Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. THORNLEY. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. It was not a disagreeable task in the sense we are talking
about.
Mr. THORNLEY. Right; and that was never necessary to have to butter
up that I can ever think of to a superior of any kind in order to get
exempted from anything.
Mr. JENNER. Well, do you think Oswald was aware that all he had to be
was more tractable to the customs and practices of the Marine Corps
in which he was then living and he would not be assigned disagreeable
tasks more often than others?
Mr. THORNLEY. Well, that is hard to say. I don't know whether he was
aware of that or not. I am not sure whether he permitted himself to be
aware of it. Maybe he was aware of it and maybe he couldn't help. He
had compulsions to do these things. Maybe he thought it was worth it
and maybe he didn't feel that he was being treated unjustly at all.
Maybe he just wanted everybody to think he felt he was being treated
unjustly, if you follow me.
Mr. JENNER. I do.
Mr. THORNLEY. It could have been any of these things. This--I think it
would take a good psychiatrist to find out which.
Mr. JENNER. You also used the expression that he strove to maintain the
status or milieu in which he had brought himself.
Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I think this was possibly so. I think perhaps the
feeling of being persecuted was necessary to his self-esteem. This is,
I understand, a common thing, and it certainly fits in with everything
else I know about him.
Mr. JENNER. Did you have that impression that you have just expressed
at the time that you were associated with him in the Marines?
Mr. THORNLEY. At the time I was associated with him, I didn't have that
impression because I was too busy wondering just what it was. I used
to--I would see him doing something stupid, maybe a wisecrack to an
officer, for example, and I would say, "Well, doesn't the idiot know
that if he does that he is going to have to do this" and yet he would
resent his punishment.
Mr. JENNER. What would he do afterward?
Mr. THORNLEY. As if it had been thrust upon him for no reason
whatsoever, out of the blue.
Mr. JENNER. Did you have a feeling that he was impulsive in that
respect, in the sense that sometimes he did things?
Mr. THORNLEY. He was definitely impulsive.
Mr. JENNER. That he had no control?
Mr. THORNLEY. Well, I don't know whether he had no control or whether
he would just do things without thinking. I think maybe he just let,
relaxed his controls once in a while, and why, I don't know.
Mr. JENNER. Did you have the feeling he was impulsive?
Mr. THORNLEY. Oh, definitely.
Mr. JENNER. He acted on the spur of the moment?
Mr. THORNLEY. He was spontaneous, very much so. This was--I had this
impression the whole time I knew him.
Mr. JENNER. You did have the impression and I think you have mentioned
it several times, that he had an exaggerated, either mild or otherwise,
self-esteem.
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