and threatened to use it on Mrs. Pic. When Pie returned home, Mrs. Oswald tried to play down the event but Mrs. Pic took a different view and asked the Oswalds to leave. Lee refused to discuss the matter with Pie, whom he had previously idolized, and their relations were strained thereafter. 39

On September 30, 1952, Lee enrolled in P.S. 117,40 a junior high school in the Bronx, where the other children apparently teased him because of his "western" clothes and Texas accent.41 He began to stay away from school, preferring to read magazines and watch television at home by himself. 42 This continued despite the efforts of the school authorities and, to a lesser extent, of his mother to have him return to school. 43 Truancy charges were brought against him alleging that he was "beyond the control of his mother insofar as school attendance is concerned." 44 Oswald was remanded for psychiatric observation to Youth House, an institution in which children are kept for psychiatric observation or for detention pending court appearance or commitment to a child-caring or D institution such as a training school. 45 He was in Youth House from April 16 to May 7, 1953,46 during which time he was examined by its Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Renatus Hartogs, and interviewed and observed by other members of the Youth House staff. 47

Marguerite Oswald visited her son at Youth House, where she recalled that she waited in line "with Puerto Ricans and Negroes and everything." 48 She said that her pocketbook was searched "because the children in this home were such criminals, dope fiends, and had been in criminal offenses, that anybody entering this home had to be searched in case the parents were bringing cigarettes or narcotics or anything." 49 She recalled that Lee cried and said, "Mother, I want to get out of here. There are children in here who have killed people, and smoke. I want to get out." 50 Marguerite Oswald said that she had not realized until then in what kind of place her son had been confined. 51

On the other hand, Lee told his probation officer, John Carro, that "while he liked Youth House he miss[ed] the freedom of doing what he wanted. He indicated that he did not miss his mother." 52 Mrs. Evelyn D Siegel, a social worker who interviewed both Lee and his mother while Lee was confined in Youth House, reported that Lee "confided that the worse thing about Youth House was the fact that he had to be with other boys all the time, was disturbed about disrobing in front of them, taking showers with them etc." 53

Contrary to reports that appeared after the assassination, the psychiatric examination did not indicate that Lee Oswald was a potential assassin, potentially dangerous, that "his outlook on life had strongly paranoid overtones" or that he should be institutionalized.54 Dr. Hartogs did find Oswald to be a tense, withdrawn, and evasive boy who intensely disliked talking about himself and his feelings. He noted that Lee liked to give the impression that he did not care for other people but preferred to keep to himself, so that he was not bothered and did not have to make the effort of communicating. Os-