Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. KennedyUnited States. Warren Commission
History
Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Finding no evidence in the circumstances immediately surrounding
the assassination that any person other than Lee Harvey Oswald was
involved in the killing of the President, the Commission directed an
intensive investigation into his life for the purpose, among others,
of detecting any possible traces that at some point he became involved
in a conspiracy culminating in the deed of November 22, 1963. As a
product of this investigation, the Commission has compiled a detailed
chronological biography of Oswald which is set forth as appendix XIII.
Study of the period from Oswald’s birth in 1939 to his military service
from 1956 to 1959 has revealed no evidence that he was associated with
any type of sinister or subversive organization during that period.
Though his personality and political views took shape during these
early years, the events of that period are significant primarily to an
understanding of the personality of Lee Harvey Oswald and are discussed
in that connection in chapter VII. Beginning with his preparation for
defection to the Soviet Union in 1959, however, Oswald engaged in
several activities which required close scrutiny by the Commission.
In an appraisal of Oswald’s actions since 1959 for the purpose of
determining whether he was part of a conspiracy, several aspects of
his background and character must be borne in mind. He was young,
inexperienced, and had only a limited education. As will be more fully
discussed in chapter VII, he was unable to establish relationships
with others and had a resentment for authority and any discipline
flowing from it. While he demonstrated the ability to act secretively
and alone, without regard to the consequences to himself, as in his
defection to the Soviet Union, he does not appear to have been the
kind of person whom one would normally expect to be selected as a
conspirator.
Residence in the Soviet Union
Lee Harvey Oswald was openly committed to Marxist ideology, he defected
to the Soviet Union in 1959, and resided there until June of 1962,
eventually returning to the United States with a Russian wife. In
order to evaluate rumors and speculations[C6-96] that Oswald may have
been an agent of the Soviet Union, the Commission investigated the
facts surrounding Oswald’s stay in Russia. The Commission was thus
fulfilling its obligation to probe all facts of possible relevance to
the assassination, and does not suggest by this investigation that the
rulers of the Soviet Union believed that their political interests
would be advanced by the assassination of President Kennedy. On this
question, the Secretary of State testified before the Commission on
June 10, 1964 as follows:
I have seen no evidence that would indicate to me that the
Soviet Union considered that it had an interest in the removal
of President Kennedy or that it was in any way involved in the
removal of President Kennedy.
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