extolled the virtues of those who embark upon risky business ventures
and stand firmly for causes they believe to be correct.[C6-951] Ruby
asked Knight’s views on the script and suggested that there was a
group of “radicals” in Dallas which hated President Kennedy and that
the owner of the radio station should editorialize against this group.
Knight could not clearly determine whether Ruby had reference to
persons who sponsored programs like “Life Line” or to those who held
leftwing views.[C6-952] Knight gained the impression that Ruby believed
such persons, whoever they might be, were partially responsible for the
assassination.[C6-953]

_Early morning of November 23._--At about 2:30 a.m., Ruby entered
his automobile and departed for the Dallas Times-Herald Building. En
route, he stopped for about an hour to speak with Kay Helen Coleman,
one of his dancers, and Harry Olsen, a member of the Dallas Police
Department, who had hailed him from a parking garage at the corner
of Jackson and Field Streets. The couple were crying and extremely
upset over the assassination. At one point, according to Ruby, the
police officer remarked that “they should cut this guy [Oswald] inch
by inch into ribbons,” and the dancer said that “in England they
would drag him through the streets and would have hung him.”[C6-954]
Although Ruby failed to mention this episode during his first two FBI
interviews,[C6-955] he later explained that his reason for failing to
do so was that he did not “want to involve them in anything, because
it was supposed to be a secret that he [the police officer] was going
with this young lady.”[C6-956] About 6 weeks after the assassination,
Olsen left the Dallas Police Department and married Miss Coleman. Both
Olsen and his wife testified that they were greatly upset during their
lengthy conversation with Ruby early Saturday morning; but Mrs. Olsen
denied and Olsen did not recall the remarks ascribed to them.[C6-957]
The Olsens claimed instead that Ruby had cursed Oswald.[C6-958] Mrs.
Olsen also mentioned that Ruby expressed sympathy for Mrs. Kennedy and
her children.[C6-959]

From Jackson and Field Streets, Ruby drove to the Dallas Times-Herald,
where he talked for about 15 minutes with composing room employee Roy
Pryor, who had just finished a shift at 4 a.m. Ruby mentioned that
he had seen Oswald earlier in the night, that he had corrected Henry
Wade in connection with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and that
he had set up a telephone interview with Wade. Pryor testified that
Ruby explicitly stated to him that he believed he was in good favor
with the district attorney.[C6-960] Recalling that Ruby described
Oswald as a “little weasel of a guy” and was emotionally concerned
about the President’s wife and children, Pryor also was impressed by
Ruby’s sorrowful mood and remembered that, as he talked, Ruby shook a
newspaper to emphasize his concern over the assassination.[C6-961]

When Pryor left the composing room, Ruby remained and continued
speaking with other employees, including Arthur Watherwax and the
foreman, Clyde Gadash. Ruby, who often visited the Times-Herald at
that early morning hour in connection with his ads, sought Watherwax’s
views on his decision to close his clubs and indicated he was going
to attempt to persuade other club owners to do likewise. Watherwax
described Ruby as “pretty shaken up” about the assassination and at the
same time “excited” that he had attended Oswald’s Friday night press
conference.[C6-962]

While at the Times-Herald, Ruby displayed to the composing room
employees a “twistboard” he had previously promised to Gadash.[C6-963]
The twistboard was an exercising device consisting of two pieces of
hardened materials joined together by a lazy susan bearing so that
one piece could remain stationary on the floor while a person stood
atop it and swiveled to and fro.[C6-964] Ruby had been trying to
promote sales of the board in the weeks before President Kennedy was
killed.[C6-965] Considerable merriment developed when one of the women
employees at the Times-Herald demonstrated the board, and Ruby himself,
put on a demonstration for those assembled.[C6-966] He later testified:
“* * * not that I wanted to get in with the hilarity of frolicking,
but he [Gadash] asked me to show him, and the other men gathered
around.”[C6-967] Gadash agreed that Ruby’s general mood was one of
sorrow.[C6-968]

At about 4:30 a.m., Ruby drove from the Dallas Times-Herald to his
apartment where he awakened his roommate George Senator.[C6-969] During
his visit in the composing room Ruby had expressed the view that the
Weissman advertisement was an effort to discredit the Jews.[C6-970]
Senator testified that when Ruby returned to the apartment, he began
to discuss the Weissman advertisement and also a signboard he had seen
in Dallas urging that Chief Justice Earl Warren be impeached.[C6-971]
Shortly thereafter, Ruby telephoned Larry Crafard at the Carousel
Club.[C6-972] He told Crafard to meet him and Senator at the Nichols
Garage adjacent to the Carousel Club and to bring a Polaroid camera
kept in the club.[C6-973] After Crafard joined Ruby and Senator, the
three men drove to the “Impeach Earl Warren” sign near Hall Avenue and
Central Expressway in Dallas. There Ruby instructed Crafard to take
three photographs of the billboard. Believing that the sign and the
Weissman newspaper ad might somehow be connected, Ruby noted on the
back of an envelope a name and post office box number that appeared on
the sign.[C6-974] According to George Senator:

    * * * when he was looking at the sign and taking pictures of
    it, and the newspaper ad, * * * this is where he really wanted
    to know the whys or why these things had to be out. He is
    trying to combine these two together, which I did hear him say,
    “This is the work of the John Birch Society or the Communist
    Party or maybe a combination of both.”[C6-975]

Pursuing a possible connection between the billboard and the newspaper
advertisement, Ruby drove to the post office and asked a postal
employee for the name of the man who had rented the box indicated on
the billboard, but the employee said that he could not provide such
information. Ruby inspected the box, however, and was upset to find it
stuffed with mail.[C6-976] The three men then drove to a coffeeshop
where Ruby continued to discuss the two advertisements. After about 30
minutes, they left the coffeeshop. Crafard was taken to the Carousel
Club; Ruby and Senator returned to their apartment,[C6-977] and Ruby
retired at about 6 a.m.[C6-978]

_The morning and afternoon of November 23._--At 8 or 8:30 a.m. Crafard,
who had been asked to feed Ruby’s dogs, telephoned Ruby at his
apartment to inquire about food for the animals.[C6-979] Ruby forgot
that he had told Crafard he did not plan to go to bed and reprimanded
Crafard for waking him.[C6-980] A few hours thereafter Crafard
assembled his few belongings, took from the Carousel cash register $5
of money due him from Ruby, left a receipt and thank-you note, and
began hitchhiking to Michigan. Later that day, Andrew Armstrong found
the note and telephoned Ruby.[C6-981]

Ruby apparently did not return to bed following Crafard’s call. During
the morning hours, he watched a rabbi deliver on television a moving
eulogy of President Kennedy.[C6-982] According to Ruby, the rabbi:

    went ahead and eulogized that here is a man that fought in
    every battle, went to every country, and had to come back to
    his own country to be shot in the back [starts crying] * * *.
    That created a tremendous emotional feeling for me, the
    way he said that. Prior to all the other times, I was carried
    away.[C6-983]

An employee from the Carousel Club who telephoned Ruby during the
morning remembered that his “voice was shaking” when he spoke of the
assassination.[C6-984]

Ruby has stated that, upon leaving his apartment some time between
noon and 1:30 p.m., he drove to Dealey Plaza where a police officer,
who noted Ruby’s solemnity, pointed out to him the window from which
the rifleshots had been fired the day before.[C6-985] Ruby related
that he inspected the wreaths that had been placed in memory of the
President and became filled with emotion while speaking with the
police officer.[C6-986] Ruby introduced himself to a reporter for
radio station KRLD who was working inside a mobile news unit at the
plaza; the newsman mentioned to Ruby that he had heard of Ruby’s help
to KLIF in obtaining an interview with Henry Wade, and Ruby pointed
out to the reporter that Capt. J. Will Fritz and Chief Curry were then
in the vicinity. Thereafter, the newsman interviewed and photographed
the officers.[C6-987] Ruby said that he next drove home and returned
downtown to Sol’s Turf Bar on Commerce Street.[C6-988]

The evidence indicated, however, that sometime after leaving Dealey
Plaza, Ruby went to the Nichols Parking Garage adjacent to the Carousel
Club, where he was seen by Garnett C. Hallmark, general manager of
the garage, and Tom Brown, an attendant. Brown believed that at about
1:30 p.m. he heard Ruby mention Chief Curry’s name in a telephone
conversation from the garage. Brown also recalled that, before finally
departing, Ruby asked him to inform acquaintances whom he expected to
stop by the garage that the Carousel would be closed.[C6-989] Hallmark
testified that Ruby drove into the garage at about 3 p.m., walked to
the telephone, inquired whether or not a competing burlesque club would
be closed that night, and told Hallmark that he (Ruby) was “acting
like a reporter.”[C6-990] Hallmark then heard Ruby address someone
at the other end of the telephone as “Ken” and caught portions of a
conversation concerning the transfer of Oswald.[C6-991] Hallmark said
Ruby never called Oswald by name but used the pronoun “he” and remarked
to the recipient of the call, “you know I’ll be there.”[C6-992]

