# Lee Harvey Oswald

> A 24-year-old former Marine who had lived in the Soviet Union, Oswald was charged by Dallas authorities with the murders of President John F. Kennedy and Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit. He was shot and killed in police custody two days later and was never tried.

- Case: Complaints F-153 and F-154 · Dallas County, Texas · 1963
- Section: historical case (closed; the defendant has died)
- Outcome: Deceased. Charged in Dallas County, Texas, with the murders of Patrolman J. D. Tippit and President John F. Kennedy, Oswald was shot and killed on Nov. 24, 1963, before any trial.[[johnston-testimony]][[wc-ch5]] He was never tried and never convicted, so no court ever found him guilty, and in law he died presumed innocent. The Warren Commission (1964) and the House Select Committee on Assassinations (1979) concluded that he fired the shots that killed the President, but they were investigative bodies, not courts.[[wc-ch1]][[hsca-summary]]
- Died: Nov. 24, 1963
- Last updated: 2026-10-27
- Editorial review: approved 2026-10-27
- Web page: https://criminalbackstories.com/history/lee-harvey-oswald/
- All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law. Charges and allegations described on this site are not proof of guilt.

## Why this case is remembered

Nov. 22, 2026, is the 63rd anniversary of the assassination.[3] Under Executive Order 14176 and a presidential directive of March 17, 2025, the National Archives released tens of thousands of previously withheld pages of its President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection between March 18 and April 3, 2025, and added another 11,022 pages on Jan. 30, 2026.[13] Historians interviewed by NPR at the time of the release did not expect it to change the account that Oswald fired from the Texas School Book Depository, and an initial Associated Press review found nothing undercutting the Warren Commission's conclusion that he acted alone; the records added detail on CIA operations and on his 1963 trip to Mexico City.[14][15] In a 2023 Gallup poll, 65% of U.S. adults said they believed Oswald "worked in concert with others."[17]

## Case at a glance

- Charges: "Murder with malice" of Officer J. D. Tippit (complaint F-153, Nov. 22, 1963) and of John F. Kennedy (complaint F-154, filed Nov. 22 and arraigned Nov. 23, 1963)[2]
- Other complaint: Assault to murder of Gov. John B. Connally (complaint F-155, Nov. 23, 1963); he was not arraigned on it[2]
- Victims: President John F. Kennedy and Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit, killed Nov. 22, 1963; Texas Gov. John B. Connally was wounded[3]
- Age at the time: 24 (born Oct. 18, 1939, in New Orleans)[3]
- Arrested: Nov. 22, 1963, at the Texas Theatre in Dallas[3]
- Trial: None; he was killed before trial[5]
- Died: Shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police headquarters on Nov. 24, 1963, at 11:21 a.m.; pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital at 1:07 p.m.[3][5]
- Investigations: President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission), report 1964; House Select Committee on Assassinations, report March 29, 1979[6][9][10]

## The backstory

### The assassination

On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy's motorcade turned onto Elm Street in Dallas, past the Texas School Book Depository, at about 12:30 p.m., the Warren Commission wrote.[3] According to the Commission's account, a bullet "entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine," and another bullet then "struck President Kennedy in the rear portion of his head, causing a massive and fatal wound."[3] Texas Gov. John B. Connally was hit by a bullet that entered his back and passed through his chest, right wrist and left thigh; he recovered after surgery.[3] The President was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1 p.m.[3] The Commission concluded that the weight of the evidence showed three shots were fired, from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Depository.[3]

Oswald, 24, had started work at the Depository on Oct. 16, 1963.[3] By the Commission's account, he left the building shortly after the shooting, rode a bus and then a taxi, and reached his rented room on North Beckley Avenue at about 1 p.m., leaving again soon after, zipping up a jacket.[3]

### The killing of Patrolman Tippit

Patrolman J. D. Tippit of the Dallas police was alone in his patrol car at the time of the assassination and had been ordered to the Oak Cliff section of the city, the Commission wrote.[3] At approximately 1:15 p.m., as he drove slowly east on East 10th Street, he stopped beside a man walking on the sidewalk, who came to the car and spoke to him through the window.[3] According to the Commission, Tippit got out and started around the front of the car, and the man drew a revolver and fired several shots, "hitting Tippit four times and killing him instantly."[3] The Commission concluded that the gunman was Oswald, relying on two eyewitnesses who saw the shooting and others who saw the gunman flee with a revolver; in all, it said, nine eyewitnesses identified Oswald.[3][4] It also relied on firearms testimony that the cartridge cases found at the scene were fired from the revolver Oswald carried when he was arrested, and on a jacket found along the gunman's path.[3]

