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

Oswald’s twisted psyche. She constantly complained about the family finances and the
unfairness of her plight, and her third marriage to Edwin Ekdahl was “stormy” and
“short-lived.” Despite these difficulties, the report noted that the young Oswald became
“quite attached” to Ekdahl. 48 The family moved several times during Oswald's
childhood, spending time in Louisiana, Texas, and New York City.
In New York, Oswald became a disciplinary problem at home and at school. He
allegedly pulled a knife and threatened the wife of his half-brother, with whom Oswald
and his mother were staying. After the incident, Marguerite and Oswald moved out of
the apartment. In junior high school, his classmates apparently teased Oswald about his
“’western clothes’ and Texas accent.” 49 (Upon later moving back to New Orleans,
Oswald was apparently teased in turn for the northern accent he had developed. To the
Commission, Oswald the outsider was too much of a southerner for New York, and too
much of a northerner for Louisiana.) His truancy resulted in a stay at a juvenile home
from April 16 to May 7, 1953, in which he underwent a psychiatric examination. The
Commission would lean heavily on the observation of Oswald during his stay in the
juvenile home, even though it is not clear a troubled adolescence had any bearing on
whether Oswald killed Kennedy.
While the Warren Commission quoted the psychiatric findings about Oswald at
length, apparently indicating the psychological foundation of the future assassin, the
Commission also tried to have it both ways by declaring that “the psychiatric
48 WC Report, 377.
49 WC Report, 379.
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