Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody. Corey used bloody history. So today we're
Speaker 1: going to continue on with carry Thornley's Oswald Chapter four,
Speaker 1: Ozzy Rabbit and the Power of Laughter. Powers also testified
Speaker 1: that Oswald was reserved and seemed to be somewhat the
Speaker 1: frail little puppy in the Litter Report of the Warrant Commission.
Speaker 1: Oswald had what he conceived to be magnificent ideas for humanity,
Speaker 1: but in order to execute them, he needed power, and
Speaker 1: as a marine, as a private in the Marine Corps,
Speaker 1: he didn't have too much of that. Later he would
Speaker 1: carry out a secret plan that might put his hands
Speaker 1: on some levers of power, but for the present he
Speaker 1: had to use what little there was at his disposal
Speaker 1: in his own defense. As far back as he could remember,
Speaker 1: almost Oswald had been an object of ridicule. In nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty two, when he moved with his mother to New York,
Speaker 1: the other children in p. S. One seventeen tease them
Speaker 1: about his Texas Acte, and in nineteen fifty four, upon
Speaker 1: returning to the South, he found the children in his
Speaker 1: ninth grade class laughing at him because he acquired a
Speaker 1: Northern accent. And after he joined the Marine Corps in
Speaker 1: October of nineteen fifty six. Somewhere along the line, he
Speaker 1: got nicknamed Ozzie Rabbit. When Lee was very young, however,
Speaker 1: and first attending school, he was large for his age.
Speaker 1: A former schoolmate of his from that period asserted in
Speaker 1: a news story that Lee, due probably to his size,
Speaker 1: was the leader of the playground. He was popular, so
Speaker 1: when he came to feel the sting of ridicule, it
Speaker 1: was all the sharper by contrast, And while it would
Speaker 1: not appear that Oswald received much more ridicule than many
Speaker 1: children who find it difficult to adjust to new surroundings,
Speaker 1: that he was especially sensitive and tended to withdraw away
Speaker 1: from others his own age perhaps indicates that, due probably
Speaker 1: to his unsatisfactory home life and to the dominance courted
Speaker 1: him in earlier peer group relationships because of his size,
Speaker 1: he certainly did feel the ridicule more intensely than would another.
Speaker 1: So it might have been in those early days of
Speaker 1: his life that he came to give undeserved attention to
Speaker 1: his image in the eyes of other people. For if
Speaker 1: the opinion of others could so hurt him, then it
Speaker 1: was something to which he must pay great heed. Further,
Speaker 1: as time went on, it might have been that he
Speaker 1: extended this false premise to the point of creating his
Speaker 1: extraordinary view of history. Whatever the reasons, Oswald came to
Speaker 1: have an exaggerated concern for impressing it upon others that
Speaker 1: he was not a fit object of their contempt. This
Speaker 1: very common and extremely unhealthy obsession is usually expressed in
Speaker 1: the words people may not like me, but they are
Speaker 1: sure as hell going to respect me. In effect, such
Speaker 1: a desire puts one entirely at the mercy of others,
Speaker 1: be they rational or irrational. From this point on, the
Speaker 1: problem requires merely a logical extension. If I'm being attacked
Speaker 1: by a man with a deadly weapon, and if I
Speaker 1: am unarmed, the logical thing for me to do is
Speaker 1: to arm myself, possibly by wrestling the weapon away from
Speaker 1: the attacker. If that weapon is a gun, I become
Speaker 1: a gunman. If that weapon is laughter, I become a jester.
Speaker 1: And the thing I remember most about Lee is that
Speaker 1: he was a comedian. His jibes were usually directed at officers.
Speaker 1: At times they were at his own expense, perhaps in
Speaker 1: hopes that they would beat others to the punch. They
Speaker 1: were always witty. It was by his wit, even more
Speaker 1: than by his Marxism, that he chose to set himself apart,
Speaker 1: and likewise it was his wit that got him into
Speaker 1: the most trouble, though once again he appeared not to
Speaker 1: perceive that such was the cause. One of his favorite
Speaker 1: games was to compare the United States Marine Corps to
Speaker 1: the Society in nineteen eighty four. Be careful, comrade, with
Speaker 1: big brother's equipment, he would say, as we unloaded government
Speaker 1: owned gear from the truck. He would also compare to
Speaker 1: the officers to party members because of the special privileges
Speaker 1: they received. An analogous theme of joking was communism. Once
Speaker 1: when our section chief jumped up onto a truck fender
Speaker 1: and called for us to gather around and listen up,
Speaker 1: Lee exclaimed in a thick Russian accent. Ah collective farm lecture.
Speaker 1: He oftentimes referred to himself and others as comrade. Even
Speaker 1: when his witticisms had no direct relation to communism, he
Speaker 1: often nevertheless uttered them in his Russian accent. Other of
Speaker 1: his clever remarks fall into no single category. Often they
Speaker 1: were quite biting, though, and he was unabashed about making
Speaker 1: them loud enough so that his intended victims, even if
Speaker 1: they happened to be somewhat humorless officers could hear them
Speaker 1: in a group. Lee was a loud and boisterous person,
Speaker 1: making jokes or arguing the case for communism or both
Speaker 1: without reserve. Yet on a person to person basis, he
Speaker 1: was shy and reserved. I preferred arguing with him when
Speaker 1: we were alone, because then he was more inclined to listen.