### The arrest

A shoe store manager, Johnny Calvin Brewer, followed a man into the Texas Theatre, and the cashier called the police at about 1:40 p.m., according to the Commission.[3] When Patrolman M. N. McDonald ordered the man to his feet, McDonald heard him say, "Well, it's all over now"; the man then drew a gun from his waist and struck the officer, and McDonald and other officers disarmed and handcuffed him.[3] The Commission concluded that Oswald "resisted arrest at the theatre by attempting to shoot another Dallas police officer."[3] He was brought to police headquarters at about 2 p.m.[3][5]

### The charges

Shortly after 7 p.m. on Nov. 22, Capt. J. W. Fritz of the Dallas police homicide bureau filed a complaint charging Oswald with the "murder with malice of Officer J. D. Tippit of the Dallas Police Department," Justice of the Peace David L. Johnston testified; Johnston arraigned Oswald on it at 7:10 p.m. and remanded him to the sheriff without bond.[2][5] At about 11:25 p.m., Fritz filed a second complaint, charging "murder with malice of John F. Kennedy," which Criminal District Attorney Henry Wade accepted; Johnston arraigned Oswald on that charge at 1:35 a.m. on Nov. 23.[2] On the evening of Nov. 23, a third complaint charged Oswald with the "assault to murder" of Gov. Connally; Johnston testified that Oswald was not arraigned on it because he was already held on two capital charges.[2]

### The evidence, as the Warren Commission described it

Because Oswald was never tried, the evidence against him was never tested in court; the account below is the Warren Commission's.[3][5] The Commission concluded that the shots were fired from a 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found partly hidden between cartons on the sixth floor, and that the rifle was "owned by and in the possession of Oswald."[3] It found that the rifle had been shipped on March 20, 1963, by Klein's Sporting Goods Co. of Chicago to "A. Hidell" at a Dallas post office box, and that the handprinting on the mail-order coupon was Oswald's; it found that "Hidell" was a name Oswald used.[4] It said that the revolver he carried at his arrest had been ordered by mail from a Los Angeles company in the name "A. J. Hidell."[4]

The Commission concluded that Oswald carried the rifle into the Depository that morning in a handmade paper bag, which was found near the window, and that he had told Buell Wesley Frazier, who drove him, that the package held "curtain rods," a reason the Commission found false.[3][4] It found that Oswald's palmprint was on the underside of the rifle barrel and that his fingerprints and palmprints were on cartons by the window.[4] A witness, Howard Brennan, did not positively identify Oswald in a lineup; the Commission said it was satisfied that "at the least" Brennan saw a man in the window "who closely resembled Lee Harvey Oswald."[4] The Commission concluded that Oswald was present at the window at the time of the shooting.[3][4] It also concluded that he had tried to kill retired Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker on April 10, 1963, and that he "lied to the police after his arrest concerning important substantive matters."[3]

### Questioning and denials

Oswald was questioned for a total of about 12 hours, mostly by Capt. Fritz, with FBI and Secret Service investigators present at times, according to the Commission.[5] There was no stenographic or tape record of the interviews; the Commission relied on the reports of those present.[7] By their accounts, as the Commission summarized them, Oswald denied having anything to do with the assassination or with the murder of Patrolman Tippit, said he had been eating lunch at the time of the shooting, and "denied that he owned a rifle."[3] He also said a photograph showing him holding a rifle and a pistol was not genuine and that his face had been superimposed.[3]

Shortly after midnight on Nov. 23, police brought him before reporters in the basement assembly room of headquarters, where he said, "I do request someone to come forward to give me legal assistance."[5] Asked whether he had killed the President, he answered, "No. I have not been charged with that"; asked how he had hurt his eye, he said, "A policeman hit me."[5] The complaint charging him with the President's murder had been filed at about 11:25 p.m., but he was not arraigned on it until 1:35 a.m.[2] On Saturday he tried without success to reach a New York lawyer, John Abt, and declined an offer of help from the president of the Dallas Bar Association, saying he preferred Abt or a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union.[5] The Commission concluded that, apart from the force used in his arrest, he was not subjected to physical coercion and that he was advised of his right to counsel.[3]

