← REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana
REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana
The JFK Assassination: New Evidence Reveals The CIA's Fatal Mistake
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- [00:00]
Luke Lamanna
Wondery subscribers can listen to declassified mysteries early and ad free right now. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for a crime that would change America forever. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy. An hour after the shooting, police found Oswald hiding in a movie theater and took him to Dallas police headquarters. There, Oswald faced off with a crowd of reporters, insisting he was innocent. He claimed he had been framed for a murder he didn't commit. Here he is, in his own words.
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Misha Brown
I'm just a patsy.
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Luke Lamanna
Two days later, on November 24, 1963, officers led Oswalt out of the basement of police headquarters. He was in handcuffs, headed for an armored truck that would take him to jail. Oswald was terrified. He'd once expressed his hatred for America to anyone he'd met. Now the entire country hated him back. Nearly 100 officers lined the ramp from the basement, all watching him like a hawk. Fifty reporters rushed forward to take his picture as he emerged onto the street, blinding him with camera flashes. Maybe that's why he didn't notice the burly man in the black suit until the man lunged forward right at Oswald and shot him point blank in the stomach. Oswald collapsed and chaos broke loose. Reporters rushed in for a better view while officers tried to restrain Oswald's attacker, a man named Jack Ruby. Oswald cried out as police officers dragged him back toward the station, blood now spreading across his shirt. Within an hour, Oswald was dead and crucial details surrounding the JFK assassination would die with him. It would spark a decades long mystery that we're still trying to solve today.
- [02:21]
Mr. Ballin
Hi, I'm Misha Brown and I'm the host of Wondery's podcast the Big Flop. Each episode, comedians join me to chronicle one of the biggest pop culture fails of all time and try to answer the age old question, who thought this was a good idea? Follow the Big Flop wherever you get.
- [02:37]
TJ Raphael
Your podcasts My name is TJ Raphael. I'm the host of Liberty Lost, a new podcast about who gets to be a mother and the control of young women hidden behind the veil of fai. Follow Liberty Lost on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:59]
Luke Lamanna
From Balint Studios in Wondery. I'm Luke Lamanna and this is Declassified Mysteries, where each week we shine a light on the shadowy corners of espionage, covert operations and misinformation to reveal the dark secrets our governments try to hide. This week's episode is called the JFK assassination. New evidence reveals the CIA's fatal mistake. November 22, 1963, became one of the most infamous dates in American history. On that day, President John F. Kennedy was gunned down during a motorcade tour of Dallas, Texas. When Kennedy took office in 1961, he vowed to move America forward. He promised to put a man on the moon, stop the spread of communism, and fight for civil rights. During his two short years in office, the future seemed bright. But three gunshots ended that optimism and helped usher in the chaos, unrest and violence of the 1960s. Despite being one of the world's most famous crimes, with nearly 6 million pieces of archived evidence, many questions remain unanswered about JFK's death and the man most widely suspected as his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. The mystery persists in part because there's still evidence that hasn't been released to the public until now. After returning to office in 2025, President Trump ordered the release of all remaining Kennedy files. Once fully analyzed, there's hope that the redacted documents will fill in the missing pieces of this dark puzzle. Today, we're going to dive into the story of JFK's murderer, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was just 24 years old at the time. We'll examine the parts of his past that make some believe he was the perfect assassin and others think that he was the perfect pawn. Above all, we'll hunt for clues to help us understand why a complicated man like Oswald would want to kill the President of the United States. Or why someone would want us to think he did. In April 1953, 13 year old Lee Harvey Oswald sat in a meeting room at the Youth House in New York City. It was a center where troubled kids were detained and observed. Across from him sat Dr. Renatus Hartogs, the center's chief psychiatrist. The 44 year old doctor pulled out a pad and pen and then asked Oswald to tell him what was going on. Refusing to meet the doctor's gaze, the boy muttered, I don't like to talk to people. Dr. Hartogs reminded Oswald that he'd skipped 48 days of school. He was in serious trouble and he needed to explain himself. Oswald bristled. He hated being bossed around, but he didn't see a way out of it. So he started to talk. He explained the reason he skipped school was because the kids