Oswald's 1959 passport application - explain this please, if you can

[Lance Payette]

Dan's thread about Oswald in Helsinki caused me to take a closer look at Oswald's 1959 passport application.

It is WC Exhibit No. 1114: https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh22/pdf/WH22_CE_1114.pdf

This document seems to be taken for granted in most JFKA discussions. Sometimes, the most conspiracy-killing clues are right under our noses and we don't even see them.

In March of 1959, LHO had applied to Albert Schweitzer College in Switzerland. In June, he had paid the $25 application fee. (He indicated that he would be attending the term beginning on April 12, 1960 and that he spoke Russian equivalent to "one year of schooling.") The ASC was a funky, obscure place, and I'm not sure how LHO even would have known about it. Greg Parker suggested that because Oswald was still in the Marines and would be on reserve status after his discharge, he needed an educational purpose to travel overseas.

On CE 1114, LHO listed his height as 5'11", thereby providing fodder for Harvey & Lee fans, but this is not our concern.

He applied for the passport on September 4, 1959, some three months after finalizing his attendance at ASC; his signature was notarized by the Clerk of the Santa Ana Superior Court. He attached a document from the USMC, also dated September 4 and also part of CE 1114, indicating he would be released from active duty and begin reserve status on September 11.

One mystery - to me anyway - is why he now listed study at the University of Turku in Finland as well as at ASC. WHY? How would he even have known the U of T existed? What possible purpose would there be for listing this? Do you think the State Department subsequently double-checked whether every traveler was actually visiting every country listed on the passport application? Hardly. If you have the ASC as your educational excuse, and you indicate you're only going to be traveling for four months, why do you need the U of T? Wouldn't this invite awkward questions as to how you're going to study at one school in Switzerland and another in Finland in the space of four months?

It's been suggested this was cover for his visa journey to Helsinki. But WHY? He wouldn't have needed any cover at all. Just list Finland among the countries you may visit, as he did, or say nothing about Finland at all. Moreover, how would Oswald have known that Helsinki was a potential "speedy visa" branch of the Soviet consulate (if it in fact was)? Was this published in some travel guide: "Go through Helsinki if you're desperate to begin your Soviet vacation as soon as possible." Moreover again, why would he have particularly cared if his visa were issued in two, three or seven days? In find it all bizarre and admit I have no convincing answers.

BUT THIS IS WHAT LEAPED OUT AT ME: In 1959, smack dab in the middle of the Cold War, he listed CUBA and RUSSIA among the "countries to be visited." WHAT? You're going to be a student for four months in Switzerland and Finland, but you may visit Cuba and Russia while you're at it? Who in his right mind, let alone a CIA-trained false defector who was still on active duty, would have listed CUBA and RUSSIA on a passport application? Talk about red flags - in 1959 and 2025 as well.

This is my point: A CIA operative about to be launched on a false-defection mission would not have included the U of T nonsense, and CERTAINLY would not have included the Cuba and Russia nonsense, on a passport application a month before his departure. Even if you think he was an unwitting "dangle," which seems the increasingly popular CT thesis since the false-defection one Makes No Sense, I find this impossible to explain. I explain it all as LHO simply being the incomprehensible, make-stuff-up-for-no-reason goof we Lone Nutters know and love.

When you cut through all the dark, cryptogram- and acronym-filled, wow-you-with-detail speculation of "experts" like John Newman and Bill Simpich, sometimes something as simple as this passport application tells you they have no clothes; they are butt-naked and spewing nonsense and hope you don't notice. It is to Larry Hancock's credit that he pretty obviously recognizes this and posits in The Oswald Puzzle that LHO was, at least until the fall of 1963, pretty much exactly who we LNers believe him to have been; I don't happen to agree with him, but at least this is what sane conspiracy theorizing looks like.

If you think you have a plausible, conspiracy-oriented explanation for CE 1114, go for it! "It's fake" will not be accepted.

[Lance Payette]

Addendum:

The State Department report, https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/finding-aids/mosk-59167870.pdf, states that LHO's passport was issued "routinely" on September 10.

