Lee Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1939. Oswald was raised by his mother, and as a child he lived in numerous different residences and attended a number of different schools. In October 1956, at age 17, he quit high school to join the Marine Corps. 

While in the Marines, Oswald was trained to shoot. At one point he was designated as a sharpshooter, but was later downgraded to a marksman.


During his time in the Marines, Oswald was court-martialed on at least two separate occasions. On September 11, 1959 he was discharged from active service based upon a hardship as he claimed he needed to care for his mother. However, by October 16, 1959, Oswald had arrived in Moscow, Russia.

Upon arriving in the Soviet Union, Oswald immediately filed an application defect and become a citizen. He then went the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and attempted to renounce his American citizenship. Although his application for citizenship in the U.S.S.R. was denied, he remained in the Soviet Union and obtained a factory job in the town of Minsk. On April 30, 1961, he got married to Marina Prusakova. In June 1962, he returned to U.S. along with his wife and their child, settling down in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

In March 1963, Oswald purchased both an Italian made 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver by mail order, while using a fake name. On April 10th, he attempted to assassinate General Edwin Walker, U.S.

Army while the General was seated at a desk by a window at his Dallas home. The shot hit a window, causing Walker to be injured by fragments. It wasn’t until after President Kennedy was assassinated that authorities determined that Oswald was behind this attempt.

On April 23rd, Oswald returned to New Orleans. While there he made several attempts to infiltrate an anti-Castro organization. At the same time, he was handing out flyers for a pro-Castro group named the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.    

In late September, Oswald went to Mexico City where he attempted to obtain a visa to visit Cuba with the plan to head back to the Soviet Union. Despite numerous attempts, Oswald was unable to obtain a visa from the Cuban government. He then returned to the U.S. and moved to Irving, Texas on October 3rd.

In early October 1963, Oswald obtained employment at the Texas School Book Depository, which is located in Dealey Plaza in the downtown area of Dallas, Texas. Since Oswald did not drive, he resided at a rooming house in Dallas during the week. On the weekends he returned to Irving to be with his wife who was living with a friend named Ruth Paine.  

On at least two occasions in November, FBI agents visited the Paine residence while Oswald was at work. After these visits, Oswald went to the Dallas office of the FBI and left a threatening note for the agent who had visited Paine.

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, as President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade was passing through Dealey Plaza, three shots rang from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.  One shot struck both the President and Governor Connally, another shot missed the President’s limousine altogether, and the final shot was the fatal one that struck the President in the back of the head. Oswald’s 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle was found on the sixth floor near a corner window where witnesses from the ground below claimed to have seen someone with a rifle at the time shots had been fired.

Around 1:00 p.m., Oswald’s housekeeper saw him enter his rooming house only to stay for just a few minutes. Approximately 15 minutes later, Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippitt was murdered, having been shot four times within a mile of the rooming house. A number of witnesses were able to positively identify Oswald as fleeing the scene of the shooting with a revolver in his hand.

Then around 1:40 p.m., an individual who was later identified as Oswald was observed sneaking into Texas Theatre without buying a ticket. After a minor scuffle, Oswald was arrested by the Dallas Police Department and charged with the murder of Officer J.D. Tippitt. Not long thereafter, he was also charged with the assassination of President Kennedy.

While being questioned, Oswald consistently proclaimed his innocence in the shooting deaths of both the President and Officer Tippitt, claiming that he didn’t shoot anyone and that he was being made a patsy.

On November 24th, Oswald was fatally wounded by Jack Ruby while being escorted from the Dallas Police Department to an armored car for transfer to the county jail.  Ruby allegedly shot Oswald to save Mrs. Kennedy from having to return to Dallas to relive the assassination.