Dr Kurian's Interview of Harvey Oswald

Dr Milton Kurian interviewed Harvey Oswald in March 27, 1953 at the request of probation officer John Carro. Malcolm Blunt and Bill Drenas interviewed Dr Kurian May 23, 1998. We summarize this brief - half hour - interview containing a number of fascinating recollections by Dr Kurian.

Milton Kurian was a medical doctor who practiced for 60 years, the first 10 years of his career dealing with children; the remainder with adults. He practiced psychiatry in private and public sectors, including the military and the New York City children's court as a consultant psychiatrist where he encountered our subject. This author found the interviewee to be very lucid and coherent while being deliberate to construct his recollections and assessments about Oswald.

The day of Kurian's interview of Oswald coincided with his last day as a psychiatrist for the court, the latter of whom was in the custody of the case officer for truancy. Oswald was held in detention at the Youth House for 2 weeks in Manhattan for the said delinquency.

Kurian conducted the impromptu 45-60 minute interview as a favor for a colleague. He was interrupted from moving by a secretary who asked if he had time to meet the probation officer to discuss Oswald. Kurian said that Carro was having difficulty preparing his report on Oswald for the court, but wanted to help him organized his profile for his court case, largely as a favor for a colleague. The unscheduled visit gave Kurian no time to prepare for the interview in his usual fashion - as he responded when asked by the interviewer if Oswald had an accent. To that question Kurian replied that he did not notice.

Kurian found Oswald to be quite paranoid, giving as an example Oswald's entrance into his office in which he put one foot across the threshold, then stopping to scan the room to see if it was safe to proceed. Kurian described Oswald as rather thin, short, and "in knickers." When pressed for more details, Kurian thought that Oswald was about 4' 8".

Oswald described himself as the third and youngest of his siblings with John Pic and Robert perhaps being the assumed siblings, although it is not entirely certain that this is the case.

Oswald was very composed or reserved during the interview, something which Kurian thought was uncharacteristic of children that age, which in Oswald's case was 13. Oswald told Kurian that his siblings were harsh or cruel to him, which contributed to Oswald's anger. The doctor learned - presumably from Carl - that Oswald's mother had been married 5 times, and spent only 7 years in matrimony. Oswald stated that he had no recollection of his father, and that there were no father figures in his life, though there were a number of step fathers.

Oswald stated that he had little interest in school in large part because his family moved constantly and thus had no opportunity to develop ties or friendships. Consequently he learned to entertain himself. He reported that his brothers would attend his classes in his stead which created considerable confusion among classmates and teachers.

When asked about his overall impressions of Oswald, Kurian admitted that Oswald was the most disturbed child he had encountered up to that time, although he acknowledged seeing worse cases subsequently. The doctor further described Oswald as an abandoned child who did not have the opportunity to develop normally, a young man who harbored much anger, frustration, and distrust - someone who needed additional assessment for specific therapy.

One of the interviewers asked Kurian to assess Oswald's IQ in general terms, but he declined to comment as he said that testing was handled by others. However, John Armstrong cites psychologist Irving Sokolow's finding that Oswald had an IQ of 118.

After the assassination, Kurian contacted the FBI to relate that he had interviewed Oswald, but the FBI showed no interest. This disinterest surprised him because he recalled advising the probation officer that Oswald could be homicidal, especially against authority figures. In similar fashion, the Warren Commission studiously avoided him when it received his consolation letter to Mrs. Kennedy. Blunt and his partner in 1998 were the first to interview Kurian at all.

In a similar vein, when Kurian called John Carro after the assassination, Carl claimed no recollection of him although he used verbatim in his report some of the advice given to him by the psychiatrist.

One of the more interesting passages in the interview was Kurian's discussion of Oswald's name. He asked the lad his preferred name which he recalled as Harvey, which incidentally he reflexively used in referring to Oswald before his interviewers raised the question. Of even greater interest was the doctor's observation that Oswald had 3 names which he subsequently learned could be a significant factor in the psychological development of some people.

In closing Kurian recalled the extreme security surrounding Franklin Roosevelt when he spoke at Kurian's graduation from Howard University - all in contrast to the highly delinquent security attending Kennedy in Dallas.

This interview of Kurian is significant in many ways, not the least of which is that no one bothered to interview him before 1998. Some will contend that Kurian largely substantiates the Lone Nut theory but this is hardly the case. The fact that both the FBI and the Warren Commission shunned Kurian when he could have provided ammunition for their baroque theories means that there is much more to the story than their fraudulent work admits.

On a smaller note, Kurian's recollection of Oswald's preference for Harvey accords well with John Armstrong's research, and directly contradicts Judyth Vary Baker's treatment of the same subject in Me and Lee.

Reference
Dr Milton Kurian by Malcolm Blunt, Bill Drenas and John Armstrong May 23 1998, YouTube, Lone Gunman, May 8, 2019

Copyright 2019 Tony Bonn. All rights reserved.