MikhailT/lj-speech huggingface dataset:
Dr. Hartogs recommended that Oswald be placed on probation on condition that he seek help and guidance through a child guidance clinic.
There, he suggested, Lee should be treated by a male psychiatrist who could substitute for the lack of a father figure.
He also recommended that Mrs. Oswald seek, quote, psychotherapeutic guidance through contact with a family agency, end quote.
The possibility of commitment was to be considered only if the probation plan was not successful.
Lee's withdrawal was also noted by Mrs. Siegel, who described him as a, quote, seriously detached, withdrawn youngster, end quote.
She also noted that there was, quote, a rather pleasant, appealing quality about this emotionally starved, affectionless youngster
which grows as one speaks to him, end quote.
She thought that he had detached himself from the world around him because, quote, no one in it ever met any of his needs for love, end quote.
She observed that since Lee's mother worked all day, he made his own meals and spent all his time alone
because he didn't make friends with the boys in the neighborhood. She thought that he, quote, withdrew into a completely solitary and detached existence
where he did as he wanted and he didn't have to live by any rules or come into contact with people, end quote.
Mrs. Siegel concluded that Lee, quote, just felt that his mother never gave a damn for him.
He always felt like a burden that she simply just had to tolerate, end quote.
Lee confirmed some of those observations by saying that he felt almost as if there were a veil between him and other people
through which they could not reach him, but that he preferred the veil to remain intact.
He admitted to fantasies about being powerful and sometimes hurting and killing people, but refused to elaborate on them.
He took the position that such matters were his own business.
A psychological human figure-drawing test corroborated the interviewer's findings that Lee was insecure and had limited social contacts.
Irving Sokolow, a Youth House psychologist reported that, quote,
The Human Figure Drawings are empty, poor characterizations of persons approximately the same age as the subject.
They reflect a considerable amount of impoverishment in the social and emotional areas.
He appears to be a somewhat insecure youngster exhibiting much inclination for warm and satisfying relationships to others.
There is some indication that he may relate to men more easily than to women in view of the more mature conceptualisation.
He appears slightly withdrawn and in view of the lack of detail within the drawings this may assume a more significant characteristic.
He exhibits some difficulty in relationship to the maternal figure suggesting more anxiety in this area than in any other.
Lee scored an IQ of 118 on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.
According to Sokolow, this indicated a, quote, present intellectual functioning in the upper range of bright normal intelligence, end quote.
Sokolow said that although Lee was, quote, presumably disinterested in school subjects he operates on a much higher than average level, end quote.
On the Monroe Silent Reading Test, Lee's score indicated no retardation in reading speed and comprehension;
he had better than average ability in arithmetical reasoning for his age group.
Lee told Carro, his probation officer, that he liked to be by himself because he had too much difficulty in making friends.
The reports of Carro and Mrs. Siegel also indicate an ambivalent attitude toward authority on Oswald's part.
Carro reported that Lee was disruptive in class after he returned to school on a regular basis in the fall of 1953.
He had refused to salute the flag and was doing very little, if any, work.
It appears that he did not want to do any of the things which the authorities suggested in their efforts to bring him out of the shell
into which he appeared to be retreating.
He told Mrs. Siegel that he would run away if sent to a boarding school.
On the other hand he also told her that he wished his mother had been more firm with him in her attempts to get him to return to school.
The reports of the New York authorities indicate that Lee's mother gave him very little affection and did not serve as any sort of substitute for a father.
Furthermore she did not appear to understand her own relationship to Lee's psychological problems.
After her interview with Mrs. Oswald,
Mrs. Siegel described her as a smartly dressed, gray haired woman, very self-possessed and alert and superficially affable,
but essentially a, quote, defensive, rigid, self-involved person
who had real difficulty in accepting and relating to people, end quote, and who had, quote, little understanding, end quote, of Lee's behavior
and of the, quote, protective shell he has drawn around himself, end quote. Dr. Hartogs reported that Mrs. Oswald did not understand
that Lee's withdrawal was a form of, quote, violent but silent protest against his neglect by her
and represents his reaction to a complete absence of any real family life, end quote.
