Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old malcontent with Communist sympathies, assassinated John F. Kennedy, thirty-fifth president of the United States, in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Two days later, Oswald himself was fatally shot, in full view of a television audience, by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Although there were numerous theories that Oswald did not act alone, a special President's Commission, after a year's investigation, concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. A House Assassination's Committee spent two years in an investigation and decided in 1979 that there may have been a second shooter and possibly a conspiracy. However, evidence for such assertions remains inconclusive.

Whether partnered or alone, Oswald was a troubled man and apparently a troubled youth. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1939, two months after the death of his father, Robert E. Lee Oswald. His mother, Marguerite, was often on the move, which meant...