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Lee Harvey Oswald Autograph Letter Signed to the General Secretary and National Chairman of the American Communist Party....
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Description
Just Months Before the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald Asks to Join the American Communist Party
Lee Harvey Oswald Autograph Letter Signed to the General
Secretary and National Chairman of the American Communist
Party. One page, 8 x 5 inches (203 x 127 mm). Dallas, Texas, no
date [but February or March, 1963]. Written to Gus Hall, General
Secretary of the American Communist Party, and E[lizabeth] G[urley]
Flynn, National Chairman of the American Communist Party. Penned in
ink.Oswald writes, in full:
Dear Sirs:
I have followed the activities of the C.P. for the last few years, and have decided that it is very timely and correct for me at this time; to apply for membership in the communist party of the U.S. I wish to become a member so that I may share, as fully as is possible, your trails [sic] and tribulations, as well as your glories and victories.
Very sincerely,
Lee H. Oswald
P.O. Box 2915
Dallas, Texas
Oswald's fascination with Communism and the Socialist Party began while still a teenager. He was an avowed socialist at age 15, a voracious reader, despite suffering from a reading-spelling disability, and his diary at this time indicates that he had discovered socialist literature, actively scouring libraries for material on the subject. At age 16, he wrote to the Socialist Party of America for information on their Young People's Socialist League. In October 1956, aged 17, he entered the Marine Corps, where he was referred to as "comrade" by some of his associates and given the nickname "Oswaldskovich" because he espoused Communist doctrine.
At the time this letter was written, Oswald was plotting an attack on Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army). In 1961, Walker was relieved of his command of the 24th Division of the U.S. Army in West Germany for distributing right-wing literature to his troops. He was an outspoken opponent of Communism, a virulent segregationist, member of the John Birch Society, and was considered to be the leader of a "fascist organization" by Oswald. Oswald's widow, Marina, later testified that her husband had compared Walker to Adolf Hitler, emphasizing that he had remarked that, "if someone had killed Hitler in time it would have saved many lives." Just weeks after this letter was written, on April 10, 1963, Oswald traveled by bus to General Walker's house and shot his Carcano rifle through a window as Walker sat at a desk in his Dallas home. The bullet struck the window frame, and Walker suffered only minor injuries from bullet fragments to his forearm.
The recipient of this letter, Gus Hall, believed that Oswald may have been a government agent; thus, he never responded, and the letter remained in his personal files until his death in 2000. The P.O. Box listed here is the very one Oswald used to purchase the mail-order rifle he employed in his attempt to kill Gen. Walker. The same rifle was later used to kill President Kennedy.
The letter is accompanied by a vintage gelatin silver glossy photograph measuring 8 x 11 inches, taken of Gus Hall by photographer Marcia Keegan in 1973 during Hall's campaign for president, with a paper press caption on the verso. Also included is a more recent photograph of Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby, signed in ink by former Dallas police detective, James Leavelle.
Gus Hall (1910-2000) was recruited by his parents into the Communist Party USA in 1927, where he helped organize the Young Communist League in the Midwest. In 1959, he was elected General Secretary of the CPUSA and ran four times as a presidential candidate on behalf of his party, in 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984, the last two times with Angela Davis as his running mate.
The other addressee, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1880-1964), was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). She was also a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a visible proponent of women's rights, birth control, and women's suffrage. She joined the Communist Party USA in 1936, and in 1961, she became its chairwoman; her death during a visit to the Soviet Union was accorded a state funeral in Red Square.
Condition: Flattened folds, faint creases, and smudges.
Provenance: Estate of Gus Hall
Auction Info
2023 July 8 Historical Platinum Signature® Auction #6275 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
July, 2023
8th
Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 1
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 900
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