in New York were mean. When he moved to the city from Texas last year, they had made fun of his Southern accent and his Levi's jeans. And besides that, he didn't think the school had anything useful to teach him. Dr. Hartog sighed he told Oswald he was making life harder for his mother. Oswald shrugged. He didn't have much love for his mother, Marguerite. She was self involved and distant. His dad had died before he was born and Oswald had spent his childhood shuffling across Texas and Louisiana as his mom chased jobs and relationships that didn't work out. By age 12, Oswald had already been enrolled in six schools and even spent a year in an orphanage. He felt less like a son and more like a burden. Most recently, he and his mother moved to New York to live with Oswald's older brother. But when Oswald threatened his brother's wife, brandishing a knife at her, he and his mother had to leave. They moved to a small apartment in the Bronx. Marguerite wasn't home much, so Oswald would often skip class and take the subway to the library or the Bronx Zoo. He tended to get bored easily, so he went out looking for adventure. His dream was to eventually join the Marines so he could see the world. When Oswald finished talking, Dr. Hartogs jotted a few final notes on his pad. Then he told Oswald he was going to give it to him straight. Unless he cleaned up his act and started going to school, he'd be stuck in youth houses for the rest of his adolescence. These words hit Oswald hard. The kids in here had committed serious crimes, like robberies. He knew he had crossed the line sometimes, but he wasn't a criminal. So Oswalt told Dr. Hartogs that he'd change. He'd play nice with his mom and go to class. But secretly, he promised himself that someday soon he'd break out of the system and make his mark on the world. Four years later, on a morning in 1957, 17 year old Oswald walked up to a row of lockers at the US Military base in Atsugi, Japan. He dropped out of school as soon as he was old enough to enlist in the Marine Corps. He was more than ready to escape his unhappy home and start a new life. Now Oswald was a Marine, a private first class. On a whole other continent. He worked as a radar operator, scanning for enemy Russian and Chinese ships. It was exciting work. But today Oswald was hungover again. He often spent his time off duty at Japanese bars and brothels. The women and liquor were a draw, but the ideas he was exposed to were even more exciting. He'd begun learning about communism before joining the Marines, but through his new local friends in Japan, Oswald went even deeper. After a childhood of constantly moving with his mom as she struggled to find a job, he was fascinated by the idea of a system that empowered the working class. But associating with Communists was a big risk, especially since he was currently active duty in the military. The US Was deeply entrenched in a cold war with the Soviet Union. Oswald didn't care much about the consequences, though he'd always had a problem with authority and the military hadn't changed that. He got into regular arguments with his superiors and challenged them to fights. He slacked on his cleaning duties and he often returned to base late at night drunk. But none of that compared to what he had hiding in his locker. Concealed under his neatly folded uniform was a loaded Derringer pistol. It was a personal weapon that he was definitely not allowed to have on sight. And that morning, Oswalt was feeling bleary. When he went to grab his uniform, he forgot that he'd hidden the gun underneath. He heard a metallic scrape and saw a flash of metal race toward the floor. He scrambled to catch the pistol in midair, but it was too late. It hit the ground and went off. Oswald heard a blast and felt a stab of pain. He fell to the ground, clutching his now bleeding left arm. He realized he had just shot himself. He had joined the Marines to see the world and leave his old life behind. But now it looked like his adventure was about to be over before it ever really began. Two years later, on September 4, 1959, Oswald stood in line at a government office in Santa Ana, California when the agent called him up and asked what he needed. He said he wanted to apply for a passport so he could go to Europe. After injuring himself with his unauthorized gun in Japan, Oswald was court martialed, fined, punished with 20 days of hard labor and then demoted. His drinking and insubordination only got worse. When he asked to extend his tour of duty overseas, he was denied. Oswald was forced to return to the US in late 1958. He started serving at California's El Toro Marine Base. But he was frustrated and bored yet again. After the Marine Corps harsh punishment, he became even more attracted to communism and was growing more cynical about the US in his downtime, Oswald began to teach himself Russian and read Soviet newspapers. In the summer of 1959, when he was up for reenlistment, he told his superiors he wanted to leave the Marines and expand his mind by applying to a liberal arts college in Switzerland. They were probably happy to see him go. After his passport was approved, Oswald left the US but he didn't go to college or even to Switzerland. In