Carro reported that when questioned about his mother Lee said, quote,
well I've got to live with her. I guess I love her, end quote.
It may also be significant that, as reported by John Pic, quote, Lee slept with my mother until I joined the service in 1950.
This would make him approximately 10, well, almost 11 years old. End quote.
The factors in Lee Oswald's personality which were noted by those who had contact with him in New York indicate
that he had great difficulty in adapting himself to conditions in that city.
His usual reaction to the problems which he encountered there was simply withdrawal.
Those factors indicated a severe inability to enter into relationships with other people.
In view of his experiences when he visited his relatives in New Orleans in the spring of 1950, and his other solitary habits,
Lee had apparently been experiencing similar problems before going to New York,
and as will be shown below, this failure to adapt to his environment was a dominant trait in his later life.
It would be incorrect, however, to believe that those aspects of Lee's personality which were observed in New York
could have led anyone to predict the outburst of violence which finally occurred.
Carro was the only one of Oswald's three principal observers who recommended that he be placed in a boy's home or similar institution.
But Carro was quite specific that his recommendation was based primarily on the adverse factors in Lee's environment
his lack of friends, the apparent unavailability of any agency assistance and the ineffectualness of his mother
and not on any particular mental disturbance, in the boy himself.
Carro testified that, quote, There was nothing that would lead me to believe when I saw him at the age of 12 that them would be seeds of destruction for somebody.
I couldn't in all honesty sincerely say such a thing.
Mrs. Siegel concluded her report with the statement that, quote,
Despite his withdrawal, he gives the impression that he is not so difficult to reach as he appears and patient, prolonged effort
in a sustained relationship with one therapist might bring results.
There are indications that he has suffered serious personality damage but if he can receive help quickly this might be repaired to some extent, end quote.
Lee Oswald never received that help.
Few social agencies even in New York were equipped to provide the kind of intensive treatment that he needed,
and when one of the city's clinics did find room to handle him,
for some reason the record does not show, advantage was never taken of the chance afforded to Oswald.
When Lee became a disciplinary problem upon his return to school in the fall of 1953,
and when his mother failed to cooperate in any way with school authorities,
authorities were finally forced to consider placement in a home for boys.
Such a placement was postponed, however, perhaps in part at least because Lee's behavior suddenly improved.
Before the court took any action, the Oswalds left New York in January of 1954,
and returned to New Orleans where Lee finished the ninth grade before he left school to work for a year.
Chapter 7. Lee Harvey Oswald: Background and Possible Motives, Part 2.
Return to New Orleans and Joining the Marine Corps
After his return to New Orleans Oswald was teased at school because of the northern accent which he had acquired.
He concluded that school had nothing to offer him.
His mother exercised little control over him and thought he could decide for himself whether to go on in school.
Neighbors and others who knew him at that time recall an introverted boy who read a great deal.
He took walks and visited museums, and sometimes rode a rented bicycle in the park on Saturday mornings.
Mrs. Murret believes that he talked at length with a girl on the telephone, but no one remembers that he had any dates.
A friend, Edward Voebel, testified that, quote, he was more bashful about girls than anything else, end quote.
Several witnesses testified that Lee Oswald was not aggressive. He was, however, involved in some fights.
Once a group of white boys beat him up for sitting in the Negro section of a bus, which he apparently did simply out of ignorance.
Another time, he fought with two brothers who claimed that he had picked on the younger of them, 3 years Oswald's junior.
Two days later, quote, some big guy, probably from a high school -- he looked like a tremendous football player, end quote,
accosted Oswald on the way home from school and punched him in the mouth, making his lip bleed and loosening a tooth.
Voebel took Oswald back to the school to attend to his wounds, and their, quote, mild friendship, end quote, stemmed from that incident.
