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

psychiatrist’s report from the time made no mention of this. 151 Belin concluded that “The
passage of time blurs the accuracy of human recollection, even of an expert witness such
as a psychiatrist,” and that fellow counsel “Jim Liebeler had no inhibitions about
destroying the testimony of a psychiatrist” by pointing out the discrepancies in his
testimony and the official record. 152 Despite Belin’s statement, as was seen in the
previous chapter, the Warren Commission did make much use of Hartogs’ report and the
evaluation of Oswald during his time at Youth House in New York City. Why did the
Warren Commission use Hartogs’ report so extensively if he was unreliable or his
conclusions were not helpful in understanding Oswald’s psyche?
The main contribution of Hartogs’ book is analyzing Oswald’s alleged
psychological motivation for killing Kennedy. Hartogs wrote that he accepted “Freud’s
important discoveries which reveal the close connection between our sexual and
aggressive desires.” 153 Whether one accepts Hartogs’ analysis may depend, not only on
how one views Oswald, but also how one views Freudian interpretations. Hartogs
dispatched quickly with the “conscious” motivations of Oswald, such as his view of
Kennedy as the enemy of Communist-ruled Cuba and perhaps envy of Kennedy’s “power
and wealth,” and instead focused on his “unconscious” reasons, with a heavy dose of
oedipal angst and fear of castration. 154 Hartogs posited that in Oswald’s unconscious
fantasy, by killing a stranger, President Kennedy, he was really “killing a member, or
151
David Belin, November 22, 1963: You Are the Jury, (New York: Quadrangle, 1973),
412.
152
You Are the Jury, 422.
153
Hartogs and Freeman, 250.
154
Hartogs and Freeman, 253-55)
77