Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald was the alleged assassin of US President, John F Kennedy. He was shot and killed by a Texas nightclub owner while being transferred to the county jail, two days after the assassination.

Before the age of 18, Oswald had lived in 22 different residences and attended 12 different schools. When Oswald was 14-years-old, a psychologist diagnosed him as having a "personality disorder". He served as a US Marine and was known as a sharp shooter, the army also taught him Russian.

In 1959 Oswald travelled to the USSR, where he attempted suicide, to avoid being deported as a suspected American spy. Oswald said he was a Marxist and went to live in Minsk, worked in a TV factory and married a Soviet woman.

He returned to the USA in 1962, with his wife and daughter and worked in a Dallas company, creating detailed maps of Cuba. Oswald reportedly told friends his move to the USSR was a CIA plot for him to gain technical secrets from the Soviets. He also claimed the move to Dallas was an assignment to identify potential safe houses of Pro-Castro fighters, and to collect names of US sympathisers.

The next year Oswald allegedly shot JFK, as his motorcade travelled through Dallas, and passed below the book depository where Oswald was employed. The why and ifs of this accusation have never been satisfactorily explained, as Oswald himself died only two days later.

Several theories suggest that Oswald did not fire the shots that killed the president; instead they suggest JFK was killed by three shooters positioned on the other side of the road, and Oswald was the scapegoat, altrhough there is no consensus on whom these gunmen were operating for. The official files on the case have yet to be released to the public.