Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Western Union Money Order Investigation

The Commission investigated a report that Oswald may have received unaccounted funds through Western Union money orders before the assassination. C.A. Hamblen, an early-night manager at the Western Union office in Dallas, initially claimed to have seen Oswald sending a telegram to Washington and collecting small money orders. Hamblen signed a statement detailing two specific incidents, but during later testimony he could not clearly recall the events and was unsure whether the person involved was Oswald. A second employee recalled one of the incidents but could not identify the man as Oswald, while the employee Hamblen cited in connection with the second incident was certain that no such unusual event occurred and that she never saw Oswald in the office. Federal investigators and Western Union officers conducted an exhaustive search of records in Dallas and other cities for money orders and telegrams in Oswald’s name or aliases, as well as all YMCA-addressed money orders and Dallas-to-Washington telegrams from the relevant period. No matching records were found, and Hamblen himself was unable to identify any such transactions. Hamblen’s superiors concluded that the entire matter was a product of his imagination, an assessment the Commission accepted.

Possible Conspiracy Involving Jack Ruby

This section addresses the widespread speculation that arose immediately after Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald on Sunday, November 24, 1963, in the basement of the Dallas Police Department. Suspicions centered on whether Ruby had acted on behalf of a conspiracy that killed President Kennedy and wanted to silence Oswald, or whether Ruby had accomplices in the slaying of Oswald himself. To evaluate these possibilities, the Commission undertook a detailed reconstruction of Ruby’s movements from November 21 through November 24, 1963, under the premise that conspiratorial involvement would likely have been reflected in his activities and associations. The Commission did not attempt to determine when Ruby first decided to attack Oswald or to resolve the psychiatric and legal questions arising from the assault. Beyond the chronology presented here, the chapter also analyzes rumors that Ruby and Oswald knew each other and examines Ruby’s background and associations for any conspiratorial ties, with a more detailed biographical account provided in Appendix XVI.

Ruby’s Activities From November 21 to November 24, 1963

The Commission undertook a meticulous reconstruction of Jack Ruby’s movements from November 21 through November 24, 1963, in order to assess whether his actions reflected any conspiratorial involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy or the slaying of Oswald. While the Commission did not seek to determine when Ruby first decided to attack Oswald or to address the psychiatric dimensions of the case, it scrutinized his activities and associations over the three-day period for evidence of conspiratorial connections. The detailed account that follows examines Ruby’s routine as a nightclub owner in the days leading up to the assassination, his presence at the Dallas Morning News when the President was shot, the disputed allegation that he visited Parkland Hospital afterward, and his decision to close his establishments in the aftermath of the tragedy.

The Eve of the President’s Visit

On Thursday, November 21, 1963, the day before the President’s visit, Jack Ruby followed his customary routine as proprietor of two Dallas nightspots: the Carousel Club, a downtown striptease venue, and the Vegas Club, a rock-and-roll establishment in the Oaklawn section. Ruby arrived at the Carousel around 3 p.m., conferring with his handyman Larry Crafard, meeting a young woman who was job hunting, paying rent, addressing a peace bond related to a fight with one of his dancers, consulting an attorney about federal tax issues, distributing membership cards, and speaking with an assistant district attorney about insufficient-fund checks before submitting advertising copy to the Dallas Morning News. That evening he drove Crafard to the Vegas Club, spoke with a Chicago businessman at the Carousel, had dinner with his close friend and financial backer Ralph Paul, briefly encountered Dallas Morning News employee Don Campbell, served as master of ceremonies, peacefully ejected a troublesome patron, and later joined his guest at the Bon Vivant Room of the Dallas Cabana. Neither Paul nor the Chicago businessman recalled Ruby mentioning the President’s trip to Dallas. After closing the Carousel and the Vegas Club, Ruby was seen eating at a restaurant as late as 2:30 a.m.