October, Oswald finally arrived where he was planning to go all along Moscow. He wrote letters to his mother and brother telling them he was starting a new life. He said their values were too different and there was really no point in him staying in touch. He was done with them and the United States. After a lifetime of moving around and failing to find a place for himself, he felt adrift. He was a nobody in his home country. But as an American defecting to Soviet Russia, Oswald would finally be somebody. This was how he'd make his mark. A few weeks later, on October 21, 1959, a Russian woman named Rima Shirakova stood in the hallway of a Moscow hotel. She knocked hard on the door in front of her. With every knock, her anxiety grew. The man she needed to meet inside was nowhere to be found. Rima was a guide for in Tourist, the state travel agency of the Soviet Union. They helped foreigners orient themselves to Moscow, but they also monitored visitors for the kgb. Rima's latest assignment was proving tricky. Her client was an American named Lee Harvey Oswald. And his trip hadn't gone how either of them had planned. When Rima met Oswald at the train station nearly a week ago, she took him on a tour of Moscow. She showed him cathedrals, art galleries and the Kremlin, a massive fortress surrounded by red brick walls that served as the Soviet seat of government. But Oswald shocked her by telling her a tour wasn't enough for him. He wanted to defect and live in Russia permanently. He told Rima that a life in America was unfair. The working class people like himself and his mother were treated like slaves. There was rampant racism and the economy divided society into haves and have nots. Rima did her best to help Oswald. Together they wrote a letter to Russian authorities asking permission for Oswald to become a Soviet citizen. He even offered to renounce his U.S. citizenship and share military secrets he'd learned in the Marines. But Oswald's request was denied. He was heartbroken when he was told he had to leave Moscow when his visa expired. Now Rima was waiting for Oswald at his hotel room so she could take him to the train station. But Oswald wasn't answering and Rima was seriously worried. Eventually she called the hotel security guards who broke down the door. Rima followed the guards into the bathroom and gasped. Oswald was lying in the tub. It was full of red water. He had cut his wrists. It seemed that if he couldn't live in Russia, he intended to die there. A year and a half later, Oswald was still alive and in much better spirits. The date was April 30, 1961, and 21 year old Oswald was dancing around the backyard of a home in Minsk for his wedding. His bride was a beautiful 19 year old Russian woman named Marina Prusakova. Oswald was living a totally new life now, one he couldn't have imagined while lying in that bathtub back in 1959. After his suicide attempt, he was taken to a hospital for psychological evaluation. He insisted that he was desperate to stay in Russia and his actions caused a stir for both American and Russian officials. Eventually, Soviet authorities decided they would ship him off away from the capital to somewhere quiet while still keeping an eye on him. Though he wasn't offered Soviet citizenship, Oswald was sent to the city of Minsk in the Soviet state of Belarus and and given a job at a factory. He was also given an apartment to live in, rent free. In his diary he wrote, I'm living big and I'm very satisfied. Oswald's Russian coworkers liked the novelty of an American Communist and Oswald liked the attention they gave him. He became much more social in his new life. He joined the factory volleyball team, went out drinking and dancing, and dated a few Russian women. In March 1961, Oswald met Marina at a trade union dance. She was smart and independent, just like him, and he fell for her. Now, after only six weeks of dating, they were having their wedding at Marina's aunt's house. As Oswald toasted his new bride, he said he looked forward to many happy years in Minsk. It's what he'd promised Marina when he proposed. Only the toast was a lie. Lately, Oswald had started to grow frustrated with the Soviet Union. Despite being a communist country, things weren't as different as he'd hoped. Oswald's co workers were poor and relied on state handouts. They needed government permission to do just about anything. Meanwhile, higher ups, like factory managers made far more money and enjoyed more perks. It seemed that communism hadn't solved any of the economic issues that plagued the U.S. the novelty of Russia was wearing off and Oswald's life was becoming as painfully average as it had been in the States. Despite his much more vibrant social life, he wasn't making a mark, he was just making do. No matter where he went, there just didn't seem to be a country where he fit in. It seemed they were all broken. And that's when he decided that maybe it wasn't about finding a system where he just fit in. Maybe it was about changing the system. And the only place he stood a chance of doing that was at home in the United States. Which meant he needed to uproot his life once again. He just hoped his new wife Marina would Forgive him and follow him.
