Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald

Last updated

Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald, November 24, 1963 Ruby shoots Oswald.jpg
Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald, November 24, 1963

Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald is a 1963 photograph of nightclub owner Jack Ruby shooting accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. The image was captured by Dallas Times Herald photographer Robert H. Jackson and it won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography. Jackson began working for the Dallas Times Herald in 1960.

Contents

Jackson captured the image in the basement of the Dallas jail at the exact moment when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot. Another reporter, Jack Beers of the The Dallas Morning News , captured a similar photo; but he clicked the shutter slightly before Ruby fired the shot.

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, the Jackson image also won awards from the Texas Headliners Club and Sigma Delta Chi. In 2019 the The New York Times said the image was "chillingly captured".

Photographer

Jackson was born on April 8, 1934 and he grew up in Dallas, Texas. He had an interest in photography when he was a boy so his aunt gave him a Kodak Brownie camera. At 14 years old he became more serious about photography, and another aunt gave him a better camera (a Argus C-3 35 mm camera). His first news photos were of crashes in the Dallas area. [1] Jackson began working for the Dallas Times Herald in 1960; he was hired as a staff photographer. [2]

Background

On November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. [3] The main suspect in the assassination was Lee Harvey Oswald, who was in police custody. Two days after the assassination, Dallas police made arrangements to transfer Oswald to the county jail. [4] The police had notified news agencies that the scheduled time to move Oswald was 9:15 a.m. so Jackson arrived before 9:00 a.m. to get ready. However, authorities did not begin to move Oswald until after 11:00 a.m. Approximately fifty people were in the basement of the Dallas jail to see Oswald's transfer. [5]

As Oswald was being taken out of the Dallas jail, Jack Ruby fired a gun at him. The exact time of the shooting was 11:21 a.m. [6] Jackson captured a photograph of the moment Oswald was shot. Jackson said he had no idea that he had captured the moment of the shooting until the film was developed. [7] On November 25, 1963, the image was published on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. [3]

Jack Beers's picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas on November 24, 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby as Oswald is being moved by police, 1963.jpg
Jack Beers's picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas on November 24, 1963

There was competition in the newspaper business and Jack Beers, who worked for The Dallas Morning News , captured a similar image which was taken six-tenths of a second before Jackson's. In the Beers image Ruby had not yet fired the fatal shot. Beers' image was first to press but the Jackson image was preferred because it captured the instant of Oswald being shot. [8] Beers's image showed Jack Ruby stepping forward with his 38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver just before the shot that killed Oswald. Beers's friends and family said he never got over the fact that he missed capturing the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph. [3]

When authorities notified the reporters in the police headquarters basement that Oswald was coming, Jackson got his Nikon S3 35 mm camera ready. [5] Jackson had been to the Dallas Police headquarters basement for prisoner transfers many times so he knew where to stand in order to get the best photograph. [9] [10] He said, "I picked a spot... I prefocused the camera about 11 feet in front of me." [11] Jackson said as part of his preparation, he made sure to check the camera's wind lever multiple times. [12] Jackson was initially blocked and had to lean across a vehicle to get a vantage point. [11] The reporters were arranged in a semi-circle and the door where Oswald would enter was 11 ft (3.4 m) in front of them. [13] Jackson also readied his camera's flash before looking into his camera's view finder to see Oswald approaching. [11]

Photograph

Oswald took eight to ten steps toward the reporters and Jack Ruby entered the frame. [13] Jackson said, "He [Ruby] fired [his gun], and I hit the shutter". Jackson almost lost his camera in the scrum that followed the shooting; an officer grabbed the camera but Jackson held firm. [11] The image Jackson captured was the exact moment a bullet from Ruby's gun entered Oswald's body. The expression on Oswald's face shows the pain he was experiencing at that moment. [7] Also in the image, Dallas Police Detective Jim Leavelle reacts to the shooting. [12] Leavelle was wearing a white Stetson cowboy hat in the image and his left wrist was handcuffed to Oswald's right wrist. [14] One of the reasons that the image was so compelling is that it captured the terror of the men in the frame. [5] Other photographers and television cameras also captured the dramatic scene but according to The Denver Post , "No one produced an image like Jackson's". [11]