"THAT CRAZY APPLICATION WAS PROCESSED ROUTINELY???!!!" you scream. Well, yes.

"HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS!!!" you scream. Well, no.

The procedures attached to the report explain that the local Passport Agency simply determined whether the applicant was a U.S. citizen. If so, the applicant's name and date and place of birth were sent by wire to the Passport Office in Washington. The Passport Office determined whether the applicant was in a "lookout file," more than 90% of whom were people who had lost their citizenship. If not, the passport was issued "routinely" even if the contents of the application might seem Rather Goofy.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Jean Davison, in "Oswald's Game", argues that it was part of his cover story for his defection to the USSR. If asked about the request for the Soviet passport he would say he wanted one as a sidetrip on his way to the University. She mentions that after his defection that Robert Oswald came to the same conclusion about it.

Davison: "After his discharge he was required to serve three more years in the inactive Marine Reserves. How was a member of the Reserves going to explain applying for a passport for a trip to Europe and the Soviet Union, without arousing suspicion?

Answer:

[Lance Payette]

Jean Davison, in her book "Oswald's Game", gives this explanation below. Shorter: it was part of his cover story for his wish to visit - a sidetrip on his way to the University - the USSR. She mentions that after his defection that Robert Oswald came to the same conclusion.

Davison: "After his discharge he was required to serve three more years in the inactive Marine Reserves. How was a member of the Reserves going to explain applying for a passport for a trip to Europe and the Soviet Union, without arousing suspicion?

Answer:

Much as I admire Jean's work, and specifically Oswald's Game, here she simply Makes No Sense.

Jean's explanation (repeated by Posner) did cause me to look more closely at LHO's March application to ASC. The full text is here: https://www.jfk-assassination.net/russ/jfkinfo3/exhibits/ce228.htm.

In the entry for "Plans to be pursued after the period at the Albert Schweitzer College (educational, vocational, professional)" LHO responded "To attend the short summer course of the University of Turku, Turku, Finland. Then to return to America and pursue my chosen vocation." This shows that Turku, like ASC, was in his mind six months before the passport application. I stand corrected on that.

The mystery remains as to why either of these obscure schools was in his mind at all - and why he actually went to the length of applying to ASC but did nothing to further his supposed cover story about Turku. Knowing what I know about ASC, I'm inclined to think the March application may have been sincere - i.e., at that point, LHO may actually have intended to attend ASC and possibly even Turku.

I'm really not following the "cover story" angle at all, let alone an "elaborate" cover story. The passport application was buried in the files of the Passport Agency in Los Angeles and was not going to provide a cover story for anything - Finland or Russia. You don't need a "cover story" to get a passport. You just need to be a U.S. citizen (and perhaps an educational purpose if you're in the reserves - which the application to ASC provided). He could've put that he intended to visit India and study at the University of New Delhi. (Any issue about the purpose of his travel would have been with the Marines, not the Passport Office.)

Your U.S. passport is either sufficient in itself for a short tourist visit to some countries or you will need a tourist visa from the country. You likewise don't need a "cover story" for a tourist visa. It appears that his 1959 passport was simply stamped (on page 7) in both England and Finland - no big deal.

His application to the ASC was in a file cabinet at the office of the ASC, so it was not going to provide a cover story for a visit to Finland either. He may have had the correspondence he had received back from ASC, see https://natedsanders.com/lee-harvey-oswald-signed-application-to-albert-schweitzer-college-in-1959----upon-acceptance-to-the--lot9816.aspx, but this was not going to provide a cover story for being in either Finland or wanting to go to Russia (Finland is 1,300 miles from ASC). This is why I'm inclined to think the March application may have been sincere. If this were all part of a scheme to concoct an elaborate - but completely unnecessary - cover story, why would he not have established at least some paper trail with Turku as well as ASC since Turku was far more relevant to his visit to Helsinki than was ASC?

