A Nation of Law? Well, sometimes.

Apparently, America is a “nation of law” only when it’s convenient.  The assassination of JFK exposes the real America.  Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested and grilled by the Dallas Police Department for nearly two days straight.  During the entire time Oswald is in custody, he never has the assistance of legal counsel, although he asks for an attorney more than a dozen times, beginning just after he is first arrested.

NOVEMBER 22, 1963

1:45 p.m., inside the Texas Theater while being arrested, Oswald says, “I want a lawyer…I am not resisting arrest…I didn’t kill anybody.”

2:00 p.m., inside the police car:  “I am not being handled right…I demand my rights.”

4:45 p.m., at the Dallas Police Department in a police lineup for Helen Markham, a witness to the Tippit murder:  “It isn’t right to put me in line with these teenagers…You know what you are doing, and you are trying to railroad me…I want my lawyer.”

5:00 p.m., at the Dallas Police Department, office of Captain Will Fritz: “I can’t use a phone…I want that attorney in New York, Mr. Abt. I don’t know him personally but I know about a case that he handled some years ago, where he represented the people who had violated the Smith Act, (which made it illegal to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government). I don’t know him personally, but that is the attorney I want…If I can’t get him, then I may get the American Civil Liberties Union to send me an attorney.”

5:30 p.m., still in the office of Captain Will Fritz:  “My landlady didn’t understand my name correctly, so it was her idea to call me O. H. Lee…I want to talk with Mr. Abt, a New York attorney…The only package I brought to work was my lunch…I never had a card to the Communist party…I am a Marxist, but not a Leninist-Marxist…I bought a pistol in Fort Worth several months ago…I refuse to tell you where the pistol was purchased…I never ordered any guns…I am not malcontent.  Nothing irritated me about the President.”

5:40 p.m., still in the office of Captain Will Fritz:   “Can I get an attorney?…I have not been given the opportunity to have counsel.”

6:30 p.m., in the hallway at the Dallas Police Department on the way to a police lineup for witnesses Cecil MacWatters, Sam Guinyard, and Ted Callaway:  “I didn’t shoot anyone,” Oswald yelled in the halls to reporters, “I want to get in touch with a lawyer, Mr. Abt, in New York City…I never killed anybody.”

7:10 p.m., at his arraignment for the murder of Police Officer J.D. Tippit:   “I insist upon my constitutional rights...The way you are treating me, I might as well be in Russia.”

7:50 p.m., police lineup for witness J.D. Davis:  “I am only a patsy.”

7:55 p.m., third interrogation in Capt. Fritz’s office (even after Oswald has asked eight times to have an attorney present):   “I think I have talked long enough. I don’t have anything else to say…What started out to be a short interrogation turned out to be rather lengthy…I don’t care to talk anymore…I am waiting for someone to come forward to give me legal assistance.”

8:55 p.m., during fingerprinting and paraffin testing in Capt. Fritz’s office:   “I will not sign the fingerprint card until I talk to my attorney.(Someone else signed it for him.)…What are you trying to prove with this paraffin test, that I fired a gun?…You are wasting your time. I don’t know anything about what you are accusing me.”

11:20 – 11:25 p.m., lineup for press conference (Jack Ruby is present.):  When newsmen ask Oswald about his black eye, he answers, “A cop hit me.”  When asked about the earlier arraignment, Oswald says, “Well, I was questioned by Judge Johnston. However, I protested at that time that I was not allowed legal representation during that very short and sweet hearing. I really don’t know what the situation is about. Nobody has told me anything except that I am accused of murdering a policeman. I know nothing more than that, and I do request someone to come forward to give me legal assistance.” When asked, “Did you kill the President?” Oswald replied, “No. I have not been charged with that. In fact, nobody has said that to me yet. The first thing I heard about it was when the newspaper reporters in the hall asked me that question…I did not do it.  I did not do it…I did not shoot anyone.”

