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

in dirty diapers as a child.” 372 Regarding Oswald’s political beliefs, Mailer described
him as an extreme mixture of “anarchism and authoritarianism.” 373 Mailer also noted
that Oswald purportedly had read Hitler’s Mein Kampf . Mailer speculated that as a
Marxist, Oswald would reject “concepts of race and historically destined folk,” but
“Hitler’s success [in rising from obscurity to German leader] probably lit a candle in the
dungeon of Oswald’s immense hopes for himself.” 374
Mailer is ambiguous when it comes to Oswald’s connection to U.S. intelligence
agencies. He accepted the possibility that Oswald “was engaged again on the periphery
of espionage.” 375 He assumed Oswald was involved with Japanese communists while a
Marine stationed at Atsugi. Although he accepted the KGB claims that in the end
Oswald had nothing to offer them, Mailer suggested that the CIA used Russian émigré
George de Mohrenschildt to quietly and secretly probe what Oswald knew about the
Soviet Union from his stay there. However, Mailer does not think Oswald was a U.S.
agent, but he left open the possibility that he would be proven wrong by future
revelations from the CIA and U.S. government.
Mailer, in examining Oswald's life, argued that he may have been involved with
figures from U.S. intelligence, anti-Castro Cubans, and organized crime, but, if he were,
he was probably trying to use them to his own purposes as a sort of "double agent."
Mailer concluded that Oswald "had the character to kill Kennedy, and that he probably
372 Mailer, 548.
373 Mailer, 457-458.
374 Mailer, 459.
375 Mailer, 400.
166