This is a copyedited version of the FBI's preliminary biographical study
on Lee Harvey Oswald, dated December 6, 1963 (NARA Document
#104-10017-10037, declassified February 9th, 1996). It is presented for
those who wish to examine how Oswald's official biography developed over
time.  (Dave Reitzes)
------------------------------------------------------

Birth: 18 October 1939, New Orleans, Louisiana.

At the minimum age of three (1942-43), Oswald was placed in a Lutheran
home for children, in New Orleans, Louisiana.  20

When Oswald's mother married Edwin A. Ekdahl on 5 May 1945, she moved to
Fort Worth, Texas, and took Lee Harvey Oswald with her. Prior to that
time Lee Harvey Oswald and his brothers were living at a Lutheran home
for children in New Orleans, Louisiana. The two older children, John
Edward Pic and Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr., were left in the Lutheran
home.

On 12 March 1948 Edwin A. Ekdahl Washington Post divorced Oswald's
mother, Marguerite Oswald, in Ft. Worth, Texas. Ekdahl's attorney was
former Navy Secretary, Fred Korth.

In September 1952 Oswald moved with his mother and two brothers to New
York City, where they resided at 1455 Sheridan Avenue, in the Bronx.
Oswald attended a junior high school at 1865 Morris Avenue, at which
time he was in the seventh grade.

Oswald moved with his mother and brothers to 825 East 179th Street in
New York City, and Oswald attended Junior High School #44 at 1825
Prospect Avenue. Four judges of The Bronx Children's Court who
interviewed Oswald in 1953 felt that Oswald needed psychiatric care. In
1953 Oswald was absent from two junior high schools for 47 days. Around
December 1953 Oswald entered Beauregard Junior High School at 4621 Canal
Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, as an eight grade transfer student from
Public School #44 in New York City 1955 Oswald attended the Warren
Easton High school in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1955.

For a brief period, prior to his DBF-82181 enlistment in the US Marine
Corps, Oswald was employed in an import-export business (place of
employment not given). Prior to his enlistment in the US Marine Corps
Oswald attended high school in Ft. Worth, Texas. At the time of his
enlistment he had not finished high school. On 24 October 1956 Oswald
enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and was assigned serial number 1653230.
At the time of his enlistment he was residing at 4936 Collingwood
Street, Fort Worth, Texas. From March to 3 May Oswald was stationed in
Jacksonville, Florida. From 4 May to 19 June Oswald was stationed in
Biloxi, Mississippi, where he received special training as electronics
and radio operator. Oswald served in Japan from July 1957 to October
1958. In the spring of 1959 Oswald made arrangements to attend the
Albert Schweitzer college in Switzerland. He paid a registration fee of
$25 and was expected to arrive at the college on 20 April 1960. There is
no record of Oswald's actual attendance at the college, or his presence
in Switzerland.

>From March to September 1959 Oswald was stationed at Marine Air Control
Squadron 9 in Tustin, California. Oswald's direct superior was Marine
First Lieutenant John E. Donovan. When it was learned that Oswald was in
Moscow, USSR, all secret radio frequencies, call signs and codes for the
air control units had to be changed. On 3 September 1959 Oswald received
an honorable (dependency) discharge from 12 May 1960 the US Marine
Corps, after 14 months service in Japan and the Philippines. His serial
number was MS-1853230-6741, USMC. He was a PFC (E-2), and was in the
Marine Air Corps School (MACS-9) and held the status of MWHG (radar
operator). When Oswald applied for a US Passport in September 1959 he
gave his occupation as "shipping export agent." When Oswald was issued
US Passport #1733242 on 10 September 1959 his address was given as 4936
Collingwood, Ft. Worth, Texas. On 11 September 1959 Oswald received an
honorable discharge from the US Marine Corps, and reenlisted as a
private in the Reserve; on the same day. Reason for discharge given as
"Dependency hardship in order to support mother."

After Oswald's discharge from the US Marine Corps in September of 1959,
he visited his mother in Fort Worth, Texas, for a few days. At that time
he stated that he was going to New Orleans, Louisiana, to resume his
employment with an export-import company. He also mentioned his desire
to travel and he told his mother that he might go to Cuba. During the
time Oswald served in the US Marine Corps he saved $1600.