Ken Dowe, a KLIF announcer, to whom Ruby made at least two telephone
calls within a short span of time Saturday afternoon, confirmed that
he was probably the person to whom Hallmark and Brown overheard Ruby
speaking. In one call to Dowe, Ruby asked whether the station knew
when Oswald would be moved; and, in another, he stated he was going to
attempt to locate Henry Wade.[C6-993] After Ruby finished his calls, he
walked onto Commerce Street, passed the Carousel Club, and returned a
few minutes later to get his car.[C6-994]

Ruby’s comment that he was “acting like a reporter” and that he would
be at the Oswald transfer suggests that Ruby may have spent part of
Saturday afternoon shuttling back and forth from the Police and Courts
Building to Dealey Plaza. Such activity would explain the fact that
Tom Brown at the Nichols Garage believed he saw Ruby at 1:30 p.m.
while Garnett Hallmark placed Ruby at the garage at 3 p.m. It would
also explain Ken Dowe’s receiving two phone calls from Ruby. The
testimony of five news reporters supports the possibility that Ruby
was at the Police and Courts Building Saturday afternoon.[C6-995]
One stated that Ruby provided sandwiches for newsmen on duty there
Saturday afternoon, although no news representative has mentioned
personally receiving such sandwiches.[C6-996] Another testified that
he received a card to the Carousel Club from Ruby about 4 p.m. that
day at the police station.[C6-997] A third believed he saw Ruby enter
an office in which Henry Wade was working, but no one else reported
a similar event.[C6-998] The remaining two witnesses mentioned no
specific activities.[C6-999] None of the persons who believed they saw
Ruby at the police department on Saturday had known him previously,
and no police officer has reported Ruby’s presence on that day. Ruby
has not mentioned such a visit. The Commission, therefore, reached no
firm conclusion as to whether or not Ruby visited the Dallas Police
Department on Saturday.

Shortly after 3 p.m. Ruby went to Sol’s Turf Bar on Commerce Street
where he remained for about 45 minutes. Ruby, a nondrinker, stated
that he visited Sol’s for the purpose of talking with his accountant,
who customarily prepared the bar’s payroll on Saturday afternoon.
The accountant testified, however, that he saw Ruby only briefly
and mentioned no business conversation with Ruby.[C6-1000] Ruby
was first noticed at the Turf Bar by jeweler Frank Bellochio, who,
after seeing Ruby, began to berate the people of Dallas for the
assassination.[C6-1001] Ruby disagreed and, when Bellochio said he
might close his jewelry business and leave Dallas, Ruby attempted to
calm him, saying that there were many good citizens in Dallas.[C6-1002]
In response, Bellochio pointed to a copy of the Bernard Weissman
advertisement.[C6-1003] To Bellochio’s bewilderment, Ruby then said
he believed that the advertisement was the work of a group attempting
to create anti-Semitic feelings in Dallas and that he had learned
from the Dallas Morning News that the ad had been paid for partly in
cash.[C6-1004] Ruby thereupon produced one of the photographs he had
taken Saturday morning of the “Impeach Earl Warren” sign and excitedly
began to rail against the sign as if he agreed with Bellochio’s
original criticism of Dallas.[C6-1005] He “seemed to be taking two
sides--he wasn’t coherent,” Bellochio testified.[C6-1006] When
Bellochio saw Ruby’s photographs, which Bellochio thought supported
his argument against Dallas, he walked to the front of the bar and
showed them to Tom Apple, with whom he had been previously arguing. In
Apple’s presence, Bellochio asked Ruby for one of the pictures but Ruby
refused, mentioning that he regarded the pictures as a scoop.[C6-1007]
Bellochio testified: “I spoke to Tom and said a few more words to
Tom, and Ruby was gone--never said ‘Goodbye’ or ‘I’ll be seeing
you.’”[C6-1008]

Ruby may have left in order to telephone Stanley Kaufman, a friend
and attorney who had represented him in civil matters.[C6-1009]
Kaufman testified that, at approximately 4 p.m., Ruby called him
about the Bernard Weissman advertisement. According to Kaufman,
“Jack was particularly impressed with the [black] border as being a
tipoff of some sort--that this man knew the President was going to
be assassinated * * *.”[C6-1010] Ruby told Kaufman that he had tried
to locate Weissman by going to the post office and said that he was
attempting to be helpful to law enforcement authorities.[C6-1011]

Considerable confusion exists as to the place from which Ruby placed
the call to Kaufman and as to his activities after leaving Sol’s Turf
Bar. Eva Grant stated that the call was made from her apartment about
4 p.m.[C6-1012] Ruby, however, believed it was made from the Turf Bar.
He stated that from the Turf Bar he went to the Carousel and then home
and has not provided additional details on his activities during the
hours from about 4 to 9:30 p.m.[C6-1013] Robert Larkin saw him downtown
at about 6 p.m.[C6-1014] and Andrew Armstrong testified that Ruby
visited the Carousel Club between 6 and 7 p.m. and remained about an
hour.[C6-1015]

_At Eva Grant’s apartment Saturday evening._--Eva Grant believed that,
for most of the period from 4 until 8 p.m., Ruby was at her apartment.
Mrs. Grant testified that her brother was still disturbed about the
Weissman advertisement when he arrived, showed her the photograph
of the Warren sign, and recounted his argument with Bellochio about
the city of Dallas. Still curious as to whether or not Weissman was
Jewish, Mrs. Grant asked her brother whether he had been able to find
the name Bernard Weissman in the Dallas city directory, and Ruby
said he had not. Their doubts about Weissman’s existence having been
confirmed, both began to speculate that the Weissman ad and the Warren
sign were the work of either “Commies or the Birchers,” and were
designed to discredit the Jews.[C6-1016] Apparently in the midst of
that conversation Ruby telephoned Russ Knight at KLIF and, according to
Knight, asked who Earl Warren was.[C6-1017]

Mrs. Grant has testified that Ruby eventually retired to her bedroom
where he made telephone calls and slept.[C6-1018] About 8:30 p.m.,
Ruby telephoned to Thomas J. O’Grady, a friend and former Dallas
police officer who had once worked for Ruby as a bouncer. To O’Grady,
Ruby mentioned closing the Carousel Club, criticized his competitors
for remaining open, and complained about the “Impeach Earl Warren”
sign.[C6-1019]

_Saturday evening at Ruby’s apartment._--By 9:30 p.m., Ruby had
apparently returned to his apartment where he received a telephone call
from one of his striptease dancers, Karen Bennett Carlin, who, together
with her husband, had been driven from Fort Worth to Dallas that
evening by another dancer, Nancy Powell.[C6-1020] All three had stopped
at the Colony Club, a burlesque nightclub which competed with the
Carousel.[C6-1021] Mrs. Carlin testified that, in need of money, she
telephoned Ruby, asked whether the Carousel would be open that night,
and requested part of her salary.[C6-1022] According to Mrs. Carlin,
Ruby became angry at the suggestion that the Carousel Club might be
open for business but told her he would come to the Carousel in about
an hour.[C6-1023]

Thereafter, in a depressed mood, Ruby telephoned his sister Eva Grant,
who suggested he visit a friend.[C6-1024] Possibly in response to that
suggestion, Ruby called Lawrence Meyers, a friend from Chicago with
whom he had visited two nights previously.[C6-1025] Meyers testified
that, during their telephone conversation, Ruby asked him what he
thought of this “terrible thing,” Ruby then began to criticize his
competitors, Abe and Barney Weinstein, for failing to close their
clubs on Saturday night. In the course of his conversation about the
Weinsteins and the assassination, Ruby said “I’ve got to do something
about this.”[C6-1026] Meyers initially understood that remark to refer
to the Weinsteins. Upon reflection after Oswald was shot, Meyers was
uncertain whether Ruby was referring to his competitors, or to the
assassination of President Kennedy; for Ruby had also spoken at length
about Mrs. Kennedy and had repeated “those poor people, those poor
people.”[C6-1027] At the conclusion of their conversation, Meyers
declined Ruby’s invitation to join him for a cup of coffee but invited
Ruby to join him at the motel. When Ruby also declined, the two agreed
to meet for dinner the following evening.[C6-1028]

Meanwhile, Karen Carlin and her husband grew anxious over Ruby’s
failure to appear with the money they had requested.[C6-1029] After a
substantial wait, they returned together to the Nichols Garage where
Mr. Carlin telephoned to Ruby.[C6-1030] Carlin testified that he told
Ruby they needed money in order to return to Fort Worth[C6-1031]
although Nancy Powell testified that she drove the Carlins home that
evening.[C6-1032] Agreeing to advance a small sum, Ruby asked to speak
to Mrs. Carlin, who claimed that Ruby told her that if she needed
more money she should call him on Sunday.[C6-1033] Thereafter, at
Ruby’s request, garage attendant Huey Reeves gave Mrs. Carlin $5, and
she signed with her stage name “Little Lynn” a receipt which Reeves
time-stamped 10:33 p.m., November 23.[C6-1034] (See Commission Exhibit
No. 1476, p. 351.)