Speaker 1: He didn't have a front to keep up. Without an audience,
Speaker 1: he would be He would more often admit he was
Speaker 1: wrong on a point, whether by intention or in spite
Speaker 1: of himself. He also projected pathos at all times. There
Speaker 1: was a certain sympathy getting embarrassed about him, And yet
Speaker 1: I'm sure he wanted it understood that he cared for
Speaker 1: no man's concern or sympathy, though not sure at all
Speaker 1: such was really the case. Despite the barbed nature of
Speaker 1: his humor, the total effect of his antics was more
Speaker 1: that of a clown than the satirist. His humor seldom
Speaker 1: became an effective method of offense. Usually it only achieved
Speaker 1: defensive ends. The exception was when he did encounter that
Speaker 1: occasional humorless officer than understandably he made the most of it,
Speaker 1: and understandably he ended up swabbing, raking, mowing, edging, or
Speaker 1: just picking up cigarette butts. Another aspect of Oswald's differing nature,
Speaker 1: depending on whether he was in a group or alone
Speaker 1: with just one other individual, was in relation to his
Speaker 1: real action to jokes fired in his direction. He didn't
Speaker 1: seem to mind being called Comrade Osvaldovitch, and in a
Speaker 1: bull session or on a working party, he seemed good
Speaker 1: natured about anything anyone said in fun about him. But
Speaker 1: my own experience indicated that he might have been different
Speaker 1: about such matters on a person to person basis. When
Speaker 1: I finally said, in reply to one of his complaints
Speaker 1: about the core, something to the effect of, well comes
Speaker 1: the revolution, you will change all that, he looked at
Speaker 1: me with an expression of pained surprise and shouted, his
Speaker 1: voice cracking, not you too, Thornly, while Oswald became a
Speaker 1: clown in the eyes of those around him, I'm sure
Speaker 1: this is not what he intended. He meant only to
Speaker 1: defend himself from ridicule, and if possible, used the weapon
Speaker 1: of ridicule offensively as a means of exercising power in
Speaker 1: his own eyes, he was two conflicting things. On one hand,
Speaker 1: and perhaps most deeply, while certain not most obviously, he
Speaker 1: was Oswald the Oppressed. On the other hand, he was
Speaker 1: Oswald the Great, the future liberator of the entire human race.
Speaker 1: Oswald the Oppressed was that faceless every man in the
Speaker 1: ranks of the human herd, whose life was thoroughly uninteresting
Speaker 1: except for its importance as an example of injustice. Such
Speaker 1: a picture of himself would adequately explain his fascination. For
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four, its hero, too, was a victim of oppression.
Speaker 1: Winston Smith was so oppressed, in fact, that he had
Speaker 1: a difficult time expressing him in self and writing, as
Speaker 1: did Oswald, Winston Smith was a hero victim with which
Speaker 1: Lee could easily identify. For many reasons, Oswald the Great
Speaker 1: was the hero that would issue forth from Oswald the Oppressed. Indeed,
Speaker 1: Oswald the Great lived within the shell of Oswald the
Speaker 1: Oppressed already, and that was necessary was that Oswald the
Speaker 1: Oppressed throw off his chains, at which time Oswald the
Speaker 1: Great would step out of the shell, and Oswald the
Speaker 1: Oppressed would be destroyed forever. But so long as the
Speaker 1: self image of Oswald the oppressed remained to haunt him.
Speaker 1: Oswald could not entirely convince himself that he was, or
Speaker 1: had it in him to be Oswald the Great, since
Speaker 1: his quips seldom permitted him to feel true greatness, which
Speaker 1: Oswald came to identify with true power. He could not
Speaker 1: escape knowing that he was for the moment Oswald the Oppressed.
Speaker 1: So finally his sense of humor must fail him all right.
Speaker 1: Chapter five, The Idle Warrior Experience. I observed US imperialism
Speaker 1: at work while serving in the Marine Corps. Quote from
Speaker 1: Lee Harvey Oswald. In June of nineteen fifty nine, I
Speaker 1: left m ACS nine for Japan. This is Kerry Thornley
Speaker 1: speaking as it happens. I was transferred to Oswald's old
Speaker 1: overseas outfit, MACS one. I'm telling you not coincidence, for
Speaker 1: the sake of all the Marine Corps stands for. I
Speaker 1: hope MACS one was unique. Never did I suspect there
Speaker 1: was anything like it. Defending the peace and discovering such
Speaker 1: a unit could exist was enough to give me dire
Speaker 1: reservations concerning the future of the United States. Later, MAACS
Speaker 1: one was transferred on paper to the States, thus starting
Speaker 1: life over as a brand new unit at that time. However,
Speaker 1: it was and had been for fourteen years, the goddamnedest
Speaker 1: excuse for a military operation ever to give ulcers to
Speaker 1: a kernel, it was magnificent. We arrived on the fourth
Speaker 1: of July and dragged our sea bags into the barracks,
Speaker 1: littered with beer cans. A drunken marine sat weaving in
Speaker 1: a chair with a broken bottle. He was cutting his
Speaker 1: own arm with it. That night, after taps, there was
Speaker 1: some noise in the barracks, and when the duty nco
Speaker 1: called for silence, he was booed down. At that time,
Speaker 1: the men of MAACS one had two things about which
Speaker 1: to boast. First, they'd believe it or not, just won
Speaker 1: a competition in close order drill for the entire Far East. Second,
Speaker 1: for the past three months they maintained the highest venereal
Speaker 1: disease rate on the base. The unit has been in
Speaker 1: Japan since the end of the war. Each month a
Speaker 1: new draft of perhaps a dozen men or more arrived,
Speaker 1: and about a dozen or so were sent home. That way,
Speaker 1: the outfit had evidently managed to maintain its salty wartime
Speaker 1: personality by assimilating new members and small lots According to
Speaker 1: the testimony before the Commission of William Stuckey, who debated
Speaker 1: on radio with Oswald in New Orleans, Oswald told him
Speaker 1: that the conclusive thing made him decisive, made him decide
Speaker 1: that Marxism was the answer. Was his service in Japan.