On 9 October 1959 Oswald arrived in Southampton, England. His landing
card indicating that he had no fixed address, but planned to remain in
England one week for vacation before going to "some school" in
Switzerland. Oswald subsequently left England on 10 October for
Helsinki, Finland. On 14 October 1959 Oswald applied for a Soviet visa
in Helsinki, Finland. Oswald claimed that on 16 October 1959 he applied
for Soviet citizenship by letter to the "Supreme Soviet." On 22 October
1959 Oswald's Soviet visa and militia registration expired. He was then
residing at the Hotel Metropole, Moscow, USSR. On 31 October 1959 Oswald
stated that he wished to renounce his US citizenship, claiming that he
had already taken steps to become a Soviet citizen. As of 2 November
1959 Oswald was residing in a non-tourist status at the Hotel Metropole
in Moscow. On 18 December 1959 Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald,
mailed him a check for $25 as a partial payment of the $100 he had lent
to her. She sent the check to Oswald at the Hotel Metropole, Moscow. On
18 January 1960 Oswald returned the check to her and asked her to mail
him a $20 dollar bill, which she did. On 25 February 1960 the letter she
had written to Oswald and the $20 were returned to her and the envelope
was stamped "retour, parti."

After Oswald arrived in Moscow he reportedly slashed his wrists, and was
hospitalized for several days. It was not known whether this was a
suicide attempt, or an "attention getting gesture." As of 13 January
Oswald was employed in the Belorussian Radio and TV factory in Minsk,
USSR, as a metal worker in the research department. Mrs. Oswald, Lee
Harvey Oswald's mother, secured a foreign draft from the First National
Bank of Ft. Worth, Texas, for $25.00 which she sent to Oswald in care of
the Metropole Hotel, Moscow, USSR. As of May 1960 Oswald's mother,
Marguerite Oswald, was employed at the Methodist Orphans Home, 1111
Herring Avenue, Waco, Texas. As of 6 May 1960 Marguerite C. Oswald, aka
Mrs. Edward Lee Oswald, was employed at the Methodist Orphans Home, 1111
Herring Avenue, Waco, Texas. Oswald was given a dishonorable [sic]
discharge from the US Marine Corps Reserve on 17 August 1960.

On 26 January 1961 Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald, visited the Dept.
of State in Washington, D.C. to see what could be done to help her son.
At this time she gave her address as Box 305, Boyd, Texas. On 30 January
1961 Oswald wrote a letter to Governor John Connally, then Secretary of
the Navy, protesting his dishonorable discharge from the US Marine Corps
Reserve. On 5 February 1961 Oswald mailed a letter to the US Embassy in
Moscow from Minsk, indicating his desire to return to the United States.
The letter was received at the Embassy on 13 February. As of 10 April
1961 Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald, was residing at 1612 Hurley
Street, Fort Worth, Texas. She said that she had returned to Fort Worth
about 1 April 1961 from Boyd, Texas, where she had operated a dress shop
which she found necessary to close on account of financial difficulties.
When Oswald married Marina in Minsk on 30 April 1961, Oswald was earning
80 rubles a month, whereas Marina earned only 45, even though she had
more formal training.

On 30 April 1961 Oswald married Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova, a dental
technician. One Loussa Bourlakova was reported to be a friend of
Oswald's wife, Marina Oswald. On 25 May 1961 the US Embassy in Moscow
received an undated letter from Oswald asking for a "full guarantee"
that he would not "under any circumstances" be prosecuted. On 8 July
1961 Oswald appeared at the US Embassy in Moscow with his wife with
regard to his return to the United States. At this time he denied that
he had applied for Soviet citizenship, and his US Passport was returned
to him. On 20 July Oswald made application for an exit visa to return to
the United States to the Soviet authorities. In the early part of
October 1961 Oswald mailed four letters to the US Embassy in Moscow
dated [illegible] July, 15 July, 8 August, and 4 October. These letters
indicated that he and his wife were being subject to harassment by
Soviet citizens in Minsk, and reasserted his desire to return to the
United States. While living in Minsk Oswald liked to go hunting. His
wife said her impression was that it might have been only as a guest of
a hunt club. Oswald reportedly was irritated because the Soviet
Government would not allow him to own a gun. On 15 February 1962
Oswald's daughter, June Lee Oswald, was born. On 22 March 1962 Oswald
wrote to Brigadier General R. Mc. C. Tompkins, USMC, Assistant Director
of Personnel, regarding his dishonorable discharge. Oswald's address at
that time was Kalinina St., 4-27, Minsk, USSR. US Immigration Visa (#52)
was issued to Oswald' wife at the US Embassy in Moscow on 24 May 1962.

On 13 June 1962 Oswald arrived in the US at New York, NY, with his wife
and daughter on the SS Maasdan. On 18, 19, and 20 June 1962, Miss
Pauline V. Bates, a public stenographer in Ft. Worth, Texas, typed about
a third of a manuscript for Oswald concerning his views of the USSR and
his experience. Oswald stopped the work because he said that he only had
$10 to pay Bates. On 15 August 1962 Oswald stated that he had been
residing with his wife and child at 2703 Mercedes Street, Forth Worth,
Texas, since the middle of July 1962. In 1962 Oswald was employed by a
graphics concern in Dallas, Texas. He had been referred to the firm by
the State Employment Commission.

