CIA Makes Science Fiction Unexciting #6, The: The Life of Lee Harvey Oswald

By Joe Biel and Abner Smith

An intimate, never-seen-before examination of the life and death of Lee Harvey Oswald. Where other would-be Oswald biographies focus on the immediate events leading up to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, here we have a full and panoramic look at Oswald's short, conflicted, adventure-filled life. Using exclusive info and newly declassified documents, CIAMSFU #6 puts into perspective a richly-detailed version of the Oswald story, from birth in 1939 to his historic televised assassination. This is Lee Harvey Oswald the husband, the son, the brother—a man whose personality profile differs wildly from the “Lee as lone-wingnut” theory crafted by the Warren Commission. Much of this info is seen here for the first time in print—info that does much to humanize the controversial and polarizing man. As the zine states, the most interesting parts of Oswald's tale are what's missing in the storytelling of previous versions. Packed with interview text featuring figures as close to Oswald as his wife and mother, CIAMSFU #6 shows us Lee as a confused Marxist, an employee, a soldier, a lover, a people person, a trouble-starter, a world traveler, a show-off, even a “real cutie.” This is a zine that tells us that while the events are from the past, the topics discussed are still heavily relevant. The tactics used by the government in this story are still being employed to this day; the lies and the propaganda are still being forced on us and will be so until we educate, fight, and change our way of thinking. Shocking, humanizing—whatever you take away from it—this is the most fascinating and fast-moving CIA zine to date. A great addition to this well-loved series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
• Release date: Mar 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781621062356

Joe Biel

Joe Biel is a self-made autistic publisher and filmmaker who draws origins, inspiration, and methods from punk rock. Biel is the founder and CEO of Microcosm Publishing, Publishers Weekly's #1 fastest growing publisher of 2022. Biel has been featured in Time Magazine, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Art of Autism, Reading Glasses, PBS, Bulletproof Radio, Spectator (Japan), G33K (Korea), and Maximum Rocknroll. Biel is the author of People's Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business, Good Trouble: Building a Successful Life & Business on the Spectrum, Manspressions: Decoding Men's Behavior, Make a Zine, The CIA Makes Science Fiction Unexciting, Proud to be Retarded, Bicycle Culture Rising, and more. Biel is the director of five feature films and hundreds of short films, including Aftermass: Bicycling in a Post-Critical Mass Portland, $100 & A T-Shirt, and the Groundswell film series. Biel lives in Portland, Ore. Find out more at joebiel.net

Book preview

Lee.

One

LEE WAS BORN OCTOBER 18, 1939 IN NEW ORLEANS to Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Sr. and Marguerite Frances Claverie. He had two older brothers, Robert and John. Their father died before Lee was born and Marguerite raised her sons alone. When Lee was two, his mother placed her three sons at the Bethlehem Children’s Home orphanage for 13 months—she was unable to support them. When Lee was five years old, his mother married again in Fort Worth but her new husband engaged in numerous extra-marital affairs and filed for divorce three years later.

Lee was withdrawn and temperamental. When he was 12 he and his mother lived with his half-brother John Pic and his wife. John was a Coast Guardsman in New York City. One day Lee arrived home at the usual time and blurted out, Mother, I didn’t go to school today…instead all day long I rode the subway out to Brooklyn, out to Queens. Despite their rocky relationship, Marguerite was proud that Lee would come home and announce this accomplishment to his mother. But Lee and Marguerite were soon asked to leave after Lee threatened John’s wife with a knife and struck their mother.

Truancy charges led to a psychiatric assessment and the psychiatrist described Lee’s vivid fantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power, through which he tries to compensate for his present shortcomings and frustrations. Finding a personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and passive-aggressive tendencies, the psychiatrist recommended continued treatment. During his stay at the orphanage, a social worker profiled Lee as being very detached, reading whatever books were available. He had a hard time reading but hung out in the library and devoured books endlessly. His figure drawings were described as impoverished. He was starved for attention but didn’t like being around other boys all the time and they picked on him. He didn’t like taking showers with them. He wanted to join the military. He talked to the psychiatrist about how much joy he found in playing with his brother’s three-month-old baby.

The social workers liked Lee better than Marguerite. They took copious notes about how she insisted on washing all of her boys until they were 11 or 12, at which point she couldn’t bear to look at them anymore. She expressed concern about Lee’s genitals in particular, explaining her fear that Lee’s were abnormal and doctors insisted that they were fine.

In January 1954, Marguerite returned with him to New Orleans. There was a question pending before a New York judge as to whether Lee should be removed from the care of his mother to finish his schooling, although his behavior began to improve during his last months in New York.

Young Lee had trouble spelling and writing coherently, but he still read voraciously. By age 15 he claimed to be a Marxist, writing, I was looking for a key to my environment, and then I discovered socialist literature. I had to dig for my books in the back dusty shelves of libraries. He wrote to the Socialist Party of America for information on their Young People’s Socialist League, saying he had been studying socialist principles for well over fifteen months. Oswald’s best friend at the time, Edward Voebel, gave a different impression, saying Lee commonly read paperback trash. Lee also started reading the Marine Corps manual because, according to his halfbrother, he needed to get away from the oppressive yoke of their mother.

In October 1955, Oswald left the 10th grade and worked as an office clerk and messenger around New Orleans. Planning for his enlistment, the family returned to Fort Worth in July 1956 and he re-enrolled in 10th grade for the September session—but he quit in October to join the Marines. By the of age 17, he had resided at 22 locations and attended 12 schools. He never received a high school diploma.

Despite only being at Arlington Heights High School for four weeks, Lee was the subject of three photographs that appeared in the school’s yearbook. It looks like this boy’s life has been supervised, said Marguerite, believing he was under surveillance his whole life. But it further cements her other statements—that he was, in fact, friendly and social.

{ Young Lee was frequently smiley and flambouyant }

In 1965, Jean Stafford conducted interviews with Marguerite for her book, A Mother in History. Of course, Marguerite’s favorite subject appears to be her son. Marguerite spent her life trying to correct his legacy. The Warren Commission’s 26 volume investigation discusses Lee’s childhood at length. Testimony is present for everything from his favorite board games to his fondness for playing hooky. It’s almost like the Warren Commission lays the blame for Kennedy’s murder on Marguerite more than Lee—citing how much she moved the family around and that she put her young sons in an orphanage. It would be hard not to feel a need to defend your own good name.

Marguerite explains, He loved sports. He played baseball. I watched him play at Ferrington Field in Fort Worth, Texas. He played on a team. He belonged to the Y[MCA]. When I think of all the things this boy did, how can you call him an introvert or a loner, or whatever they wanted to call him? From the composite of all the stories about Lee, it becomes clear that Lee wasn’t a loner; otherwise he’d have no one to impress with his inflated sense of self.