Was Oswald really a wife beater?
The Warren Commission's Report...the press....Posner...Bugliosi...and all the WC apologists [I call them gumbas now]..will voice in unison..of course he was.
The cowardly cad beat Marina whenever he got the notion.
Just ask anybody.
The Warren Commission attorneys [in their zeal to blast Oswald 'the madman'] paraded in- all the Russian community friends of the Oswalds they could find with one goal in mind...to show that Oswald was a dangerous and violent person...that he pounded Marina black and blue whenever he entered one of his rageous fits.
However there is a twist to these accounts that most of the general public has never heard. The general timing of the witness description of a bruised Mrs Oswald seems to reveal they were all chronicling the same event.
We know that she tearfully sobbed before the Commission.. [shamefully] reporting the battering that she had to endure.
Lee Harvey Oswald seems like the kind of guy that I wouldn't ever want to hang out with, but I don't believe these spousal thrashing accounts one bit.
The recollection of Paul Gregory-----
Lee?s refusal to let Marina learn English. He argued that it would jeopardize his fluency in Russian, but more important, it was a way he leveraged control over her. During one visit to a Rexall drugstore that August, Lee became visibly angry when a pharmacist offered to hire Marina, who had worked at a hospital pharmacy in Minsk, once her language skills improved. The job, after all, could have made her the family breadwinner. That rage would resurface later that month as we exited the duplex one evening. Marina took a step backward and fell, thumping her head on the hard, dry ground and dropping June. The thud was so loud that I feared she might be seriously injured; Lee, however, screamed at her for her clumsiness as she lay curled on the ground clutching for her baby. Even after he realized June was fine, he didn?t speak to Marina for the rest of the night.---
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/magazine/lee-harvey-oswald-was-my-friend.html?mcubz=0 August and through September is when the Russian community people recalled the buising.
These incidences were compiled by Sandy Larsen at the education forum...based from their testimony before the Warren Commission
Elena Hall
Date: July 1962 (Estimate according to Mrs. Hall)
Location: Oswald' apartment.
Mrs Hall: "black and blue over half of her face"
Note: Bouhe took Marina to Elena's house. The date must be wrong because Bouhe testified that he first saw the bruise when the group went to visit Marina. That was at the end of August.
White Russian Group Visits Marina
Date: Late August 1962
Location: Oswald apartment.
Mr. Bouhe: "black eye"
Mrs. Meller: "terrible blue spot over her eye." "Under her eye was blue and over here [pointing].")
Marina tells Bouhe that Lee hit her. Probably too embarrassed to tell what really happened. Oswald was a loser and most likely, the marriage was headed for the rocks...but even in her own testimony, Marina told the commission that Lee wasn't really violent
Marina tells Mrs. Meller that she bumped into door when feeding baby at night. (Mrs. Meller)
Lee wasn't present. (Bouhe, Mrs.Meller)
The Oswalds Attend a Luncheon Party
Late August 1962 (Mrs. Ford)
At the Meller home. (Mrs. Ford, Mr. Ford)
Mrs. Ford: "bruises on her face"
Mr. Ford: "[bruises] on her face"
Marina says she bumped into door when feeding baby at night. (Mrs. Ford)
Note: The Fords met the Oswalds after the luncheon. (Mrs. Ford)
Marina Moves in with Elena Hall
October 1962 (Elena Hall, John R. Hall, Max E. Clark)
Marina tells Elena that Lee hit had her back when she and Elena first met. (Elena Hall)
Marina Leaves Lee and Moves in with the Mellers
Early November 1962
Marina ran to gas station and called Mellers. Then stayed at Meller's house. (Mrs. Meller)
Bouhe lied, claiming black eye. (His testimony conflicts with Meller's.)
George de Mohrenschildt lied, claiming he took Marina to Meller's. (His testimony conflicts with Meller's.)
