The Kennedy Assassination
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot as his vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building (just a couple of blocks from us). Lee Harvey Oswald, who had started working at the building the previous month, allegedly fired the fatal shots from the sixth floor. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital. A short time later, police arrested Oswald at a movie theater.
Jack Murdered Lee Harvey Oswald
On November 24, a crowd of reporters, policemen, and camera crews gathered to watch as Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas city jail en route to a waiting car scheduled to transfer him to the county jail. As a handcuffed Oswald, flanked by detectives, came into view, Jack Ruby lunged forward from the crowd. At approximately 11:20 a.m., Ruby fatally wounded Oswald with a single shot to the abdomen from a concealed .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver. Television cameras captured the attack, which was witnessed live by Americans across the country. The shooter, wrestled to the ground by police, shouted, “You all know me. I’m Jack Ruby.” Oswald was rushed to Parkland Hospital, where he soon died in surgery. Ruby claimed he killed Oswald so Jacqueline Kennedy wouldn’t have to return to Dallas for a trial.
​Jack's Conviction and Death
On March 14, 1964, after deliberating for just over two hours, a jury found Ruby guilty of murder with malice and sentenced him to death by the electric chair. In October 1966, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction on the grounds of improper admission of testimony and the fact that Ruby could not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time due to excessive publicity. A new trial was scheduled to take place in Wichita Falls, Texas, in February 1967.
However, on December 9, 1966, Ruby was admitted to Parkland Hospital (the same place where Kennedy and Oswald had died) with pneumonia. Soon after, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. On January 3, 1967, he died at age 55 from a blood clot in his lung.
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Jack's Motivation
Some people lauded Jack Ruby as a hero for killing the president’s alleged assassin, while others believed he murdered Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger conspiracy. Ruby contended he had acted impulsively out of grief and denied being part of any conspiracy. Other explanations for Ruby’s actions have been suggested, including the idea that he wanted to be a hero, that he was under the influence of prescription drugs, and that he had money troubles and therefore nothing to lose.
The official 1964 report of the Warren Commission, established by President Lyndon Johnson in late November 1963, concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby was part of a greater conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. However, despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in 1979 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a report that Kennedy was “probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy” that may have involved multiple gunmen. The committee’s findings, like those of the Warren Commission, continue to be disputed.​
Jack Ruby's story narrative was taken in part
from information available on history.com.
Who was Jack Ruby?
Jacob Rubenstein, later known as Jack Ruby, was born in Chicago in 1911, the son of Polish immigrants.
Ruby, one of eight siblings, had a troubled childhood in Chicago and spent time in foster care. He never graduated from high school and spent years working odd jobs, including as a door-to-door salesman and ticket scalper. During World War II, Ruby served in the Army Air Forces, working as an aircraft mechanic at U.S. bases. By the late 1940s, he had moved to Dallas, where he became a small-time operator in the world of nightclubs and gambling. He also racked up a series of arrests for minor offenses.
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Ruby had fringe connections to organized crime and a reputation as a name-dropper and publicity seeker. He never married and possessed no known political affiliations.