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

Educational Testing and Schweitzer College Application

At the end of January 1959 and at the end of July, Oswald received semiannual ratings of 4.0 in conduct both times, with proficiency scores of 4.0 and 4.2. The July ratings were repeated in September when he was transferred from MACS-9. On March 9, he was promoted to private first class (for the second time), effective March 1. He took GED tests on March 23, receiving an overall “satisfactory” rating, with best scores in English composition and physical sciences (76th and 79th percentiles) and his worst in English literature (34th percentile). In the spring, Oswald applied to Albert Schweitzer College in Churwalden, Switzerland, for the spring 1960 term, with the application dated March 19. He claimed Russian proficiency equal to one year of schooling, completion of high school by correspondence with an average of 85 percent, and listed interests in philosophy, psychology, ideology, football, baseball, tennis, stamp-collecting, and writing short stories on contemporary American life. He cited Jack London, Charles Darwin, and Norman Vincent Peale as favorite authors, and claimed membership in the YMCA and the “A.Y.H. Association.” In his statement of reasons for attending, he wrote of acquiring a fuller understanding of philosophy, meeting Europeans, receiving formal education, and broadening his knowledge of German. The college approved his application, and he enclosed a $25 registration fee in a June 19 letter. Few other marines knew of the application, though he told Delgado he planned to attend a Swiss school to study psychology.

Dependency Discharge and Release from Active Duty

Oswald was obligated to serve on active duty until December 7, 1959 (adjusted to compensate for his confinement). On August 17, he submitted a request for a dependency discharge, asserting that his mother needed his support. The request included affidavits from his mother, an attorney, a doctor, and two friends, attesting that she had been injured at work in December 1958 and could not support herself. Oswald had previously made a voluntary allotment of part of his salary to his mother ($40 in August) and submitted a “Q” allotment application for $91.30, with one payment made in September. On August 28, the Wing Hardship or Dependency Discharge Board recommended approval, and on September 4, he was transferred from MACS-9 to the H. & H. Squadron. On September 11, he was released from active duty and transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve, in which he was expected to serve until December 8, 1962, with assignment to the Marine Air Reserve Training Command at the Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois.

Transfer to Marine Corps Reserve

Oswald was released from active duty on September 11 and transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve, in which he was expected to serve until December 8, 1962. He was assigned to the Marine Air Reserve Training Command at the Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois.

Undesirable Discharge from Marine Corps Reserve

Almost exactly one year later, on September 13, 1960, Oswald was given an “undesirable discharge” from the Marine Corps Reserve, based on reliable information that he had renounced his U.S. citizenship with the intention of becoming a permanent citizen of the Soviet Union, and that he had brought discredit to the Marine Corps through adverse newspaper publicity generated by this action, proving himself unfit for retention in the naval service.

Post-Discharge Passport Application

On September 4, the same day he was transferred out of MACS-9 in preparation for his discharge, Oswald applied for a passport at the Superior Court of Santa Ana, California. His application stated that he planned to leave the United States on September 21 to attend the Albert Schweitzer College and the University of Turku in Finland, and to travel in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, England, France, Germany, and Russia. The passport was routinely issued six days later.

CAPÍTULO II. With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the

This chapter traces Lee Harvey Oswald’s journey from his discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps through his defection to the Soviet Union in late 1959. After returning briefly to Fort Worth, Texas, Oswald traveled to New Orleans where he booked passage on a European freighter, the SS Marion Lykes, bound for Le Havre, France. After brief stops in England and Helsinki—where he obtained a Soviet visa—he traveled by train to Moscow, arriving on October 16, 1959. Almost immediately upon arrival, he announced his intention to defect and applied for Soviet citizenship. When Soviet officials informed him that his visa had expired and that he must leave Moscow, Oswald attempted suicide by cutting his wrist and was hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of Botkinskaya Hospital. After his release, he was interviewed again by Soviet authorities, and ultimately visited the American Embassy in Moscow to declare his intention to renounce his U.S. citizenship. The chapter concludes with his formal written request to the Embassy to revoke his citizenship and a period of isolation during which he refused contact with his family and American officials.