I believe Oswald claimed he gave the housekeeper his real name, but she got wrong.
I can picture her getting the "Lee" part, then asking him to repeat it.
"My name is Oswald ... Lee."
"How's that, Mr. Lee?"
"Oswald [expecting her to take this to be his surname] .... Harvey."
Landlady unsure how to spell Oswald [thinks it's his first name] and writes down O.H. No problem, since she figures she got his last name right. Oswald likes Secret Agent shows, so he's happy he got an innocent "alias"; will throw off the "notorious FBI".
Naah. The Warren Commission covered this item in detail back in 1964. Page 314-315 says this:
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-6.html#investigations== quote ==
Oswald also used incorrect names other than Hidell, but these too appear unconnected with any form of conspiracy. Oswald's last name appears as "Lee" in three places in connection with his trip to Mexico City, discussed above. His tourist card was typed by the Mexican consulate in New Orleans, "Lee, Harvey Oswald." However, the comma seems to have been a clerical error, since Oswald signed both the application and the card itself, "Lee H. Oswald." Moreover, Oswald seems originally to have also printed his name, evenly spaced, as "Lee H Oswald," but, noting that the form instructed him to "Print full name. No initials," printed the remainder of his middle name after the "H." The clerk who typed the card thus saw a space after "Lee," followed by "Harvey Oswald" crowded together, and probably assumed that "Lee" was the applicant's last name. (See Commission Exhibit 2481, p. 800.) The clerk who prepared Oswald's bus reservation for his return trip wrote "H. O. Lee." He stated that he did not remember the occasion, although he was sure from the handwriting and from other facts that he had dealt with Oswald. He surmised that he probably made out the reservation directly from the tourist card, since Oswald spoke no Spanish, and, seeing the comma, wrote the name "H. O. Lee." Oswald himself signed the register at the hotel in Mexico City as "Lee, Harvey Oswald," but since the error is identical to that on the tourist card and since he revealed the remainder of his name, "Harvey Oswald," it is possible that Oswald inserted the comma to conform to the tourist card, or that the earlier mistake suggested a new pseudonym to Oswald which he decided to continue.
In any event, Oswald used his correct name in making reservations for the trip to Mexico City, in introducing himself to passengers on the bus, and in his dealings with the Cuban and Soviet Embassies. When registering at the Beckley Avenue house in mid-October, Oswald perpetuated the pseudonym by giving his name as "O. H. Lee," though he had given his correct name to the owner of the previous roominghouse where he had rented a room after his return from Mexico City. Investigations of the Commission have been conducted with regard to persons using the name "Lee," and no evidence
Page 315
has been found that Oswald used this alias for the purpose of making any type of secret contacts.
== UNQUOTE ==
[Here's the tourist card prepared by Oswald:
https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/html/WC_Vol25_0354a.htm - Hank]
[Here's where Oswald signed the hotel register as "Lee, Harvey Oswald" (right side of page):
https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/html/WC_Vol25_0353b.htm - Hank]
And it's important to remember that Oswald himself also signed the roominghouse register O.H.Lee. The landlady did not misunderstand him. Page 182:
== QUOTE ==
When asked why he lived at his roominghouse under the name O. H. Lee, Oswald responded that the landlady simply made a mistake, because he told her that his name was Lee, meaning his first name, An examination of the roominghouse register revealed that Oswald actually signed the name O. H. Lee.
== UNQUOTE ==
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-4.html#aliasesHere's the link to the rooming house register where Oswald wrote "O.H.Lee".
https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0148b.htmAlso, one needs to further remember than Marina asked Mrs. Paine to call Oswald at the rooming house, and Mrs Paine asked for "Mr. Oswald", and was told there was no one registered there by that name. Marina said this led to a fight between her and her husband.
Mrs. Paine's testimony:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/paine_r2.htm== QUOTE ==
Mr. JENNER - You are. absolutely clear about that. All right. Now, state, you began to state the circumstances of the telephone call. Would you in your own words and your own chronology proceed with that, please?
Mrs. PAINE - Marina had said, "Let's call papa," in Russian and asked me to dial the number for her, knowing that I had a number that he had given us. I then dialed the number--
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me, did you dial the first or the second number?