Speaker 1: He said, living conditions over there convinced him that something
Speaker 1: was wrong with the system, and that possibly Marxism was
Speaker 1: the answer. He said it was in Japan that he
Speaker 1: made up his mind to go to Russia and to
Speaker 1: see for himself how a revolutionary society operates a Marxist society.
Speaker 1: Speaking personally again, I did not find the conditions in
Speaker 1: Japan particularly bad. The Japanese people seemed to enjoy quite
Speaker 1: a high standard of living, and I find it difficult
Speaker 1: to imagine Oswald distressed by the economic conditions he encountered there.
Speaker 1: I cannot climb inside of another man's mind, though, and
Speaker 1: maybe Oswald saw things I didn't see. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: Lee may very well have been speaking of conditions other
Speaker 1: than economic. Far more likely he was speaking of what
Speaker 1: he called us imperialism. This subject deserves careful examination. What
Speaker 1: Oswald called us imperialism was direct outspring of the conditions
Speaker 1: of the barracks of MACS One, and I hope, to
Speaker 1: a lesser extent other outfits. He was referring to the
Speaker 1: conduct of United States servicemen and their dealings with the
Speaker 1: Japanese and other Far East peoples. I remember especially one
Speaker 1: heated discussion we had on the subject. I challenged him
Speaker 1: back to back up Soviet allegations concerning imperialism. This he
Speaker 1: became very excited as he alluded to his overseas experience.
Speaker 1: If you ever go overseas thornly, you'll see what I mean,
Speaker 1: he said, in effect, adding that my fellow Marines equaled
Speaker 1: any Nazi stormtrooper for brutality given the opportunity to get
Speaker 1: away with it. His face became chalky and as he
Speaker 1: discussed the matter, and he appeared to be genuinely sick,
Speaker 1: and so I did not press him for details. When
Speaker 1: I got to the Far East, though, I kept a
Speaker 1: keen eye out for US imperialism, and I soon saw
Speaker 1: that what he'd been talking about, the average servicemen not
Speaker 1: only resented being overseas when he could not see any
Speaker 1: good reason for it, he had little respect for native customs.
Speaker 1: Despite this, many men managed to behave in a civilized manner,
Speaker 1: while on liberty added deference for the fact that the Japanese,
Speaker 1: after all, were people and overwhelmingly very courteous, and that
Speaker 1: some few marine sailors, soldiers and airmen failed to comprehend this,
Speaker 1: though to them all foreigners were slightly subhuman. The results
Speaker 1: were sometimes tragic for some reason which I don't imagine.
Speaker 1: One would have to look very far, and ma acs
Speaker 1: One had a very large share of such men the
Speaker 1: anti Japanese sent him. It was especially strong in newcomers. However,
Speaker 1: in the course of fourteen months, due to exposure, most
Speaker 1: men have came to have at least a begrudging admiration
Speaker 1: for the little nip bastards. Although the anti foreign attitude
Speaker 1: was by no means restricted to Japanese when we went
Speaker 1: on maneuvers, it was applied indiscriminately to Filipinos and Chinese
Speaker 1: as well. I'll not attempt to go into all the
Speaker 1: factors which I think created this phenomenon, but the most
Speaker 1: important one was also the most obvious. You don't give
Speaker 1: a man six months training in professional murder followed by
Speaker 1: a half hour lecture on the importance of good conduct
Speaker 1: on overseas liberty and then send him out as an
Speaker 1: ambassador of goodwill. It was therefore with some justice that
Speaker 1: League came to feel that all the Marine Corps did
Speaker 1: was teach you to kill. In the course on my tour,
Speaker 1: I saw perhaps a half a dozen incidents of brutality
Speaker 1: on the part of Americans toward natives of the far East.
Speaker 1: These ranged from the beating beating up of taxi cab
Speaker 1: drivers to the droppings, on one occasion, of a garbage
Speaker 1: filled crate from a ship into an old man's back
Speaker 1: as a prank. I heard of dozens more, usually in
Speaker 1: the form of boasts. I called this sort of juvenile
Speaker 1: thing delinquency. Oswald called it us imperialism. Since my ambition
Speaker 1: had been for many years to be a writer, and
Speaker 1: since going to Japan was the first thing that had
Speaker 1: ever happened to me which I could then imagine as
Speaker 1: an interesting starting place for a book, I went there
Speaker 1: with a definite desire and indefinite plan to write a
Speaker 1: book about some aspect of Japan. As after my arrival
Speaker 1: I became increasingly perturbed over the juvenile delinquency I saw
Speaker 1: over the long range effect it was having on Japanese goodwill.
Speaker 1: I more and more came to feel the book I
Speaker 1: was to write should deal with this problem, as well
Speaker 1: as other things centering around the existence of peacetime marines
Speaker 1: in Japan, And at last, stimulated by a chance comment,
Speaker 1: I hit upon the perfect title, The Idle Warriors. Yet
Speaker 1: I still lacked an essential ingredient for a good novel.
Speaker 1: I needed a central theme that would tie in all
Speaker 1: the many minor themes I wanted to handle. One afternoon
Speaker 1: in the barracks after work, a friend of mine who
Speaker 1: had also been in AMACS nine, who had known Oswald,
Speaker 1: handed me a copy of The Stars and Stripes and said,
Speaker 1: look there, on about page three was an article about
Speaker 1: a United States marine who, after getting out of the service,
Speaker 1: had gone to Russia and requested Soviet citizenship. Of course
Speaker 1: it was Oswald. It was not until then that I
Speaker 1: really believed as commitment to Communism was serious. I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I wondered how he had come to this decision. I
Speaker 1: began to ponder the problem, and then I sat down
Speaker 1: and began to work on The Idle Warriors. I had
Speaker 1: my theme. So I'm convinced that the Idle Warrior experience
Speaker 1: played a key role in Lee's disillusionment with the United States.
