account he had used prior to his 1959 trip to the Soviet Union. Telegraph companies, at the request of Federal investigators, conducted complete searches of their records in Dallas and other cities for money orders payable to Lee Harvey Oswald or his known aliases, and for telegrams sent by Oswald or his known aliases; no such records were located.

CHAPTER VII (Part 1 of 3)

The evidence identifying Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin of President Kennedy and indicating he acted alone raised the question of what motive might have driven him. The Commission considered possibilities including commitment to Marxism, personal grievances, desire to effect social change, or aspirations to historical notoriety, but found that none of these explanations fully accounts for his act when judged by ordinary standards. However, Oswald’s character and state of mind may have rendered comprehensible what otherwise appears incomprehensible. Since Oswald is dead, the Commission could not reach definitive conclusions about his legal sanity, though his writings and life history provided insight into his character. Study of Oswald’s life revealed a man profoundly alienated from his world, characterized by isolation, frustration, and failure. He resented the capitalist system when in America, preferred the Soviet Union, and spoke well of Cuba; when in Russia, he resented Communist Party privileges and spoke well of the United States. His wife Marina observed that he would not have been happy anywhere, “Only on the moon, perhaps.” While appearing meek to most observers, Oswald sometimes imagined himself as “the Commander” or compared himself with great historical leaders, predicting he might become prime minister in 20 years. His hostility toward his environment expressed itself in striking acts long before the assassination: defection to Russia, the shooting at General Walker, the attempt to reach Cuba, and even the contemplation of airplane hijacking. He began reading about communism around age 15, evidenced strong Marxist convictions in the Marines, and sometimes stated he was a Communist without ever joining the party. His commitment to Marxism was partly an expression of hostility to his environment and contributed to decisions to defect to Russia, support the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and attempt to go to Cuba. Oswald’s character was shaped significantly by the death of his father two months before his birth in New Orleans on October 18, 1939. The family’s financial struggles forced his mother Marguerite to work and place her sons in an orphans’ home. Lee’s brief attachment to stepfather Edwin Ekdahl ended with the divorce in 1948. Lee proved an introverted, awkward child in New Orleans, refused to play with other children, and showed an early inability to form close relationships. When the family moved to New York in August 1952, Lee’s adjustment deteriorated sharply. He was teased for his western clothes and Texas accent, began staying away from school, and was remanded to Youth House for psychiatric observation from April 16 to May 7, 1953. Chief Psychiatrist Dr. Renatus Hartogs diagnosed him with “personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and passive-aggressive tendencies,” describing an emotionally disturbed youngster suffering from isolation, deprivation, and rejection by a self-involved mother. Social worker Evelyn Strickman Siegel described him as “seriously detached, withdrawn,” noting his “vivid fantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power.” Despite an IQ of 118, Oswald continued his solitary, defiant pattern upon return to New Orleans, reading Communist literature from the public library, expressing admiration for Khrushchev, and attempting to join the Marines at 16. In the Marines, Oswald’s difficulty in forming relationships continued. He did not rise above Private First Class despite passing a corporal’s examination, baited officers with arguments about foreign affairs, and exhibited a persecution complex. Fellow Marine Kerry Thornley described Oswald’s “irrevocable” Marxist conviction and his concern with his image in history, “the eyes of future people as some kind of tribunal.” Oswald’s defection to the Soviet Union in September 1959, at age 19, was the most striking indication yet of his willingness to act on his beliefs in extraordinary ways.