Psychological Analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald Essay -- Psychological Cap

On November 22nd, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was concluded by The Warren Commission that the man who assassinated President Kennedy was 24 year old, Lee Harvey Oswald. Less than 48 hours after Kennedy was shot, while Oswald was being transferred to the county jail, he was assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald was killed before he could undergo any psychological or psychiatric analysis, so it is impossible to know for certain what his mental state was at the time of President Kennedy's assassination. The Warren Commission states that they were unable â€Å"to reach any definite conclusions as to whether or not he (Lee Harvey Oswald) was ‘sane’ under prevailing legal standards (Warren et al., 1964, p. 375).† I do not believe that human behavior can ever fully be predicted. However, an analysis of Oswald’s childhood, as well as, his actions leading up to the assassination help us to understand the type of person Lee Harvey Oswald w as and give us an insight into his psychological state. Oswald had a troubling childhood to say the least. His father died two months before he was born in 1939 leaving him with no father figure in his life. Not only did the death of Oswald’s father leave him with without a father-figure, it â€Å"robbed him of a home and family life with constant parental figures (Abrahamsen, 1967, p. 869).† The death of Oswald’s father forced his mother to go to work, essentially leaving him without a mother as well. His mother sent Oswald, his older brother, Robert Oswald, and his older half-brother, John Pic, to an orphanage. Oswald stayed at the orphanage for thirteen months, until his mother married her third husband (Ewing & McCann, 2006, p. 22). Now that Oswald’s mother was remarried there w... ...brahamsen, David. (1967). A Study of Lee Harvey Oswald: Psychological Capability of Murder. Bulletin of The New York Academy of Medicine, 43, 861-888. Ewing, C.P., & McCann J.T. (2006). Minds on Trial: Great Cases in Law and Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. McAdams, John. (1995). Lee Harvey Oswald: Troubled Youth - Oswald Assessed by Psychiatrist Renatus Hartogs. Retrived from http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ hartogs.htm. Simon, Jonathan. (1998). Ghosts of the Disciplinary Machine: Lee Harvey Oswald, Life-History, and the Truth of Crime. Yale Journal of Law and Humanities, 10, 75-113. Warren, E., Russell, R. B., Ford, G. R., Cooper, J. S., Dulles, A. W., Boggs, A., McCloy, J. J. (1964). The Warren Commission Report: Reports of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.