Inconsistent testimony was developed regarding Ruby’s activities
during the next 45 minutes. Eva Grant testified that she did not see
her brother on Saturday night after 8 p.m. and has denied calling
Ralph Paul herself that night.[C6-1035] Nonetheless, telephone
company records revealed that at 10:44 p.m. a call was made to Ralph
Paul’s Bull Pen Drive-In in Arlington, Tex., from Mrs. Grant’s
apartment.[C6-1036] It was the only call to Paul from her apartment
on Friday or Saturday;[C6-1037] she recalled her brother making such
a call that weekend;[C6-1038] and Ralph Paul has testified that Ruby
telephoned him Saturday night from Eva Grant’s apartment and said he
and his sister were there crying.[C6-1039]

Nineteen-year-old Wanda Helmick, a former waitress at the Bull Pen
Drive-In, first reported in June, 1964 that some time during the
evening she saw the cashier answer the Bull Pan’s pay telephone and
heard her call out to Paul, “It is for you. It is Jack.”[C6-1040]
Mrs. Helmick claimed she overheard Paul, speaking on the telephone,
mention something about a gun which, she understood from Paul’s
conversation, the caller had in his possession. She said she also heard
Paul exclaim “Are you crazy?”[C6-1041] She provided no other details
of the conversation. Mrs. Helmick claimed that on Sunday, November 24,
after Oswald had been shot, she heard Paul repeat the substance of the
call to other employees as she had related it and that Paul said Ruby
was the caller.[C6-1042] Ralph Paul denied the allegations of Mrs.
Helmick.[C6-1043] Both Paul and Mrs. Helmick agreed that Paul went home
soon after the call, apparently about 11 p.m.[C6-1044]

Shortly after 11 p.m., Ruby arrived at the Nichols Garage where
he repaid Huey Reeves and obtained the receipt Mrs. Carlin had
signed.[C6-1045] Outside the Carousel, Ruby exchanged greetings with
Police Officer Harry Olsen and Kay Coleman, whom he had seen late
the previous night.[C6-1046] Going upstairs to the club, Ruby made a
series of five brief long-distance phone calls, the first being to the
Bull Pen Drive-In at 11:18 p.m. and lasting only 1 minute.[C6-1047]
Apparently unable to reach Paul there, Ruby telephoned Paul’s home in
Arlington, Tex., for 3 minutes.[C6-1048] A third call was placed at
11:36 p.m. for 2 minutes, again to Paul’s home.[C6-1049] At 11:44 p.m.
Ruby telephoned Breck Wall, a friend and entertainer who had gone to
Galveston, Tex., when his show in Dallas suspended its performance out
of respect to President Kennedy. The call lasted 2 minutes.[C6-1050]
Thereafter, Ruby immediately placed a 1-minute phone call to Paul’s
home.[C6-1051]

Although Ruby has mentioned those calls, he has not provided details
to the Commission; however, he has denied ever indicating to Paul or
Wall that he was going to shoot Oswald and has said he did not consider
such action until Sunday morning.[C6-1052] Ralph Paul did not mention
the late evening calls in his interview with FBI agents on November
24, 1963.[C6-1053] Later Paul testified that Ruby called him from
downtown to say that nobody was doing any business.[C6-1054] Breck Wall
testified that Ruby called him to determine whether or not the American
Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), which represented striptease dancers
in Dallas, had met concerning a dispute Ruby was having with the
union.[C6-1055] Ruby’s major difference with AGVA during the preceding
2 weeks had involved what Ruby considered to be AGVA’s failure to
enforce against his 2 competitors, Abe and Barney Weinstein, AGVA’s
ban on “striptease contests” and performances by “amateurs.”[C6-1056]
As recently as Wednesday, November 20, Ruby had telephoned an AGVA
representative in Chicago about that complaint and earlier in
November he had unsuccessfully sought to obtain assistance from a
San Francisco gambler and a Chicagoan reputed for his heavyhanded
union activities.[C6-1057] Wall testified that Ruby “was very upset
the President was assassinated and he called Abe Weinstein or Bernie
Weinstein * * * some names for staying open * * *.” Wall added, “he was
very upset * * * that they did not have the decency to close on such a
day and he thought out of respect they should close.”[C6-1058]

_Ruby’s activities after midnight._--After completing the series of
calls to Paul and Wall at 11:48 p.m., Ruby went to the Pago Club,
about a 10-minute drive from the Carousel Club.[C6-1059] He took a
table near the middle of the club and, after ordering a Coke, asked
the waitress in a disapproving tone, “Why are you open?”[C6-1060] When
Robert Norton, the club’s manager, joined Ruby a few minutes later he
expressed to Ruby his concern as to whether or not it was proper to
operate the Pago Club that evening. Ruby indicated that the Carousel
was closed but did not criticize Norton for remaining open.[C6-1061]
Norton raised the topic of President Kennedy’s death and said, “[W]e
couldn’t do enough to the person that [did] this sort of thing.”
Norton added, however, that “Nobody has the right to take the life of
another one.”[C6-1062] Ruby expressed no strong opinion, and closed the
conversation by saying he was going home because he was tired.[C6-1063]
Later, Ruby told the Commission: “he knew something was wrong with me
in the certain mood I was in.”[C6-1064]

[Illustration: (COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1476)

COPY OF RECEIPT GIVEN BY LITTLE LYNN TO HUEY REEVES AT 10:33 P.M.,
NOVEMBER 23, 1963

(DOYLE LANE DEPOSITION 5118)

COPY OF TELEGRAM ORDER FOR MONEY SENT TO LITTLE LYNN ON NOVEMBER 24,
1963, STAMPED 11:17 A.M.

(DOYLE LANE DEPOSITION 5119)

COPY OF WESTERN UNION OFFICE COPY OF RECEIPT GIVEN TO JACK RUBY ON
NOVEMBER 24, 1963, STAMPED 11:17 A.M.

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2420)

COPY OF FACE OF WESTERN UNION RECEIPT GIVEN TO JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER
24, 1963

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2421)

COPY OF BACK OF WESTERN UNION RECEIPT GIVEN TO JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER
24, 1963, STAMPED 11:16 A.M.]

Ruby testified that he went home after speaking with Norton and went to
bed about 1:30 a.m.[C6-1065] By that time, George Senator claimed, he
had retired for the night and did not remember Ruby’s return.[C6-1066]
Eva Grant testified that her brother telephoned her at about 12:45 a.m.
to learn how she was feeling.[C6-1067]

_Sunday morning._--Ruby’s activities on Sunday morning are the subject
of conflicting testimony. George Senator believed that Ruby did not
rise until 9 or 9:30 a.m.;[C6-1068] both Ruby and Senator maintained
that Ruby did not leave their apartment until shortly before 11:00
a.m., and two other witnesses have provided testimony which supports
that account of Ruby’s whereabouts.[C6-1069] On the other hand, three
WBAP-TV television technicians--Warren Richey, John Smith, and Ira
Walker--believed they saw Ruby near the Police and Courts Building
at various times between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.[C6-1070] But there are
substantial reasons to doubt the accuracy of their identifications.
None had ever seen Ruby on a prior occasion. None looked for an
extended period at the man believed to be Ruby,[C6-1071] and all were
occupied with their duties and had no reason to remember the man’s
appearance until they saw Ruby’s picture on television.[C6-1072]

Smith, for one, was not entirely positive about his identification
of Ruby as the man he saw;[C6-1073] and Richey was looking down from
atop a TV mobile unit when he observed on the sidewalk the man he
believed was Ruby.[C6-1074] In addition, Richey and Smith provided
descriptions of Ruby which differ substantially from information
about Ruby gathered from other sources. Smith described the man he
saw as being an “unkempt person that possibly could have slept with
his clothes on * * *.”[C6-1075] Ruby was characteristically clean and
well groomed.[C6-1076] In fact, Senator testified that Ruby shaved and
dressed before leaving their apartment that morning, and at the time
Ruby shot Oswald he was dressed in a hat and business suit.[C6-1077]
Richey described Ruby as wearing a grayish overcoat,[C6-1078] while
investigation indicated that Ruby did not own an overcoat and was
not wearing one at the time of the shooting.[C6-1079] (See Pappas
Deposition Exhibit No. 1, p. 356.) Although Walker’s identification
of Ruby is the most positive, his certainty must be contrasted with
the indefinite identification made by Smith, who had seen the man on
one additional occasion.[C6-1080] Both Smith and Walker saw a man
resembling Ruby when the man, on two occasions, looked through the
window of their mobile news unit and once asked whether Oswald had
been transferred. Both saw only the man’s head, and Smith was closer
to the window; yet Smith would not state positively that the man was
Ruby.[C6-1081] Finally, video tapes of scenes on Sunday morning near
the NBC van show a man close to the Commerce Street entrance who might
have been mistaken for Ruby.[C6-1082]

