[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

to a police detective. The Center for History and New Media at George Mason
University describes the image as “A provocative manipulation by ‘Pixel Jockey’ George
Mahlberg..” 314 The image, which has circulated on the Internet, is titled “In-A-Gadda-
Da-Oswald” – a reference to a classic Rock song – and shows Jack Ruby charging into
Oswald while jamming on a guitar instead of carrying a gun, while the detective is
playing the keyboards, and Oswald is belting out a song instead of screaming in fear and
pain as Ruby is shooting him. What could be more of an anti-hero than the bad boy
Rock’n’Roll star of American popular music? While the Warren Commission and
defenders of its report tried to marginalize Oswald and place him outside the mainstream
of American society emphasizing either his “lone nut” status or his Marxist “Red”
political beliefs, Oswald as anti-hero is a man who may have carried out a reprehensible
deed, but is a recognizable figure from American culture – the radical individualist who
strives to make his mark on the nation’s history.
Oswald’s Marine acquaintance, Kerry Thornley, penned a short non-fiction sketch
of the alleged assassin after Kennedy was killed, and, incredibly, wrote a novel with its
main character based on Oswald before the assassination. In his 1965 non-fiction book,
Thornley wrote one of the most curious descriptions of Oswald by anyone who thought
he committed the assassination: “I have never personally known an individual more
motivated by what appeared to be a genuine concern for the human race than Lee Harvey
314
Center for History and New Media, George Mason University.
http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/links/pdf/introduction/0.20.pdf [accessed March 25,
2011].
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