Speaker 1: If it did, Lee was not the only victim. Many
Speaker 1: men became alcoholics while serving overseas, Sympathy with communist ideas
Speaker 1: was unusually popular. Others found an escape in indiscriminate sexual activity.
Speaker 1: A surprising number turned to masochistic pastimes, such as cutting
Speaker 1: themselves with broken bottles, biting chunks out of glasses, and
Speaker 1: arm wrestling with live cigarette butts between their arms. Others
Speaker 1: became thieves and saboteurs just for the sake of thrills involved.
Speaker 1: Riots were common, and subordination was ordinary. As explanation for
Speaker 1: this mass disillusionment, I have given consideration to several possibilities.
Speaker 1: Most prominent among them seems to be purposelessness and its
Speaker 1: two companions discussed in Boredom. Few men, if any, specially,
Speaker 1: understood why they were over there in the first place.
Speaker 1: Much about ma ACS one helps to explain Oswald's behavior.
Speaker 1: In MAACS nine, he had just returned from overseas, not
Speaker 1: too long before I met him, and as we would
Speaker 1: say in the Core, he wasn't about to get with
Speaker 1: the new routine Chapter six, Helping others. Oswald's underlying motivation
Speaker 1: happiness is not based on one's self. Happiness is taking
Speaker 1: part in the struggle where there is no borderline between
Speaker 1: one's own personal world and the world in general. Quote
Speaker 1: from Lee Harvey Oswald, I'd say probably not. I'd say
Speaker 1: Kerry Thornley probably made that shit up. Probably made up
Speaker 1: a lot of shit. As has been by this time established,
Speaker 1: Oswald was a humanitarian, but like most humanitarians, he could
Speaker 1: not be satisfied by giving of his own charity. It
Speaker 1: was owned to charity. He wanted his neighbor to be
Speaker 1: a humanitarian as well, or to put his wealth at
Speaker 1: Oswald's disposal so Oswald could increase his own effectiveness on
Speaker 1: behalf of behalf of others. What he really wanted, in fact,
Speaker 1: was to have the whole wealth of the entire world
Speaker 1: at his disposal, so we could distribute it along where
Speaker 1: in his opinion, just lines were in his opinion just lines.
Speaker 1: Beyond this, no humanitarian can wish for anything. There was
Speaker 1: no limit to the power. Oswald knew he would need
Speaker 1: to fulfill his unselfishness, so his primary function to become
Speaker 1: taking part in the struggle, and the struggle in politics
Speaker 1: is always for power. The kind of morality he accepted
Speaker 1: forced him to seek power. How does a recently discharge
Speaker 1: private from a poor family get power? That was his problem.
Speaker 1: It's not a problem with many all alternative answers to
Speaker 1: it that Oswald could dream up the idea of going
Speaker 1: to the Soviet Union as a tribute to his ingenuity.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he felt that if his communism was ardent
Speaker 1: enough to cause him to defect, and if he could
Speaker 1: give the Soviets a propaganda edge by means of his defection,
Speaker 1: and perhaps he could provide them with intelligence about the
Speaker 1: operations of the Marine Air Control Squadron, the Soviets would
Speaker 1: doubtlessly welcome him into their party. His disappointment at the
Speaker 1: first rebuff he received by a government official was enough
Speaker 1: to drive him to attempt suicide, and later it became
Speaker 1: clear to him that no amount of living in the
Speaker 1: Soviet Union was going to get him anywhere near living
Speaker 1: inside the Kremlin. He decided to return to the United States,
Speaker 1: where if he couldn't run for president, he could at
Speaker 1: least build the beginnings of power through political activity of
Speaker 1: various kinds. If Oswald's plans were unrealistic, his evaluations of
Speaker 1: the result they bore were not entirely so. After all,
Speaker 1: he was not entirely psychotic, and he had been. Had
Speaker 1: he had been, he probably would have been far more
Speaker 1: obvious and far less dangerous. He could not pretend to
Speaker 1: himself that he was successful in achieving anything when the
Speaker 1: evidence against it, combined with his wife's prosaic nagging, made
Speaker 1: simply an overwhelming case. To the contrary, The closest he
Speaker 1: came was in the desperate attempt on the life of
Speaker 1: General Walker in April of nineteen sixty three. In this
Speaker 1: assassination attempt, there is evidence that he was a good
Speaker 1: deal more cautious than in the Kennedy murder. For example,
Speaker 1: hid the rifle for several days after using it. He
Speaker 1: also told his wife he'd been planning to shoot the
Speaker 1: shooting for two months. Two weeks after the Walker attempt,
Speaker 1: his wife reports that Oswald said he was going to
Speaker 1: shoot Nixon. In light of the fact that Nixon was
Speaker 1: not in Dallas at that time and had no plans
Speaker 1: to be there in the near future, it is probable
Speaker 1: that either he or she was mistaken, and that the
Speaker 1: person referred to was Vice President Johnson. According to her testimony,
Speaker 1: Marina Oswald thwarted this plan. It is apparent that Oswald
Speaker 1: by now was well into the state of frantic despair.
Speaker 1: His political activity seemed ready to take any available form,
Speaker 1: no matter how dangerous or petty. Next it was the
Speaker 1: Fair Play for Cuba Committee agitation in New Orleans. And
Speaker 1: then he tried defecting again. He went to the Cuban
Speaker 1: embassy in Mexico. This is so fucking hilarious to me,
Speaker 1: because Carrie Thornley is the one who did all this stuff.