George Senator said that when he arose, before 9 a.m., he began to
do his laundry in the basement of the apartment building while Ruby
slept.[C6-1083] During Senator’s absence, Ruby received a telephone
call from his cleaning lady, Mrs. Elnora Pitts, who testified that she
called sometime between 8:30 and 9 a.m. to learn whether Ruby wanted
her to clean his apartment that day.[C6-1084] Mrs. Pitts remembered
that Ruby “sounded terrible strange to me.” She said that “there was
something wrong with him the way he was talking to me.”[C6-1085] Mrs.
Pitts explained that, although she had regularly been cleaning Ruby’s
apartment on Sundays, Ruby seemed not to comprehend who she was or
the reason for her call and required her to repeat herself several
times.[C6-1086] As Senator returned to the apartment after the call, he
was apparently mistaken for Ruby by a neighbor, Sidney Evans, Jr. Evans
had never seen Ruby before but recalled observing a man resembling
Ruby, clad in trousers and T-shirt, walk upstairs from the “washateria”
in the basement of their building and enter Ruby’s suite with a load
of laundry. Later in the morning, Malcolm Slaughter who shared an
apartment with Evans, saw an individual, similarly clad, on the same
floor as Ruby’s apartment.[C6-1087] Senator stated that it was not
Ruby’s custom to do his own washing and that Ruby did not do so that
morning.[C6-1088]

While Senator was in the apartment, Ruby watched television, made
himself coffee and scrambled eggs, and received, at 10:19 a.m., a
telephone call from his entertainer, Karen Carlin.[C6-1089] Mrs. Carlin
testified that in her telephone conversation she asked Ruby for $25
inasmuch as her rent was delinquent and she needed groceries.[C6-1090]
She said that Ruby, who seemed upset, mentioned that he was going
downtown anyway and that he would send the money from the Western Union
office.[C6-1091] According to George Senator, Ruby then probably took a
half hour or more to bathe and dress.[C6-1092]

Supporting the accounts given by Mrs. Carlin and Mrs. Pitts of Ruby’s
emotional state, Senator testified that during the morning Ruby:

    * * * was even mumbling, which I didn’t understand. And right
    after breakfast he got dressed. Then after he got dressed he
    was pacing the floor from the living room to the bedroom,
    from the bedroom to the living room, and his lips were
    going. What he was jabbering I don’t know. But he was really
    pacing.[C6-1093]

Ruby has described to the Commission his own emotions of Sunday morning
as follows:

    * * * Sunday morning * * * [I] saw a letter to Caroline, two
    columns about a 16-inch area. Someone had written a letter to
    Caroline. The most heartbreaking letter. I don’t remember the
    contents. * * * alongside that letter on the same sheet of
    paper was a small comment in the newspaper that, I don’t know
    how it was stated, that Mrs. Kennedy may have to come back for
    the trial of Lee Harvey Oswald. * * *

    I don’t know what bug got ahold of me. I don’t know what it is,
    but I am going to tell the truth word for word.

    I am taking a pill called Preludin. It is a harmless pill, and
    it is very easy to get in the drugstore. It isn’t a highly
    prescribed pill. I use it for dieting.

    I don’t partake of that much food. I think that was a stimulus
    to give me an emotional feeling that suddenly I felt, which was
    so stupid, that I wanted to show my love for our faith, being
    of the Jewish faith, and I never used the term and I don’t want
    to go into that--suddenly the feeling, the emotional feeling
    came within me that someone owed this debt to our beloved
    President to save her the ordeal of coming back. I don’t know
    why that came through my mind.[C6-1094]

(See Commission Exhibit No. 2426, p. 355.)

_Sunday morning trip to police department._--Leaving his apartment a
few minutes before 11 a.m., Ruby went to his automobile taking with him
his dachshund, Sheba, and a portable radio.[C6-1095] He placed in his
pocket a revolver which he routinely carried in a bank moneybag in the
trunk of his car.[C6-1096] Listening to the radio, he drove downtown,
according to his own testimony, by a route that took him past Dealey
Plaza where he observed the scattered wreaths. Ruby related that he
noted the crowd that had gathered outside the county jail and assumed
that Oswald had already been transferred. However, when he passed the
Main Street side of the Police and Courts Building, which is situated
on the same block as the Western Union office, he also noted the crowd
that was gathered outside that building.[C6-1097] Normal driving time
for the trip from his apartment would have been about 15 minutes, but
Ruby’s possible haste and the slow movement of traffic through Dealey
Plaza make a reliable estimate difficult.[C6-1098]

Ruby parked his car in a lot directly across the street from the
Western Union office. He apparently placed his keys and billfold in the
trunk of the car, then locked the trunk, which contained approximately
$1,000 in cash, and placed the trunk key in the glove compartment of
the car. He did not lock the car doors.[C6-1099]

With his revolver, more than $2,000 in cash, and no personal
identification, Ruby walked from the parking lot across the street to
the Western Union office where he filled out forms for sending $25 by
telegraph to Karen Carlin.[C6-1100] After waiting in line while one
other Western Union customer completed her business,[C6-1101] Ruby paid
for the telegram and retained as a receipt one of three time-stamped
documents which show that the transaction was completed at almost
exactly 11:17 a.m., c.s.t.[C6-1102] (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 1476,
2420, 2421; D. Lane Deposition Exhibits Nos. 5118, 5119, p. 351.)
The Western Union clerk who accepted Ruby’s order recalls that Ruby
promptly turned, walked out of the door onto Main Street, and proceeded
in the direction of the police department one block away.[C6-1103]
The evidence set forth in chapter V indicates that Ruby entered the
police basement through the auto ramp from Main Street and stood
behind the front rank of newsmen and police officers who were crowded
together at the base of the ramp awaiting the transfer of Oswald to
the county jail.[C6-1104] As Oswald emerged from a basement office
at approximately 11:21 a.m., Ruby moved quickly forward and, without
speaking,[C6-1105] fired one fatal shot into Oswald’s abdomen before
being subdued by a rush of police officers.[C6-1106]

[Illustration: BEDROOM OF JACK RUBY’S APARTMENT

(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2426)

ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 24, 1963, A COPY OF THAT MORNING’S DALLAS
TIMES HERALD WAS FOUND AT THE FOOT OF JACK RUBY’S BED (B). AS REVEALED
IN THE BLOW-UP (A), THE PAPER WAS OPEN TO PAGE A-3 (A AND D). THE
FACING PAGE, 2-A, BORE A LETTER TO CAROLINE KENNEDY (C) WHICH JACK
RUBY TESTIFIED THAT HE READ THAT MORNING BEFORE SHOOTING LEE HARVEY
OSWALD.]

[Illustration: JACK RUBY MOVING TOWARD OSWALD IN FRONT OF NEWSMAN IKE
PAPPAS

PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 1

PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 2]

_Evaluation of activities._--Examination of Ruby’s activities
immediately preceding and following the death of President Kennedy
revealed no sign of any conduct which suggests that he was involved
in the assassination. Prior to the tragedy, Ruby’s activities were
routine. Though persons who saw him between November 22 and 24 disagree
as to whether or not he appeared more upset than others around him, his
response to the assassination appears to have been one of genuine shock
and grief. His indications of concern over the possible effects of the
assassination upon his businesses seem consistent with other evidence
of his character.[C6-1107] During the course of the weekend, Ruby seems
to have become obsessed with the possibility that the Impeach Earl
Warren sign and the Bernard Weissman ad were somehow connected and
related to the assassination. However, Ruby’s interest in these public
notices was openly expressed and, as discussed below, the evidence
reveals no connection between him and any political organization.

Examination of Larry Crafard’s sudden departure from Dallas shortly
before noon on November 23 does not suggest that Ruby was involved in a
conspiracy. To be sure, Crafard started hitchhiking to Michigan, where
members of his family lived, with only $7 in his pocket.[C6-1108] He
made no attempt to communicate with law enforcement officials after
Oswald’s death;[C6-1109] and a relative in Michigan recalled that
Crafard spoke very little of his association with Ruby.[C6-1110] When
finally located by the FBI 6 days later, he stated that he left Ruby’s
employ because he did not wish to be subjected to further verbal abuse
by Ruby and that he went north to see his sister, from whom he had not
heard in some time.[C6-1111]

An investigation of Crafard’s unusual behavior confirms that his
departure from Dallas was innocent. After Oswald was shot, FBI
agents obtained from the Carousel Club an unmailed letter drafted
by Crafard to a relative in Michigan at least a week before the
assassination.[C6-1112] The letter revealed that he was considering
leaving Dallas at that time.[C6-1113] On November 17, Crafard, who had
been receiving only room, board, and incidental expenses, told Ruby he
wanted to stop working for him; however, Crafard agreed to remain when
Ruby promised a salary.[C6-1114] Then on the morning of November 23,
Ruby and Crafard had a minor altercation over the telephone.[C6-1115]
Although Crafard did not voluntarily make known to the authorities his
associations with Ruby, he spoke freely and with verifiable accuracy
when questioned. The automobile driver who provided Crafard his first
ride from Dallas has been located; his statement generally conforms
with Crafard’s story; and he did not recall any unusual or troubled
behavior by Crafard during that ride.[C6-1116]

Although Crafard’s peremptory decision to leave Dallas might be unusual
for most persons, such behavior does not appear to have been uncommon
for him. His family residence had shifted frequently among California,
Michigan, and Oregon.[C6-1117] During his 22 years, he had earned his
livelihood picking crops, working in carnivals, and taking other odd
jobs throughout the country.[C6-1118] According to his testimony, he
had previously hitchhiked across the country with his then wife and
two infant children.[C6-1119] Against such a background, it is most
probable that the factors motivating Crafard’s departure from Dallas on
November 23 were dissatisfaction with his existence in Ruby’s employ,
which he had never considered more than temporary, Ruby’s decision
to close his clubs for 3 days, the argument on Saturday morning,
and his own desire to see his relatives in Michigan. There is no
evidence to suggest any connection between Crafard’s departure and the
assassination of the President or the shooting of Oswald.