- [18:13]
TJ Raphael
Today is the worst day of Abby's life. The 17 year old cradles her newborn son in her arms. They all saw how much I loved him. They didn't have to take him from me. Between 1945 and the early 1970s, families shipped their pregnant teenage daughters to maternity homes and forced them to secretly place their babies for adoption in hidden corners across America. It's still happening. My parents had me locked up in the godparent home against my will. They worked with them to manipulate me and to steal my son away from me. The godparent home is the brainchild of controversial preacher Jerry Falwell, the father of the modern evangelical Rite and the founder of Liberty University, where powerful men, emboldened by their faith, determine who gets to be a parent and who must give their child away. Follow Liberty Lost on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts in.
- [19:14]
Misha Brown
The wake of the Human Genome Project, a new era was dawning, one where medicine could be customized to your DNA and preventative care came to the forefront. And in this time came 23andMe. In 2007, this startup exploded onto the scene, promising to revolutionize health with a simple cheek swab. Now, nearly two decades later, 23andMe is filing for bankruptcy and selling off its most valuable asset to the highest bidder your genetic data. In the latest season of business wars, we put 23andMe under the microscope to discover how the most promising startup in the DNA revolution became a multi billion dollar miss and what this means for the future of your data security. Follow Business wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge business 23andMe's fatal flaw early and ad free right now on Wondery.
- [20:12]
Luke Lamanna
The following year, in early 1962, Marina was cooking in the Minsk apartment she shared with her husband. She set a plate of cabbage rolls in front of him, but Oswald barely looked up. He was scribbling in a notebook. He did a lot of that these days, and since Marina couldn't read English and he wouldn't translate, she had no idea what it said. It felt like a metaphor for their relationship. Her husband was a total mystery to her. It's true, they'd met and married within six weeks. But a year ago, the whirlwind romance made sense. She was 19 and he was attractive, well dressed, and crazy about her. She liked that Oswald was American, too, because she felt he might treat her better than a Russian man would. But there were some things about her new husband that worried her. Marina was part of a communist group. But she wasn't exactly into politics. She worried Oswalt's love affair with communism would end up being a fling and he'd decide to go back to America and leave her one day. So when Oswald proposed marriage, Marina said she'd only accept if he promised that he wouldn't abandon her. Oswald swore that he would stay. Then a few months later, he blindsided Marina by asking her to move to the US with him. He was tired of the Soviet Union and he said he had a plan to make a better life for them. Marina said she'd go, of course. She was in love and pregnant with his child. But a year had passed. She was a young mother now. She'd given birth to a baby they'd named June and they were still in Minsk. Securing the paperwork to get back into the US had been difficult given the dramatic moves Oswald had made to get into Russia. American authorities were suspicious about why he wanted out. The longer they stayed put, the worse things got for Marina. When people found out she'd applied for a US visa, they turned on her. She was kicked out of her communist group and her family stopped talking to her. All the while, her moody husband was becoming increasingly distant. They hardly talked anymore and he spent more and more time writing in his diary. Oswald finally put down his pen and turned to his dinner. Marina tried to sound light and teasing as she asked what he was writing about. Oswald met her eye. He had the strangest look on his face. A mix of desperation and relief. Marina thought he was finally about to tell her something real. But just then, baby June started crying in the next room. Oswald leaned over and kissed Marina. He told her not to worry about his diary. She should worry about the baby instead. Marina didn't know