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

PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS

As early as December 1963, Jack Ruby expressed a desire to be examined by a polygraph, truth serum, or any other scientific device that would test his veracity, and his attorneys in the Texas criminal proceedings agreed that such an examination should be conducted to assess any conspiratorial connection between Ruby and Oswald. To that end, Ruby’s defense counsel filed motions in court and requested that the FBI administer the test; during a psychiatric examination on May 11, 1964, Ruby stated, “I want to tell the truth. I want a polygraph * * *,” and numerous letters were written to the President’s Commission on his behalf requesting a polygraph examination.

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This chapter documents the Warren Commission’s efforts to arrange, administer, and interpret a polygraph examination for Jack Ruby following his repeated requests during testimony. The narrative covers Ruby’s insistence on taking a lie detector test, opposition from his family and counsel, extensive preliminary proceedings to determine the conditions of the examination, the actual administration of the test by FBI polygraph operator Special Agent Bell P. Herndon, the technical interpretation of the polygraph results, and an assessment of the examination’s validity in light of Ruby’s mental state.

Ruby’s Polygraph Request During Commission Testimony

When Jack Ruby testified before the Warren Commission at the Dallas County Jail on June 7, 1964, his opening words were a request for a lie detector test. Expressing concern that the pressure of events might “brainwash” him, Ruby asked Chief Justice Warren whether the Commission had confidence in lie detector tests and truth serum. Warren replied that while he could not vouch for the test’s reliability, he would arrange any kind of test Ruby and his counsel desired. Defense counsel Joe Tonahill agreed to the request. Throughout his testimony, Ruby repeatedly renewed his plea for a polygraph examination, and in the final portion of the hearings he stated that the polygraph was “the only way you can know” whether he was telling the truth, to which Warren agreed.