The allegations of Wanda Helmick raised speculation that Ruby’s
Saturday night phone calls to Ralph Paul and Breck Wall might have
concerned the shooting of Oswald, but investigation has found nothing
to indicate that the calls had conspiratorial implications. Paul
was a close friend, business associate, and adviser to Jack Ruby.
Ruby normally kept in close telephone contact with Paul, who had a
substantial sum of money committed to the Carousel Club.[C6-1120] Paul
explained that Ruby called him Saturday evening once to point out his
ads, another time to say that nobody seemed to be doing any business in
downtown Dallas, and a third time to relate that both he and his sister
were crying over the assassination.[C6-1121] Between two of those phone
calls to Paul, Ruby telephoned to Galveston, Tex., to speak with Wall,
a friend and former business associate who was an official of the
American Guild of Variety Artists. Wall related that during that call
Ruby criticized the Weinsteins for failing to close their clubs.

Having earlier made the same complaint to Lawrence Meyers to whom
he mentioned a need “to do something about this” it would have been
characteristic for Ruby to want to direct Breck Wall’s attention,
as an AGVA official, to what he regarded as the Weinsteins’ improper
conduct. The view that the calls to Wall and Paul could have had
conspiratorial implications also is belied in large measure by the
conduct of both men before and after the events of November 22-24. A
check of long-distance telephone records reveals no suspicious activity
by either man.[C6-1122] Paul, in fact, is not known to have visited
Dallas during the weekend of the assassination except to appear openly
in an effort to arrange counsel for Ruby within a few hours of the
attack on Oswald. Neither the FBI nor the CIA has been able to provide
any information that Ralph Paul or Breck Wall ever engaged in any form
of subversive activity.[C6-1123]

Moreover, Mrs. Helmick’s reliability is undermined by her failure to
report her information to any investigative official until June 9,
1964.[C6-1124] Although a sister-in-law confirms that Mrs. Helmick
wrote her “something about a gun” shortly after the shooting,[C6-1125]
the only mention of any statement by Paul which was included in a
letter written by Mrs. Helmick after the Ruby trial was that Paul
believed Ruby was “not in his right mind.”[C6-1126] No corroborating
witness named by Mrs. Helmick has been found who remembers the
conversations she mentioned.[C6-1127] Both Ruby and Paul have denied
that anything was said, as Mrs. Helmick suggests, about a gun or an
intent to shoot Oswald, and Wall has stated that Ruby did not discuss
such matters with him.[C6-1128] Even if Mrs. Helmick is accurate the
statements ascribed to Paul indicate only that he may have heard of a
possible reference by Ruby to shooting Oswald. According to her, Paul’s
response was to exclaim “Are you crazy?” But under no circumstances
does the report of Mrs. Helmick or any other fact support a belief that
Paul or Wall was involved in the shooting of Oswald.

The Commission has conducted an investigation of the telephone call
Ruby received from Karen Carlin at 10:19 Sunday morning to determine
whether that call was prearranged for the purpose of conveying
information about the transfer of Oswald or to provide Ruby an excuse
for being near the police department. The Commission has examined the
records of long-distance telephone calls on Sunday morning for Jack
Ruby,[C6-1129] the Carlins,[C6-1130] the Dallas police,[C6-1131] and
several other persons[C6-1132] and has found no sign of any indirect
communication to Ruby through Mr. or Mrs. Carlin. No other evidence
showing any link between the Carlins and the shooting of Oswald has
been developed.

Ruby and Oswald Were Not Acquainted

The possibility of a prior acquaintanceship between Ruby and Oswald has
been suggested by some persons who viewed the shooting on television
and believed that a look of recognition appeared on Oswald’s face as
Ruby moved toward him in the jail basement. The Commission has examined
the television tapes and movie films which were made as Oswald moved
through the basement and has observed no facial expressions which can
be interpreted as signifying recognition of Ruby by Oswald. It is
doubtful even that Oswald could have seen Ruby sufficiently clearly to
discern his identity since Oswald was walking from a dark corridor into
“the flash from the many cameras” and the lights of TV cameramen which
were “blinding.”[C6-1133] In addition to such generalized suspicion,
there have been numerous specific allegations that Oswald was seen in
the company of Ruby prior to November 22, often at Ruby’s Carousel
Club. All such allegations have been investigated, but the Commission
has found none which merits credence. In all but a few instances where
the Commission was able to trace the claim to its source, the person
responsible for the report either denied making it or admitted that he
had no basis for the original allegations.[C6-1134] Frequently those
responsible for the allegations have proved to be persons of erratic
memory or dubious mental stability.[C6-1135] In a few instances, the
source of the story has remained unidentified, and no person has come
forward to substantiate the rumor.[C6-1136]

The testimony of a few witnesses who claim to have seen Ruby with a
person who they feel may have been Oswald warrants further comment. One
such witness, Robert K. Patterson, a Dallas electronics salesman, has
stated that on a date established from sales records as November 1,
1963, Ruby, accompanied by a man who resembled Oswald, purchased some
equipment at his business establishment.[C6-1137] However, Patterson
did not claim positively that the man he saw was Oswald,[C6-1138] and
two of his associates who were also present at the time could not state
that the man was Oswald.[C6-1139] Other evidence indicates that Ruby’s
companion was Larry Crafard. Crafard, who lived at the Carousel Club
while working for Ruby from mid-October until November 23, 1963, stated
that sometime in late October or early November he accompanied Ruby to
an electronics store in connection with the purchase of electronics
equipment.[C6-1140] Ruth Paine testified that Crafard’s photograph
bears a strong resemblance to Oswald; and employment records of the
Texas School Book Depository show that Oswald worked a full day on
November 1, 1963.[C6-1141]

William D. Crowe, Jr., a young nightclub master of ceremonies
who had worked for Ruby on three occasions and had begun a 4- or
5-week engagement at the Carousel Club on November 11, 1963, was
the first person who reported a possible association between Ruby
and Oswald.[C6-1142] While attempting to enter the Carousel Club on
November 24, shortly after Oswald was shot, Crowe encountered two
news media representatives who were gathering information on Jack
Ruby.[C6-1143] At that time, Crowe, who included a memory act in
his repertoire,[C6-1144] mentioned the “possibility” that he had
seen Oswald at the Carousel Club.[C6-1145] As a result he was asked
to appear on television. In Crowe’s own words, the story “started
snowballing.” He testified:

    They built up the memory thing and they built up the bit of
    having seen Oswald there, and I never stated definitely,
    positively, and they said that I did, and all in all, what
    they had in the paper was hardly even close to what I told
    them.[C6-1146]

Crowe added that his memory act involved a limited system which did
not, in fact, improve his memory and that his memory might not even be
as good as that of the average person. When asked how certain he was
that the man he saw was Oswald, Crowe testified: “* * * the face seemed
familiar as some faces do, and I had associated him with a patron that
I had seen in the club a week before. That was about it.”[C6-1147]

A possible explanation for Crowe’s belief that Oswald’s face seemed
familiar was supplied by a freelance photographer, Eddie Rocco, who
had taken pictures at the Carousel Club for Ruby at about the time
Crowe was employed there. Rocco produced one of those photographs
which depicted a man who might have been mistaken for Oswald by
persons having no reason to remember the man at the time they saw
him.[C6-1148] When shown the Rocco photograph, Crowe said that there
was as strong a possibility that the man he recalled seeing was the man
in the photograph as there was that he was Oswald.[C6-1149] Crowe’s
uncertainty was further underscored by his failure initially to provide
his information about Oswald to David Hoy, a news-media friend whom
Crowe telephoned in Evansville, Ind., less than 20 minutes after Oswald
was shot.[C6-1150] By then the possible recognition had occurred to
Crowe,[C6-1151] and Hoy said he was quite surprised that Crowe had
given the information first to other news representatives instead of
telling him in that early conversation.[C6-1152]

After Crowe’s identification had been publicized, four other persons
also reported seeing Oswald at the Carousel Club. One man said he
saw Ruby and Oswald seated at a table together and recalled that the
man resembling Oswald was addressed by a blond-haired waitress as
“Bettit” or “Pettit.” The witness was unable to give any description
of “Pettit” except that he was the man who had been shot by Ruby. He
could not describe the inside of the Carousel and was unable to give
a precise location for the club.[C6-1153] Another witness, a resident
of Tennessee, related seeing a man resembling Oswald at the Carousel
Club on November 10.[C6-1154] Ruth Paine has testified, however, that
Oswald spent the entire holiday weekend of November 9, 10, and 11 at
her home in Irving, Tex.[C6-1155] Two of Ruby’s former employees, Karen
Carlin and Billy Joe Willis, also believed they had seen a person who
resembled Oswald. Willis believed he saw the man at the Carousel Club
but did not think the man was Oswald.[C6-1156] Mrs. Carlin likewise was
not certain that the man was Oswald nor was she sure where she had seen
him.[C6-1157] Neither reported any connection between the man and Ruby.
No other employees recalled seeing Oswald or a person resembling him at
the Carousel Club.[C6-1158]