In the early part of 1963 Oswald told his wife to return to the USSR as
he could not support her here. After urging she contacted the Soviet
Embassy in Washington, D.C., for a visa. When the Soviet Embassy asked
why she wanted to return to the USSR she reportedly did not reply to
their query. In March 1963 Oswald was given a discharge notice by the
graphic arts concern in Dallas, Texas, by which he was employed. In
April 1963 Oswald's employment with the graphics arts concern in Dallas,
Texas, was terminated. Oswald had been paid about $1.45 an hour. After
deductions his pay amounted to about $50 a week. On May 10 1963 Oswald
informed his wife, who was residing in Irving, Texas, with Mrs. Ruth
Paine, that he had found work in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ruth Paine then
drove Marina to New Orleans, and stayed with her for "a couple" of days.
As of 16 May 1963 Oswald was employed as a maintenance man with the
William Reily Coffee co., 640 Magazine Street, New Orleans. At the time
he was hired by this company he was residing at 757 French Street, New
Orleans, Louisiana.

In May of 1963 Oswald received a membership card from the New York
Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee which was signed by V. H.
[sic] Lee. On 6 June 1963 Oswald claimed that he received a card from
the New Orleans Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee signed by A.
J. Hidell. On 25 June 1963 Oswald was issued a passport for travel to
Russia, Poland, and Western Europe as a photographer. On 17 July 1963
Oswald's employment with the William Reily Coffee Co. was terminated. At
this time Oswald was living with his wife and child at 4095 Magazine
Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. On 9 August 1963 Oswald was arrested in
New Orleans, Louisiana, for disturbing the peace. At the time of the
arrest, Oswald was distributing throwaways for the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee. On 21 August 1963 Oswald appeared on radio station WDSU in
New Orleans, Louisiana, at which time he admitted being a "Marxist" and
claimed that the Fair Play for Cuba Committee was not Communist
controlled. According to an article appearing in the Milwaukee Sentinel
on 30 November 1963, a man who signed his name "Lee Oswald, Dallas,"
registered at a well known night club about 30 miles from Milwaukee on
16 September 1963. On 17 September 1963 Oswald applied in New Orleans,
Louisiana, for unemployment insurance. On 23 September 1963 Marina
Oswald, and her child, departed from New Orleans with Mrs. Ruth Paine,
and drove to Mrs. Paine's house in Irving, Texas. Oswald did not go with
them claiming that he wanted to visit a friend in Houston, Texas.

On 25 September Oswald moved from his apartment at 4905 Magazine Street,
New Orleans, owing 17 days' rent. On 26 September 1963 Oswald entered
Mexico at Nuevo Laredo. He claimed that he was 23 years old, a resident
of New Orleans, Louisiana, and that his destination was Mexico City. He
gave his occupation as "photographer." He was issued Mexican tourist
card #24085. On 26 September 1963 Oswald took a 2:30 PM bus from Nuevo
Laredo, for Mexico City on the Frontera Line. The bus fare is $5.71 at
the exchange rate of 12 1/2 Mexican pesos a dollar. Oswald's bus was due
to arrive in Mexico City on 27 September at 8:30 P.M. After his arrival
he found lodging at the Hotel Commercio on Bernardo de Sahaguan Street.
He occupied Room 18 at a cost of $1.28 a day. When he traveled to
Mexico, Oswald carried a leather suitcase which was about two feet long.


On 27 September 1963 a man later identified as Oswald, telephoned the
Soviet Embassy stating that he needed to get a visa to go to Odessa,
USSR. A little while later a woman from the Cuban Consulate telephoned
the Soviet Consulate stating that an American male has requested an
in-transit visa for Cuba because he wanted to go to the USSR. The woman
claimed that she had sent the American to the Soviet Embassy, saying
that if the Soviets made or accepted the visa, the Cubans would also
give it to him without further procedures. The woman from the Cuban
Consulate wanted to know with whom the American had spoken when he
visited the Soviet Consulate. Later in the day the Soviet Consulate
telephoned the Cuban Consulate again regarding Oswald's request for a
visa, and mentioned the fact that the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.
C. had not as yet been authorized by Moscow to issue Oswald a Soviet
visa. Both consulates agreed that nothing can be done until they receive
further advice from the Soviet Embassy in Washington.

