Lee Harvey Oswald ( October 18 , 1939 – November 24 , 1963 ) was an American Marxist and former U.S. Marine who assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22 , 1963 . Oswald was honorably released from active duty in the Marine Corps into the reserve and defected to the Soviet Union in October 1959 . He lived in the Belarusian city of Minsk until June 1962 , when he returned to the United States with his Russian wife , Marina , and eventually settled in Dallas . Five government investigations concluded that Oswald shot and killed Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository as the President traveled by motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas , Texas
assassinated
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Lee Harvey Oswald