Travels
Most of Ruby’s time after 1947 was spent in Dallas, but documented or reported trips included Havana (1959), Las Vegas (denied after 1937 but rumored in late 1962 and early November 1963), New York (August 1963, tied to American Guild of Variety Artists difficulties and talent scouting), Chicago (1952, 1958 for his father’s death, and August 1963 to meet family at O’Hare), New Orleans (June 1963, discussed in connection with “Little Daddy” Nelson), Wichita, Kansas (early 1963, related to stripper Gail Raven), and an Oklahoma motel registration on May 25, 1963; some evidence also suggests a possible Honolulu trip in summer 1961 to recruit dancing talent. The 1959 Havana trip, undertaken at McWillie’s expense, was corroborated in part by McWillie and by three Chicagoans who reported seeing Ruby there during the Labor Day weekend, as well as by Meyer Panitz, who met Ruby in Miami during the summer of 1959 upon Ruby’s return from Cuba; the Commission found no reliable evidence that Ruby traveled to Havana after September 1959 and discussed any conspiratorial implications of the trip in chapter VI.
CHARACTER AND INTERESTS
The Commission examined Ruby’s family, social, religious, recreational, and psychological profile to establish a baseline understanding of his personality. The subsections that follow address his relationships with siblings (especially his sister Eva Grant) and other family members, his dating history and the question of alleged homosexuality, his affection for dogs, his Jewish religious observance and sensitivity to anti-Jewish remarks, his physical regimen and recurring violent behavior as an unofficial bouncer at his clubs, and his pattern of generous financial and personal support to friends alongside a pronounced need for recognition and attention.
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