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

conflicted mother.” 51 The report denied news reports after the assassination that claimed
the psychiatric examination indicated that Oswald’s “‘outlook on life had strongly
paranoid overtones’” and that he was “a potential assassin” that “should have been
institutionalized.” 52 The distinction drawn between the news reports and Dr. Hartogs’
finding of a “personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and passive-
aggressive tendencies” was probably lost on the general public.
Despite the disclaimers about reports of Oswald’s schizophrenia and future
propensity for violence, the Commission undoubtedly believed that this was the psyche
of a future presidential assassin. Years before the Federal Bureau of Investigation honed
the technique of creating a psychological profile of violent offenders, the Commissioners
sought to understand the psyche of a man who they claimed single-handedly killed
President Kennedy. Oswald, as seen by Dr. Hartogs, apparently fit the Commission’s
profile of the lone nut assassin. The Commission’s disclaimer may have served the
purpose of absolving the New York authorities of responsibility for failing to detect the
future assassin (if that was even possible). The report declared there was no way “to
predict the outburst of violence which finally occurred,” but also bemoaned the fact that
“Lee Oswald never received that [psychiatric] help” that would have healed the damage
to his personality. 53 The second phrase undermines the first, and leaves the reader with
the implication that the assassination would never have happened if Oswald had been
treated by a psychiatrist or psychologist.
51 WC Report, 380.
52 WC Report, 379.
53 WC Report, 382.
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