Marina said Lee beating her. (Bouhe, Mrs. Meller)
Stayed for 5 days. (Mrs. Meller)
Marina Moves in with the Fords
November 11-18, 1962 (WC Counsel)
Marina said Lee beating her. (Mrs. Ford)
Stayed for about a week. (Mrs. Meller)
Marina Moves in with Frank & Valentina (Anna) Ray
Late November 1962 (Mrs. Meller)
Stays just for dinner. Not overnight. (Mrs. Ford)
Lee begs her to come home. She agrees. (Mrs. Ford)
Marina Goes Back to Lee
Late November 1962 (Mrs. Ford)
The only witness that seemed to be around when Oswald allegedly hit her was Marina. [An exception will be forthcoming]
From the testimony of Marguerite Oswald....
Mr. RANKIN. Did you ask Marina how she got the black eye or anything about it?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes, in the bedroom. I was shocked.
"Mama-Lee." Just like that. So I went in the living room and I said, "Lee, what do you mean by striking Marina?"
He said, "Mother, that is our affair."
And so that ended. I wasn't going to interfere any further.
Now, this has been publicly stated by the Russian friends, that he beat his wife. I don't know if he did beat his wife. I happened to see the black eye. I know that he hit her. and gave her a black eye. Marina said so, and my son has said so. But how many times does this happen, I don't know.
But I am trying to point out that I don't approve of it. But I am trying to point out that everything is not according to Hoyle, as we say in our American way of life.
Mr. RANKIN. Is there any other time that you recall that you saw that she had bruises or a black eye?
Mrs. OSWALD. No, sir; that is the only time.
The time of this encounter was not revealed but the indication was that baby daughter June was present.
[August 10, 1962: The Oswalds move to 2703 Mercedes St. in Fort Worth]
Also, Oswald did not really tell his mother that he hit Marina.
Alexander Kleinlerer had signed an affidavit in June 1964.
This statement seems very much like something that was just typed up for him and then he signed it.
In it he supposedly claims that he was 'scared' of Oswald.
That Oswald 'frightened him'.
That he 'was concerned and suspicious about Oswald from the outset'.
It upset him 'when Oswald would say things against the United States.' He 'did not argue with Oswald' because he [Lee] 'appeared to him to be dangerous in his mind and he [AK] was frightened'.
Marina was in the living room with her child in her arms. We had just begun to discuss the matter of moving the next day when Oswald observed that the zipper on Marina's skirt was not completely closed. He called to her in a very angry and commanding tone of voice just like an officer commanding a soldier. His exact words were, "Come Here!", in the Russian Language, and he uttered them the way you would call a dog with which you were displeased in order to inflict punishment on him. He was standing in the doorway leading from the living room into another room of the house. When she reached the doorway he rudely reprimanded her in a flat imperious voice about being careless in her dress and slapped her hard in the face twice. Marina still had the baby in her arms. Her face was red and tears came to her eyes. All this took place in my presence. I was very much embarrassed and also angry but I had long been afraid of Oswald and I did not say anything.
He treated Marina very poorly. He belittled her and was boorish to her in our [w/Elena Hall] presence.
Mrs. Hall often complained to me that Marina was lazy, that she slept until noon or thereabouts, and would not do anything around the house to help. I observed on many occasions that Marina was not neat and that she often dressed rather haphazardly.
Oswald was not grateful for any of the help that was being accorded to him and Marina. He never once offered to contribute in even a small way to Mrs. Hall or any of the others with whom Marina stayed. This was often a topic of conversation among us. We did not have much money ourselves and we were knocking ourselves out to help. He did not express any thanks or evidence the slightest appreciation; in fact, he evidenced displeasure and contempt.
Based on statements like this, I just have to wonder why all these people ever hung out together. Something seems fishy about that whole episode. Afraid of a mousey Oswald? Robert Oswald testified that Marina told him that she threw Lee in the bathroom and locked the door on him and hapless Lee sulked there all day. [How do you lock the bathroom door from the outside anyway?]
Recall the statements of Paul Gregory ...
Marina fell and hit her head while holding the baby and though June wasn't hurt, Oswald still chastised Marina, but he didn't strike her.Oswald had worked at the Leslie Welding Co. Alex seemed to know more about the particulars of his leaving employment there more than Oswald's own boss [TOMMY BARGAS] did.