it then, but she was right to feel uneasy. That mysterious diary would one day be key evidence in a murder investigation for a U.S. president. In June of 1962, Oswald and Marina stood with baby June on the deck of a passenger ship as it pulled into the New York City harbor. As he glimpsed the Statue of Liberty in the distance, 22 year old Oswald must have felt a strange mix of bitterness and excitement. He was angry that it had taken a year to get approval to return to the US he had gone broke during that time and had to ask his estranged family for money to pay the fees for his paperwork. Even then, the US Only reluctantly gave its approval. The government had changed Oswald's Marine Corps discharge status from honorable to undesirable. He was sick of feeling undesirable. Still, this was another chance to change his fortune. Oswald wanted to turn his diary into a scathing manuscript that would give Americans a peek into Soviet life. In it, he would critique communism and argue that the world needed a new system one that wasn't communist or capitalist, even if he may not have been able to articulate exactly what it would be. He had vague and grandiose ideas. He also thought that once his book was published, he could bill himself as something of a political expert. Maybe even run for office. Oswald was ready for the spotlight. And as he led his family off the ship, he reminded Marina that she should expect a swarm of reporters as they lined up for customs. It was rare for an American to defect Russia and even rarer for them to come back. But when Oswald waited in line to get his passport stamped, nobody approached him. He was let through with no fanfare like any regular citizen. Like a nobody. Following his unremarkable return, Oswald and Marina moved to Texas. There, he hired a stenographer to adapt his notes into a book. But after two days, he ran out of money. He couldn't afford to keep paying her. So he abandoned yet another dream. Soon, Oswald decided he would need a real job to support his family. At this point, he was disillusioned and couldn't help but feel his life didn't matter to anyone. But Oswald would soon find out that he did matter to the FBI. On June 26, 1962, two FBI agents sat in an interrogation room at their field office in Fort Worth, Texas. They watched as Lee Harvey Oswald was led inside. Oswald gave them an arrogant sneer and the agents exchanged glances. They could tell right away this guy was going to be difficult. They'd been tasked with interrogating him by their partners at the CIA who were also keeping tabs on Oswald and Marina as they settled in Texas. The agents wanted to understand Oswald's state of mind. Maybe he was just a Communist sympathizer who had second thoughts but he could also be a spy for the kgb. The interview didn't start off well. Oswald was prickly and condescending. When the agents asked why he had gone to the Soviet Union, he deflected. He said he didn't want to relive the past. It was clear he wasn't going to talk about what drove him to leave the U.S. still, Oswald insisted he'd never gotten Soviet citizenship or past US Military secrets to the kgb. The agents changed their approach. They asked if he had ever worked for the FBI or the CIA. Oswald laughed. If he had, they should know eventually, the agents cut him loose. They were getting nowhere, but they kept him under surveillance for the next few months. They still worried that he must have a reason for returning to the US Something sinister he wasn't revealing. Maybe he was following the KGB's orders. Or maybe he was working on some dark plot of his own. In early March of 1963, 21 year old Marina hung laundry out to dry in the humble yard of her and Oswald's rental in Dallas. When they moved to Texas last summer, things were looking up. Oswald got a job at a welding company while Marina picked up shifts as a Russian tutor. They moved into a one bedroom apartment and she made friends with some Eastern European expats who helped her adjust. Then things had soured. Oswald quit his new job on a whim and left town to search for work in other cities. He couldn't afford rent, so he made Marina and the baby stay with friends, relatives, and while he roamed. Consciously or not, he was treating Marina just the way his mother had raised him. By early 