### His death

On Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963, Dallas police moved Oswald from headquarters toward the county jail.[5] As he was brought through the basement, with television cameras present, Jack Ruby, a 52-year-old Dallas nightclub operator, stepped forward and "fired a single fatal bullet into Oswald's abdomen," the Commission wrote; he was shot at 11:21 a.m.[3][5] He was taken to Parkland Hospital, did not regain consciousness and was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m.[3][5] The Commission concluded that the decision to transfer Oswald "in full public view was unsound," and found no evidence that Ruby acted with anyone else.[3]

The charges against Oswald were never tried, and no jury heard the evidence.[5][2]

### The investigations

On Nov. 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson created a commission chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren "to ascertain, evaluate and report upon the facts relating to the assassination."[6] Its 1964 report concluded that Oswald fired the shots and acted alone.[3][9] In its report of March 29, 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations agreed that Oswald fired three shots, the second and third of which struck the President, and that he owned the rifle and was on the sixth floor shortly before the shooting; it also concluded that the President was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy."[10][11] Both bodies were investigative, not judicial; neither could convict anyone.[6][10]

## Personal backstory

### Early life

Oswald was born in New Orleans on Oct. 18, 1939.[3] His father died of a heart attack on Aug. 19, 1939, about two months before he was born, according to the Commission's biography.[8] He had an older brother and an older half-brother from his mother's first marriage.[8] The family moved several times, among New Orleans, Dallas and the Fort Worth area, and in August 1952 to New York.[8]

### Truancy and Youth House

In New York in 1954, a court declared him a truant after a petition alleged he had been "excessively absent from school," and he was remanded to Youth House "for psychiatric study," the Commission's biography says.[8] The chief staff psychiatrist there, Dr. Renatus Hartogs, recommended probation with help from a child guidance clinic, and recommended against placing him in an institution unless that failed.[8] He later left high school in Fort Worth in September 1956.[8]

### The Marine Corps

He enlisted in the Marine Corps on Oct. 24, 1956.[8] When his company fired for record in December 1956, he scored 212, two points above the sharpshooter qualifying score; he "did not do nearly as well" when he fired for record again before leaving the Marines, the Commission's biography says.[8] He served as a radar operator, including at Atsugi, Japan.[8] In 1958 he was court-martialed twice: once for possessing an unregistered private pistol, which had discharged and wounded him, and once for using "provoking words" to a sergeant.[8] He was released from active duty to the Marine Corps Reserve on Sept. 11, 1959, after requesting a dependency discharge; in September 1960, while he was in the Soviet Union, he was given an "undesirable discharge."[8]

### The Soviet Union

He sailed from New Orleans on Sept. 20, 1959, and arrived in Moscow on Oct. 16.[8] After being told on Oct. 21 that his visa had expired, he cut his wrist in a suicide attempt and was hospitalized for several days, according to the Commission's biography.[8] On Oct. 31 he went to the U.S. Embassy and said he had come to "dissolve his American citizenship"; the renunciation was not completed.[8] In January 1960 Soviet authorities sent him to Minsk, where he worked at a radio and television factory.[8] He married there on April 30, 1961, and a daughter was born in February 1962.[8][3]

### Return to the United States

The family left Moscow on June 1, 1962, and first stayed with his brother in Fort Worth.[3] He moved to Dallas in October 1962 and to New Orleans in April 1963, where, the Commission found, he formed a "fictitious" New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.[3] In late September 1963 he traveled to Mexico City and visited the Cuban and Soviet embassies.[3] Back in Dallas, he rented a room on North Beckley Avenue under the name "O. H. Lee," while his wife and daughter stayed with a friend in Irving; his second daughter was born on Oct. 20, 1963.[3]

### Motive

The Warren Commission wrote that it "could not make any definitive determination of Oswald's motives."[3] It listed factors it believed may have contributed, among them "his deep-rooted resentment of all authority," "his urge to try to find a place in history," and "his avowed commitment to Marxism and communism, as he understood the terms."[3] These are the Commission's assessments, not findings of a court.[3]