Wilbryn Waldon (Robert) Litchfield II also claimed to have seen at
the Carousel Club a man resembling Oswald. Litchfield stated that
during a visit to the Carousel Club in late October or early November
1963, he saw such a man enter Ruby’s office, apparently to confer with
Ruby.[C6-1159] Although there is substantial evidence that Litchfield
did see Ruby at the Carousel Club about that time,[C6-1160] there
is strong reason to believe that Litchfield did not see Lee Harvey
Oswald. Litchfield described the man he saw as having pockmarks
on the right side of his chin;[C6-1161] Oswald did not have such
identifying marks.[C6-1162] Moreover, the Commission has substantial
doubts concerning Litchfield’s credibility. Although present at an
FBI interview of another witness on November 29, Litchfield made no
mention of his observation to public officials until December 2,
1963.[C6-1163] Litchfield, who had twice been convicted for offenses
involving forged checks,[C6-1164] testified that he first recalled
that Oswald resembled the visitor he saw at the Carousel Club while
watching a television showing on Sunday morning, November 24, of the
shooting by Ruby.[C6-1165] At that time Litchfield was playing poker
with three friends, and he testified that he promptly informed them of
the resemblance he observed.[C6-1166] However, none of the three poker
companions remembered Litchfield’s making such a remark; and two added
that Litchfield’s statements were often untrustworthy.[C6-1167]

With regard to all of the persons who claimed to have seen Ruby and
Oswald together, it is significant that none had particular reason to
pay close attention to either man, that substantial periods of time
elapsed before the events they assertedly witnessed became meaningful,
and that, unlike the eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald
on November 22, none reported their observations soon after Oswald
was arrested. In the course of its investigation, the Commission has
encountered numerous clear mistakes of identification. For example, at
least four persons, other than Crafard, are known to have been mistaken
for Oswald.[C6-1168] Other persons have been misidentified as Jack
Ruby.[C6-1169] Under all the available evidence there is no substantial
likelihood that the person the various witnesses claimed to have seen
with Ruby was in fact Oswald.

In addition to probing the reported evidence that Ruby and Oswald had
been seen together, the Commission has examined other circumstances for
signs that the two men were acquainted. From the time Oswald returned
from Mexico, both he and Jack Ruby lived in the Oak Cliff section of
Dallas, slightly more than a mile apart. Numerous neighbors of both
Oswald and Ruby were interviewed, and none knew of any association
between the two.[C6-1170] Oswald’s work began at 8 each weekday
morning and terminated at 4:45 each afternoon.[C6-1171] Jack Ruby
usually remained in his apartment until past 9 a.m. each day.[C6-1172]
Although both men worked in downtown Dallas, they normally traveled
to their places of employment by different routes. Ruby owned an
automobile, and the shortest route downtown from his home was via
a freeway adjacent to his apartment.[C6-1173] Oswald did not own a
car and had, at best, a rudimentary ability to drive.[C6-1174] From
his roominghouses on North Beckley Avenue and on Marsalis Street, he
normally took public transportation which did not bring him within six
blocks of either Ruby’s apartment or his downtown nightclub, nor did
Oswald’s route from the bus stop to home or work bring him near Ruby’s
home or business.[C6-1175] Persons at Oswald’s roominghouse testified
that he regularly came home promptly after work and remained in his
room.[C6-1176] While in Dallas, he is not known to have visited any
nightclub.[C6-1177] Ruby was generally at the Carousel Club from 9
o’clock each evening until after 1 a.m.[C6-1178] In a few instances,
Ruby and Oswald patronized the same stores, but no indication has
been found that they ever met at such stores.[C6-1179] Ruby at one
time frequented a restaurant where Oswald occasionally ate breakfast,
but the times of their patronage were widely separated and restaurant
employees knew of no acquaintance between Ruby and Oswald.[C6-1180]
Likewise, Ruby has held various memberships in the Dallas YMCA and
Oswald lived there for brief periods; however, there is no indication
that they were there at the same time.[C6-1181]

Both Ruby and Oswald maintained post office boxes at the terminal annex
of the U.S. post office in Dallas, but there is no indication that
those facts were more than coincidental. On November 1, 1963, Oswald
rented box No. 6225, his third since October 1962.[C6-1182] Oswald’s
possible purpose has been discussed previously in this chapter. On
November 7, 1963, Jack Ruby rented post office box No. 5475 because he
hoped to receive mail responses to advertisements for the twistboard
exercise device which he was then promoting.[C6-1183] Although it is
conceivable that Oswald and Ruby coincidentally encountered one another
while checking their boxes, the different daily schedules of the two
men render even this possibility unlikely. Moreover, Oswald’s withdrawn
personality makes it improbable that the two would have spoken if their
paths had crossed.

The Commission has also examined the known friends and acquaintances of
Ruby and Oswald for evidence that the two were acquainted, but it has
found very few possible links. One conceivable association was through
John Carter, a boarder at 1026 North Beckley Avenue while Oswald lived
there. Carter was friendly with Wanda Joyce Killam, who had known Jack
Ruby since shortly after he moved to Dallas in 1947 and worked for him
from July 1963 to early November 1963. Mrs. Killam, who volunteered the
information about Carter’s residence during an interview with an agent
of the FBI, has stated that she did not believe Carter ever visited the
Carousel Club and that she did not think Carter knew Ruby.[C6-1184]
Carter stated that he had not heard of Ruby until Oswald was shot, had
talked briefly with Oswald only once or twice, and had never heard
Oswald mention Ruby or the Carousel Club.[C6-1185] The Commission has
no reason to disbelieve either Mrs. Killam or Mr. Carter.

A second possible link between Oswald and Ruby was through Earlene
Roberts, the housekeeper at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. Bertha Cheek,
the sister of Mrs. Roberts, is known to have visited Jack Ruby at
the Carousel Club during the afternoon of November 18, 1963. Mrs.
Cheek testified that she had met with Ruby and a person whom Ruby
represented to be an interior decorator for the purpose of discussing
the possibility of financially backing Ruby in a new nightclub which
he planned to open. Mrs. Cheek said she had met Ruby only once, a
few years before, and that she had not heard of Oswald until he shot
President Kennedy.[C6-1186] Mr. Frank Boerder, the decorator who
was present at the November 18 meeting, confirmed the substance of
the discussion reported by Mrs. Cheek,[C6-1187] and other witnesses
establish that Ruby was, in fact, seeking an associate for a new
nightclub venture.[C6-1188] There is no evidence that Jack Ruby ever
associated with Earlene Roberts, nor is there any indication that Mrs.
Cheek knew of Lee Harvey Oswald prior to November 22.[C6-1189]

Oswald’s trips to the home of Mrs. Ruth Paine at 2115 West Fifth
Street in Irving, Tex., presented another possible link to Ruby.
While Oswald’s family resided with Mrs. Paine, William F. Simmons,
pianoplayer in the musical combo which worked at the Carousel Club
from September 17, 1963, until November 21, 1963, lived at 2539 West
Fifth Street, in Irving. Simmons has stated that his only relationship
to Ruby was as an employee, that Ruby never visited him, that he did
not know Oswald, and that he had never seen Oswald at the Carousel
Club.[C6-1190] Other persons in the neighborhood knew of no connection
between Ruby and Oswald.[C6-1191]

The Commission has investigated rumors that Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey
Oswald were both homosexuals and, thus, might have known each other
in that respect. However, no evidence has been uncovered to support
the rumors, the closest acquaintances of both men emphatically deny
them,[C6-1192] and Ruby’s nightclubs were not known to have been
frequented by homosexuals.[C6-1193]

A final suggestion of a connection between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey
Oswald arises from the testimony of Oswald’s mother, Marguerite
Oswald. When appearing before the Commission, Mrs. Oswald related that
on November 23, 1963, before Ruby shot Oswald, FBI Agent Bardwell
D. Odum showed her a picture of a man she believed was Jack Ruby,
and asked whether the man shown was familiar to her. Odum had first
attempted to see Marina Oswald, but Marguerite refused to allow Marina
to be disturbed at that time.[C6-1194] In the course of Marguerite’s
testimony, the Commission asked the FBI for a copy of the photograph
displayed by Odum to her. When Marguerite viewed the photograph
provided the Commission, she stated that the picture was different from
the one she saw in November, in part because the “top two corners” were
cut differently and because the man depicted was not Jack Ruby.[C6-1195]

The Commission has investigated this matter and determined that Special
Agent Odum did show a picture to Marguerite Oswald for possible
identification but that the picture was not of Jack Ruby. On November
22 the CIA had provided the FBI with a photograph of a man who, it was
thought at the time, might have been associated with Oswald. To prevent
the viewer from determining precisely where the picture had been
taken, FBI Agent Odum had trimmed the background from the photograph
by making a series of straight cuts which reduced the picture to an
irregular hexagonal shape.[C6-1196] The picture which was displayed
by the Commission to Marguerite Oswald was a copy of the same picture
shown her by Agent Odum; however, in supplying a duplicate photograph
for Commission use the FBI had cropped the background by cutting
along the contours of the body of the man shown,[C6-1197] resulting
in a photograph without any background, unlike the first photograph
Marguerite viewed on November 23. Affidavits obtained from the CIA and
from the two FBI agents who trimmed the photographs established that
the one shown to Mrs. Oswald before the Commission, though trimmed
differently from the one shown her on November 23, was a copy of the
same picture. Neither picture was of Jack Ruby.[C6-1198] The original
photograph had been taken by the CIA outside of the United States
sometime between July 1, 1963, and November 22, 1963, during all of
which time Ruby was within the country.[C6-1199]

Ruby’s Background and Associations

In addition to examining in detail Jack Ruby’s activities from November
21 to November 24 and his possible acquaintanceship with Lee Harvey
Oswald, the Commission has considered whether or not Ruby had ties
with individuals or groups that might have obviated the need for any
direct contact near the time of the assassination. Study of Jack Ruby’s
background, which is set out more fully in appendix XVI, leads to the
firm conclusion that he had no such ties.

