Was Lee Harvey Oswald a White Supremacist?

Lee Oswald had a father and brother who were both named Robert Lee Oswald. All three had been named after their idol, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General who fought to uphold slavery. It appears the Oswald family fought over the name Lee, each wanted the honor of being addressed as their childhood hero.

Lee Oswald grew up in the Deep South, in Southern cities like New Orleans and Dallas. These were some of the most segregated and racist cities in the United States at the time and undoubtedly had a strong effect on the young man.

When Oswald’s family briefly moved to Brooklyn, the Southern Lee Oswald was referred to as The Rebel, pitted against the Northerners he called Yankees. Oswald had a difficult time in the integrated Brooklyn school system and stopped going to school there. After joining the conservative Air Force-run Civilian Air Patrol, he signed up to join the Marines at seventeen, the only service that didn’t allow blacks in during World War II.

Lee Oswald’s California connections run deep. He went through basic training at Camp Pendleton Marine Base. He was stationed at the El Toro Marine Base in Irvine, California, before and after his trip to Japan. Oswald planned his trip to Russia from Orange County, obtaining his passport in Santa Ana. Few are aware that Oswald was immortalized by his friend in the Marines, Kerry Thornley. Thornley was a member of the anti-Civil Rights group, the John Birch Society and had no doubt of Lee’s real intentions.

Those who are confused about how Lee was able to get to the Soviet Union, commit treason, and return to the State’s without consequence might want to read my post, “Did the LAPD Send Lee Harvey Oswald to Russia?” After the Soviets failed to believe Oswald’s professed Marxist-Leninism, he returned to Dallas and became close friends with Robert De Mohrehschildt. According to Lee’s wife Marina, De Mohrehschildt became his mentor. She said Lee followed him around like a puppy dog. De Mohrehschildt was an interesting fellow who had the odd habit of welcoming people with the salutation, “Heil Hitler.” According to the Warren Commission, he once gave a speech praising Heinrich Himmler.

There’s no doubt that John F. Kennedy’s assassin claims that he was a communist. I suppose you can take his word for it, but I tend not to believe what murderers say. One of the more revealing things about Lee Oswald was that his favorite television show growing up had been, “I Led Three Lives.” It was about a double-agent who infiltrated communist meetings, but who was actually a heroic anti-communist.

Oswald started acting like a communist at the height of the Cold War in a place where communist hysteria was the norm. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Orange County, but it’s slightly to the right of Atilla the Hun. Orange County’s Congressional seat was held by a member of the John Birch Society. It was probably the most conservative and reactionary place in the nation. Orange County kept files on anybody who was seen as a threat, from alleged communists to labor leaders, to anybody they didn’t like. It’s hard to imagine Oswald acting the way he did there and getting away with it. It’s not as if you have freedom of speech when you join the Marines either.

You’ve got to put yourself back in those times to get a clear picture. As a teenager and young man, Lee was an eyewitness to the the Civil Rights battles being fought in the South. The early 1960’s was a period when Civil War anniversaries were being celebrated almost daily. The Confederate flag was raised and waved more fiercely against Civil Rights demonstrators than the American flag was waved against the communists. It’s easy to imagine the reaction of a Southerner, like Lee, seeing a Northerner in the White House who’s taking away state’s rights and sending troops to Alabama for the first time since Reconstruction. He would have been flabbergasted to see Martin Luther King marching on Washington and giving his “I have a Dream Speech”. He undoubtedly cheered when he heard about the the Montgomery Church bombing that killed four little girls.

Texas was a Confederate state, the last battle in the Civil War was fought there. There are reports that Oswald was seen trying to suppress black voters in Louisiana. Lee was the Deep South, probably the most segregated place in the country, a place where the lowliest of lows, men like Oswald, could feel superior to African-Americans and, ultimately, the President who he felt supported them.

After killing the President, Oswald was arrested proudly wearing his Marine Corps ring. Inside his address book was a number for Alexandria, Virginia. The number was for the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell’s outfit. After his death, his mother viewed Lee as a hero. She once said, “My son has done more for his country than any other living human being.” His grave is marked by a Christian cross.

It’s curious that there aren’t any books extolling the theory of Oswald being a white supremacist. There seems to be every imaginable theory out there in the thousand or so books on the JFK assassination, but none that I can find that asserts what I believe to be the most obvious theory of them all. But don’t believe me, believe one of the biggest racists of all time, Birmingham, Alabama’s sheriff, Bull Connor. Connor knew what he was saying when he called Lee Harvey Oswald, “a Southern hero like John Wilkes Booth.” There can be no doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald was a white supremacist.

Aaron Dahl

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