### Family

His widow and two daughters survived him.[3] *This page does not name them, and the sources reviewed contain no statement from the Kennedy or Tippit families for this page.*

## The victims

### Other deaths attributed (not proven in court)

- John F. Kennedy, Nov. 22, 1963 (killed), Elm Street, Dallas, Texas (Charged, not convicted). The President was struck by a bullet in the back of the neck and by a second bullet in the head and was pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital; Oswald was charged with his murder in complaint F-154 and was never tried.[3][2]
- J. D. Tippit, Nov. 22, 1963 (killed), East 10th Street, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas (Charged, not convicted). The Dallas police patrolman was shot four times and killed at about 1:15 p.m.; Oswald was charged with his murder in complaint F-153 and was never tried.[3][2]

## Myth and record

- Claim: Oswald did not act alone: a second gunman fired at the President. The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that the President "was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy," and in 2023 65% of Americans told Gallup they believed others were involved.[11][17]
  The record: The Warren Commission found no evidence of a conspiracy and concluded that Oswald acted alone.[3] The House committee's conspiracy finding rested on "scientific acoustical evidence" that it said established "a high probability that two gunmen fired"; the committee was "unable to identify the other gunman," and it found that the Soviet and Cuban governments, the Secret Service, the FBI and the CIA were not involved, and that organized crime and anti-Castro groups, as groups, were not involved, though it did not rule out individual members.[11] An initial Associated Press review of the records released in 2025 found nothing undercutting the lone-gunman conclusion.[15] Because Oswald was never tried, no court has ruled on whether anyone else took part, and the record reviewed for this page does not settle the question.
- Claim: The "magic bullet": skeptics of the Warren Commission gave that name to its conclusion that a single bullet passed through the President's neck and caused all of Gov. Connally's wounds, arguing that one nearly intact bullet could not have done so much.[16]
  The record: The Commission wrote that there was "very persuasive evidence from the experts" that the bullet that passed through the President's throat also caused the Governor's wounds, while acknowledging "some difference of opinion as to this probability," including in Connally's own testimony.[3] In 1979 the House committee's forensic pathology panel found the wounds consistent with "the so-called single bullet theory," and the committee said the theory "was substantiated by the findings of a neutron activation analysis."[12] In 2023 a former Secret Service agent, Paul Landis, gave an account of finding a bullet in the presidential limousine that differs from the Commission's finding on where the bullet was found; his former partner questioned it because it differs from Landis's own statements written soon after the shooting.[16] No court ever tested the theory, and the record reviewed for this page does not settle Landis's account.

## The two sides

- Warren Commission (1964): The Commission concluded that "the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald," that he killed Patrolman Tippit about 45 minutes later, and that "Oswald acted alone." It found "no evidence" that Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy.[3]
- House Select Committee (1979): The committee concluded that Oswald fired three shots at the President, the second and third of which struck him, and that Oswald shot and killed Officer Tippit. Relying on acoustic evidence, it also concluded that the President "was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" but was "unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy."[11][12]
- Oswald: In custody, by the Warren Commission's account of his questioning, Oswald denied having anything to do with the assassination or the killing of Tippit and denied owning a rifle.[3] Asked by a reporter shortly after midnight on Nov. 23 whether he had killed the President, he answered, "No. I have not been charged with that."[5]

## Timeline

- Oct. 18, 1939: Oswald is born in New Orleans.[3]
- Oct. 24, 1956: He enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps.[8]
- Oct. 16, 1959: Released from active duty the month before, he arrives in Moscow.[8]
- June 1, 1962: He leaves Moscow with his wife and infant daughter to return to the United States.[3]
- April 10, 1963: Retired Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker is shot at; the Warren Commission later concluded that Oswald fired the shot.[3]
- Oct. 16, 1963: He starts work at the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas.[3]
- Nov. 22, 1963: President Kennedy is shot on Elm Street as the motorcade passes the Depository and is pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital at 1 p.m.; Gov. Connally is wounded.[3]
- Nov. 22, 1963: At about 1:15 p.m., Patrolman J. D. Tippit is shot and killed in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Oswald is arrested in the Texas Theatre and is charged with Tippit's murder that evening.[3][2]
- Nov. 23, 1963: At 1:35 a.m. he is arraigned on the complaint charging him with the murder of President Kennedy.[2]
- Nov. 24, 1963: During his transfer to the county jail, he is shot by Jack Ruby in the police headquarters basement and dies at Parkland Hospital.[3][5]
- Nov. 29, 1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson creates the Warren Commission by Executive Order 11130.[6]
- 1964: The Warren Commission issues its report.[9][15]
- March 29, 1979: The House Select Committee on Assassinations issues its findings.[10]
- March 18, 2025: The National Archives begins releasing the remaining withheld assassination records.[13]

