Lee Harvey Oswald: Psychological Profile and Criminal History
This paper examines the psychological profile of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man charged with assassinating President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Drawing on psychiatric evaluations, behavioral records, and the Warren Commission Report, the paper explores how Oswald's troubled childhood, absent father, unstable mother, and history of violence shaped his personality. Key psychological factors discussed include passive-aggressive traits, schizoid features, narcissism, paranoia, and impulse control disorders. The paper also addresses the mental health referrals Oswald received, the treatment he never obtained, and the criminological implications of his case.
- Overview of the Kennedy Assassination: Facts of the assassination and Oswald's arrest
- Oswald's Psychological History and Offender Behavior: Personality traits, ego, and domestic tensions
- Psychological, Behavioral, and Environmental Factors in Oswald's Criminality: Juvenile record, impulse control, and radicalization
- Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood: A Psychological Summary: Fatherlessness, isolation, and identity searching
- Behavioral Indicators of Psychological Disturbance: Paranoia, hostility toward government, and delusion
- Mental Health Referrals, Treatment, and Untreated Issues: Psychiatric evaluations and failure to obtain treatment
- Case Summary and Offender Profile: Warren Commission findings and Oswald's profile
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper integrates primary psychiatric sources — including Renatus Hartogs's 1953 evaluation — to ground its psychological claims in documented clinical history rather than speculation.
- It follows a clear, structured progression from the crime itself to the offender's background, then to psychological analysis and treatment history, making the argument easy to follow.
- The paper draws connections between specific childhood experiences (absent father, unstable mother) and identifiable psychological disorders, demonstrating cause-and-effect reasoning appropriate for criminal psychology analysis.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates offender profiling methodology by systematically working through behavioral, environmental, cognitive, and psychological dimensions of a single case. Rather than treating the assassination in isolation, it situates the criminal act within a longitudinal developmental narrative, showing how adolescent psychiatric evaluations predicted adult violent behavior.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a factual account of the assassination and Oswald's immediate actions afterward. It then moves through his psychological history in roughly chronological order — childhood deprivation, adolescent delinquency, Marine Corps service, and adult radicalization — before examining psychiatric referrals and untreated conditions. It closes with a summary drawn from the Warren Commission Report.
Overview of the Kennedy Assassination
President John F. Kennedy, aged 46, was traveling in a motorcade convoy when he was shot. He was riding in an open-top limousine passing the Texas School Book Depository in downtown Dallas at approximately 12:30 P.M. Also in the vehicle were Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, the Governor of Texas, John Connally (1917–1993), and Connally's wife, Nellie. Governor Connally was also shot and sustained serious injuries. Kennedy is reported to have died approximately 30 minutes after being shot. He had been rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
Less than 60 minutes after the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald — a former Marine — murdered a police officer who had stopped to question him on a street near his rooming house in Dallas. Oswald had only recently begun working at the Texas School Book Depository. About half an hour later, he was apprehended at a nearby movie theatre after police received a tip about a suspect. On November 23, Oswald was officially arraigned in court on charges of two murders: that of President Kennedy and that of Officer J.D. Tippit.
Oswald's Psychological History and Offender Behavior
Oswald was an angry and bitter young man. During his childhood, his mother failed to control his violent behavior and may have even contributed to his rebelliousness. Oswald was fixated on getting what he wanted, a pattern reflected in many similar case histories found in prison records. He developed a hatred for the world from a very young age and came to believe that he had to succeed entirely on his own. He also had to confront the reality that he was growing up without the maternal warmth he should have received.
People who knew Oswald described him as arrogant, aggressive, and secretive — and, to some degree, paranoid. According to his brother Robert, Oswald also enjoyed cultivating an air of mystery and drama around himself. From a young age, Lee showed an interest in television programs involving espionage and subversive activity.
Lee Oswald believed himself to be a person of great importance, and his wife frequently mocked him for it. That ridicule aggravated his existing anger and hatred, particularly given that he was already a deeply troubled individual. On the evening before the assassination, Oswald attempted to reconcile with his wife following ongoing marital disagreements. She rejected his overtures, which likely dealt a severe blow to his ego.
Psychologists have long recognized that people with low self-esteem often exhibit pathological traits and heightened aggression. Until recently, the role of narcissistic personality traits in producing similar effects had received less attention. Individuals with narcissistic tendencies think very highly of themselves and believe they are exempt from the social norms that govern others. This disposition tends to emerge when children receive either far too much or far too little emotional support during development. According to Dr. M. Kelly, Oswald's mother indulged him and overlooked his transgressions rather than disciplining him appropriately.
Oswald's therapist concluded that he suffered from "personality pattern disruption, passive-aggressive behavior, and schizoid features." He was emotionally volatile and deeply troubled from an early age. His psychological problems were attributed to emotional deprivation and isolation, the absence of a stable family environment, and rejection by his conflicted and self-absorbed mother (Hartogs, 1953).
Psychological, Behavioral, and Environmental Factors in Oswald's Criminality
Due to his delinquent behavior as an adolescent, Oswald was placed in juvenile detention in seventh grade for chronic truancy. During a psychiatric evaluation at that time, clinicians found that he maintained a "vivid fantasy life, centered on themes of power and omnipotence, which he used to compensate for his current frustrations and perceived inadequacies." He also exhibited "passive-aggressive traits" and "schizoid features." Before leaving New York for New Orleans, Lee allegedly struck his mother — not for the first time. He also threatened his sister-in-law with a knife during an argument. These incidents demonstrated severe impulse control problems, particularly when provoked by anger. He also displayed symptoms consistent with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder (Diamond, 2013).
By the age of seventeen, Oswald had lived in more than twenty cities and attended numerous schools. Raised by a self-absorbed mother who provided little structure, stability, or support, he was left largely to fend for himself. Seeking better structure and perhaps a path toward manhood, Oswald enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at seventeen. He trained as a sharpshooter but subsequently shot himself accidentally and was court-martialed twice — once for violent insubordination toward a superior officer and once for unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm, as well as for unnecessarily discharging a weapon while stationed in the Philippines.
Still searching for direction and a cause, Oswald became an avid reader, focusing on the Castro support movement, communism, and Marxism. He was seeking a sense of purpose, community, and meaning in a life that felt insignificant to him.
References
Ayton, M. (2016, October). Lee Harvey Oswald's motives. Retrieved from http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/motives.htm
Diamond, S. A. (2013, November 21). Why did Lee Harvey Oswald kill John Fitzgerald Kennedy? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/201311/why-did-lee-harvey-oswald-kill-john-fitzgerald-kennedy
Hartogs, R. (1953). Lee Harvey Oswald: Troubled youth; Oswald assessed by psychiatrist Renatus Hartogs. Bronx.
Warren Commission Report. (1963). Lee Harvey Oswald: Troubled youth. New York City.
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