Jack Ruby
Assassin
Name at birth: Jacob Rubenstein
Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of president John F. Kennedy, on 24 November 1963. Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner with several minor arrests on his police record, fired his handgun as Oswald was being transferred in the basement garage of Dallas police headquarters; the killing was broadcast on live TV. Ruby was arrested, tried, and sent to prison; he died there of cancer in 1967.
Extra credit: According to the Warren Commission report, Ruby's precise birthdate is unknown; Ruby himself most often gave 25 March 1911 as the date.
Four Good Links
The Kennedy Assassination
Includes material on Ruby and his associates
Mobster, Intelligence Agent, or Small-Time Hustler?
Short biography (and great photos!) from a larger JFK assassination page
Dallas's Original J.R.
Anectdotal details courtesy of WFMU radio
In Defense of Jack Ruby
Dismisses the idea that Ruby was part of a conspiracy
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
3 January 1967
(lung cancer, age 56)
Best Known As
Assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald
