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]
New York City
Whatever problems may have been created by Lee’s home life in Louisiana and Texas, he apparently adjusted well enough there to have had an average, although gradually deteriorating, school record with no behavior or truancy problems. That was not the case, however, after he and his mother moved to New York in August of 1952, shortly before Lee’s 13th birthday. They moved shortly after Robert joined the Marines; they lived for a time with John Pic who was stationed there with the Coast Guard.[C7-35] Relations soon became strained, however,[C7-36] so in late September Lee and his mother moved to their own apartment in the Bronx.[C7-37] Pic and his wife would have been happy to have kept Lee, however, who was becoming quite a disciplinary problem for his mother, having struck her on at least one occasion.[C7-38]
The short-lived stay with the Pics was terminated after an incident in which Lee allegedly pulled out a pocket knife during an argument and threatened to use it on Mrs. Pic. When Pic returned home, Mrs. Oswald tried to play down the event but Mrs. Pic took a different view and asked the Oswalds to leave. Lee refused to discuss the matter with Pic, whom he had previously idolized, and their relations were strained thereafter.[C7-39]
On September 30, 1952, Lee enrolled in P.S. 117,[C7-40] a junior high school in the Bronx, where the other children apparently teased him because of his “western” clothes and Texas accent.[C7-41] He began to stay away from school, preferring to read magazines and watch television at home by himself.[C7-42] This continued despite the efforts of the school authorities and, to a lesser extent, of his mother to have him return to school.[C7-43] Truancy charges were brought against him alleging that he was “beyond the control of his mother insofar as school attendance is concerned.”[C7-44] Lee Oswald was remanded for psychiatric observation to Youth House, an institution in which children are kept for psychiatric observation or for detention pending court appearance or commitment to a child-caring or custodial institution such as a training school.[C7-45] He was in Youth House from April 16 to May 7, 1953,[C7-46] during which time he was examined by its Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Renatus Hartogs, and interviewed and observed by other members of the Youth House staff.[C7-47]
Marguerite Oswald visited her son at Youth House, where she recalled that she waited in line “with Puerto Ricans and Negroes and everything.”[C7-48] She said that her pocketbook was searched “because the children in this home were such criminals, dope fiends, and had been in criminal offenses, that anybody entering this home had to be searched in case the parents were bringing cigarettes or narcotics or anything.”[C7-49] She recalled that Lee cried and said, “Mother, I want to get out of here. There are children in here who have killed people, and smoke. I want to get out.”[C7-50] Marguerite Oswald said that she had not realized until then in what kind of place her son had been confined.[C7-51]
On the other hand, Lee told his probation officer, John Carro, that “while he liked Youth House he miss[ed] the freedom of doing what he wanted. He indicated that he did not miss his mother.”[C7-52] Mrs. Evelyn Strickman Siegel, a social worker who interviewed both Lee and his mother while Lee was confined in Youth House, reported that Lee “confided that the worse thing about Youth House was the fact that he had to be with other boys all the time, was disturbed about disrobing in front of them, taking showers with them etc.”[C7-53]
Contrary to reports that appeared after the assassination, the psychiatric examination did not indicate that Lee Oswald was a potential assassin, potentially dangerous, that “his outlook on life had strongly paranoid overtones” or that he should be institutionalized.[C7-54] Dr. Hartogs did find Oswald to be a tense, withdrawn, and evasive boy who intensely disliked talking about himself and his feelings. He noted that Lee liked to give the impression that he did not care for other people but preferred to keep to himself, so that he was not bothered and did not have to make the effort of communicating. Oswald’s withdrawn tendencies and solitary habits were thought to be the result of “intense anxiety, shyness, feelings of awkwardness and insecurity.”[C7-55] He was reported to have said “I don’t want a friend and I don’t like to talk to people” and “I dislike everybody.”[C7-56] He was also described as having a “vivid fantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power, through which he tries to compensate for his present shortcomings and frustrations.”[C7-57] Dr. Hartogs summarized his report by stating:
This 13 year old well built boy has superior mental resources and functions only slightly below his capacity level in spite of chronic truancy from school which brought him into Youth House. No finding of neurological impairment or psychotic mental changes could be made. Lee has to be diagnosed as “personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and passive-aggressive tendencies.” Lee has to be seen as an emotionally, quite disturbed youngster who suffers under the impact of really existing emotional isolation and deprivation, lack of affection, absence of family life and rejection by a self involved and conflicted mother.[C7-58]