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

when an event like the Kennedy assassination affects a community, the area “feels
involved in a search for motives: perhaps partly as a way to absolve themselves of some
sense of community guilt.” 158 To explain Oswald’s motive, Holloway examined
Oswald’s writings as a means to posthumously analyze his psyche.
Throughout the book, Holloway analyzed Oswald’s letters to his family, the diary
he kept in the Soviet Union, his statements to reporters and on job applications and
official documents, and other writings. Holloway began by describing the first note by
Oswald in the historical record: a brief card the 11-year-old Oswald sent to his half-
brother John Pic in 1950. The card requested that Pic, who was serving in the Coast
Guard, send $1.50 to Oswald. Holloway castigated the 11-year-old for displaying “the
selfishness, spelling deficiencies, and demanding ways which would become some of his
character traits.” 159 Yet, the psychologist pointed out that the young Oswald probably
wrote the card at the urging of his mother. It is hard to see how Holloway’s analysis can
be accepted given Oswald’s young age and the possibility that Marguerite was the one
responsible for the grand request. Holloway seems to analyze Oswald’s words in light of
the Warren Commission’s conclusions instead of examining them with a fresh eye.
For example, in discussing Oswald’s childhood, she declared that “He gradually
became more alienated from others,” and “He became more openly hostile to others.”
What evidence is there for this? Holloway quoted Oswald’s note in a nine grade boy’s
autograph book: “’Roses are red, Violites ar blue, People like you, Should be in a
158
Diane Holloway, The Mind of Oswald: Accused Assassin of President John F.
Kennedy, (Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, 2000), v.
159
Holloway, 2.
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