Getting inside Oswalds mind - his library books

[Gerry Down]

Does anyone know what the letters CD mean on some Warren Commission documents? For example at this link:

https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/

if you go to Wilma Bond, an FBI report for her is labelled "CD735".

What do the letters CD stand for?

[Richard Smith]

Oswald's reading list seems fairly consistent with his historical persona.  An interest in politics, history, and spy fantasies.  Standing alone it doesn't mean much as to his guilt but it does reflect the interests of a commie nut job with a not too firm grasp on reality.  He viewed himself as some type of revolutionary counter hero.

[Charles Collins]

Has anyone ever read all the library books Oswald ever took out in his life? In order to help get inside Oswalds mind?

Here is a list of the books Oswald took out in New Orleans in the summer of 1963:

https://historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pdf/WH25_CE_2650.pdf

Does anyone have a list of the books he took out in 1962 and 1963 in Dallas?

In any attempt to try to understand what might have been going through LHO’s mind, one should not ignore his childhood. His mother put him through a plethora of things that were detrimental to him. None of her three offspring wanted her at their mutual Thanksgiving get together about one year before the assassination. So she wasn’t invited. That alone says a lot about her.

[Gerry Down]

In any attempt to try to understand what might have been going through LHO’s mind, one should not ignore his childhood. His mother put him through a plethora of things that were detrimental to him. None of her three offspring wanted her at their mutual Thanksgiving get together about one year before the assassination. So she wasn’t invited. That alone says a lot about her.

Agreed. That kind of stuff requires the expertise of a psychologist or psychiatrist though. Beyond the scope of most people.

[Louis Earl]

Interesting that both LHO and JFK were readers of Ian Fleming.  Entertaining books, for sure, but also fantasies.  JFK might have imagined himself as Bond and maybe LHO dreamed he could be.  Maybe LHO thought he had a 'license to kill'. 

[Charles Collins]

Interesting that both LHO and JFK were readers of Ian Fleming.  Entertaining books, for sure, but also fantasies.  JFK might have imagined himself as Bond and maybe LHO dreamed he could be.  Maybe LHO thought he had a 'license to kill'.

Even though it was a new show in it’s first season, “The Fugitive” was reportedly a show that LHO watched and liked. And I find it intriguing that LHO wore a jacket similar to the one that the fugitive wore often on the show. The fugitive also packed a revolver if I remember correctly. I believe that LHO’s grasp on reality was fleeting at times.

[Gerry Down]

Here is a list of the books Oswald took out in New Orleans in the summer of 1963:

https://historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pdf/WH25_CE_2650.pdf

Has anyone ever thought, as I do, that Oswald was just skimming through these books and not really reading them at all?

I don't see how he could have read all of them.

[Richard Smith]

Here is a list of the books Oswald took out in New Orleans in the summer of 1963:

https://historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/pdf/WH25_CE_2650.pdf

Has anyone ever thought, as I do, that Oswald was just skimming through these books and not really reading them at all?

I don't see how he could have read all of them.

Entertainment options would have been limited at that time for someone of Oswald's limited means.  He had a lot of spare time.  I recall he didn't even own a TV at times.  So my guess is that he was an avid reader.  Oswald's fanaticism would have fed into his interest in reading political and historical books and newspapers.