I'll toss my 2 cents into this discussion by quoting from an Internet post concerning this topic that I wrote exactly ten years ago this week:
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"All we can do is guess. And I think the best guess is that Lee Harvey Oswald probably killed JFK because he felt that by murdering the leader of the United States (i.e., Fidel Castro's bitter enemy in the early 1960s, particularly following the Cuban Missile Crisis), he would be aiding a person he greatly admired (Castro) and a cause he wanted very much to defend (Castro's Cuban Revolution).
But, at the same time, I've often wondered if Oswald himself really knew what his true motive was. And I wonder the same thing about Oswald's motive and mindset when it comes to his attempt on General Edwin Walker's life in April of 1963. But the facts clearly indicate, regardless of the motive(s), that Oswald, who was very politically active in the year 1963, did in fact take shots at both of those political figures (Walker and Kennedy) in nineteen sixty-three in attempts to end both men's lives. And each of those political figures was very much ANTI-Castro and ANTI-Communist in their beliefs, just the opposite of Mr. Oswald's ideology.
As far as the JFK murder, I've said in the past that it's my belief that Oswald simply took advantage of a golden opportunity to do something on a "grand scale" when that perfect opportunity was presented to him on a platter on November 22, 1963.
He realized that with very little effort and preparation on his part, he could easily be in the right place at the right time when JFK passed by the building where he worked. And if conditions were such so that he could secrete himself in a corner of that warehouse known as the School Book Depository without anyone in the building being aware of his presence in that corner, he might have a chance to change history and make up for the fact he was unsuccessful in his earlier attempt in April to kill another political figure. I think it's quite possible that Lee Harvey Oswald was, in effect, daring himself to take those shots at President Kennedy from his sixth-floor sniper's perch that Friday in Dallas.
However, I also think Oswald's mind was very muddled on November 21st...and I think Marina's account of the events at Ruth Paine's house on the night of Nov. 21 indicates that Lee would have likely been happy to go out and search for a new apartment "tomorrow" (the word Marina said Lee used on 11/21/63) had Marina agreed to get back together with Lee right away.
So unless Lee was just putting on a little "act" for Marina's benefit (or to throw people off), it would seem as if Lee Oswald, as of the night of November 21st, had every intention of hunting for lodgings for himself and his family on November 22nd rather than take his rifle to work and shoot the President.
And I doubt he could have been silly enough to think he could have performed BOTH of those tasks on 11/22/63. Lee Oswald was a very strange character with a twisted mind, yes, but I doubt very much that even his warped mind could have possessed the following thoughts in tandem with each other --- I'll shoot at President Kennedy at around noontime; I'll then leave the building and go search for that apartment, just as I promised Marina I would do last night. I doubt I'll be missed at work because of all the commotion that will follow the assassination attempt that I am also planning for tomorrow.
I think Oswald definitely had a MOTIVE--whatever that might have been--for shooting President Kennedy PRIOR to ever visiting Marina on Thursday night, November 21st. (That's obvious to me because of the "curtain rods" lie he told to Buell Wesley Frazier on Thursday morning.) But his plans to shoot at the President were not fixed in stone as of Thursday night--not until after he talked to Marina.
That scenario might sound way too simplistic (and, frankly, crazy) to many conspiracy theorists (especially those who don't think Oswald ever fired a shot at JFK), but it's what I think is the truth nonetheless.
Can I prove any of the above? No, of course I can't. But, conversely, no conspiracist can prove that Lee Oswald had NO MOTIVE at all for wanting to shoot John F. Kennedy either. The "motive" vs. "no motive" argument is endless--and it goes nowhere. The only one who could possibly answer the "motive" question is Lee Harvey Oswald. And he can't say very much now." -- DVP; February 2015
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http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2011/04/index.html#Lee-Harvey-Oswald
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P.S. -- Hi Lance! It is so good to see you posting on a JFK forum once again! I have missed your thoughtful and on-target posts ever since you decided to leave The Education Forum. (I was reinstated there in June 2022 after a three-year exile.)
Thanks, DVP! I just came out of the woodwork because I was getting all excited that I had finally encountered a rational conspiracy book in
The Oswald Puzzle. It is a very worthwhile book that even a Lone Nutter can love, although as I've said it goes completely off the cliff (IMO) at the end, with LHO having no knowledge or role at all in the JFKA. I think this is what a CTer pretty much has to do to posit a conspiracy that is consistent with the actual Oswald and his actual life. That's why I liked my little theory - it's not only consistent with the real Oswald but entirely consistent with the Lone Nut perspective and all the evidence supporting it. (Purely speculative, of course.)
I had never heard of this forum. I was doing something and Google brought it up. It appears to be distinctly more LN-friendly, eh? Talk about going off the cliff - if someone had told me utter wackos like Sandy and Niedernut would one day be MODERATORS, I would said that was impossible. You demote Sandy and replace him with ... Niedernut and over-the-hill Bulman??? Holy God, why not just pull the plug?
Your view of Oswald's motivations seems entirely in line with mine. I think by the time of the Thursday visit he definitely thought Fate had put JFK directly in his sites and it was Marina's rejection that convinced him the JFKA was his destiny. It may not have been an entirely rational thought process, but surely those were the key factors.
