Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was an American former U.S. Marine who assassinated President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. According to four Federal government investigations and one municipal investigation, Oswald shot and killed Kennedy as the President traveled by motorcade through Dealey Plaza in the city of Dallas, Texas.

Shortly after being discharged from the Marine Corps, Oswald defected to the Soviet Union in October 1959. He lived in the Belarusian city of Minsk until June 1962, at which time he returned to the United States with Marina, his Russian wife, eventually settling in Dallas.

Following Kennedy's assassination, Oswald was initially arrested for the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit, who was killed on a Dallas street about 45 minutes after Kennedy was shot. Oswald was later charged with the murder of Kennedy. He denied shooting anybody, saying that he was a patsy. Two days later, while being transferred from the city jail to the county jail, Oswald was fatally shot by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby in full view of television cameras broadcasting live.

In September 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy by firing three shots from the Texas School Book Depository. This conclusion was supported by previous investigations carried out by the FBI, the Secret Service, and the Dallas Police Department.[3][4] Despite forensic, ballistic, and eyewitness evidence supporting the lone gunman theory, public opinion polls taken over the years have shown that most Americans believe that Oswald did not act alone, but conspired with others to kill the president. The assassination has spawned numerous conspiracy theories.