Friday Morning at the Dallas Morning News
Jack Ruby learned of the shooting of President Kennedy while at the Dallas Morning News on Friday, November 22, where he had gone to place regular weekend advertisements for his two nightclubs. Arriving around 11 or 11:30 a.m., Ruby briefly discussed diet pills with two employees, obtained a brochure from columnist Tony Zoppi, and then spoke with advertising employee Don Campbell from about noon to 12:25 p.m. about business matters, including the financial troubles of his clubs. Campbell did not recall Ruby mentioning the Presidential motorcade or behaving unusually. About ten minutes after the shooting, before news reached the second floor, John Newnam observed Ruby sitting where Campbell had left him, having completed his advertisement and reading a newspaper. Ruby criticized the black-bordered “Welcome, Mr. Kennedy” advertisement associated with Bernard Weissman, a topic he had earlier raised with his sister Eva Grant by phone. At around 12:45 p.m., when an employee announced shots had been fired at the President, Ruby displayed what Newnam described as “stunned disbelief.” As advertisers canceled their weekend business, Ruby suggested the Weissman ad had motivated some cancellations. Ruby appeared visibly shaken and pale, made only brief calls to his assistant Andrew Armstrong and his sister, telling Armstrong to close the Carousel, and remarked to Newnam that he would have to leave Dallas. He departed the building in tears, with Newnam estimating his departure at about 1:30 p.m.
Ruby’s Alleged Visit to Parkland Hospital
The Commission investigated claims that Jack Ruby visited Parkland Hospital at approximately 1:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, when press secretary Malcolm Kilduff announced President Kennedy’s death. Reporter Seth Kantor reported and testified that Ruby briefly stopped him at the hospital entrance during that window and tugged at his coattails. The only other person who claimed to have seen Ruby at the hospital did not come forward until April 1964, had never seen him before, allegedly saw him only briefly with an obstructed view, and was uncertain of the time. Ruby firmly denied going to Parkland, asserting he went directly to the Carousel Club, and video tapes of the hospital scene do not show Ruby. Telephone records and Armstrong’s testimony established that Ruby arrived at the Carousel by no later than 1:45 p.m., limiting the period when Kantor could have encountered Ruby at Parkland to only a few minutes before or after 1:30 p.m. Even if Ruby had driven from Parkland to the Carousel in the nine or ten minutes possible under normal conditions, his presence at the Morning News until after 1 p.m. and at the Carousel before 1:45 p.m. would have made his hospital visit exceedingly brief, especially given likely traffic congestion. The Commission concluded it was improbable that Kantor saw Ruby at Parkland at that time and suggested that Kantor may have confused his encounter, perhaps recalling instead an event at a midnight press conference at the Dallas Police Department on November 22, when both men were present.
Ruby’s Decision to Close His Clubs
Upon arriving at the Carousel Club shortly before 1:45 p.m. on November 22, Ruby instructed Andrew Armstrong to notify employees that the club would be closed that night. During the following hour, Ruby made several telephone calls, spoke with Armstrong and Larry Crafard about the assassination, and watched television. At 1:51 p.m., he called his close friend and financial backer Ralph Paul in Arlington, Texas, urging him to close his drive-in restaurant as well. Unable to reach former girlfriend Alice Nichols, who was at lunch, Ruby telephoned his sister Eileen Kaminsky in Chicago, who described him as completely unnerved and crying over the President’s death. When Nichols returned the call, Ruby cut short the conversation with his sister to speak with her, expressing shock over the assassination despite their not having socialized in some time. At 2:37 p.m., Ruby called his boyhood friend Alex Gruber in Los Angeles, briefly discussing a dog he had promised to send, a potential carwash business, and the assassination before losing composure and ending the three-minute conversation. Two minutes later, he telephoned Ralph Paul once again.
The original text of this work is in the public domain. This page focuses on a guided summary article, reading notes, selected quotes, and visual learning materials for educational purposes.