Lee Harvey Oswald : Ask Biography

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Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 - November 24, 1963) was, according to four government investigations, the sniper who killed John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

A former U.S. Marine who had briefly (October 1959 � June 1962) defected to the Soviet Union, Oswald was initially arrested for the shooting murder of police officer J. D. Tippit, on a Dallas street approximately 40 minutes after Kennedy was shot. Suspected in the assassination of Kennedy as well, Oswald denied involvement in either of the killings. Two days later, while being transferred from police headquarters to the county jail, Oswald was shot and killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby in full view of television cameras broadcasting live.

In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy, firing three shots, a conclusion also reached by prior investigations carried out by the FBI and Dallas Police Department. However, in 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald 'probably' did not act alone.