Marina Oswald Deserves an Apology and Compensation

By Elliott J. Schuchardt

For more than six decades, the United States government has loudly and officially claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of President John F. Kennedy.  This narrative has stood as a monument to governmental convenience over historical truth.

At the center of this state-sponsored fiction lies Lee Harvey Oswald, branded for eternity as the "lone nut" assassin. Yet, a rigorous examination of the evidence reveals that Oswald was never proven guilty in a court of law. In recent years, evidence has emerged that Oswald was not the killer. It is time for the United States to formally acknowledge this injustice, issue a public apology, and pay financial compensation to Oswald’s widow, Marina Oswald.

This may surprise you – however, as of October 2026, Marina Oswald is still alive, and living in Texas.  She is 85 years old, and has been quietly living under the name of her second husband, whom she married in 1965.  For decades, Marina Oswald has refused to comment on the assassination.  During her most recent televised interview, in 1988, she questioned the government’s attacks on her deceased husband.  My purpose in writing is not to draw attention to Ms. Oswald, but to provide justice and compensation for sixty years of indignities that she has had to endure.   

The foundational text of the government's case is the 1964 Warren Commission Report. Hurriedly assembled under intense political pressure to reassure a traumatized nation, the Commission functioned not as an independent investigative body, but as a prosecutorial entity dedicated to a predetermined conclusion. The Commission’s findings were wrong on the science, wrong on the ballistics, and wrong on the law. By rushing to judgment and naming Oswald as the sole perpetrator, the federal government permanently defamed a man who was killed before he could make his case in court. As a result, Oswald's young widow was forced to bear the crushing social and economic consequences of the government's actions.

The most glaring absurdity of the Warren Commission’s report is the single-bullet theory, colloquially known as the "magic bullet." To maintain the illusion that Oswald acted alone, the Warren Commission claimed that a single, undamaged bullet caused seven non-fatal wounds in both President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally. According to the official timeline, this single bullet hit Kennedy in the upper back, emerged several inches higher, from Kennedy's neck, shattered Connally’s rib, fractured Connally's wrist, and then embedded itself in Connally's thigh. The bullet was allegedly found, in near-perfect condition, on a stretcher at Parkland Memorial Hospital, shortly after Kennedy and Connally arrived at the hospital.

The government's case cannot be proven, and is an insult to the people of the United States. The laws of physics and forensic ballistics say the "magic bullet" is an impossibility. Test bullets fired through similar bone structures invariably deform, flatten, or fragment the bullet. The government's alleged bullet shows virtually no damage at all.

To base sixty years of historical condemnation on an impossible event is a crime to the Oswald family. If the single-bullet theory is false — as forensic science dictates — then there had to be a second gunman. If there was a second gunman, there was a conspiracy, and the government’s certainty regarding Oswald’s sole guilt collapses entirely.

The fatal flaws of the Warren Commission become even more stark when contrasted with the explosive revelations that are described in a book written by Chuck Giancana. Chuck Giancana is the brother of Chicago mafia boss, Sam Giancana. In the book, Double Cross, Chuck Giancana openly claims that his brother, Sam Giancana, organized the JFK assassination. Chuck Giancana backs up his allegations with fifty years of astonishing detail of life in a Chicago mafia family.

Giancana’s book provides a chilling explanation for how the political pieces fell into place.  The book alleges that Kennedy placed Lyndon B. Johnson on the 1960 Democratic ticket, as Vice President, at the direct request of mafia boss, Sam Giancana.  Kennedy allegedly did so to gain Giancana's assistance in winning the vote in Chicago. According to the book, when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy began to prosecute the mafia, Sam Giancana used his bargaining chip of LBJ to remove John Kennedy, and to ensure that there was no investigation of the murder. The book lists names of who the alleged killers were, and how they were connected to Sam Giancana and Oswald’s killer, Jack Ruby. 

The historical evidence backs up Chuck Giancana's version of the events. Dozens of eyewitnesses in Dealey Plaza reported hearing shots originating from the grassy knoll, a location forward and to the right of the presidential limousine, rather than the Texas School Book Depository, where the government claims Oswald was located. Furthermore, the doctors at Parkland Hospital initially described Kennedy's wounds as coming from the front of Kennedy -- i.e. from the grassy knoll -- rather than from Oswald's location. At least one doctor claims that he was threatened by the government, and could not speak out for thirty years.

Oswald himself claimed to be innocent during his brief period in custody. We have video footage of Oswald famously telling reporters at the Dallas Police Headquarters, "I'm just a patsy." Oswald was never allowed legal counsel during hours of interrogation, and no stenographic or tape recordings of those sessions were preserved. Oswald's subsequent murder by Jack Ruby—a man with known ties to the very organized crime networks that Giancana controlled— conveniently silenced Oswald's testimony.

Oswald wasn't the only witness who died a violent death during the government's investigation of the case. Sam Giancana himself was murdered in June 1975, just days before he was supposed to testify before a U.S. Senate Committee investigating the connections between the mafia and the U.S. intelligence community.

The collateral damage of this rush to judgment was Marina Oswald. At the time of the crime, Marina Oswald was a young woman, who had recently arrived in the United States from the Soviet Union. After the shooting, federal authorities held Marina Oswald in virtual isolation, and subjected her to intense questioning, under the implied threat of deportation. The government used her vulnerability to extract statements that fit their desired narrative.

For over sixty years, Marina Oswald has lived under the shadow of an unproven state verdict. The federal government has systematically branded Lee Harvey Oswald as the ultimate villain of American history – without the benefit of a trial, cross-examination, or reliable forensic backing. Because the government chose political expedience over a genuine pursuit of truth, Marina Oswald’s life was permanently upended. The United States government owes it to historical truth, to the principles of due process, and to basic human decency to compensate Marina Oswald for the lifelong damage caused by the Warren Commission’s institutional falsehoods.

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Elliott J. Schuchardt is the author of America’s Achilles Heel:  How to Protect Your Family When America Loses the Reserve Currency.  In the book, Schuchardt argues that the United States must devalue the U.S. dollar to avoid a possible uncontrolled collapse in the value of the currency in the future.  In 2026, Schuchardt was a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly.