Dec. 2, 1963 - A good deal of information has now come to light indicating that Lee Harvey Oswald, the presumed assassin of President Kennedy, had long suffered from mental and personality problems. Here are some examples:
— John Carro, former New York probation officer, said today that official psychiatric and probation reports on Oswald at the age of 13 warned that he was in a potentially dangerous mental and emotional situation, afflicted by aggressions that could explode violently. Psychiatrists at the time [1953], Carro said, found that Oswald was much disturbed emotionally and referred to him as having “schizoid features.”
— Donald Goodwin of Los Angeles, a former Marine Corps sergeant who was Oswald’s section chief at Camp Pendleton, Calf., told the New York Times: “He was such a hothead I was glad when he finally shipped out for radar training. He was always having beefs with the guys in the barracks. Never could figure out what it was about, really.”
— Former Marine Corps Capt. John E. Donovan of Washington also said today that a fellow officer warned him about Oswald in these words: “He’s out of his mind.” Donovan also recalled that an airline stewardess who had gone out with Oswald had said of him: “That guy is a real nut.” Donovan said: “Oswald’s revolt was against any kind of authority. He wasn’t expelled from society. He expelled himself from it. When I heard he had shot the President, I was surprised, of course, as anyone would be, but I knew Oswald was unusual. I didn’t suspect he would jump off a bridge or shoot his mother, but other people would have surprised me more if they had done so.”
— Michael Paine of Irving, Tex., who befriended Oswald and provided a home for his wife and two children, told the Washington Post: “It was difficult to discuss things with him. If he didn’t agree with me, he’d just say I was wrong and not argue rationally.” — Monroe Davis, a fourth-grade classmate of Oswald’s in Fort Worth, told the Post: “He was a dirty fighter — a pincher and a biter.”
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