I’m sorry I ever got the case


James Hosty was an FBI agent assigned to keep an eye on Lee Oswald in March of 1963. He found it interesting that Oswald could defect to Russia and return to the US to resume his life with no consequences. He tried to open an investigation into the matter several times, but was prevented from doing so by Agency superiors.

Hosty's primary assignment was to investigate members of the KKK and General Edwin Walker. This included Walker's Minutemen in Dallas.

He visited Ruth Paine and Marina Oswald as part of his own private investigation. Oswald's response was a hostile letter telling him to stop bothering his wife. This letter was destroyed on orders from his superior, Gordon Shanklin. Hosty's name, phone number and license plate number were found in Oswald's address book.

Hosty told the Warren Commission that it was his opinion that Lee Oswald was the shooter in coordination with Soviets agents in the US. J Edgar Hoover was asked several times during the Warren Commission hearings why nothing was done when agents like Hosty had suspicions about Oswald. Each time, his answers were evasive and non-specific.

Assignment: Oswald
by James Hosty, Thomas Hosty

The FBI agent assigned to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald a month prior to the president's assassination presents his testimony for the first time, revealing how political intrigue prevented the relationship of Oswald and the Soviets from coming to light.