Jackson returned to his newsroom with his undeveloped film, and the "Jack Beers picture was already on the wire." Before Jackson developed the film, reporters at his newspaper asked, "Do you have anything as good?" After Jackson developed the image and showed it, a reporter named Vivian Castleberry said, "All of Dallas could have heard the screaming from that room when he developed that picture and the image came out of what he had." [8]

Reception

The image won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography [7] and received international recognition. [11] When Jackson was told that the image had won the Pulitzer, he said, "I am in a state of shock". [7] The image also won other awards including the Texas Headliners Club award and the Sigma Delta Chi award for Best News Picture of the Year. [13] The impact of the image has been enduring. In 2013, Columbia University associate professor Nina Berman said, "The still [image] crystallizes this whole moment. You keep looking at it to see if anyone can see what is going to happen. … It is such a fantastically composed picture". [11] In 2019, The New York Times described the image by saying, "The shooting, with Mr. Oswald’s pained grimace and Detective Leavelle’s stricken glower, was chillingly captured". [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Ruby</span> Murderer of Lee Harvey Oswald (1911–1967)

Jack Leon Ruby was an American nightclub owner who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby shot and mortally wounded Oswald on live television in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters and was immediately arrested. In a trial, Ruby was found guilty and sentenced to death. The conviction was appealed, and he was to be granted a new trial, but Ruby became ill, was diagnosed with cancer, and died of a pulmonary embolism on January 3, 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Harvey Oswald</span> Assassin of John F. Kennedy (1939–1963)

Lee Harvey Oswald was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of John F. Kennedy</span> 1963 murder of the 35th U.S. President

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife, Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife, Nellie, when he was fatally shot from the nearby Texas School Book Depository by former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting; Connally was also wounded in the attack but recovered. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was hastily sworn in as president two hours and eight minutes later aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marina Oswald Porter</span> Wife of Lee Harvey Oswald

Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter is a Russian-American woman who was the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. She married Oswald during his temporary defection to the Soviet Union and emigrated to the United States with him. After the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Oswald's murder, she testified against Oswald for the Warren Commission and remarried. She ultimately came to believe Oswald was innocent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém</span> 1968 summary execution of a Viet Cong officer

Nguyễn Văn Lém, often referred to as Bảy Lốp, was a Viet Cong officer with the rank of captain. He was summarily executed in Saigon by Republic of Vietnam General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. A photo of the execution won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and helped galvanize the anti-war-movement in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badge Man</span> Unverified person

The Badge Man is a figure that is purportedly present within the Mary Moorman photograph of the assassination of United States president John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that this figure is a sniper firing a weapon at the president from the grassy knoll. Although a reputed muzzle flash obscures much of the detail, the Badge Man has been described as a person wearing a police uniform—the moniker itself derives from a bright spot on the chest, which is said to resemble a gleaming badge.

<i>Dallas Times Herald</i> Former daily newspaper in Dallas, Texas

The Dallas Times Herald, founded in 1888 by a merger of the Dallas Times and the Dallas Herald, was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas (USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and two George Polk Awards, for local and regional reporting. As an afternoon publication for most of its 102 years, its demise was hastened by the shift of newspaper reading habits to morning papers, the reliance on television for late-breaking news, as well as the loss of an antitrust lawsuit against crosstown rival The Dallas Morning News after the latter's parent company bought the rights to 26 United Press Syndicate features that previously had been running in the Times Herald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ike Altgens</span> American photojournalist who captured JFK assassination

James William "Ike" Altgens was an American photojournalist, photo editor, and field reporter for the Associated Press (AP) based in Dallas, Texas, who became known for his photographic work during the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Altgens was 19 when he began his AP career, which was interrupted by military service during World War II. When his service time ended, Altgens returned to Dallas and got married. He soon went back to work for the local AP bureau and eventually earned a position as a senior editor.

The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Aynesworth</span> American journalist (1931–2023)

Hugh Grant Aynesworth was an American journalist, investigative reporter, author, and teacher. Aynesworth was reported to have witnessed the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza, the capture and arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theatre, and the shooting of Oswald by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters. In a 1976 Texas Monthly article, William Broyles Jr. described Aynesworth as "one of the most respected authorities on the assassination of John F. Kennedy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Leavelle</span> American police detective (1920–2019)

James Robert Leavelle was a Dallas Police Department homicide detective who, on November 24, 1963, was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. Leavelle prominently was noted in films and photographs—including one that won a Pulitzer Prize—taken just as Ruby shot Oswald.

