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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep365: Guest Author: Paul Gregory Headline: The Desire for Greatness: Understanding the Motive Summary: Decades later, Paul Gregory attributes Lee’s motive to a desperate need to prove his significance to the world and his scornful wife. Often underestimated, Le

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

News, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guest Author: Paul Gregory
Headline: The Desire for Greatness: Understanding the Motive
Summary: Decades later, Paul Gregory attributes Lee’s motive to a desperate need to prove his significance to the world and his scornful wife. Often underestimated, Lee was a manipulative planner who viewed the assassination as a path to historic grandeur and political relevance.
Article: Lee Harvey Oswald was driven by a lifelong belief instilled by his mother that he was special, combined with a desperate need to prove his worth to his wife, Marina, who often ridiculed him as not being a "real man". Far from being a simpleton, Lee was a manipulative planner who viewed the assassination not just as a crime, but as a gateway to a show trial where he could broadcast his political theories and finally achieve the historical importance he craved.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm John Batchel with Paul Gregory, the author of The Oswald's.

0:08.6

This is an untold account of Marina and Lee Oswald and Marguerite Oswald, and Robert Oswald, the other brother, and John picks the half-brother.

0:17.0

But it's also the story of how the Gregory family stood up to an unprecedented amount of scrutiny in the Warren Commission.

0:25.5

All their names are in the Warren Commission.

0:27.7

The investigation, the conspiracy thinking, the blame shifting that went on for decades now continues about the Dallas Russians.

0:36.1

But it comes down to motive, Paul.

0:38.8

And Sherlock Holmes World, you need a weapon, you need opportunity, and you need a motive.

0:44.4

What was the motive to your reasoning all these decades later?

0:47.6

You knew all the principles, Paul, and they're all gone but you.

0:52.2

And Marina. Marina, who won't talk to you, who will not talk.

0:58.0

You will not talk, yeah.

1:00.0

The motive, I think, is fairly simple, and it's, it's well known, but there is a sort of sub-motive,

1:08.0

which I'll say a word or two about.

1:10.0

The motive was that Lee Harvey, I said, of sub-motive, which I'll say a word or two about.

1:19.8

The motive was that Lee Harvey Oswald, from his early years on, living with his mother,

1:22.4

had been told, you are special.

1:26.7

You have a destiny to fulfill.

1:28.3

The world is against you.

1:39.3

I'm warning you it's going to be a tough life and we are not going to be treated favorably in life. You're going to have a tough life.

1:41.3

Everybody's against you.

1:43.3

Lee somehow, even though he was disrespected, you're going to have a tough life, everybody's against you.

1:52.3

Lee somehow, even though he was dyslexic, was a voracious reader. And he read biographies, he read a lot of marks and Lenin and things like that.

...

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