Voebel also recalled that Oswald once outlined a plan to cut the glass in the window of a store on Rampart Street and steal a pistol,
but he was not sure then that Oswald meant to carry out the plan, and in fact they never did.
Voebel said that Oswald, quote, wouldn't start any fights, but if you wanted to start one with him, he was going to make sure that he ended it,
or you were going to really have one, because he wasn't going to take anything from anybody, end quote.
In a space for the names of, quote, close friends, end quote, on the ninth grade personal history record,
and, quote, Arthor Abear, end quote, most likely Arthur Hebert, a classmate who has said that he did not know Oswald well.
Oswald erased those names, however, and indicated that he had no close friends.
It has been suggested that this misspelling of names, apparently on a phonetic basis, was caused by a reading-spelling disability
from which Oswald appeared to suffer.
Other evidence of the existence of such a disability is provided by the many other misspellings that appear in Oswald's writings, portions of which are quoted below.
Sometime during this period, and under circumstances to be discussed more fully below,
Oswald started to read Communist literature, which he obtained from the public library.
One of his fellow employees, Palmer McBride, stated that Oswald said he would like to kill President Eisenhower because he was exploiting the working class.
Oswald praised Khrushchev and suggested that he and McBride join the Communist Party, quote, to take advantage of their social functions, end quote.
Oswald also became interested in the New Orleans Amateur Astronomy Association, an organization of high school students.
The association's then president, William E. Wulf, testified that he remembered an occasion when Oswald, quote,
started expounding the Communist doctrine and saying that he was highly interested in communism, that communism was the only way of life for the worker, et cetera,
and then came out with a statement that he was looking for a Communist cell in town to join but he couldn't find any.
He was a little dismayed at this, and he said that he couldn't find any that would show any interest in him as a Communist,
and subsequently, after this conversation, my father came in and we were kind of arguing back and forth about the situation, and my father came in the room,
heard what we were arguing on communism, and that this boy was loud-mouthed, boisterous, and my father asked him to leave the house and politely put him out of the house,
and that is the last I have seen or spoken with Oswald. End quote.
Despite this apparent interest in communism, Oswald tried to join the Marines when he was 16 years old.
This was 1 year before his actual enlistment and just a little over 2.5 years after he left New York.
He wrote a note in his mother's name to school authorities in New Orleans saying that he was leaving school because he and his mother were moving to San Diego.
In fact, he had quit school in an attempt to obtain his mother's assistance to join the Marines.
While he apparently was able to induce his mother to make a false statement about his age
he was nevertheless unable to convince the proper authorities that he was really 17 years old.
There is evidence that Oswald was greatly influenced in his decision to join the Marines by the fact that his brother Robert had done so
approximately 3 years before. Robert Oswald had given his Marine Corps manual to his brother Lee,
who studied it during the year following his unsuccessful attempt to enlist until, quote, He knew it by heart, end quote.
According to Marguerite Oswald, quote, Lee lived for the time that he would become 17 years old to join the Marines -- that whole year, end quote.
In John Pic's view,
Oswald was motivated to join the Marines in large part by a desire, quote, to get from out and under the yoke of oppression from my mother, end quote.
Oswald's inability or lack of desire to enter into meaningful relationships with other people
continued during this period in New Orleans (1954 to 1956).
It probably contributed greatly to the general dissatisfaction which he exhibited with his environment,
a dissatisfaction which seemed to find expression at this particular point
in his intense desire to join the Marines and get away from his surroundings and his mother.
His study of Communist literature,
which might appear to be inconsistent with his desire to join the Marines, could have been another manifestation of Oswald's rejection of his environment.
His difficulty in relating to other people and his general dissatisfaction with the world around him continued while he was in the Marine Corps.