On 28 September 1963 the woman at the Cuban Consulate, Mrs. Silvia
Tirado de Duran, called the Soviet Consulate, saying that the American
was at the Cuban Consulate and that she would put him on the telephone.
Oswald then spoke to the Soviet Consulate and said that he had just been
at the Soviet Embassy and that he had spoken with the Soviet Consul
there. Oswald was asked to return to the Soviet Embassy to leave his
local address with them. Oswald stated that he would be there right
away. On 1 October 1963 Oswald telephoned the Soviet Embassy in Mexico
City and said, "Hello, this is Lee Oswald speaking." He asked if
anything new had been heard from Washington, and he asked to be given
the name of the Soviet Consul to whom he had spoken previously. Oswald
left Mexico city on a Frontera bus which departed at 1:00 PM on Oct. 3.

On 3 October 1963 Oswald arrived by bus at Nuevo Laredo at 6:30 AM. He
arrived at Dallas, Texas, on the evening of 3 October and took a room at
the Dallas YMCA. On 4 October 1963 Oswald returned to and stayed at the
YMCA. On 14 October 1963 Oswald applied for a job in the Texas School
Book Depository. He started work on 15 October 1963 as a stock clerk at
$1.25 per hour. Oswald applied for a job at the Texas School Book
Depository after a Mrs. William Randall [sic] had told Ruth Paine of the
opening. Around 14 October 1963 Oswald took an $8 a week room at 1026
North Beckley Street, Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, in the home
of Mrs. Arthur C. Johnson. He was known to Mrs. Johnson as O. H. Lee.
Approximately two weeks (ca. 8 Nov. 1963) before the assassination of
President Kennedy, Oswald reportedly visited Wytheville, Virginia, where
he asked the local Red Cross office for fare to Ansted, West Virginia,
near Charleston. On 21 November 1963 Oswald spent the night at the home
of Mrs. Ruth Paine in Irving, Texas, where his wife resided, and where
he had stored his gun, rolled in a blanket, in the Paine's garage.

On 22 November Oswald drove to the Texas School Book Depository Building
in Dallas, Texas, with B. Wesley Frazier, who also worked in the
building. Oswald was carrying an ungainly package, and when Frazier
asked him about the bundle Oswald allegedly explained curtly that the
bundle contained "window shades." Shortly after 12:00 noon, Charlie
Givens, a porter, saw Oswald on the sixth floor of the Texas Book
Depository Building, the floor from which the shots were fired at
President Kennedy. At approximately 12:20 [sic], as President Kennedy's
motorcade was making a sharp S turn [sic] from Main Street [sic] in
Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired, from a window on the sixth floor
of the Texas Book Depository Building. At the moment the shots were
fired, Roy S. Truly director and superintendent of the Texas Book
Depository, joined by policeman, ran into the building. As they made
their way to a back stairway they saw Oswald standing by a soft drink
machine, sipping from a coke bottle. Truly told the police that Oswald
was employed in the building, and they went on. Oswald then left the
building and took a bus headed for the Oak Cliff area of Dallas where he
resided. As the bus moved slowly through the traffic he got out and took
a taxi to a corner five blocks from his rooming house.

At approximately 1:00 o'clock he ran into the rooming house where he was
living, grabbed a zipper jacket, and ran out again in the direction of a
neighborhood shopping area. Police Pvt. J. D. Tippit, driving in a
patrol car hailed Oswald after hearing on his radio that a man of
Oswald's description was wanted. Oswald talked to Tippit for several
minutes, and was arrested. Tippit got out of his car and began to walk
towards Oswald, who pulled a pistol and fired three shots at Tippit from
a distance no greater than the width of Tippit's car. Tippit died almost
instantly, and Oswald darted off through a vacant lot where three spent
cartridges were found [sic].

A shoe salesman noticed Oswald as he slipped into a lobby between two
display windows. Observing that Oswald was disheveled, the shoe salesman
decided to keep an eye on him and, when Oswald managed to slip into a
movie theater without paying, the shoe salesman told the cashier to call
the police and he assisted an usher lock all the emergency exits of the
theater. When the police arrived, the lights inside the theater were
turned on. When ordered by the police to stand up, Oswald said, "Well I
guess it is all over now." Oswald raised his hands, then made a fist and
hit one of the policemen in the nose. He drew his pistol, but was
overpowered by police officers, and arrested. At 7:15 PM Oswald was
formally charged with the murder of Patrolman Tippit. At 11:36 PM.
Oswald was charged with the murder of John F. Kennedy, President of the
United States.

At 11:19 [sic] on 23 [sic] November 1963 Jack Ruby shot Oswald as he was
being transferred to the Dallas County Jail, from the Dallas Police
Station. Less than two hours later Oswald died of massive internal
injuries at the Parkland Hospital in Dallas where President Kennedy had
been pronounced dead the day before [sic]. On 25 November 1963 Oswald
was buried at a cemetery on the Eastern edge of Fort Worth, Texas,
shortly after 4:00 PM.