Lee harvey oswald biography facts for kids
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8 Things You May Not Know About Lee Harvey Oswald
For more than 50 years, Lee Harvey Oswald has remained the enigmatic figure at the center of the Kennedy assassination. Was he a lone gunman? A conspirator? A patsy?
In the documentary Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?, FRONTLINE returned to Dealey Plaza in Dallas to examine the evidence of Oswald’s role in the assassination. Originally produced for the 30th anniversary of the assassination, the bio drew upon hundreds of witnesses to shed new light on Oswald’s mysterious life story.
Here are eight things about Oswald you might not have known:
1. He served in the Marines, where his nickname was “Osvaldovich.”
Oswald took an early interest in socialism after picking up a leaflet about the coming execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who had been convicted of spying for Russia. “I was looking for a key to my environment, and then inom discovered socialist literature,” Oswald wrote in his diary. ̶
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On Oct. 18, 1939, Lee Harvey Oswald, now widely known as the man who killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963, was born in New Orleans.
Oswald was born to Marguerite Claverie, who lived on Alvar Street in the city’s 9th Ward. His father, Robert Edward Lee Oswald, died two months earlier, leaving his mother struggling to support her children — Lee Harvey Oswald, brother Robert Jr. and half-brother John Pic.
Oswald spent his childhood moving from place to place in New Orleans, living in three homes in the city before the age of two. He would also spend approximately 13 months in an orphanage, Evangelical Lutheran Bethlehem Orphan Asylum Association, with his two brothers, who were already enrolled. The family would later spend time in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
In late 1956, Oswald joined the Marines in San Diego under the Second Recruit Training Battalion. While in the Marines, he would be trained to shoot, scoring high enough to qualify as a “sharpshooter
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Lee Harvey Oswald
1939-1963
Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?
Originally from New Orleans, Lee Harvey Oswald joined the U.S. Marines and later defected to the Soviet Union for a period of time. He returned to America with his family and eventually acquired firearms. Oswald allegedly assassinated President John. F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. While being taken to county jail two days later, Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby. He was 24.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Lee Harvey Oswald
BORN: October 18, 1939
DIED: November 24, 1964
BIRTHPLACE: New Orleans, Louisiana
SPOUSE: Marina Prusakova
CHILDREN: 2 daughters
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Libra
Early Life
Lee Harvey Oswald was born on October 18, 1939, in New Orleans to Marguerite and Robert Oswald Sr., who died of a heart attack two months prior to Oswald’s birth. Following her husband’s death, Marguerite sent Oswald and his two older brothers to live in an orphanage.
Remarried for a few years, Marguerite eventually moved with her chil