_Business activities._--Ruby’s entire life is characteristic of a
rigorously independent person. He moved from his family home soon after
leaving high school at age 16, although a “family” residence has been
maintained in Chicago throughout the years.[C6-1200] Later, in 1947,
he moved from Chicago to Dallas and maintained only sporadic contact
with most of his family.[C6-1201] For most of his working years and
continuously since 1947, Jack Ruby was self-employed.[C6-1202] Although
he had partners from time to time, the partnerships were not lasting,
and Ruby seems to have preferred to operate independently.

Ruby’s main sources of income were his two nightclubs--the Carousel
Club and the Vegas Club--although he also frequently pursued a number
of independent, short-lived business promotions. (Ruby’s business
dealings are described in greater detail in app. XVI.) At the time of
the assassination, the United States claimed approximately $44,000
in delinquent taxes, and he was in substantial debt to his brother
Earl and to his friend Ralph Paul.[C6-1203] However, there are no
indications that Earl Ruby or Ralph Paul was exerting pressure for
payment or that Ruby’s tax liabilities were not susceptible to an
acceptable settlement. Ruby operated his clubs on a cash basis,
usually carrying large amounts of cash on his person; thus there is
no particular significance to the fact that approximately $3,000 in
cash was found on his person and in his automobile when arrested. Nor
do his meager financial records reflect any suspicious activities.
He used his bank accounts only infrequently, with no unexplained
large transactions; and no entries were made to Ruby’s safe-deposit
boxes in over a year prior to the shooting of Oswald.[C6-1204] There
is no evidence that Ruby received any sums after his arrest except
royalties from a syndicated newspaper article on his life and small
contributions for his defense from friends, sympathizers, and family
members.[C6-1205]

_Ruby’s political activities._--Jack Ruby considered himself a
Democrat, perhaps in part because his brother Hyman had been active
in Democratic ward politics in Chicago.[C6-1206] When Ruby was
arrested, police officers found in his apartment, 10 political cards
urging the election of the “Conservative Democratic slate,”[C6-1207]
but the Commission has found no evidence that Ruby had distributed
that literature and he is not known ever to have campaigned for any
political candidates.[C6-1208] None of his friends or associates
expressed any knowledge that he belonged to any groups interested in
political issues, nor did they remember that he had discussed political
problems except on rare occasions.[C6-1209]

As a young man, Ruby participated in attacks upon meetings of the
German-American Bund in Chicago, but the assaults were the efforts
of poolhall associates from his predominantly Jewish neighborhood
rather than the work of any political group. His only other known
activities which had any political flavor possessed stronger overtones
of financial self-interest. In early 1942 he registered a copyright for
a placard which displayed an American flag and bore the inscription
“Remember Pearl Harbor.” The placard was never successfully promoted.
At other times, he is reported to have attempted to sell busts
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[C6-1210] The rabbi of Ruby’s
synagogue expressed the belief that Ruby was too unsophisticated to
grasp or have a significant interest in any political creed.[C6-1211]
Although various views have been given concerning Ruby’s attitude
toward President Kennedy prior to the assassination, the overwhelming
number of witnesses reported that Ruby had considerable respect for
the President, and there has been no report of any hostility toward
him.[C6-1212]

There is also no reliable indication that Ruby was ever associated
with any Communist or radical causes. Jack Ruby’s parents were born in
Poland in the 1870’s and his father served in the Czarist Russian army
from 1893-98. Though neither parent became a citizen after emigrating
to the United States in the early 1900’s, the evidence indicates
that neither Ruby nor his family maintained any ties with relatives
in Europe.[C6-1213] Jack Ruby has denied ever being connected with
any Communist activities. The FBI has reported that, prior to the
shooting of Oswald, its nationwide files contained no information of
any subversive activities by Ruby.[C6-1214] In addition, a Commission
staff member has personally examined all subversive activities reports
from the Dallas-Fort Worth office of the FBI for the year 1963 and
has found no reports pertaining to Jack Ruby or any of his known
acquaintances.[C6-1215]

The Commission has directed considerable attention to an allegation
that Jack Ruby was connected with Communist Party activities in Muncie,
Ind. On the day after Oswald’s death, a former resident of Muncie
claimed that between 1943 and 1947 a Chicagoan resembling Ruby and
known to him as Jack Rubenstein was in Muncie on three occasions and
associated with persons who the witness suspected were Communists.
The witness stated that the man resembling Ruby visited Muncie during
these years as a guest of the son-in-law of a now-deceased jeweler for
whom the witness worked.[C6-1216] A second son-in-law of the jewelry
store owner suggested that he may have known Ruby while the two resided
in Chicago,[C6-1217] but the son-in-law whom Ruby allegedly visited
disclaimed any acquaintanceship with Ruby.[C6-1218] Both sons-in-law
denied any Communist activities and the Commission has found no
contrary evidence other than the testimony of the witness.

On the first two occasions on which Ruby is alleged to have been in
Muncie, military records show him to have been on active military
duty in the South.[C6-1219] The witness also said that the man he
knew as Rubenstein owned or managed a nightclub when he met him, but
the Commission has no reliable evidence that Jack Ruby ever owned
or worked in any nightclubs when he lived in Chicago.[C6-1220] The
witness further stated that on one occasion he found the name of
Jack Rubenstein, or perhaps a similar name, together with the names
of others he believed were Communists, on a list which had been left
in a room above the jewelry store after a meeting held there. The
witness said he gave the list to his wife’s cousin, now deceased,
who was then the chief of detectives in Muncie.[C6-1221] However,
neither the list nor a person identifiable as Jack Ruby has been
located after a thorough search by the FBI of its own files and
those of the Muncie Police Department, the Indiana State Police,
and other agencies.[C6-1222] The witness did not recall seeing
Rubenstein in Muncie during the period of that meeting, and he had
never heard Rubenstein say anything which would indicate he was a
Communist.[C6-1223]

The FBI has interviewed all living persons who the witness stated
were involved with Ruby in Communist activities in Muncie. One person
named by the witness was known previously to have been involved in
Communist Party activities, but subversive activities files have
revealed no such activities for any of the others.[C6-1224] The
admitted former Communist denied knowing Ruby and stated that the
jewelry store owner was not known to him as a Communist and that
Communist meetings were never held above the store.[C6-1225] All
other Muncie residents named by the witness as possible associates of
Ruby denied knowing Ruby.[C6-1226] Similarly, fellow employees of the
witness whom he did not claim were Communists knew of no Communist
activities connected with the jewelry store owner or any visits of
Jack Ruby, and FBI informants familiar with Communist activities in
Indiana and Chicago did not know of any participation by Ruby.[C6-1227]
Finally, the witness testified that even though he believed as early
as 1947 that all of the persons named by him were Communists he had
never brought his information to the attention of any authority
investigating such activities, except for providing the alleged list to
his cousin.[C6-1228] The Commission finds no basis for accepting the
witness’s testimony.