Speaker 1: He went to the Cuban embassy in Mexico City, and
Speaker 1: his path was blocked. But by now he had come
Speaker 1: to express his disappointment in anger rather than depression. He
Speaker 1: stomped out and slammed the door. There were other ways open,
Speaker 1: and sooner or later he figured he'd hit the jackpot
Speaker 1: or lose everything. His psychology had become that of a
Speaker 1: habitual gambler. In essence, don't think, just keep trying. You're
Speaker 1: bound to hit it someday. His tactics were often desperate ones,
Speaker 1: involving long odds, but without power, he could not live.
Speaker 1: For to live he must have self esteem, and to
Speaker 1: have self esteem, he must have respect in the eyes
Speaker 1: of others. As many others as possible somewhere, and it
Speaker 1: was to gain that respect that he was a humanitarian
Speaker 1: in the first place. It is safe to say that
Speaker 1: Oswald had long come to value the opinion of others
Speaker 1: on an equal or superior level to life itself. This
Speaker 1: is evidence in his diary entry of twenty one October
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, where he describes his own attempt at suicide.
Speaker 1: Step by step, presumably as he goes along gradually from
Speaker 1: his return to the United States on, Oswald begins to
Speaker 1: lose his perspective. He forgets what reasoning led to him
Speaker 1: to where he stands now. He only knows that he
Speaker 1: must have power or death. His humanitarianism is now in
Speaker 1: the background, as something to be brought forth as moral
Speaker 1: justification when needed. Everything else is forgotten in his concentration
Speaker 1: on the struggle, and there is no longer for Oswald
Speaker 1: any borderline between his personal world and the world in general.
Speaker 1: He has become totally selfless in this respect. Even the
Speaker 1: power is not for him is to benefit others. If
Speaker 1: Oswald has any remnant of selfish desire left in him
Speaker 1: by the end, it is for his own death. I
Speaker 1: often wonder how Lee Oswald would have reacted had he
Speaker 1: lived to be tried and convicted. Assuming, as I do,
Speaker 1: that he was the assassin, I imagine that before his execution
Speaker 1: he would have called a press conference, and, professing innocence
Speaker 1: in spite of everything, would have made an emotional speech
Speaker 1: prophesizing doom and destruction for Western society. His reaction would
Speaker 1: not have been much different from that of Christ on
Speaker 1: the way to Golgotha, saying, daughters of Jerusalem, weep not
Speaker 1: for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Speaker 1: Of course, on a connotative level, Oswald would have identified
Speaker 1: himself with Christ, translating this emotion into an identification with
Speaker 1: Socco and then Zetti, or with the Rosenbergs. On a
Speaker 1: conscious level, if he could not be Oswald the Great Power,
Speaker 1: he would be Oswald the Great by playing the role
Speaker 1: of Oswald the Oppressed with such an intensity that it
Speaker 1: would become interesting. By virtue of is becoming a victim
Speaker 1: of martyrdom then shortcut to respect, which, more than patriotism,
Speaker 1: is the scoundrel's last refuge. By the twenty second of
Speaker 1: November nineteen sixty three, Oswald is fully comparable to a
Speaker 1: vehicle without a driver. His breaks the fear of death
Speaker 1: will not be used for under pressure of his blind
Speaker 1: drive for either power or martyrdom, he has rationalized away
Speaker 1: or blocked out all that might hinder him. After the act,
Speaker 1: he will attempt to get a lawyer should he live
Speaker 1: so long. He expects to die fighting, though, for there
Speaker 1: was a pessimistic streak in Oswald the oppressed. Some may
Speaker 1: wonder in whose eyes Oswald thought he would gain respect
Speaker 1: by assassinating the president of the United States. I do
Speaker 1: not know the answer to this. I do not know
Speaker 1: whether Lee expected most to impress Fidel Castro, or the
Speaker 1: Trotskyite splinter group of the Communist camp, or the Red
Speaker 1: Chinese people or future generations. In this connection, it should
Speaker 1: be remembered, though, that he apparently took the anti Kennedy
Speaker 1: propaganda of both Castro and the Trotskyites seriously, that he
Speaker 1: was apparently convinced of the inevitability of at least a
Speaker 1: temporary communist world order, and that he was probably out
Speaker 1: to gain the admiration of as many people as possible.
Speaker 1: It should be further pointed out that Kennedy's assassination was
Speaker 1: in fact widely celebrated in Red China. Where could Oswald
Speaker 1: have found a larger audience. Others may want to ask
Speaker 1: how different Oswald was from the kind of man who
Speaker 1: actually becomes a man of power, a Caesar, Napoleon, or Hitler. Again,
Speaker 1: I cannot say was Oswald less in touch with reality
Speaker 1: than they, or was he just at the wrong place
Speaker 1: in the wrong time. Basically, I think the psychology of
Speaker 1: all power seekers is similar. In these foregoing chapters, I
Speaker 1: have endeavored to set forth the hypothesis which would both
Speaker 1: cover all the known facts and yet explain what thinking
Speaker 1: habits could have led as a well meaning, nonviolent man
Speaker 1: to self destruction and murder. The stage is now set
Speaker 1: in Oswald's mind for the ultimate act. Later, basing my
Speaker 1: conclusions on the aft foregoing hypothesis, I'll attempt to determine
Speaker 1: to some extent what Oswald was thinking as he prepared
Speaker 1: to strike. Chapter seven, Lee Oswald and Johnny Shelburne. Leeharvey
Speaker 1: Oswald was born in October of nineteen thirty nine in
Speaker 1: Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the son of
Speaker 1: an insurance salesman whose early death left Lee with a
Speaker 1: fair mean streak of independence brought on by neglect. After
Speaker 1: Lee's entry into the United States Marine Corps at seventeen.
