The Early Years
Significant in shaping the character of Lee Harvey Oswald was the death of his father, a collector of insurance premiums. This occurred 2 months before Lee was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1939.[C7-12] That death strained the financial fortunes of the remainder of the Oswald family. It had its effect on Lee’s mother, Marguerite, his brother Robert, who had been born in 1934, and his half-brother John Pic, who had been born in 1932 during Marguerite’s previous marriage.[C7-13] It forced Marguerite Oswald to go to work to provide for her family.[C7-14] Reminding her sons that they were orphans and that the family’s financial condition was poor, she placed John Pic and Robert Oswald in an orphans’ home.[C7-15] From the time Marguerite Oswald returned to work until December 26, 1942, when Lee too was sent to the orphans’ home, he was cared for principally by his mother’s sister, by babysitters and by his mother, when she had time for him.[C7-16]
Marguerite Oswald withdrew Lee from the orphans’ home and took him with her to Dallas when he was a little over 4 years old.[C7-17] About 6 months later she also withdrew John Pic and Robert Oswald.[C7-18] Apparently that action was taken in anticipation of her marriage to Edwin A. Ekdahl, which took place in May of 1945.[C7-19] In the fall of that year John Pic and Robert Oswald went to a military academy where they stayed, except for vacations, until the spring of 1948.[C7-20] Lee Oswald remained with his mother and Ekdahl,[C7-21] to whom he became quite attached. John Pic testified that he thought Lee found in Ekdahl the father that he never had.[C7-22] That situation, however, was short-lived, for the relations between Marguerite Oswald and Ekdahl were stormy and they were finally divorced, after several separations and reunions, in the summer of 1948.[C7-23]
After the divorce Mrs. Oswald complained considerably about how unfairly she was treated, dwelling on the fact that she was a widow with three children. John Pic, however, did not think her position was worse than that of many other people.[C7-24] In the fall of 1948 she told John Pic and Robert Oswald that she could not afford to send them back to the military school and she asked Pic to quit school entirely to help support the family, which he did for 4 months in the fall of 1948.[C7-25] In order to supplement their income further she falsely swore that Pic was 17 years old so that he could join the Marine Corps Reserves.[C7-26] Pic did turn over part of his income to his mother, but he returned to high school in January of 1949, where he stayed until 3 days before he was scheduled to graduate, when he left school in order to get into the Coast Guard.[C7-27] Since his mother did not approve of his decision to continue school he accepted the responsibility for that decision himself and signed his mother’s name to all his own excuses and report cards.[C7-28]
Pic thought that his mother overstated her financial problems and was unduly concerned about money. Referring to the period after the divorce from Ekdahl, which was apparently caused in part by Marguerite’s desire to get more money from him, Pic said: “Lee was brought up in this atmosphere of constant money problems, and I am sure it had quite an effect on him, and also Robert.”[C7-29] Marguerite Oswald worked in miscellaneous jobs after her divorce from Ekdahl.[C7-30] When she worked for a time as an insurance saleslady, she would sometimes take Lee with her, apparently leaving him alone in the car while she transacted her business.[C7-31] When she worked during the school year, Lee had to leave an empty house in the morning, return to it for lunch and then again at night, his mother having trained him to do that rather than to play with other children.[C7-32]
An indication of the nature of Lee’s character at this time was provided in the spring of 1950, when he was sent to New Orleans to visit the family of his mother’s sister, Mrs. Lillian Murret, for 2 or 3 weeks. Despite their urgings, he refused to play with the other children his own age.[C7-33] It also appears that Lee tried to tag along with his older brothers but apparently was not able to spend as much time with them as he would have liked, because of the age gaps of 5 and 7 years, which became more significant as the children grew older.[C7-34]