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

childhood by Marguerite; “The Marine Corps – the ‘mother of men’ – failed him too;” he
rejected his “mother country” by defecting; and finally he rejected “Mother Russia”
because “it had failed to meet his needs.” When he returned to the United States and the
“emotional orbit of his mother,” he acted “wildly” and with more spitefulness and
meanness toward Marina. 184 Complicating his return was the fact that Marina had given
birth to their daughter, June Lee. In Dallas shortly before the assassination, Marina
would give birth to their second daughter, Rachel.
Once again, Marguerite is the focus of criticism in Oswald’s psychological make-
up, and yet McMillan did treat Oswald’s political beliefs and idealism with respect. She
claimed that his political solution to his disenchantment with both the United States and
Soviet Union “was similar to the solution proposed by a generation of American activists
in the later 1960s: participatory democracy at a community level.” As such, “Oswald
was a pioneer, if you will, or a lonely American anti-hero a few years ahead of his
time.” 185 In fact, several writers have picked up on the idea of Oswald as an “anti-hero,”
a point of view that will be discussed later.
In the United States, Marina told McMillan that Oswald began to beat her
regularly, and there is corroborating testimony in the Warren Commission report from
neighbors and acquaintances of the Oswald’s who either heard violent arguments or saw
Marina with black-eyes or bruises. Oswald had trouble holding onto work, as well,
which, McMillan argued, took a toll on the marriage. In McMillan’s recounting of the
184 McMillan, 158.
185 McMillan, 157.
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