Why did Oswald "show off" his handcuffs to the reporters?

[Tom Graves]

Why did self-described Marxist Oswald "show off" his handcuffs to the reporters at police headquarters after his first interrogation session?

1) To show them what handcuffs look like?

2) To put them at ease by showing them he wasn't a threat?

3) To prove that he was being abused by the police by being forced to wear such a barbarous contraption?

4) [Fill in the blank]

[Lance Payette]

By far the most common explanation I've seen is that he was making a Marxist statement with his raised fist. That would scarcely seem to make sense if he was playing the innocent patsy card.

Since he squawked about police brutality, my guess would be that he was just showing how harshly he was being treated. He recognized a photo opportunity when he saw one.

[Tom Graves]

By far the most common explanation I've seen is that he was making a Marxist statement with his raised fist. That would scarcely seem to make sense if he was playing the innocent patsy card.

Since he squawked about police brutality, my guess would be that he was just showing how harshly he was being treated. He recognized a photo opportunity when he saw one.

Why not just hold his hands straight out, victim-like?

I particularly like the clenched-fist aspect, don't you?

Is it "harsh treatment" when a violent murder suspect is subdued (without being beaten up), handcuffed, and taken to a police station?

Just curious: Do you think "Russiagate" was a hoax?

[John Mytton]

Why not just hold his hands straight out, victim-like?

I particularly like the clenched-fist aspect, don't you?

Why not just hold his hands straight out, victim-like?

Holding your arms out unclenched hands with palms exposed would be body language expressing "I'm innocent, why am I here" and seeking sympathy.

I particularly like the clenched-fist aspect, don't you?

Whereas, a fist held defiantly high with a smirk on your face is an act of defiance and a F-you to the authorities.



30. While being led by Dallas detectives down the hallway of police headquarters on the day of the assassination, Oswald suddenly lifted his manacled right hand in a clenched-fist salute of some nature (see photo section). One would expect an innocent person to have an expression on his face conveying bewilderment or anger or a plea for help. Instead, it’s clear Oswald is making some type of statement by his clenched-fist salute, one closer to that of defiance, satisfaction, even triumph. In no way would he confess to Kennedy’s murder, which would ensure his execution, but by the body language of his clenched fist (for which he would suffer no consequences), he seems to be telling posterity that he did it. If not, ask yourself how many people charged with a murder they did not commit would respond the way Oswald did—with a clenched-fist salute? One out of a thousand? One out of a million
Reclaiming History Vincent Bugliosi

JohnM

[Richard Smith]

Oswald had a fantasy image of himself as a revolutionary.  His fist gesture was symbolic of that mentality.  A brief slip in his "I don't know what this is about" victim act. 

[Lance Payette]

I will simply have to disagree with my betters.

If a CTer said something as over-the-top as Bugliosi, I'd be laughing at him.

Do we really think the guy in the video below was pausing to make a Marxist salute or subliminally convey "Damn right I did it"?

I note as well that he was almost continually holding his wrist. See this image at the Sixth Floor Museum: https://www.jfk.org/collections-archive/black-and-white-120-film-negative-showing-lee-harvey-oswald-in-dallas-police-custody-being-led-down-a-hallway-by-dallas-police-detective-elmer-boyd-11-22-1963/

Or here:




My guess remains that he was simply caught in this pose and prosecutor Bugliosi is making way too much of it. At most, IMO, he wanted the world to see that he was shackled. Too bad there isn't (is there?) a video showing the entire sequence immediately before and after the handcuff display.

[Charles Collins]

All we can do is express our opinions regarding this. To me it is an obvious symbol. Here is an interesting website showing the various ways in which people have used the fist as symbols over time and different contexts. Click on the i at the bottom left of each photo for a description.

https://phmuseum.com/galleries/the-fist-photos-on-the-polysemy-of-the-fist


For me this seems to be the best match to what we see in the context of the photo of LHO’s salute.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

All we can do is express our opinions regarding this. To me it is an obvious symbol. Here is an interesting website showing the various ways in which people have used the fist as symbols over time and different contexts. Click on the i at the bottom left of each photo for a description.

https://phmuseum.com/galleries/the-fist-photos-on-the-polysemy-of-the-fist


For me this seems to be the best match to what we see in the context of the photo of LHO’s salute.

My guess is that it was a "Look at what they're doing to me!" explanation, playing the victim card, versus a "Long live the Revolution" defiance theory.

You have to look at it in the fuller context, of how he was publicly acting. Privately he was defiant; publicly he was the "I don't know what this is about, I'm a victim".