Investigation of Oswald’s post office box and alias usage
This section investigates Oswald’s use of post office boxes and aliases after his return from the Soviet Union, to assess if he used these tools for clandestine contact with potential assassination co-conspirators. It notes Oswald opened three post office boxes between 1962 and 1963: a Dallas box opened October 9, 1962 (closed May 1963, used to receive the assassination rifle and Smith & Wesson revolver under the alias A. Hidell), a New Orleans box opened June 3, 1963 (closed September 1963, listed Marina Oswald and A.J. Hidell as authorized recipients), and a Dallas Terminal Annex box opened November 1, 1963 (listed the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and American Civil Liberties Union as authorized recipients). Investigation found no evidence any box was used for surreptitious messages or accessed by anyone other than Oswald or his family: the box active on the day of the assassination was under constant surveillance from 5 p.m. November 22 to midnight November 24, and contained only a Russian magazine addressed to Oswald. Oswald rented all boxes using his real name, provided box numbers to family, employers, and government agencies, and his use of boxes was consistent with his frequent address changes and receipt of political literature. The Commission attached no conspiratorial significance to his post office box use. The section also covers Oswald’s well-documented use of the alias A.J. Hidell (and variants) for purposes including listing a fake Fair Play for Cuba Committee president, a fake doctor on a counterfeit vaccination certificate, and job references, with no evidence he used the alias for undercover contact with others.
Findings on Oswald’s counterfeit identification documents
This section details findings on the counterfeit identification documents Oswald produced using his A.J. Hidell alias, including a counterfeit selective service card and international certificate of vaccination. Treasury Department questioned document expert Alwyn Cole testified the false ID could be produced using elementary photographic printing techniques, equipment that was available to Oswald during his 1962 to early 1963 employment at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, a Dallas commercial advertising photography firm where he learned the skills needed for photographic enlargement, contraction, and image distortion. The counterfeit ID exhibited limited skill and multiple detectable errors, consistent with Oswald’s known poor performance with precise photographic work that led to his dismissal from the firm. Retouched negatives used to make the counterfeit selective service card and a rubber stamping kit used for the fake vaccination certificate were found among Oswald’s personal effects. The Commission concluded there is strong evidence Oswald produced all counterfeit identification himself, with no assistance from other people.
CAPÍTULO VIII. She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367]
Chapter VIII (chapter 20), titled “She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367]”, evaluates claims related to Lee Harvey Oswald’s firearm activities, alias usage, and alleged rifle practice sightings in the weeks before the assassination of President Kennedy, alongside assessments of the credibility of supporting witness testimony.
Oswald’s Alias Usage
Oswald used multiple aliases beyond the “Hidell” pseudonym he used for firearm purchases. These include “Lee” (used on his Mexico City tourist card and bus reservation, likely stemming from a clerical error where a clerk misread his printed name “Lee H. Oswald” as a last name), “O. H. Lee” (used when registering at a mid-October 1963 Irving roominghouse), “Osborne” (used to order Fair Play for Cuba Committee handbills in May 1963), “D. F. Drittal” (used as a certifying witness on his Smith & Wesson revolver mail-order coupon), and “Lt. J. Evans” (used as a reference on a New Orleans employment application). While his repeated use of false names aligns with his antisocial and criminal tendencies (including hiding his firearm ownership via the Hidell alias), the Commission found no evidence linking his alias use to a broader conspiracy with other parties.
Second Rifle Ownership
The Commission investigated a claim that Oswald had a telescopic sight mounted and boresighted on a second rifle at the Irving Sports Shop in Irving, Texas in the first two weeks of November 1963, with the only supporting evidence being an undated repair tag bearing the name “Oswald” provided by shop employee Dial D. Ryder. The claim is highly dubious: Ryder never brought the tag to his employer’s attention until after the assassination, could not confirm the transaction occurred, could not identify Oswald in a photograph as someone he had seen in person, gave inconsistent statements about when he found the tag and his interactions with reporters, and the unnamed source cited by anonymous tipsters to direct the FBI to the shop could not be verified. Neither Ryder nor his employer recalled working on Oswald’s known Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, and no other person named Oswald in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was found to have had a rifle repaired at the shop.
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