On weekdays, Lee Harvey Oswald called his wife Marina from Dallas twice a day, once at his lunch break and once in the evening after work. Weekends he spent with Marina at Ruth Paine’s house, each time with Ruth’s permission. By mid-November, however, Ruth and he had grown mutually mistrustful of each other. So when Oswald called Marina Thursday evening, 14 November, and Marina said that Ruth wanted a break on the weekend of 15 - 17 November, he was not surprised.
During both the phone calls on Monday, 18 November, Oswald and Marina fought about Ruth. From the 19th through the 21st, he didn’t call her at all. Marina assumed he was mad at her and hoping to make her suffer. In fact, Oswald had other things on his mind.
On Tuesday morning, 19 November 1963 - 60 year ago today - Lee Harvey Oswald decided to make an attempt on the life of President Kennedy during his visit to Dallas the following Friday. Why?
Two front-page articles in the Dallas newspapers that morning impelled Oswald’s decision, one article providing motive and one offering opportunity.
The first article was headlined, “Kennedy Virtually Invites a Cuban Coup.” It reported on a speech the President had given the day before, 18 November, to anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami during which Kennedy, “all but invited the Cuban people today to overthrow Fidel Castro’s communist regime and promised prompt US aid if they do … The president said it would be a happy day if the Castro government is ousted.” These words were a clear and direct threat to Fidel Castro, Oswald’s idol.
The second article was the first public report of the motorcade route that the President and Mrs. Kennedy would take through the city. The route was designed to give the President maximum political exposure because Texas would be a key to the 1964 presidential elections. The motorcade would come down Main Street to Dealey Plaza, turn right onto Houston Street, and then a left onto Elm Street. This slight, crowd-pleasing maneuver would slow the President’s motorcade and bring it directly in front of the Texas School Book Depository.
Oswald, of course, had been working at the Book Depository since 16 October, well before the President’s trip had even been decided. It was pure coincidence that the White House Advance Team had placed the President right in Oswald’s crosshairs. But, for Oswald that coincidence must have seemed like an invitation from fate.
Historic coincidence (with a little help from some asleep at the wheel government officials as you have outlined). Hard to read as we all know how this one ends...
First...!