NOVEMBER 23, 1963

1:35 a.m., at Oswald’s arraignment for the murder of President John F. Kennedy:  When addressing the presiding Judge, Oswald says, “Well, sir, I guess this is the trial…I want to contact my lawyer, Mr. Abt, in New York City. I would like to have this gentleman. He is with the American Civil Liberties Union.” (John J. Abt, then in private practice in New York, was the general counsel for the Senate Sub-Committee on Civil Liberties from 1935-1937, and later served as legal adviser for the Progressive party from 1948-1951. Mr. Abt was never a member of the ACLU.)

10:30 a.m. – 1:10 p.m., the fourth interrogation, Capt. Will Fritz’s office:  “I said I wanted to contact Attorney Abt, New York. He defended the Smith Act cases in 1949, 1950, but I don’t know his address, except that it is in New York.”

1:10 – 1:30 p.m., during a visit  by Mother, Marguerite Oswald, and Wife, Marina Oswald:  When speaking to his mother, Oswald says, “No, there is nothing you can do. Everything is fine. I know my rights, and I will have an attorney. I already requested to get in touch with Attorney Abt, I think is his name. Don’t worry about a thing.”

When speaking to his wife, Marina, Oswald says, “It’s a mistake. I’m not guilty. There are people who will help me. There is a lawyer in New York on whom I am counting for help…“Don’t cry. There is nothing to cry about.  Try not to think about it…Everything is going to be all right. If they ask you anything, you have a right not to answer. You have a right to refuse. Do you understand?…You are not to worry. You have friends. They’ll help you. If it comes to that, you can ask the Red Cross for help. You mustn’t worry about me. Kiss Junie and Rachel for me. I love you…Be sure to buy shoes for June.”

3:40 p.m., in a phone call to Ruth Paine:   “This is Lee. Would you please call John Abt in New York for me after 6:00 P.M?”

5:30 – 5:35 p.m., during a five-minute visit with H. Louis Nichols, President of the Dallas Bar Association:  “Well, I really don’t know what this is all about, that I have been kept incarcerated and kept incommunicado…Do you know a lawyer in New York named John Abt? I believe in New York City. I would like to have him represent me. That is the man I would like. Do you know any lawyers who are members of the American Civil Liberties Union? I am a member of that organization, and I would like to have somebody who is a member of that organization represent me.”

6:00 – 6:30 p.m,  in Captain Fritz’s Office, talking about the photo of Oswald with the rifle:   “In time I will be able to show you that this is not my picture, but I don’t want to answer any more questions…I will not discuss this photograph (used on the cover of Feb. 21, 1964, Life magazine) without advice of an attorney…There was another rifle in the building. I have seen it. Warren Caster had two rifles, a 30.06 Mauser and a .22 for his son…That picture is not mine, but the face is mine. The picture has been made by superimposing my face. The other part of the picture is not me at all, and I have never seen this picture before. I understand photography real well, and that, in time, I will be able to show you that is not my picture and that it has been made by someone else…It was entirely possible that the Police Dept. has superimposed this part of the photograph over the body of someone else…The Dallas Police were the culprits…The small picture was reduced from the larger one, made by some persons unknown to me…Since I have been photographed at City Hall, with people taking my picture while being transferred from the office to the jail door, someone has been able to get a picture of my face, and with that, they have made this picture…I never kept a rifle at Mrs. Paine’s garage at Irving, Texas…We had no visitors at our apartment on North Beckley…I have no receipts for purchase of any gun, and I have never ordered any guns. I do not own a rifle, never possessed a rifle…I will not say who wrote A. J. Hidell on my Selective Service card. (It was later confirmed that Marina Oswald wrote in the name Hidell.)…I will not tell you the purpose of carrying the card or the use I made of it…The address book in my possession has the names of Russian immigrants in Dallas, Texas, whom I have visited.”

What does a guy have to do to get a lawyer in this town?  Oswald asked more than a dozen times.  So much for the protection of the Fifth Amendment.  Of course, 1963 is pre-Miranda.  The police don’t have to read you your rights. They generally just arrest you and hold you until you come up with the money to hire a lawyer and post bond — or they run out of jail cells and have to let you go.