1963, Oswald finally found a stable job and could afford to rent a place for all three of them. But Marina didn't enjoy his company. These days, Oswald seemed to want to keep her isolated. He discouraged her from learning English. And when he got upset, he could get physically violent. Marina's friends urged her to leave him, but she couldn't do that. She was pregnant with her second child. Hopefully, Oswald would straighten out soon. Marina took a deep breath and hung a cloth diaper on the laundry line. Then she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and then stifled a scream. There was a man behind her, dressed in all black. He had a pistol on his belt and a rifle in his hand. When Marina realized it was Oswald, she couldn't help but laugh. Clearly this was his weird idea of a joke. Though it was more unsettling than funny. Oswald looked annoyed. He told her he wanted her to take his picture. She told him not to be ridiculous and to change before the neighbors saw. But Oswald insisted and Marina finally agreed. She got the camera and dutifully took three snapshots. Whatever it took to get Oswald out of this outfit. On the night of April 10, 1963, Marina paced around the house. She was worried Oswald hadn't come home. She didn't know where he was. He definitely wasn't at work since he'd gotten fired for slacking and rudeness. Marina wondered if she could find a clue in Oswald's study. He spent most of his time in there, writing. He told Marina to never go inside, but Right now, she didn't care about his rules. As she crept into the study, she saw it. A letter on the desk in Russian with a key sitting on top of it. The letter was addressed to Marina. It said he was leaving her with what little money he had. Then it instructed her to throw away his clothing, but to keep his notebooks and papers. The key was to his PO Box. Underneath the note and the key were the photos of Oswald holding the rifle in the yard, Marina started to tremble. She knew that Oswald was about to do something horrible. She was about to start crying. When Oswald walked in, Marina gasped in relief. Then she saw his face. He was pale and drenched in sweat. He said, I just shot General Walker. Marina didn't know who that was, but she was horrified that Oswald had tried to kill anyone. When she said so, Oswald asked if she'd still feel that way. Had his target been Hitler? In Oswald's mind, Edwin Walker basically was Hitler. He was a retired general who served in World War II, but had become radicalized in recent years. He was ultra conservative and argued the civil rights movement was pro communist. He was also charged with insurrection and seditious conspiracy. After appearing at violent protests after the University of Mississippi was forced to admit a black student to Oswald, Walker would have been a prime enemy and needed to be eliminated. Marina had no idea what to do. Clearly, her husband was beyond reasoning with. Marina could have no way of knowing this, but Oswald hadn't actually killed anyone that night. The shot he'd fired at General Edwin Walker through a window of his Dallas home had missed and lodged in a wall. Oswalt would not be connected to the crime until more than seven months later. But Marina did know one thing. Her husband was gone. He had transformed from a frustrated activist into. Into a violent criminal.
- [31:54]
Misha Brown
In the first half of the 20th century, one woman changed adoption in America. What was once associated with the shame of unmarried mothers became not only acceptable, but fashionable, But Georgia Tann didn't help families find new homes. Out of the goodness of her heart, she was stealing babies from happy families and selling them for profit. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery show American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history. Presidential lines, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. And in our latest series, a young adoption worker moves to Memphis, Tennessee, and becomes one of the most powerful women in the city. By the time her crimes are exposed, decades later, she's made a fortune and destroyed hundreds of families along the way. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery. You can join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial today.
