Investigations: The Man Who Wanted To Kill Nixon

When the full report of the Warren Commission is published, perhaps by month’s end, it may well reflect the theory that Lee Harvey Oswald had an obsessive yen to kill—not just John F. Kennedy, but any notable person. According to that theory, Kennedy was no more than a famous target to Oswald.

The theory helps explain why Oswald apparently took a potshot at General Edwin Walker in Dallas in April 1963. Walker, a right-winger, espoused views that were frequently diametrically opposed to Kennedy’s. So why, if political causation was the answer, should Oswald shoot at both Kennedy and Walker? The presumed solution: both were highly publicized, controversial men who happened to be within range of Oswald’s rifle.

There was still another potential target. In Washington last week the Warren Commission took further testimony from Oswald’s Widow, Marina. The commission had ga hered much information since Marina last testified, and found that she had made some omissions. During a four-hour questioning period, Marina told the commission that on a night in mid-April 1963, her husband walked into a room with a pistol and announced that he was going to kill Richard Nixon. The former Vice President was to speak in Dallas within the next few days. Marina said she dissuaded her husband. As it turned out, Nixon’s appearance was canceled, and he never got to Dallas.

In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Marina insisted last week that Oswald did not hate President Kennedy or Governor John Connally, whom he wounded, but that “he wanted to be a big shot.” And, she added with a tone of regret, she would never have married Oswald if they had met in the U.S. instead of the U.S.S.R.