Kerry Thornley, a marine associate,
who, shortly after Oswald's defection, wrote an as yet unpublished novel based in considerable part on Oswald's life,
testified that, quote, definitely the Marine Corps was not what he had expected it to be when he joined, end quote,
He said that Oswald, quote, seemed to guard against developing real close friendships, end quote,
Daniel Powers, another marine who was stationed with Oswald for part of his marine career,
testified that Oswald seemed, quote, always to be striving for a relationship, but whenever he did
his general personality would alienate the group against him, end quote.
Other marines also testified that Oswald had few friends and kept very much to himself.
While there is nothing in Oswald's military records to indicate that he was mentally unstable or otherwise psychologically unfit for duty in the Marine Corps,
he did not adjust well to conditions which he found in that service.
He did not rise above the rank of private first class, even though he had passed a qualifying examination for the rank of corporal.
His Marine career was not helped by his attitude
that he was a man of great ability and intelligence and that many of his superiors in the Marine Corps were not sufficiently competent to give him orders.
While Oswald did not seem to object to authority in the abstract, he did think that he should be the one to exercise it.
John E. Donovan, one of his former officers, testified that Oswald thought, quote,
that authority, particularly the Marine Corps, ought to be able to recognize talent such as his own, without a given magic college degree,
and put them in positions of prominence, end quote. Oswald manifested this feeling about authority by baiting his officers.
He led them into discussions of foreign affairs about which they often knew less than he did, since he had apparently devoted considerable time to a study of such matters.
When the officers were unable to discuss foreign affairs satisfactorily with him, Oswald regarded them as unfit to exercise command over him.
Nelson Delgado, one of Oswald's fellow Marines, testified that Oswald tried to, quote, cut up anybody that was high ranking, end quote,
in those arguments, quote, and make himself come out top dog, end quote.
Oswald probably engaged his superiors in arguments on a subject that he had studied
in an attempt to attract attention to himself and to support his exaggerated idea of his own abilities.
Thornley also testified that he thought that Oswald's extreme personal sloppiness in the Marine Corps, quote,
fitted into a general personality pattern of his: to do whatever was not wanted of him, a recalcitrant trend in his personality, end quote,
Oswald, quote, seemed to be a person who would go out of his way to get into trouble, end quote,
and then used the, quote, special treatment, end quote, he received as an example of the way in which he was being picked on and, quote,
as a means of getting or attempting to get sympathy, end quote. In Thornley's view, Oswald labored under a persecution complex
which he strove to maintain and, quote, felt the Marine Corps kept a pretty close watch on him because of his subversive activities, end quote.
Thornley added, quote, I think it was kind of necessary to him to believe that he was being picked on.
It wasn't anything extreme. I wouldn't go as far as to call it, call him a paranoid, but a definite tendency there was in that direction, I think, end quote.
Powers considered Oswald to be meek and easily led
an, quote, individual that you would brainwash, and quite easy, but I think once he believed in something, he stood in his beliefs, end quote.
Powers also testified that Oswald was reserved and seemed to be, quote, somewhat the frail, little puppy in the litter, end quote.
He had the nickname, quote, Ozzie Rabbit, end quote.
Oswald read a good deal, said Powers, but, quote, he would never be reading any of the shoot-em-up westerns or anything like that.
Normally, it would be a good type of literature; and the one that I recall was "Leaves of Grass," by Walt Whitman, end quote.
According to Powers, Oswald said, quote,
All the Marine Corps did was to teach you to kill and after you got out of the Marines you might be good gangsters, end quote.
Powers believed that when Oswald arrived in Japan he acquired a girlfriend, quote,
finally attaining a male status or image in his own eyes, end quote. That apparently caused Oswald to become more self-confident,
aggressive and even somewhat pugnacious, although Powers, quote, wouldn't say that this guy is a troublemaker, end quote.
Powers said, quote, now he was Oswald the man rather than Oswald the rabbit, end quote.
Oswald once told Powers that he didn't care if he returned to the United States at all.
While in Japan, Oswald's new found apparent self confidence and pugnaciousness
led to an incident in which he spilled a drink on one of his sergeants and abusively challenged him to fight.