- [32:52]
Luke Lamanna
Hello, I'm Gordon Carrera, National Security Journalist. And I'm David McCloskey, CIA analyst turned spy novelist. Together we're the co host of the Rest Is Classified where we bring you the best stories from the world of secrets and Spartans. We have just released a series on the decades long battle between the CIA and Osama Bin Laden and this week we are still stepping into the devastation of the 911 terror attacks to understand how Osama Bin Laden was able to carry out such a plot right under the nose of the CIA. It was a moment that changed global politics forever, shifting the focus of spy agencies away from nation states towards hunting for terrorists and understanding the extremist ideology that drove them. We will then go into the decade long manhunt for Osama Bin Laden which culminated in a dramatic raid at his compound in Pakistan in 2011 which killed the world's most wanted terrorist. Listen to the Rest is Classified wherever you get your podcasts. Five months later, in September 1963, a jittery Oswald stepped off a street in Mexico City and into the Cuban consulate. He was there to make a life changing request. Since the Walker shooting, Oswald's behavior had grown even more erratic. Once again, he'd left his family with friends while he moved to New Orleans to look for work. But when he got there, he fell in with a group of activists. They were fighting to stop American meddling in Cuba, where the US Government was trying to overthrow its Communist leader, Fidel Castro. It seemed like everyone wanted to get rid of communism, but nobody more than President John F. Kennedy. Now in Mexico City, Oswald sat down with a Cuban consular officer named Sylvia Duran. Oswald told her that he wanted to move to Cuba to support the revolution and fight against the capitalist American government led by jfk. Privately, he was also figuring out a way to send Marina and his kids back to Russia. He might join them there later, or he might not. It all depended on how things went in Cuba. Oswald held his breath as he waited for Sylvia's reply, but she shook her head. It was a complicated bureaucratic situation. She couldn't issue him a visa. Oswald's heart began to pound. He reached into his coat and his fingers closed around the pistol he'd hidden there. He'd been carrying it around ever since he'd gotten to Mexico City. He was convinced that the FBI was following him over the last year, they continued checking in on him and had even approached Marina. But he knew a gun wouldn't help here. Relaxing his grip on the pistol, he burst into tears. He was begging now. He told Sylvia he needed her help. As Oswald became increasingly hysterical, Sylvia called for her boss. They threw him out. Back on the street, Oswald paced in circles. Once again he tried to take control of his future. And again he was rejected. Now Oswald had to go back to the United States, to the home he hated. But he wouldn't go quietly. It's impossible to reconstruct how everything unfolded on November 22, 1963 with total accuracy. But now that we know more about Oswald's actions and state of mind, here are the facts from that fateful day. The morning started out full of promise for President Kennedy. He and his wife Jackie were in Dallas to rally Democratic support in Texas. He hoped to announce a bid for re election soon and would embark on a 10 mile motorcade through downtown to give him the chance to greet its citizens. But Oswald was in a dark place. After his failure to get a Cuban visa, he moved back to Dallas and got a job at the Texas School Book Depository where he earned $1.25 an hour. Marina and the kids were still living there with friends. The night before, Oswald had begged her to move back in with him, but she refused. That morning, before Oswald left, he placed $170 in cash and his wedding ring on the bureau. A neighbor gave Oswald a ride to work. He noticed Oswald was carrying a long brown package. Oswald said it contained curtain rods. The neighbor dropped him off at the Depository. The building was downtown, right on President Kennedy's motorcade route. Around noon, a cheerful crowd buzzed outside the building eager for Kennedy's arrival. At 12:30pm Kennedy's convertible approached. He waved and smiled from the car while his wife Jackie glowed in a bright pink suit and matching hat. Many people had brought their cameras to record the visit. They didn't know they were about to be capturing footage of a murder. A clothing store owner named Abraham Zapruder was filming as three gunshots rang out and President Kennedy was hit. Another man turned his camera on the Depository building. His footage seemed to show a white brown haired gunman with a rifle in the sixth floor window, right where Oswald would have been working. Moments later, the city descended into chaos. Officers searched the sixth floor and discovered a discarded rifle. It looked identical to the one Oswald had taken a photo with earlier that year. When Oswald's co workers told the police that he had been on the sixth floor, but was not in the building. Now they sent out a notice to all officers. Look out for a brown haired man who they believed to be the shooter. Around 1:45pm A few blocks away, a man was seen running into a movie theater without buying a ticket. Police stormed in and found Oswald pointing a pistol at them. It took seven men to restrain him. When they got him into a squad car, Oswald protested. In his rant he uttered one haunting sentence. I haven't done anything I should be ashamed of. Then, two days after his arrest, as he was being transferred by law enforcement officials, Oswalt was murdered in public