Speaker 1: His streak of independence was strengthened by exotic journeys to
Speaker 1: Japan and the Philippe and scores of odd islands in
Speaker 1: the Pacific. Immediately after serving out his three years in
Speaker 1: the Marine Corps, he abandoned his American life to seek
Speaker 1: a new life in the USSR Rewritten from the notes
Speaker 1: of Lee Harvey Oswald, The Idle Warriors centers around the
Speaker 1: gradual moral disintegration of a marine who at last affects
Speaker 1: to Russia. In earlier drafts, certain sections were based almost
Speaker 1: totally on Oswald. As a matter of fact, Originally my
Speaker 1: main character's name was Lee Lee Shelburne. Later I changed
Speaker 1: his first name to Johnny. The book was not at first,
Speaker 1: and is not, now, however, intended as a biography of Oswald,
Speaker 1: to the extent that I was inept as a writer
Speaker 1: of fiction. The earliest existing draft tends to reflect Lee's
Speaker 1: character in places. After getting out of the Corps, I
Speaker 1: went to live in the New Orleans French Quarter in
Speaker 1: a working part time I there finished a typewritten draft
Speaker 1: suitable for submission to publishers. After two rejections, I took
Speaker 1: a second look at the manuscript and decided to need
Speaker 1: more work. I put it in a way to incubate
Speaker 1: and turned other things. In June of nineteen sixty two,
Speaker 1: I received a newspaper clipping from my parents, who knew
Speaker 1: of my interest in Oswald. It was headed ex Marine
Speaker 1: loses Love for Russia, and it concerned Lee's decision to
Speaker 1: return to Texas. Once again. I was surprised. It seemed
Speaker 1: unlike Oswald to ever admit he was wrong. At that time,
Speaker 1: I thought seriously about going to see him before starting
Speaker 1: that rewrite. He could provide valuable information. I wrote home
Speaker 1: in the fall, I'd like to go to Fort Worth
Speaker 1: for a week and talk to Oswald. There are many
Speaker 1: technical details on the psychology of communism and how one
Speaker 1: goes about going to Russia that I need for the conclusion.
Speaker 1: After considering the time involved the expense that had my
Speaker 1: detailed outline for the new draft of the book, he
Speaker 1: widely departed from any attempt at even a rough sketch
Speaker 1: of Oswald per se, I decided against the venture. In
Speaker 1: April of nineteen sixty three. I began rewriting during this
Speaker 1: summer that I followed during summer that followed, I did
Speaker 1: some traveling, working as a waiter to keep alive. In September,
Speaker 1: I returned to New Orleans, not long after Oswald's Fairplay
Speaker 1: for Cuba affair had hit the papers. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: he was involved in that too. That's why he's writing
Speaker 1: his book to put everything that he did on Oswald.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what the fuck's going on here. Oswald was
Speaker 1: still in town at this time, and he was even
Speaker 1: reputedly stopping in now and then at the bar where
Speaker 1: I hung out. Okay, so here he's admitting that they
Speaker 1: were in town at the same time. They were acknowledging
Speaker 1: that they were together at the same time in New
Speaker 1: Orleans at least during this overlap period, which is something
Speaker 1: he's always denied in the past. We may have passed
Speaker 1: on the street, but if so, we didn't recognize each other.
Speaker 1: Only after the assassination did I learn that Oswald had
Speaker 1: been right under my nose for over two weeks. Ah,
Speaker 1: two weeks. So there we have absolute confirmation that there
Speaker 1: was an overlap in April for two weeks before he
Speaker 1: leaves to go to Mexico City and then Whittier, California.
Speaker 1: Fucking dumb this guy. In November, I was working in
Speaker 1: a French quarter restaurant as a waiter one Friday afternoon,
Speaker 1: during the lunch hour, the rumor broke at President Kennedy
Speaker 1: had been shot. Shortly afterwards, as I heard that he
Speaker 1: was dead. It was a quiet afternoon, with the city
Speaker 1: in shock. There was no business. I sat with the
Speaker 1: other employees having coffee. None of us had a radio. Finally,
Speaker 1: another waiter came in for night duty with the with
Speaker 1: some news. They captured a suspect. What is his name?
Speaker 1: Someone wanted to know. The waiter couldn't remember. Well, someone said,
Speaker 1: tells us something about him. He's a former marine, supposedly
Speaker 1: spent some time in Russia. He It was like a
Speaker 1: guessing game for me, and I guessed the answer on
Speaker 1: the first try. Yeah, it's complete bullshit. He was in
Speaker 1: Dallas from the moment I first heard of his arrests
Speaker 1: until after he was gunned down by Ruby. I did
Speaker 1: not believe Oswald could be guilty, but as the facts
Speaker 1: came in the evidence piled up, I decided there must
Speaker 1: have been more violence in him than I thought. Still,
Speaker 1: let me tell you, it is a shock to see
Speaker 1: a picture on the front page of an evening newspaper
Speaker 1: of a person you once knew being shot in the belly.
Speaker 1: I didn't see Oswald slaying on television. I'm glad I
Speaker 1: missed it. Upon looking though, at a sequence of photos
Speaker 1: that included a snap of Lea just before he was killed,
Speaker 1: I noticed the same defiant little grin, perhaps a sinister smile,
Speaker 1: which he hid such a complexity of pain and confusion.