The John F. Kennedy assassination and the subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it have been discussed, referenced, or recreated in popular culture numerous times.

Robert "Bob" Jackson is an American photographer. In 1964, Jackson, then working for the Dallas Times Herald, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his image capturing the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby.

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald is an American two-part television film shown on ABC in September 1977. The film stars Ben Gazzara, Lorne Greene and John Pleshette in the title role. It is an example of alternative history. The hypothesis is what might have happened if Lee Harvey Oswald had not been killed by Jack Ruby and had stood trial for the murder of President John F. Kennedy.

<i>Four Days in November</i> 1964 film

Four Days in November is a 1964 American documentary film directed by Mel Stuart about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Stanley Frank "Stan" Stearns was an American photographer who captured the iconic image of a three-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting the coffin of his father, US President John F. Kennedy, at his father's funeral.

William Bradley Hunter was an American crime reporter for the Long Beach, California Independent Press-Telegram. Hunter's 16-page special on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, "Three Days in Dallas", was awarded the 1964 "Spot News Reporting" award of the California Newspaper Publishers Association's "Better Newspaper Contest".

<i>Pictures of the Pain</i>

Pictures of the Pain: Photography and the Assassination of President Kennedy is a 1994 book by Richard B. Trask, an American historian and archivist based in Danvers, Massachusetts. The book compiles more than 350 photographs made by amateur and professional photographers in Dallas, Texas, during the November 1963 assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, and includes interviews with many of the people who made the images, some of which had never been published prior to the book's release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. C. Graves</span> American police detective (1918–1995)

L. C. Graves was an American police detective. He worked for the Dallas Police Department and wrestled the gun from nightclub owner, Jack Ruby after Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin of John F. Kennedy.

Ira Jefferson "Jack" Beers Jr., known professionally as Jack Beers, was an American photojournalist who worked for The Dallas Morning News. Beers was best known for his widely distributed photograph capturing Jack Ruby lunging toward Lee Harvey Oswald a split-second before firing his fatal shot on November 24, 1963. He also took a famous photograph of football player Kyle Rote en route to a touchdown in 1948 – the only other photograph to be featured on a full page in The Dallas Morning News over a 25-year period.

References

  1. ↑ Boyle, Jim (November 10, 2013). "JFK series: Newspaper photographer witnesses historic shootings". hometownsource.com. ECM Publishers, Inc. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  2. ↑ Chang, May (May 10, 2003). "1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography". NCSU Libraries. NCSU Libraries. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Granberry, Michael (June 30, 2002). "Photographer snapped Oswald's murder a hair too soon, lost Pulitzer, place in history to rival". Dallas Morning News . Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  4. ↑ "A Photographer's Story: Bob Jackson and the Kennedy Assassination | The Sixth Floor Museum". The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. July 6, 2010. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Faber, John (January 1, 1978). Great News Photos and the Stories Behind Them. North Chelmsford, Massachusetts: Courier Corporation. p. 134. ISBN   978-0-486-23667-4 . Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Photographers Tell How They Snapped Dramatic Pictures". The High Point Enterprise . November 25, 1963. p. 11. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Grant, Donald (May 5, 1964). "Pulitzer Prize Winners for 1963; Who's Who on Winners". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . p. 17. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  8. 1 2 Roberts, Jerry (November 22, 2020). "Press Clips: A Remarkable Journalism Tale, in Remembrance of the JFK Assassination". Newsmakers. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  9. ↑ Eicher, Diane (1999). "Photographers relive moments when they took historic pictures". The Denver Post . Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  10. ↑ Writer, Staff (October 15, 2015). "Photo legends at work in Pikes Peak region". Colorado Springs Business Journal . Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Meyer, Jeremy P. (November 22, 2013). "Bob Jackson's iconic photo of Ruby shooting Oswald still resonates". The Denver Post . Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  12. 1 2 Shapiro, Gary (November 22, 2023). "Colorado photographer captured iconic photo". KUSA.com. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 Fischer, Heinz-Dietrich (2015). Key Images of American Life: Pulitzer Prize Winning Pictures. Berlin, Germany: LIT Verlag Münster. p. 182. ISBN   978-3-643-90518-5 . Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  14. 1 2 Blumenthal, Ralph (August 30, 2019). "James R. Leavelle, Detective at Lee Harvey Oswald's Side, Dies at 99". The New York Times . Retrieved January 29, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.