## What came after

Jack Ruby was convicted of the "murder with malice" of Oswald on March 14, 1964, and sentenced to death.[3][18] The Warren Commission found no evidence that Ruby acted with anyone else.[3] The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction on Oct. 5, 1966, holding that testimony about his statements had been improperly admitted and that the trial should have been moved out of Dallas County.[1] He died of cancer in January 1967 while awaiting a new trial.[18] The House Select Committee on Assassinations reexamined the case and in 1979 agreed that Oswald fired the shots that struck the President, while concluding that a second gunman had probably also fired.[10][11] About 300,000 pages of assassination records had been released before 2025, according to a historian interviewed by NPR, and the remaining withheld records were released in 2025 and 2026.[14][13]

## Sources

1. [Rubenstein v. State, 407 S.W.2d 793 (Tex. Crim. App. 1966), No. 37900](https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rubenstein-v-state-texcrimapp-1966). Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, Oct. 5, 1966 (text via CounselStack). (court or official record)
2. [Testimony of David L. Johnston, Justice of the Peace, Dallas County (June 26, 1964), with Johnston Exhibits 3–5 (complaints F-153, F-154, F-155)](https://www.jfk-assassination.net/russ/testimony/johnst_d.htm). Hearings before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (text reproduced by jfk-assassination.net). (court or official record)
3. [Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, Chapter 1: Summary and Conclusions](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-1.html). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
4. [Warren Commission Report, Chapter 4: The Assassin](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-4.html). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
5. [Warren Commission Report, Chapter 5: Detention and Death of Oswald](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-5.html). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
6. [Warren Commission Report, Appendix 1: Executive Order No. 11130](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-01.html). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
7. [Warren Commission Report, Appendix 11: Reports Relating to the Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Department](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-11.html). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
8. [Warren Commission Report, Appendix 13: Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-13.html). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
9. [Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (contents)](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report). U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964; National Archives. (court or official record)
10. [Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives: Findings and Recommendations (H. Rept. 95-1828, Part 2), title page and transmittal](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/title-page.html). 95th Congress, 2d Session, March 29, 1979; National Archives. (court or official record)
11. [Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations: Summary of Findings and Recommendations](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/summary.html). U.S. House of Representatives, 1979; National Archives. (court or official record)
12. [Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, Part I.A: Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at President John F. Kennedy](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1a.html). U.S. House of Representatives, 1979; National Archives. (court or official record)
13. [JFK Assassination Records, 2025 Documents Release](https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/release-2025). National Archives and Records Administration. (court or official record)
14. [Last of the classified JFK assassination files released](https://www.npr.org/2025/03/18/g-s1-54434/jfk-kennedy-assassination-files-classified-documents). NPR, March 18, 2025. (news report)
15. [JFK assassination records detail CIA operations in Cuba; no second gunman](https://fortune.com/2025/03/20/jfk-assassination-records-details-cia-operations-cuba-no-second-gunman/). Associated Press (John Hanna and Jamie Stengle), via Fortune, March 20, 2025. (news report)
16. [JFK assassination witness breaks his silence and raises new questions](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/10/nation/jfk-assassination-witness-breaks-his-silence-raises-new-questions). The Boston Globe, Sept. 10, 2023. (news report)
17. [Decades Later, Most Americans Doubt Lone Gunman Killed JFK](https://news.gallup.com/poll/514310/decades-later-americans-doubt-lone-gunman-killed-jfk.aspx). Gallup (Megan Brenan), Nov. 13, 2023. (news report)
18. [Jack Ruby sentenced to death](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-14/jack-ruby-sentenced-to-death). HISTORY.com Editors, A&E Television Networks. (news report)