Timeline: Oswald, Kennedy, and the Assassination 1917-1962 1963-1968
Year | Event |
---|---|
1917 |
May 29: John Fitzgerald Kennedy is born. |
1939 |
October 18: Marguerite Oswald gives birth to her third son, Lee Harvey in New Orleans. Two months earlier, her husband had suffered a fatal heart attack. |
1941 |
John Kennedy enlists in the U.S. Navy. During World War II he will serve as a Naval Intelligence officer and a PT boat skipper. |
1946 |
John Kennedy begins six years service in the House of Representatives as a Democrat from Massachusetts. |
1952 |
John Kennedy is elected to the U.S. Senate. |
1956 |
Lee Harvey Oswald joins the Marines. His skill on the shooting range earns him a sharpshooter qualification. |
1957 |
Oswald is posted to Atsugi Air Force Base in Japan, home of the U2 spy plane. |
1958 |
Two courts-martial embitter Oswald against the military and he takes up an interest from his adolescence in socialism. |
1959 |
Oswald travels to Europe, gains entry into the Soviet Union and announces his plans to defect to that country. When the Soviets deny his request, Oswald slits his wrists in a failed suicide attempt. The Soviets later reconsider and the Marines begin filing an "undesirable discharge" against Oswald. He leaves the Marines and enters the reserves. |
1960 |
In Minsk, Oswald is given a nice apartment and a job in a radio and television factory. He does not attend Marxist classes as expected. November 8: John F. Kennedy confounds expectations by winning election to become the first Roman Catholic president of the United States of America. |
1961 |
January 20: At his inauguration, Kennedy urges this nation, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." February 13: Oswald contacts the American Embassy and informs them that he wants to return to the United States. April 30: Oswald marries Marina Prusakova. |
1962 |
Oswald and his Russian wife return to the United States. They stay with his brother in Fort Worth, Texas, and later move to Dallas. Oswald creates a false identity and rents a post office box bearing the name "Alek J. Hidell." He later orders weapons by mail using the name Hidell. |