JFK Assassination Forum

If one is foolish enough to consult AI - which I am not, but my bmboficated research assistant Cuddles LaFong is  - it appears that my guess of a disociative state may be in the ballpark. AI says "Yes, violent criminals are sometimes extremely calm after committing their acts. While public perception often assumes a perpetrator would be frantic, panicked, or guilt-ridden, forensic psychologists, criminologists, and law enforcement officers frequently document intense post-crime composure." AI says lots more, but I will spare you. I suppose that after deciding the JFKA was what he was going to do and that he would probably die in the aftermath, Oswald could have been in something like a disociative state even during his visit to Irving.

Is there a CT'er who has a better answer than “He was completely innocent and really had no idea what was going on?”--Lp

Yes, LHO was part of a quickly formed, low-budget conspiracy, around the (bad) luck that the JFK motorcade (revealed publicly on Nov. 19) would make a hairpin turn right in front the TSBD, with its largely empty upper floors, and clear view to a kill.

A perfect set-up. The best place in Dallas to perp the JFKA, and LHO already "had an in."

LHO had a proclivity for shooting at major public figures---see the Walker shooting. He needed convincing?

In fact, LHO had worked out a reasonable escape plan from the immediate TSBD premises, and did escape from there. So good enough on that score.

As for longer-term LHO plans, everything is speculation. In my layman's view, LHO was mentally ill.

Perhaps G-2 had promised LHO passage to Cuba, but actually planned to wax LHO.

LHO was "left holding the bag." Maybe. LHO planned to write his manifesto in Cuba?

A post JFKA-ride was promised to LHO, but fell through---possibly.

The 1,800-mile border to Mexico was wide-open back then, and boats left for Cuba from Mexico daily.

Who knows?

You are pointedly ignoring the subject of this thread. I'm not looking for conspiracy theories. I can weave those all day long. I'm looking for how Oswald's seemingly out-of-character preternatural composure before and after the JFKA is explained in the context of a conspiracy theory (or the LN narrative, for that matter).

Is there a CT'er who has a better answer than “He was completely innocent and really had no idea what was going on?”--Lp

Yes, LHO was part of a quickly formed, low-budget conspiracy, around the (bad) luck that the JFK motorcade (revealed publicly on Nov. 19) would make a hairpin turn right in front the TSBD, with its largely empty upper floors, and clear view to a kill.

A perfect set-up. The best place in Dallas to perp the JFKA, and LHO already "had an in."

LHO had a proclivity for shooting at major public figures---see the Walker shooting. He needed convincing?

In fact, LHO had worked out a reasonable escape plan from the immediate TSBD premises, and did escape from there. So good enough on that score.

As for longer-term LHO plans, everything is speculation. In my layman's view, LHO was mentally ill.

Perhaps G-2 had promised LHO passage to Cuba, but actually planned to wax LHO.

LHO was "left holding the bag." Maybe. LHO planned to write his manifesto in Cuba?

A post JFKA-ride was promised to LHO, but fell through---possibly.

The 1,800-mile border to Mexico was wide-open back then, and boats left for Cuba from Mexico daily.

Who knows?

Blissfully, TG is so far in my rearview mirror that I actually don't remember even starting this thread.

So many JFKA rabbit holes, so little time.

To be clear, I'm not talking about Oswald's motive. I can articulate a plausible motive and have done so. As John Corbett suggests, it is a mixed motive. A life and marriage that was going nowhere, an exalted view of himself, his genuine pro-Castro sympathies, and Fate seemingly handing him a golden opportunity.

I'm talking about his behavior, which is quite astonishing for a guy who has just shot the POTUS and presumably knows there is a mountain of evidence against him. His preternatural composure in the encounter with Baker and Truly ... offering Whaley's cab to a stranger … yada yada as set forth in my original post - this is someone who has just shot the President? And again, contrast his behavior here with the Walker shooting - a detailed note for Marina and still agitated when he gets home.

Steve makes an interesting point, but wait: By the time Oswald bums the ride from Frazier and visits the Paine home, he has clearly formulated the JFKA - presumably the night before. Yet he shows none of the stress Marina had previously witnessed - nada, zilch. Ditto for the ride back to the TSBD with Frazier and his morning in the TSBD. (His weird question to Jarman as though he doesn't know JFK's motorcade will be passing in front of the TSBD - what was that all about?) Ditto for his post-arrest behavior. This is all part-and-parcel of the seemingly preternatural composure I'm talking about. How does he pull this off?

I really don’t have a good answer. He seems to know something that is outside the scope of the LN narrative, but I can’t put my finger on it. It’s as though he’s somehow been “programmed” to stay calm and admit absolutely nothing - whatever "programmed" may mean in this context. This is a different Oswald than we would have expected under the circumstances – indeed, different from what almost anyone would be like under the circumstances. Is he in some disociative state, perhaps?

Is there a CTer who has a better answer than “He was completely innocent and really had no idea what was going on?”