by Jack Ruby, a strip club owner and underworld police informant. Oswald died before he was ever properly interrogated, opening the door for decades of conspiracy theories. Lee Harvey Oswald and President Kennedy were Both buried on November 25, 1963. Oswald in Fort Worth, Texas and Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Soon after, a task force called the Warren Commission was assembled to investigate JFK's murder. After a year of exhaustive work reading his journals and interviewing Oswald's friends, family and seemingly everyone he'd ever met, the committee determined that he was indeed the killer and that he'd acted alone. Given what we know now about Oswald, this makes sense. He was an unhappy child who felt early on that his country was keeping him down. He dreamt of making a name for himself, but was constantly undermined by his erratic temper. He embraced new ideologies but felt betrayed when he couldn't make them work in real life. Whether it was in the US Or Russia, Oswald found himself unable to function or thrive within society. He blamed politicians and decided to change things himself. He took on the Persona of a rebel mercenary, starting with firing a shot at General Walker. Then he moved to a bigger target, the President of the United States. The years following Kennedy's death have led to countless conspiracy theories. Most have to do with the idea that Oswald may not have acted alone on that fateful day in Dallas. There might have been more than one gunman. Or Oswald might have been used as a pawn by the Mafia, kgb, Cuban militants or even the CIA itself. The CIA theory is especially chilling because it could explain inconsistencies in the Warren Report. The fact that the CIA never directly questioned Oswald in the early 1960s despite his being on their radar, strikes many as suspect. With all of their counterintelligence and covert manpower, it seems they could have done more to stop this tragedy from happening. With the Trump administration finally releasing the remaining redacted files in March of 2025, the hunt for answers has ramped up again. So far, the files have not changed the narrative that Oswald was the sole gunman, but there are more than 77,000 pages of new evidence. It may take years to interpret them all. It's too early to have anything concrete, but early reports do contain intriguing information, like the fact that after the Bay of Pigs blunder, which we covered in a two part episode, one of Kennedy's advisors felt the CIA had grown too powerful and had urged him to break the agency up. It's easy to wonder if higher ups at the CIA felt threatened and wanted to retaliate against the President. But of course, without evidence, we might just be falling into another conspiracy theory rabbit hole. We may eventually learn what really happened that fall in 1963, but it likely won't alter the tragic legacy of President Kennedy. Until then, historians, conspiracy theorists and the American public will continue to wait and see if there's more to the story than we were led to believe and whether these last documents may finally prove whether Lee Harvey Oswald it Was a killer or a patsy Follow Declassified Mysteries, hosted by me, Luke lamanna on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're looking to dive into more gripping stories from Ballin Studios and Wondery, you can also listen to my other podcast Wartime Stories early and ad free with Wondery. Plus, start your free trial in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey@wondery.com survey from Ballin Studios and Wondery. This is Declassified Mysteries, hosted by me, Luke LaManna. A quick note about our stories. We do a lot of research, but some details and scenes are dramatized. We used many different sources for our show, but we especially recommend the book Oswald Reconsidering Lee Harvey Oswald by Larry Johancock and David Boylan, the PBS Frontline documentary who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? And the JFK assassination Records at the National Archives. This episode was written by Amin Osman. Sound design by Andre Plews. Our producers are are Christopher B. Dunn and John Reed. Our associate producers are Ines Renike and Molly Quinlan Artwick Fact checking by Brian Pinant for Ballin Studios. Our head of production is Zach Levitt. Script editing by Scott Allen. Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins. Production support by Avery SIEGEL Produced by me, Luke Lamanna. Executive producers are Mr. Ballin and Nick Witters. For Wondery, our senior producers are Laura Donnapello Vota, Dave Schilling and Rachel Engelman. Senior Managing producer is Nick Ryan. Managing Producer is Olivia Fonti. Our executive producers are Aaron o' Flaherty and Marshall Louie for Wonder Read.
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Mr. Ballin
You know those creepy stories that give you goosebumps? The ones that make you really question what's real? Well, what if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest and most mysterious stories are not found in haunted houses or abandoned forests, but instead in hospital rooms and doctor's offices? Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, and each week on my podcast you can expect to hear stories about bizarre illnesses no one can explain, miraculous recoveries that shouldn't have happened, and cases so baffling they stumped even the best doctors. So if you crave totally true and thoroughly twisted horror stories and mysteries, Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries should be your new Go to weekly show. Listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.