Mrs. PAINE - The second number.
Mr. JENNER - And that number is?
Mrs. PAINE - WH 3-8993.
Mr. JENNER - When you dialed the number did someone answer?
Mrs. PAINE - Someone answered and I said, "Is Lee Oswald there?" And the person replied, "There is no Lee Oswald here," or something to that effect.
Mr. JENNER - Would it refresh your recollection if he said, "There is nobody by that name here"?
Mrs. PAINE - Or it may have been "nobody by that name" or "I don't know Lee Oswald." It could have been any of these.
Mr. JENNER - We want your best recollection.
Mrs. PAINE - My best recollection is that he repeated the name.
Mr. JENNER - He repeated the name?
Mrs. PAINE - But that is not a certain recollection.
Mr. JENNER - I take it then from the use of the pronoun that the person who answered was a man?
Mrs. PAINE - Was a man.
Mr. JENNER - And if you will just sit back and relax a little. I would like to have you restate, if you now will, in your own words, what occurred? You dialed the telephone, someone answered, a male voice?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - What did he say and what did you say?
Mrs. PAINE - I said, "Is Lee Oswald there." He said, "There is no Lee Oswald living here." As best as I can recall. This is the substance of what he said. I said, "Is this a rooming house." He said "Yes." I said, "Is this WH 3-8993?" And he said "Yes." I thanked him and hung up.
Mr. JENNER - When you hung up then what did you next do or say?
Mrs. PAINE - I said to Marina, "They don't know of a Lee Oswald at that number."
Mr. JENNER - What did she say?
Mrs. PAINE - She didn't say anything.
Mr. JENNER - Just said nothing?
Mrs. PAINE - She looked surprised.
Mr. JENNER - Did she evidence any surprise?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes; she did, she looked surprised.
Mr. DULLES - You are quite sure you used the first name "Lee," did you, you did not say just "Mr. Oswald," or something of that kind?
Mrs. PAINE - I would not say "Mr. Oswald." It is contrary to Quaker practice, and I don't normally do it that way.
Mr. JENNER - Contrary to Quaker practice?
Mrs. PAINE - They seldom use "Mister."
Mr. JENNER - I see.
Mr. DULLES - And you wouldn't have said "Harvey Oswald," would you?
Mrs. PAINE - I knew he had a middle name but only because I filled out forms in Parkland Hospital. It was never used with him.
Mr. JENNER - You do recall definitely that you asked for Lee Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE - I cannot be that definite. But I believe I asked for him. Oh, yes; I recall definitely what I asked. I cannot be definite about the man's reply, whether he included the full name in his reply.
Mr. JENNER - But you did?
Mrs. PAINE - I asked for the full name, "Is Lee Oswald there."
== UNQUOTE ==
Marina testified to the same thing, that Oswald wasn't living at the rooming house under his real name:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/oswald_m1.htm== QUOTE ==
Mrs. OSWALD. No. After Lee returned from Mexico, I lived in Dallas, and Lee gave me his phone number and then when he changed his apartment--Lee lived in Dallas, and he gave me his phone number. And then when he moved, he left me another phone number.
And once when he did not come to visit during the weekend, I telephoned him and asked for him by name rather, Ruth telephoned him and it turned out there was no one there by that name. When he telephoned me again on Monday, I told him that we had telephoned him but he was unknown at that number.
Then he said that he had lived there under an assumed name. He asked me to remove the notation of the telephone number in Ruth's phone book, but I didn't want to do that. I asked him then, "Why did you give us a phone number, when we do call we cannot get you by name?"
He was very angry, and he repeated that I should remove the notation of the phone number from the phone book. And, of course, we had a quarrel. I told him that this was another of his foolishness, some more of his foolishness. I told Ruth Paine about this. It was incomprehensible to me why he was so secretive all the time.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he give you any explanation of why he was using an assumed name at that time?
Mrs. OSWALD. He said that he did not want his landlady to know his real name because she might read in the paper of the fact that he had been in Russia and that he had been questioned.
== UNQUOTE ==
It appears too many have been scared away from ever reading the Warren Report or the volumes by claims of how inaccurate it is by conspiracy theorist authors. It's not.
There is no mystery here.
Hank