Speaker 1: Searching my memory and poring over the Idle Warriors manuscript,
Speaker 1: I began the job of post mortem analysis, which was
Speaker 1: to climax on these pages. Helpful in my autopsy of
Speaker 1: a soul were certain fragments of The Idle Warriors that
Speaker 1: were reproduced and discussed in the chapters to follow. All
Speaker 1: excerpts to appear here were written before the assassination. They've
Speaker 1: been selected not on the basis of literary merit, of course,
Speaker 1: but on the basis of their relevance to Oswald his personality, convictions,
Speaker 1: and behavior. When news of Oswald first began to appear,
Speaker 1: I wondered and how any man could have changed so
Speaker 1: thoroughly in such a few short years. A national news
Speaker 1: magazine called him a psychopath, a neurotic, a schizoid, a paranoid,
Speaker 1: and a probable homosexual, all in the same single column
Speaker 1: of print. Suddenly I was reading that he was constantly
Speaker 1: fighting with his fellow marines, and that in the service
Speaker 1: he displayed a conspicuous zest for physical violence. I observed
Speaker 1: no such traits that an appendix of the Warran Report
Speaker 1: had to be devoted to speculations and rumors, in my mind,
Speaker 1: argument enough that a good deal of fabrication and exaggeration
Speaker 1: was involved somewhere along the line. While Oswald had his
Speaker 1: psychological problems, I doubt he would have been found legally
Speaker 1: insane had he lived to face a jury. From the
Speaker 1: sixteenth of April to the seventh of May nineteen fifty three,
Speaker 1: Oswald was in the Youth House in New York. At
Speaker 1: that time he was examined by the chief psychiatrist, doctor
Speaker 1: Nauda's Hartogs. According to the report of the Warrant Commission,
Speaker 1: the psychiatric exams Nation did not indicate that Lee Oswald
Speaker 1: was a potential assassin, potentially dangerous, and that his outlook
Speaker 1: on life had strongly paranoid overtones, or that he should
Speaker 1: be institutionalized. It may be argued that anyone capable of
Speaker 1: committing the act for which Oswald stands accused would have
Speaker 1: necessarily had to have been insane. If such is the case,
Speaker 1: then the type of insanity from which Oswald suffered is
Speaker 1: yet so prevalent on this planet that it is today
Speaker 1: still within the category of behavior considered normal. Frankly, I
Speaker 1: agree that the man was sick, but I further think
Speaker 1: his sickness was in the long run self induced in
Speaker 1: the manner previously outlined. A direct effect of the post
Speaker 1: assassination hysteria was to make anything objective about Oswald that
Speaker 1: was published once it did appear seem to be a whitewash,
Speaker 1: For with his own faults and evasions, he was not,
Speaker 1: by any means as evil as many men who today
Speaker 1: pass themselves off as world leaders. At his worst, he
Speaker 1: was attempting to become one of them, and it is
Speaker 1: here that his psyche blends with that of Johnny shelburn On.
Speaker 1: The pages that follow all attempt to introduce those aspects
Speaker 1: of Shelburne which most resemble Oswald, good and bad. There
Speaker 1: is no attempt here involved to make of the man
Speaker 1: either a hero or a villian. The attempt is to
Speaker 1: report Chapter eight the mood of man, his difficulty in
Speaker 1: relating to other people, and his general dissatisfaction with the
Speaker 1: world around him continued while he was in the Marine Corps.
Speaker 1: Quote from the Warren Report in the thirteenth chapter of
Speaker 1: the old Draft, Johnny shelburn most clearly resembles Oswald in
Speaker 1: general attitude. The situation and incident involved are based upon
Speaker 1: my own experience when I was in the process of
Speaker 1: returning to the States for temporary additional duty in August
Speaker 1: or September of nineteen fifty nine. This chapter, here We
Speaker 1: Come was probably first written in December of that year,
Speaker 1: about a month after Oswald's defection, and it was then
Speaker 1: inspired by earlier records from my own day to day notes.
Speaker 1: For Shelburne's reactions, I was here drawing entirely upon Oswald's personality.
Speaker 1: The final draft of this particular piece was written in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one. No particularly Shelburne's feeling toward both the sergeants.
Speaker 1: He feels in each case that he's made a fair
Speaker 1: effort to reason with the man in question, but as
Speaker 1: is typical, he finds him to be oblivious to criticism,
Speaker 1: and therefore adopts a more fitting attitude of lofty contempt.
Speaker 1: Also important, in my opinion, is Shelburn's discussed at his
Speaker 1: own blundering and his inclinations to become peevishly resigned to it,
Speaker 1: as if it too were something entirely out of his control.
Speaker 1: All less significant, but equally valid. Characteristic in relation to
Speaker 1: a portrayal of Oswald is Shelbourne's expressed reluctance about leaving
Speaker 1: Japan according to the Power's According to the Powers testimony,
Speaker 1: Oswald didn't care if he ever wake to turn to
Speaker 1: the States or not. Johnny stood. This is from chapter
Speaker 1: thirteen of his book Idle Warriors. This this whole sections
Speaker 1: of quotation from the book. Johnny stood in front of
Speaker 1: the mirror in the men's room. Back in the old days,
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. He used to swear when
Speaker 1: he discovered a spot on his uniform or a dirty
Speaker 1: sock in his shaving kit, some Claud's idea of a joke.
Speaker 1: Now he just mumbled pretty typical and waited for the
Speaker 1: next undersized calamity. His garrison cap fell into the washbowl. Next.
Speaker 1: He was rather happy about it, after all, it could
Speaker 1: have been the kommode. He placed it back on his
Speaker 1: head and walked out to the waiting room. Lance Corporal
Speaker 1: John R. Shelburne, report to the information desk. The loud
Speaker 1: speaker said, pretty typically, he thought, what now, here's your order, soldier,
Speaker 1: said the smart ass Air Force sergeant at the window.
