Who is Lee Harvey Oswald? Walter Kirn compares JFK assassin to Luigi Mangione, calls it crime "engineered for the social media age"

American novelist Walter Kirn weighed in on the high-profile case of 27-year-old Luigi Mangione, drawing a comparison between him and Lee Harvey Oswald. Speaking during the July 15, 2025, episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, Kirn described Mangione as a criminal “built” for the present-day social media age.

"Well, from the moment the crime was committed, I realized that we had a crime built, engineered for the social media age," he said.

To support this observation, Kirn referenced how major crimes throughout history had mirrored the dominant media of their time. He explained how the O.J. Simpson case was “the crime that made cable television," and the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case defined the "age of radio.”

Building on this pattern, Kirn remarked that Luigi Mangione's case represented "the age of Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter."

Walter Kirn then explored how Mangione’s case also echoed the legacy of Lee Harvey Oswald, one of the most polarizing figures in American history. Oswald, a U.S. Marine veteran, had assassinated the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963.

In Kirn’s view, Luigi Mangione mirrored Lee Harvey Oswald in many ways. Just like Oswald, who killed JFK, Luigi Mangione was charged with murdering an eminent man, the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Additionally, Kirn pointed out a visual similarity between the two.

"He (Luigi Mangione) appears at a hearing wearing the outfit that Lee Harvey Oswald—the exact sweater with collar combination that Lee Harvey Oswald wore when he was, you know, brought to justice...So he dressed the part of…Oswald," Kirn noted.

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Walter Kirn weighs in on the details of Luigi Mangione’s case, claims how the crime was “wonderfully staged” and made for social media

Luigi Mangione Attends Hearing In State Court In New York City - Source: Getty

During the aforementioned episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, American novelist and literary critic Walter Kirn offered a striking analysis of the Luigi Mangione case, suggesting that the circumstances surrounding the high-profile crime were not only shocking but seemingly tailor-made for viral consumption in today’s digital age.

Kirn began by highlighting the visual nature of the crime, which was caught on camera. He emphasized that from the outset, the event was primed for public obsession because it occurred on a surveillance video that appeared meticulously composed.

"Remember the crime occurred on video, on a surveillance video… the surveillance video was wonderfully staged," he explained

To further highlight the staged nature of the surveillance video, Kirn compared it to a shot from a cinematic point of view. He explained that in the surveillance video, the killer was present in the foreground, wearing a hood, and the victim in the distance looked like "a tiny stick figure". A soon as the hooded figure in the foreground shot the gun, "the stick figure" fell.

"Now, the way that shot is set up… you have uh a lot of interest in the shooter, but none at all in the victim," Kirn explained.

Kirn further added that the moment the video hit the internet and went viral on social media platforms, “hordes of junior investigators” began to dissect every frame, searching for clues, leading to a wave of virtual engagement with the case.

He then pointed out another “mystery” present in the footage: Why did Luigi Mangione appear to have trouble “operating" his gun”?

"So, you immediately had this mystery of the gun and this mystery of the killer’s expertise," Kirn added.

That mystery, he noted, however, was only the beginning.

The case quickly evolved into a participatory digital investigation after it was revealed that the alleged killer had rented an electric bike in New York City as part of his escape.

Kirn remarked that as soon as the news of the killer renting an electric bike came to light, "thousands, hundreds of thousands of junior detectives" participated in the case virtually. These junior detectives, "using the maps and available public data about the distribution of public electric bikes in New York City, tried to "trace" the killer, i.e., Luigi Mangione's path.

Kirn further described how the drama surrounding Luigi Mangione's case intensified again just "a few days later" when another video of Luigi Mangione emerged. This footage showed the same hooded figure—whose face still hadn’t been revealed from the first video—checking into a youth hostel, either before or after the crime.

Reacting to the nature of this new footage and how it involved the community, Kirn remarked:

"So you had this slow reveal...like a strip tease, and at every stage you had a mystery that the community could solve...sort of open source investigation...At that point, I said, 'This is too perfect.' The well-shot video from the killer’s point of view, the mystery of the gun... following the bike path digitally. And then it just got more and more made for social media."

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Newly declassified CIA records reveal ties between the agency and Lee Harvey Oswald

USA - Government - CIA Seal at the National Security Agency - Source: Getty

According to a Washington Post report published on July 14, 2025, newly declassified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency raised fresh questions about the agency’s past claims regarding its knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

At the center of these revelations was George Joannides, a CIA officer based in Miami.

Newly released records reveal that Joannides was in charge of U.S. efforts to infiltrate anti-communist Cuban student groups in the months before President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963.

The documents show he funded and oversaw the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE), a student group against Fidel Castro.

DRE members knew him only as “Howard,” and he only spoke with their leader, Luis Fernandez Rocha. Despite this, the CIA had long denied any connection to the group or to Joannides.

However, one of the newly declassified documents included a memo confirming that Joannides had obtained a Washington, D.C., driver’s license under the alias “Howard Mark Gebler.” This revelation directly contradicted the CIA’s earlier denials and substantiated that “Howard” was, in fact, Joannides.

Additionally, according to the Post, the DRE, with which Howard was linked, also had interactions with Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans after he publicly associated himself with the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

As per the report, this affiliation led to a physical confrontation between Lee Harvey Oswald and members of the DRE, which escalated to the point of police involvement. The group later challenged Oswald to a public debate, which was broadcast locally.

In an interview with the Post, Jose Antonio Lanuza, a former DRE member, recalled how Lee Harvey Oswald surprisingly reached out to the group again after the clash. Lanuza explained that Oswald expressed interest in helping the DRE despite their previous altercation.

"He indicated he might be interested in helping us train for military operations,” Lanuza told the outlet.

Lanuza also shared that Oswald had written a letter to the organization, which he personally kept. However, the DRE never followed up with him.

According to the Washington Post report, it was only after the assassination of President Kennedy that reports identifying Lee Harvey Oswald as the alleged shooter brought the man back onto the DRE’s radar.

At the time, Lanuza and Rocha had called Howard, who told them to call the FBI, hand over Oswald's letter to them, and alert the media to Oswald’s pro-Cuba leanings. Lanuza further added that the FBI came and took Lee Harvey Oswald's letter with a promise to return it, but never did.

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Luigi Mangione is next scheduled to appear in court in September 2025, after a previously set June 26, 2025, hearing date was postponed (as per ABC News). At present, he is being held in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Lee Harvey Oswald, on the other hand, was shot and killed by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963, just two days after Kennedy's assassination.