To repeat: He didn't need any cover story at all for traveling as a tourist to Finland or telling the Soviet Consulate he wanted to travel as a tourist to Russia. The ASC application and passport application would not have been available to him and would have added precisely nothing anyway. What Jean Davison says, alas, Makes No Sense At All. Why would anyone "question him" as Jean suggests? And if they did, all he had to say was "I'm here for a few days as a tourist." End of discussion.

And this still leaves us with my fundamental question: Why would anyone acting under the guidance of the CIA indicate on a passport application, for utterly no reason, that he intended to visit Cuba and Russia??? You will note that Jean overlooks this rather screaming issue; it appears to me that she fell into the trap of feeling she needed to "explain" everything LHO did and in this instance overthought the issue and overlooked the more obvious implications.

Somewhat weirdly, Cuba is right at the top of his list of countries and Russia at the very bottom - almost as if to shout "Look at this red flag! I dare you to ask me about it!" I see the plausible answer as being, "This was goofball Oswald just being goofball Oswald - the same goof who played Russian music and openly read Russian magazines in his Marine barracks." No great mystery, no elaborate cover story, just Oswald being Oswald.

Yes, I think he did intend to defect, at least by the time of his passport application. But I also think he had a psychological quirk whereby he enjoyed flaunting his Marxist Me in the face of others for its shock value. That's all I think the passport application was: Oswald being Oswald. It does, however, pretty well kill any notion that he was functioning as a mysterious CIA operative when he applied for his passport.

[Lance Payette]

Apparently the CTers have been rendered speechless, or do CTers perhaps take Sundays off?

Anyway, here are some concluding thoughts and then I'm done with this issue:

This is how utterly obscure Albert Schweitzer College was: In 1960, it was unknown to the Swiss authorities, and they had to work to verify its existence for the FBI. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32123898.pdf Here is a long (and IMO tedious) piece by Greg Parker speculating that LHO may have heard about ASC from Kerry Thornley or possibly his own juvenile connections with Unitarians. (LHO met Thornley just about the time he applied to ASC.) Suffice it to say, ASC was a tiny, very liberal, politically and philosophically oriented school that might well have been attractive to the idealistic LHO who would later write the utopian "Atheian System." (LHO must have told Marguerite he would be attending ASC because in June 1960 she wrote to the school asking if they had heard from him.)

I find it plausible that in March of 1959 LHO actually did intend to attend ASC. If this was simply an excuse for later overseas travel, it seems odd that he would have picked such an extremely obscure school. Possible, but odd.

Greg Parker’s theory is that because LHO was released from active duty three months early in September of 1959, he would’ve been subject to the same travel restrictions as those on active duty for the three months (i.e., even while on reserve status) and that an educational purpose (i.e., ASC) would have allowed overseas travel. I was unable to verify that this is true, but even if it is it would have nothing directly to do with listing ASC and Turku on his passport application. This would have been a “USMC” issue, not a “passport” issue (i.e., he would’ve requested approval from the Marines, which he apparently did not, the Passport Office having no interest in the matter). It also seems unlikely that he would’ve been thinking this far ahead when he applied to the ASC in March. Well, whatever.

The always-infallible (not) AI tells me that Americans did not require visas for short tourist stays in Finland in the 1950s. I couldn’t confirm this with more reliable sources, but it has been true for years and would be consistent with Oswald’s passport simply being stamped upon his arrival and departure. Well, whatever.

Bottom line, I cannot make sense of the theory that LHO was creating a “cover story” with his application to ASC and later passport application unless he completely misunderstood what the requirements were and thought he might need a cover story; even if this were true, only the application to ASC would have made any sense since he would at least have had documentation of it.

We are still left with the question as to why, no matter what was going on, he would’ve listed Cuba and Russia on a passport application for study at ASC in Switzerland. No CIA operative would have done anything this completely unnecessary and unnecessarily risky - would he? To me, it really makes no sense at all in any context other than Goofy Oswald being Goofy Oswald.

