LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S
MOTIVE....
JON G. TIDD SAID:
DVP...please be so kind to tell all here why and how, in your opinion, Oswald killed JFK.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Nobody can answer the "WHY?" part of your question, Jon. All we can do is guess. And I think the best guess is that Lee Harvey Oswald probably killed JFK because he felt that by murdering the leader of the United States (i.e., Fidel Castro's bitter enemy in the early 1960s, particularly following the Cuban Missile Crisis), he would be aiding a person he greatly admired (Castro) and a cause he wanted very much to defend (Castro's Cuban Revolution).
But, at the same time, I've often wondered if Oswald himself really knew what his true motive was. And I wonder the same thing about Oswald's motive and mindset when it comes to his attempt on General Edwin Walker's life in April of 1963. But the facts clearly indicate, regardless of the motive(s), that Oswald, who was very politically active in the year 1963, did in fact take shots at both of those political figures (Walker and Kennedy) in nineteen sixty-three in attempts to end both men's lives. And each of those political figures was very much ANTI-Castro and ANTI-Communist in their beliefs, just the opposite of Mr. Oswald's ideology.
As far as the JFK murder, I've said in the past that it's my belief that Oswald simply took advantage of a golden opportunity to do something on a "grand scale" when that perfect opportunity was presented to him on a platter on November 22, 1963.
He realized that with very little effort and preparation on his part, he could easily be in the right place at the right time when JFK passed by the building where he worked. And if conditions were such so that he could secrete himself in a corner of that warehouse known as the School Book Depository without anyone in the building being aware of his presence in that corner, he might have a chance to change history and make up for the fact he was unsuccessful in his earlier attempt in April to kill another political figure. I think it's quite possible that Lee Harvey Oswald was, in effect, daring himself to take those shots at President Kennedy from his sixth-floor sniper's perch that Friday in Dallas.
However, I also think Oswald's mind was very muddled on November 21st, 1963, the day before he took his rifle to work to shoot at the President. I think it's quite clear from Marina Oswald's testimony that Lee very much wanted to make his peace with Marina after the two of them had quarrelled on the telephone earlier in the week (a quarrel brought on by Lee's using another "alias" at his roominghouse, which Marina did not like and thought was silly).
And I think Marina's account of the events at Ruth Paine's house on the night of November 21st indicates that Lee would have likely been happy to go out and search for a new apartment "tomorrow" (the word Marina said Lee used on 11/21/63) had Marina agreed to get back together with Lee right away (he asked her three times to do so on the night of the 21st, but she steadfastly refused, saying she would rather stay with Ruth until "the holidays").
So unless Lee was just putting on a little "act" for Marina's benefit (or to throw people off), it would seem as if Lee Oswald, as of the night of November 21st, had every intention of hunting for lodgings for himself and his family on November 22nd rather than take his rifle to work and shoot the President.
And I doubt he could have been silly enough to think he could have performed BOTH of those tasks on 11/22/63. Lee Oswald was a very strange character with a twisted mind, yes, but I doubt very much that even his warped mind could have possessed the following thoughts in tandem with each other --- I'll shoot at President Kennedy at around noontime; I'll then leave the building and go search for that apartment, just as I promised Marina I would do last night. I doubt I'll be missed at work because of all the commotion that will follow the assassination attempt that I am also planning for tomorrow.
I think Oswald definitely had a MOTIVE--whatever that might have been--for shooting President Kennedy PRIOR to ever visiting Marina on Thursday night, November 21st. (That's obvious to me because of the "curtain rods" lie he told to Buell Wesley Frazier on Thursday morning.) But his plans to shoot at the President were not fixed in stone as of Thursday night--not until after he talked to Marina.
That scenario might sound way too simplistic (and, frankly, crazy) to many conspiracy theorists (especially those who don't think Oswald ever fired a shot at JFK), but it's what I think is the truth nonetheless.
Can I prove any of the above? No, of course I can't. But, conversely, no conspiracist can prove that Lee Oswald had NO MOTIVE at all for wanting to shoot John F. Kennedy either. The "motive" vs. "no motive" argument is endless--and it goes nowhere. The only one who could possibly answer the "What was his motive?" question is Lee Harvey Oswald. And he can't say very much now.
As for the "HOW?" part of your question, Jon -- that's not very difficult....
....Lee Oswald had ready access to a weapon (Carcano Rifle #C2766) that he knew was being stored in Ruth Paine's garage. (Hence, the reason for making up the "bookend" set of "I'm getting curtain rods" lies for Buell Frazier's benefit on both Thursday and Friday.)
....Lee had ample firearms training in the U.S. military, reaching the grade of Sharpshooter in 1956. (But, for some reason, some conspiracy believers think the United States Marine Corps was in the habit of dishing out "Sharpshooter" ratings to Marines who were rotten shooters. Go figure that logic. I can't.)
....Marina testified in her 1978 HSCA session that Lee, on more than one occasion, would take his rifle out to "target practice" in New Orleans during the summer of 1963:
Mr. JAMES McDONALD -- "Did he ever take it out, outside the apartment, to practice with it, to do anything with it?"
Mrs. MARINA OSWALD PORTER -- "Yes, he did."
Mr. McDONALD -- "And what did he do?"
Mrs. PORTER -- "He will, like before it gets very dark outside, he would leave apartment dressed with the dark raincoat, even though it was a hot summer night, pretty hot weather anyway, and he would be wearing this, and he would be hiding the rifle underneath his raincoat. He said he is going to target practice or something like that."
Mr. McDONALD -- "This was one occasion you are talking about with the raincoat?"
Mrs. PORTER -- "It is several occasions, maybe more than once."
Mr. McDONALD -- "He did the same thing on several occasions, put the raincoat on?"
Mrs. PORTER -- "Yes."
Mr. McDONALD -- "And the rifle under the raincoat?"
Mrs. PORTER -- "Yes."
Mr. McDONALD -- "And how long would he be gone?"
Mrs. PORTER -- "A few hours."
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So the conspiracy theorists who continue to insist that there is no evidence or testimony whatsoever to indicate that Lee Oswald ever practiced with his Carcano rifle in the months leading up to the assassination are just flat-out ignoring the above testimony by Marina Oswald, which can be found at
2 HSCA 231.
....Lee Oswald had complete access to all seven floors of the Texas School Book Depository Building on November 22, 1963, including the sixth floor, which is the floor where incriminating evidence against Oswald was found by the police, including the discovery of Lee's very own Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, plus the three spent bullet shells under the window from where witnesses Howard Brennan, Amos Euins, Robert Jackson, and Mal Couch saw a rifle during the time when President Kennedy was being shot.
....Oswald left the Depository Building within just a few minutes of JFK's assassination. Many conspiracists say "So he left--so what?" But his quickly leaving the scene of the Presidential murder, coupled with the fact HIS RIFLE was the murder weapon, plus the additional evidence which indicates--beyond all possible reasonable doubt--that Oswald killed Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit 45 minutes later, all add up to solid circumstantial evidence of his guilt. Such facts certainly don't lead to a determination of TOTAL INNOCENCE, as many conspiracy theorists seem to suggest.
And there are, of course, lots of additional things that point to Oswald's guilt in both the Kennedy and Tippit murders. I outline many of those things here....
David Von Pein
February 8-9, 2015
