Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was, according to two United States government investigations, the assassin of U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. A former United States Marine who had communist sympathies and defected to the Soviet Union, but later returned to the U.S., Oswald was arrested on suspicion of killing Dallas, Texas police officer J.D. Tippit and later connected to the assassination of President Kennedy. Oswald denied any responsibility for the murders. Two days later, while being transferred under police custody from the city jail to the county jail, Oswald was shot and killed by a local bar owner named Jack Ruby on live television.
Despite several large scale Federal investigations, including one led by Chief JusticeEarl Warren, the exact circumstances and motivations of Oswald remain unknown. Consequently, a substantial number of theories have been posited to account for Oswald's motives, or flat out proclaim Oswald's innocence while implicating a wide range of conspiracies involving all manner of important persons.