At the court-martial hearing which followed, Oswald admitted that he had been rather drunk when the incident occurred.
He testified that he had felt the sergeant had a grudge against him and that he had unsuccessfully sought a transfer from the sergeant's unit.
He said that he had simply wanted to discuss the question with the sergeant and the drink had been spilled accidentally.
The hearing officer agreed with the latter claim but found Oswald guilty of wrongfully using provoking words and sentenced him to 28 days,
canceling the suspension of a 20-day sentence that Oswald had received in an earlier court-martial
for possessing an unauthorized pistol with which he had accidentally shot himself.
At his own request,
Oswald was transferred from active duty to the Marine Corps Reserve under honorable conditions in September of 1959,
3 months prior to his regularly scheduled separation date, ostensibly to care for his mother who had been injured in an accident at her work.
He was undesirably discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve, to which he had been assigned on inactive status following his transfer from active duty,
after it was learned that he had defected to the Soviet Union.
In an attempt to have this discharge reversed,
Oswald wrote to then Secretary of the Navy Connally on January 30, 1962,
stating that he would, quote, employ all means to right this gross mistake or injustice, end quote.
Governor Connally had just resigned to run for Governor of Texas, so he advised Oswald that he had forwarded the letter to his successor.
It is thus clear that Oswald knew that Governor Connally was never directly concerned with his discharge
and he must have known that President Kennedy had had nothing to do with it.
In that connection, it does not appear that Oswald ever expressed any dissatisfaction of any kind with either the President or Governor Connally.
Marina Oswald testified that she, quote, had never heard anything bad about Kennedy from Lee. And he never had anything against him, end quote.
Mrs. Oswald said that her husband did not say anything about Governor Connally after his return to the United States. She testified, quote,
But while we were in Russia he spoke well of him. Lee said that when he would return to the United States he would vote for him for Governor, end quote.
Oswald must have already learned that the Governor could not help him with his discharge because he was no longer Secretary of the Navy, at the time he made that remark.
Even though Oswald apparently did not express any hostility against the President or Governor Connally,
he continued to be concerned about his undesirable discharge. It is clear that he thought he had been unjustly treated.
Probably his complaint was due to the fact that his discharge was not related to anything he had done while on active duty
and also because he had not received any notice of the original discharge proceedings, since his whereabouts were not known.
He continued his efforts to reverse the discharge by petitioning the Navy Discharge Review Board,
which finally declined to modify the discharge and so advised him in a letter dated July 1963.
Governor Connally's connection with the discharge, although indirect, caused the Commission to consider whether he might have been Oswald's real target.
In that connection, it should be noted that Marina Oswald testified on September 6, 1964, that she thought her husband, quote,
was shooting at Connally rather than President Kennedy, end quote.
In support of her conclusion Mrs. Oswald noted her husband's undesirable discharge
and that she could not think of any reason why Oswald would want to kill President Kennedy.
It should be noted, however, that at the time Oswald fired the shots at the Presidential limousine the Governor occupied the seat in front of the President,
and it would have been almost impossible for Oswald to have hit the Governor without hitting the President first.
Oswald could have shot the Governor as the car approached the Depository or as it was making the turn onto Elm Street.
Once it had started down Elm Street toward the Triple Underpass, however,
the President almost completely blocked Oswald's view of the Governor prior to the time the first shot struck the President.
Oswald would have had other and more favorable opportunities to strike at the Governor than on this occasion when, as a member of the President's party,
he had more protection than usual. It would appear, therefore, that to the extent Oswald's undesirable discharge affected his motivation,
it was more in terms of a general hostility against the government and its representatives rather than a grudge against any particular person.
Interest in Marxism
As indicated above, Oswald started to read Communist literature after he and his mother left New York and moved to New Orleans.
He told Aline Mosby, a reporter who interviewed him after he arrived in Moscow, quote,
I'm a Marxist. I became interested about the age of 15. From an ideological viewpoint.