Bargas testimony....
Mr. JENNER. Do you have any recollection of anybody employed at the plant with whom Oswald did or might have associated after work hours or on weekends?
Mr. BARGAS. No.
Mr. JENNER. And as far as you observed, during the days of employment, he kept pretty much to himself anyhow?
Mr. BARGAS. That's right.
Mr. JENNER. Did you ever observe anything with respect to his temperament--was he quick tempered, was there any incident that occurred that would give you a basis for an opinion?
Mr. BARGAS. No.
Mr. JENNER. How long did he work there, to the best of your recollection?
Mr. BARGAS. I believe it was up until September, if I'm not mistaken, somewhere right along in there.
Mr. JENNER. Would this serve to refresh your recollection, that he worked until on or about October 8th, 1962?
Mr. BARGAS. No; I don't remember.
Mr. JENNER. Could he have worked until October 8th?
Mr. BARGAS. It is possible.
Mr. JENNER. But your present recollection is more like sometime in the course of September when his employment was terminated?
Mr. BARGAS. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. What were the circumstances respecting the termination of his employment?
Mr. BARGAS. Well, what happened is--he went home one day, not during working hours, but it was right after the regular working hours.
Mr. JENNER. After the regular quitting time?
Mr. BARGAS. After quitting time at 4:30, and he went home and he didn't give any indication of whether he was going to quit or he was going to leave or anything like that.
Mr. JENNER. You expected him back the next day?
Mr. BARGAS. I expected him back the next morning and if I'm not mistaken, it was Friday, and Monday he didn't show up, I believe it was; if I'm not mistaken--I can't place it, and so he didn't call in and he didn't have a phone, as far as I can remember, so I never tried to get in contact with him or anything like that, and I figured he may have someone to call in or something like that, so I just let it ride, and then he didn't show up the second day after that, so all I said then was, "Well, I imagine he quit because a line of guys had done the same thing."
In other words, a lot of them just never did show up and that's all that happened. They would come back on the following Friday or something like that and say, "I quit, I've got another job." That's what the other guys would say.
Well, he was different--when he left the only thing he done was he wrote in to the plant and told us where to send his check to.
If anyone knew about Lee physically battering Marina would it not have been Ruth Paine?
I couldn't find any such statements in her testimony.
Mr Paine stated..that Oswald had slapped Marina around......verbally.
Mr. LIEBELER - What else did you and Oswald speak about during this evening, do you remember?
Mr. PAINE - After supper the conversation was translated into Russian, and I wanted to gather Marina's or get Marina's corroboration of certain things he said about Russia and there we found when she had differing opinions from him that he would not let her, he would slap her down verbally, and not let her express them or say--Ruth told me later, he was calling her a fool, "You don't know anything."
When I encountered this, I actually trusted Marina to know--the questions I was asking, it seemed to me could be better answered by Marina, so I wasn't paying very close attention to what he had said about that.
Mr. DULLES - Could you indicate on what points they seemed to differ or what points that he raised that irritated her or vice versa in their discussion about Russia? You said he slapped her down. I was wondering on what kind of points he slapped her down.
Mr. LIEBELER - And you concluded on the basis of these discussions and your knowledge of Oswald, your collective knowledge of Oswald, at that time that he was not a violent person; is that correct?
Mr. PAINE - That he wasn't going to stab Ruth or Marina.
Mr. LIEBELER - That he wasn't going to exhibit any violence to any of you people?
Mr. PAINE - That is right. He wouldn't be a danger to Ruth. That was partly based, first, on the fact that we were not--we were careful to avoid putting him in a position that he felt offended.
Mr. LIEBELER - You didn't consider at the time that you were considering Oswald's possible violence toward you and your group whether he might exhibit violence to some other person?
Mr. PAINE - That is correct; yes.
Mr. LIEBELER - You formed no judgment about that one way or the other?
Mr. PAINE - That is correct.
Notice that Dulles had made it a point to reuse that word...'slapping' [let's get that one in the record]