[Charles Collins]

It appears to me that LHO was a meticulous planner. His planning for the attempted Walker assassination seems to me to be a good example of him over-planning, although also for being prudent to help avoid being caught. Perhaps his planning for his defection was also over-planned to provide some contingencies. Or maybe just some diversions to confuse things a bit. His use of his alias Hidell might be another example of an attempt to confuse or deceive and try to “cover his tracks.”

Anyway, I have often thought that his imprisonment in the brig in the Marines would have been likely to affect him and his inflated ego profoundly. Maybe he decided during his imprisonment to become the enemy of the people who imprisoned him. Some of the language in some of his letters to his brother Robert seem to confirm those types of feelings. Here is a timeline from that period in time:

April 11, 1958: LHO is court-martialed for the first time for illegal possession of a firearm.
 
June 27, 1958: LHO is court-martialed for the second time for assaulting a superior and
sentenced to the brig.
 
August 13, 1958: LHO is released from confinement.
 
September 14, 1958: LHO and his unit sail for the South China Sea.
 
September, 1958: LHO's unit arrives in Taiwan, where he suffers a nervous breakdown
and is sent back to Japan.
 
October 5, 1958: LHO arrives in Atsugi.
 
October 6, 1958: LHO is put on general duty.
 
October 31, 1958: LHO receives his last overseas rating, a 4.0.
 
November 2, 1958: LHO departs Japan.
 
November 15, 1958: He arrives in San Francisco.
 
November 19, 1958: LHO takes 30 days leave.
 
December 22, 1958: LHO is assigned once again to El Toro, this time with MACS-9.
 
January, 1959: LHO is given his semi-annual ratings, which are average.
 
February 25, 1959: LHO requests a foreign language test in Russian and scores "poor".
 
March 9, 1959: LHO is promoted to Private 1st Class again.
 
March 19, 1959: LHO applies to the Albert Schweitzer College in Switzerland.
 
Spring, 1959: LHO meets Kerry Thornley, who often engaged him in political debate and
years later would write a book based on him.
 
June 19, 1959: LHO forwards a $25 registration fee to the Albert Schweitzer College.
 
July, 1959: LHO is given his semi-annual ratings, which are average.
 
August 17, 1959: LHO requests a dependency discharge because of an injury sustained
by his mother.


The nervous breakdown appears to me to be indicative that LHO no longer wanted to serve in the USMC. They were now “his enemy.”
 

[Tom Graves]

When you cut through all the dark, cryptogram- and acronym-filled, wow-you-with-detail speculation of "experts" like John Newman [...], sometimes something as simple as this passport application tells you they have no clothes; they are butt-naked and spewing nonsense and hope you don't notice.

Dear Lance,

You raise an interesting point regarding ASC and UT.

Regardless, how are we to explain the fact that none of the incoming non-CIA cables (e.g., from State and Navy) about former U-2 radar operator Oswald's defection went to where they would normally go -- the Soviet Russia Division -- but instead to the office of C/RB/SRS/OS Bruce Leonard Solie (who had access to the U-2's specifications; look him up) in the CIA's mole-hunting Office of Security, and disappeared into a "black hole" for at least six weeks about a year-and-a-half after CIA's spy, GRU Lt. Col. Pyotr Popov, allegedly told his (probable KGB "mole") handler, Russia-born George Kisevalter, in April 1958 in West Berlin, that he'd recently overheard a drunken GRU colonel boast that the Kremlin had all the top-secret specifications of the U-2?

Which routing changes had to be arranged in advance with the Records Integration Division and the Office of Mail Logistics.

-- Tom

PS Perhaps you should start reading my 280 free-to-read articles at Substack under my "banner," "How the KGB Zombified the CIA and the KGB."

FWIW, Tracy and Fred already are.

[John Mytton]

It appears to me that LHO was a meticulous planner. His planning for the attempted Walker assassination seems to me to be a good example of him over-planning, although also for being prudent to help avoid being caught. Perhaps his planning for his defection was also over-planned to provide some contingencies. Or maybe just some diversions to confuse things a bit. His use of his alias Hidell might be another example of an attempt to confuse or deceive and try to “cover his tracks.”