Speaker 1: Marine Johnny corrected, you won't be much of anything unless
Speaker 1: you hang on to these orders. Sergeant turned his back
Speaker 1: and went to work on something else. How great it
Speaker 1: would be not to be much of anything again. No
Speaker 1: silly uniforms to get spots on them, he dreamed, and
Speaker 1: no orders to worry about losing. A staff sergeant came
Speaker 1: walking toward him, a Marine staff sergeant. How's it going, corporal?
Speaker 1: Pretty typical, sergeant? You fine? I understand our flight leaves
Speaker 1: in thirty minutes. Good. All these airman type doggies are
Speaker 1: driving me nuts. It'll be good to get out of
Speaker 1: this rice eaton hole for a while. Well, if state
Speaker 1: side prices are still high, and if state side women
Speaker 1: still dressed like men, I think I'll be real happy.
Speaker 1: I'm only leaving this rice eaton hole for a while.
Speaker 1: You'll know soon enough. How long does it take for
Speaker 1: one of those civilian jobs to fly over the Pacific
Speaker 1: about thirty hours or so. San Francisco here we come.
Speaker 1: Then Washington, yep, then Washington. You ever pull liberty in DC? Oh? God,
Speaker 1: the sergeant said, rolling his eyes. Did I hear it's quite?
Speaker 1: The town is the town? Period? It almost sounds as
Speaker 1: good as Yokohama. Glad. Let me sit you straight. There
Speaker 1: are more women in Washington, and you can shake your
Speaker 1: stick at government secretaries and such all over town. Barracks
Speaker 1: full of them. I believe it'll be when I get there,
Speaker 1: so I can see it. The loudspeaker said, Flight seventy
Speaker 1: three for San Francisco via Wake Island, leaving in fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: That's us, the steph sergeant said, Get all your gear
Speaker 1: checked in, right, serge, come with me. The sergeant pulled
Speaker 1: a bottle out of the shaving kit and headed for
Speaker 1: the men's room. In the men's room, Johnny helped him
Speaker 1: transfer the contents of the fifth into a great number
Speaker 1: of shaving lotion bottles. Nothing like plenty of inflight refueling
Speaker 1: with vo flying fuel. The sergeant chuckled to himself as
Speaker 1: Johnny poured the whiskey through the funnel. Hey, that shore
Speaker 1: looks good. It was the air force sergeant from the
Speaker 1: information desk. Mind if I have a swig? Get lost
Speaker 1: wing wiper? Johnny kept pouring. Hey, corporal, who do you think?
Speaker 1: Shut up? Serge, said the Marine staff sergeant. Just keep pouring, Johnny.
Speaker 1: It was the first time the staff sergeant had called
Speaker 1: him by name. It was typical of something something vague,
Speaker 1: but still typical. There was no loud speaker in the
Speaker 1: men's room, and they lost track of the time. Submarine
Speaker 1: stuck his head in the door and yelled, anybody here
Speaker 1: for flight seventy three? Right here, said the staff sergeant,
Speaker 1: and he gathered up the bottles and dumped them into
Speaker 1: his bulky shaving kit. Well get going, Hell, they ain't
Speaker 1: gonna wait. Here we come. Johnny followed the sergeant through
Speaker 1: the terminal and out of the plane. They charged up
Speaker 1: the gangway. Got your ticket, yep, serge, got my ticket,
Speaker 1: got my orders, Got a coffee? Staying on my uniform?
Speaker 1: What nothing? The stewardess smiled, like a well trained robot.
Speaker 1: The sergeant got in his seat and tried to flirt
Speaker 1: with a young mother across the aisle. Johnny fastened his
Speaker 1: safety belt. Got your safety belt fastened? Corporal belt fastened?
Speaker 1: Orders inhaled and spot on uniform situation normal? What nothing?
Speaker 1: What happened to your hat? It looks like you dropped
Speaker 1: it in the commode. I wish I had I would
Speaker 1: have flushed it down. Johnny looked out the window at
Speaker 1: the runway lights. You know, Serge, this is all pretty
Speaker 1: typical of something. I don't know what. What are you
Speaker 1: talking about? Nothing, Sarge, not a goddamn thing. It was
Speaker 1: lucky the engines were revving up. It gave Johnny an
Speaker 1: excuse to yell, so Carrie throwing. He's like the most
Speaker 1: full of shit person ever. He was a perfect, perfect
Speaker 1: spook for the CIA. You know, it's funny because he's
Speaker 1: talking all this rebellious stuff and forget about the the
Speaker 1: the quotes here from the Idle Warriors, but what he
Speaker 1: was saying about his own attitudes in the Marine Corps
Speaker 1: like complete nonsense. Right, This fucking guy was a teacher's
Speaker 1: pet all through fucking high school. I don't even know
Speaker 1: that he fucking finished high school. There's some really major
Speaker 1: contradiction stuff over when he was in the Marines and
Speaker 1: what he was doing in high school. Right, I had
Speaker 1: in college too, You know, I think I narrowed it
Speaker 1: down to like a three month period. He could have
Speaker 1: possibly gone to college, like he said, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: But no, he was a kiss ass and then he
Speaker 1: was obviously such a cast ass that he got recruited
Speaker 1: by the CIA at the Voice of Democracy contest, right,
Speaker 1: So this guy is completely full of shit. All of
Speaker 1: us somewhat talk about rebellion against the Marine Corps and whatnot,
Speaker 1: and how communism was kind of prevalent, Like, fuck right off, dude,
Speaker 1: you're just making it up at this point. But that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for me today. Guys. We will pick
Speaker 1: up on chapter nine when we come back, maybe tomorrow,
Speaker 1: maybe on Wednesday. If you haven't picked up any of
Speaker 1: my books yet, please go out and do so. I
Speaker 1: would appreciate it. And that's gonna do it for me today.
Speaker 1: I will see you guys later