Lee Harvey Oswald was the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, born to Marguerite Frances Claverie Oswald, whose father had died of a heart attack two months before Oswald's birth. His biological father, Robert Edward Lee Oswald, was not a part of his life.
Oswald had an older full brother and a half-brother from his mother's previous marriage. At the age of three, he was placed in a Lutheran orphanage, but was removed when his mother left for Dallas in 1944 to marry her third husband, Edwin A. Ekdahl.
Oswald dropped out of school in 1954 and joined the US Marines, where he served until 1959 when he was discharged due to hardship, as his mother was struggling with physical problems.
Oswald became interested in Marxist ideologies and moved to the USSR in 1959, where he lived until 1962. He attempted to obtain Soviet citizenship, but was initially denied. In 1961, he married Marina Nikolaevna Prusakova, a Russian woman, and was allowed to stay indefinitely.
However, by October 1963, Oswald moved back to the United States with his wife and daughter, settling in Dallas. He began to publicly express his opinions about communist regimes, including Cuba and China, by distributing pamphlets.
Oswald worked at the Texas School Depository, a six-story building in the Dealey Plaza area of Dallas, where he may have shot President Kennedy from the sixth floor. He then concealed the rifle behind some crates.
After the assassination, Oswald left the depository and headed home, where he picked up a pistol. He then returned to the Depository, where he is believed to have fired four bullets into police officer J.D. Tippit, who approached him to ask a question.
Oswald then ran into the Texas Theatre, where he had not bought a ticket, and was cornered by authorities. He was taken into custody, charged with the murder of President Kennedy, and denied any involvement in the assassination and the shooting of officer Tippit.
On November 24, 1963, just two days later, Oswald was shot dead by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner, while being transferred to the county jail. Ruby claimed he was avenging Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, while claims of Oswald's links to the US secret service and the Mafia remain speculative.
Despite the numerous conspiracy theories surrounding Oswald's life and actions, the facts remain that he was the alleged assassin of President Kennedy, and his death by Ruby's hand remains a pivotal moment in American history.