Anyway, I have often thought that his imprisonment in the brig in the Marines would have been likely to affect him and his inflated ego profoundly. Maybe he decided during his imprisonment to become the enemy of the people who imprisoned him. Some of the language in some of his letters to his brother Robert seem to confirm those types of feelings. Here is a timeline from that period in time:

April 11, 1958: LHO is court-martialed for the first time for illegal possession of a firearm.
 
June 27, 1958: LHO is court-martialed for the second time for assaulting a superior and
sentenced to the brig.
 
August 13, 1958: LHO is released from confinement.
 
September 14, 1958: LHO and his unit sail for the South China Sea.
 
September, 1958: LHO's unit arrives in Taiwan, where he suffers a nervous breakdown
and is sent back to Japan.
 
October 5, 1958: LHO arrives in Atsugi.
 
October 6, 1958: LHO is put on general duty.
 
October 31, 1958: LHO receives his last overseas rating, a 4.0.
 
November 2, 1958: LHO departs Japan.
 
November 15, 1958: He arrives in San Francisco.
 
November 19, 1958: LHO takes 30 days leave.
 
December 22, 1958: LHO is assigned once again to El Toro, this time with MACS-9.
 
January, 1959: LHO is given his semi-annual ratings, which are average.
 
February 25, 1959: LHO requests a foreign language test in Russian and scores "poor".
 
March 9, 1959: LHO is promoted to Private 1st Class again.
 
March 19, 1959: LHO applies to the Albert Schweitzer College in Switzerland.
 
Spring, 1959: LHO meets Kerry Thornley, who often engaged him in political debate and
years later would write a book based on him.
 
June 19, 1959: LHO forwards a $25 registration fee to the Albert Schweitzer College.
 
July, 1959: LHO is given his semi-annual ratings, which are average.
 
August 17, 1959: LHO requests a dependency discharge because of an injury sustained
by his mother.


The nervous breakdown appears to me to be indicative that LHO no longer wanted to serve in the USMC. They were now “his enemy.”

Thanks, there's some interesting facts here.

Oswald was 18 when he had a nervous breakdown and along with being diagnosed earlier with psychological problems which required Professional help, which by the way he never received, paints a picture of a troubled, possibly unhinged young man. I wonder if he got that help, then Oswald's assassination attempt on General Walker, the successful attempt on the President and the cold blooded killing of Tippit, might never have happened? Or was his solution of violence his only answer? I suppose if you ask Marina his wife who copped a hiding, she'd probably agree?

Also Oswald's premeditated attempt on Walker's life was as you say meticulously planned, Oswald ordered a rifle under an alias and just days before Oswald posted the order, he took surveillance photos of Walkers house, the position he planned to take the shot, the railway tracks where he planned to bury the rifle and in addition, Oswald had a map of General Walker's location all of which he filed in a notebook. Oswald was into James Bond novels which he borrowed from the library "Goldfinger", "Thunderball", "Moonraker", and "From Russia, with Love" and two paperbacks "Live and Let Die" and "The Spy Who Loved Me" which he had in his possessions. Did Oswald pretend he was a secret agent on a mission, who had a licence to kill?

Another interesting fact is Oswald apparently watched Frank Sinatra's "Suddenly" a film about an assassin who wanted to kill the President from a building which looked down on a train station where the President was going to be.

Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall films that he saw called "Suddenly," and "We were Strangers" that involved assassinations?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember the names of these films. If you would remind me of the contents, perhaps I would know.
Mr. RANKIN. Well, "Suddenly," was about the assassination of a president, and the other was about the assassination of a Cuban dictator.
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, Lee saw those films.

I can just see Oswald thinking he was Frank Sinatra as Oswald picked the appropriate window and later taking the shots. Well, Sinatra in the film didn't get the chance because his co-conspirators botched the plan and that's an interesting parallel, I think Oswald thought of himself as smart enough that he could do it all on his own and he got the job done but he didn't have the time to think through all the contingencies of his escape and was promptly caught!





JohnM