Lee Harvey Oswald drops out of high school and joins the U.S. Marine Corps, where he is trained as a sharpshooter
Oswald defects to the Soviet Union and is sent to work at an electronics factory in Minsk
John F Kennedy wins the 1960 presidential election
John F Kennedy is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States
Oswald returns to the United States with the wife Marina and their child to live in Texas
Oswald rents P.O. Box 2915 under his real name at the Dallas post office. He will maintain the rental until May 14, 1963
Democrat John Connally is elected governor of Texas
Connally takes the oath as governor of Texas.[5] As governor, he will assist with planning for President Kennedy's trip to Texas and will serve as Kennedy's host
Ruth Paine meets the Oswalds at a party held at Everett Glover's house
Klein's Sporting Goods of Chicago receives a mail order in the amount of $21.45 ($19.95 plus $1.50 for postage and handing) for item C20-750, a World War II-surplus Italian 1891 Carcano Model 1938 rifle equipped with a 4× scope by Oswald
Marina Oswald sends a letter to the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., asking to be granted an entrance visa to the USSR.[9] Oswald is given notice in the latter part of March that he will be terminated from his job
Oswald works his last day at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall
Oswald fires a bullet that narrowly misses retired general Edwin Walker, a strongly anticommunist right-wing advocate. The police determine that the shot was fired from a distance of less than 40 yards
VP Johnson, a Texas native, tells reporters in Dallas that President Kennedy may visit Texas sometime that summer. Johnson hopes that Kennedy's schedule would allow him to have a breakfast in Fort Worth, a luncheon in Dallas, and more
In the late evening, Oswald leaves Dallas by bus for his hometown of New Orleans, seeking better employment opportunities
President Kennedy, Johnson and Connally are together in a meeting in El Paso when they agree to a second presidential visit to Texas later that year
Kennedy decides to embark on the Texas trip with three basic goals in mind: to raise more Democratic Party presidential campaign fund contributions,[15] to begin his quest for reelection in November 1964 and, because the Kennedy ticket barely won Texas