The Commission has also investigated the possibility that Ruby was
associated with ultraconservative political endeavors in Dallas. Upon
his arrest, there were found in Ruby’s possession two radio scripts
of a right-wing program promoted by H. L. Hunt, whose political
views are highly conservative. Ruby had acquired the scripts a few
weeks earlier at the Texas Products Show, where they were enclosed
in bags of Hunt food products. Ruby is reported to have become
enraged when he discovered the scripts, and threatened to send one to
“Kennedy.”[C6-1229] He is not known to have done anything with them
prior to giving one to a radio announcer on Nevember 23; and on that
day he seemed to confuse organizations of the extreme right with those
of the far left.[C6-1230] On November 21, Ruby drove Connie Trammel,
a young college graduate whom he had met some months previously, to
the office of Lamar Hunt, the son of H. L. Hunt, for a job interview.
Although Ruby stated that he would like to meet Hunt, seemingly to
establish a business connection, he did not enter Hunt’s office with
her.[C6-1231]

An allegation that Ruby was a visitor at the home of Maj. Gen. Edwin A.
Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army) appears totally unfounded. The allegation
was made in late May 1964 to an agent of the U.S. Secret Service by
William McEwan Duff. Duff, who was discharged from military service
in June 1964 because of a fraudulent enlistment, disclaimed any
knowledge of Ruby or Oswald when questioned by FBI agents in January
1964.[C6-1232]

Another allegation connecting Jack Ruby with right-wing activities was
Mark Lane’s assertion, mentioned previously, that an unnamed informant
told him of a meeting lasting more than 2 hours in the Carousel Club
on November 14, 1963, between Jack Ruby, Patrolman J. D. Tippit, and
Bernard Weissman.[C6-1233] Although the name of Lane’s informant has
never been revealed to the Commission, an investigation has been
conducted in an effort to find corroboration for the claimed Tippit,
Weissman, and Ruby meeting. No employee of the Carousel Club has any
knowledge of the meeting described by Lane.[C6-1234] Ruby and Weissman
both deny that such a meeting occurred, and Officer Tippit’s widow
has no knowledge that her late husband ever went to the Carousel
Club.[C6-1235]

Some confusion has arisen, however, because early Friday afternoon,
November 22, Ruby remarked that he knew the Tippit who had been
shot by Oswald. Later Ruby stated that he did not know J. D. Tippit
but that his reference was to G. M. Tippit, a member of the special
services bureau of the Dallas Police Department who had visited
Ruby establishments occasionally in the course of his official
duties.[C6-1236] Larry Crafard was unable to recognize photographs of
J. D. Tippit and had no recollection of a Tippit, Weissman, and Ruby
meeting at any time.[C6-1237] However, uncertainty was introduced when
Crafard identified a photograph of Bernard Weissman as resembling a
man who had visited the Carousel Club and had been referred to by Ruby
as “Weissman.”[C6-1238] In a subsequent interview Crafard stated that
he believed Weissman was a detective on the Dallas Police Department,
that his first name may have been Johnny, and that he was in his late
thirties or early forties.[C6-1239] As set forth previously, Bernard
Weissman was a 26-year-old New York carpet salesman. Crafard added
“I could have my recollection of a Mr. Weissman mixed up with someone
else”.[C6-1240]

Ruby’s conduct on November 22 and 23, 1963, corroborates his denial
that he knew Bernard Weissman. Ruby expressed hostility to the November
22 full-page advertisement to many persons. To none did he give any
indication that he was familiar with the person listed as responsible
for the advertisement.[C6-1241] His attempt on November 23 to trace the
holder of the post office box shown on the “Impeach Earl Warren” sign
and to locate Weissman’s name in a Dallas city directory[C6-1242] also
tends to indicate that in fact he was not familiar with Weissman. Had
he been involved in some type of unlawful activity with Weissman, it is
highly unlikely that Ruby would have called attention to Weissman as he
did.

Investigation has disclosed no evidence that Officer J. D. Tippit was
acquainted with either Ruby or Oswald. Neither Tippit’s wife nor his
close friends knew of such an acquaintanceship.[C6-1243] Tippit was not
known to frequent nightclubs[C6-1244] and he had no reason during the
course of his police duties to enter Ruby’s clubs.[C6-1245] Although at
the time of the assassination Tippit was working weekends in a Dallas
restaurant owned by a member of the John Birch Society, the restaurant
owner stated that he never discussed politics with Tippit.[C6-1246]
Persons close to Tippit related that Tippit rarely discussed political
matters with any person and that he was a member of no political
organization.[C6-1247] Telephone records for the period following
September 26, 1963, revealed no suspicious long-distance calls from the
Tippit household.[C6-1248]

Tippit’s encounter with Oswald following the shooting of the President
is indicative of no prior association between the two men. Police radio
logs show that, as part of general directions issued to all officers
immediately after the assassination, Tippit was specifically directed
to patrol the Oak Cliff area where he came upon Oswald.[C6-1249] His
movement from the area which he had been patrolling into the central
Oak Cliff area was also in conformity with the normal procedure of the
Dallas Police Department for patrol cars to cover nearby districts when
the patrol cars in that district became otherwise engaged, as occurred
after the assassination.[C6-1250] Oswald fit the general description,
which, 15 minutes after the assassination, was broadcast to all police
cars of a suspect described by a bystander who had seen Oswald in the
sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository.[C6-1251] There
is thus no basis for any inference that, in approaching Oswald, Tippit
was acting other than in the line of police duty.

_Allegations of Cuban activity._--No substantiation has been found for
rumors linking Ruby with pro- or anti-Castro Cuban activities,[C6-1252]
except for one incident in January 1959 when Ruby made preliminary
inquiries, as a middleman, concerning the possible sale to Cuba of
some surplus jeeps located in Shreveport, La., and asked about the
possible release of prisoners from a Cuban prison. No evidence has
been developed that the project ever became more than a “possibility”.
Ruby explained that in early 1959 United States sentiment toward Cuba
was still favorable and that he was merely pursuing a money-making
opportunity.[C6-1253]

During the period of the “jeep sale”, R. D. Matthews, a gambler and
a “passing acquaintance” of Ruby, returned to Dallas from Havana
where he had been living. In mid-1959, he returned to Cuba until
mid-1960.[C6-1254] On October 3, 1963, a telephone call was made from
the Carousel Club to Matthews’ former wife in Shreveport.[C6-1255] No
evidence has been uncovered that Matthews was associated with the sale
of jeeps or the release of prisoners or that he knew of Oswald prior to
the assassination.[C6-1256] Matthews’ ex-wife did not recall the phone
call in October of 1963, and she asserted that she did not know Jack
Ruby or anybody working for him.[C6-1257]

In September 1959, Ruby traveled to Havana as a guest of a close friend
and known gambler, Lewis J. McWillie. Both Ruby and McWillie state the
trip was purely social.[C6-1258] In January 1961, McWillie left Cuba
with strong feelings of hostility to the Castro regime. In early 1963,
Ruby purchased a pistol which he shipped to McWillie in Nevada, but
McWillie did not accept the package.[C6-1259] The Commission has found
no evidence that McWillie has engaged in any activities since leaving
Cuba that are related to pro- or anti-Castro political movements or
that he was involved in Ruby’s abortive jeep transaction.

The Commission has also received evidence that in April 1962, a
telegram sent to Havana, Cuba, was charged to the business telephone of
Earl Ruby, brother of Jack Ruby.[C6-1260] Earl Ruby stated that he was
unable to recall that telegram but testified that he had never traveled
to Cuba nor had any dealings with persons in Cuba.[C6-1261] Jack Ruby
is not known to have visited his brother at that time, and during that
period Earl and Jack did not maintain a close relationship.[C6-1262]
Earl Ruby is not known to have been involved in any subversive
activities.[C6-1263]

Finally, examination of FBI information relative to Cuban groups in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area for the year 1963 fails to disclose any person
who might provide a link between Ruby and such groups.[C6-1264] The
Central Intelligence Agency has no information suggesting that Jack
Ruby or any of his closest associates have been involved in any type of
revolutionary or subversive Cuban activity.[C6-1265]

_Possible underworld connections._--The Commission has investigated
Ruby’s possible criminal activities, looking with particular concern
for evidence that he engaged in illegal activities with members of the
organized underworld or that, on his own, he was a promoter of illegal
endeavors. The results of that investigation are more fully detailed in
appendix XVI. Ruby was reared in a Chicago neighborhood where he became
acquainted with local criminals and with persons who later became
criminals. Throughout his life, Ruby’s friendships with persons of that
character were limited largely to professional gamblers, although his
night club businesses brought him in contact with persons who had been
convicted of other offenses. There is no credible evidence that Ruby,
himself, gambled on other than a social basis or that he had any unpaid
gambling debts.[C6-1266] He had never been charged with a felony prior
to his attack on Oswald; his only encounters in Chicago stemmed from
ticket scalping and the unauthorized sale of copyrighted music; and, in
Dallas, his law violations, excluding traffic charges, resulted from
the operation of his clubs or outbursts of temper.[C6-1267] Ruby has
disclaimed that he was associated with organized criminal activities,
and law enforcement agencies have confirmed that denial.[C6-1268]

_Investigation of George Senator._--In addition to examining Ruby’s own
activities and background, the Commission has paid careful attention to
the activities and background of George Senator, Ruby’s roommate and
one of his closest friends in Dallas. Senator was interrogated by staff
members over a 2-day period; he provided a detailed account of his own
life and cooperated fully in all aspects of the Commission’s inquiry
into the activities of Jack Ruby.

Senator was 50 years old at the time Ruby shot Oswald. He had been born
September 4, 1913, in Gloversville, N.Y., and had received an eighth
grade education. Upon leaving school, he worked in Gloversville and
New York City until about age 25. For the next few years he worked
in various restaurants and cafeterias in New York and Florida until
enlisting in the Army in August 1941.[C6-1269] After his honorable
discharge in September 1945, Senator was employed for most of the
next 13 years selling inexpensive dresses throughout the South and
Southwest. In the course of that employment he moved to Dallas where
he met Jack Ruby while visiting Ruby’s Vegas Club in about 1955
or 1956.[C6-1270] Ruby was one of many who helped Senator when he
encountered financial difficulties during the years 1958 to 1962. For a
while in 1962, Ruby provided room and board in exchange for Senator’s
help in his clubs and apartment. In August 1963, Senator was unable to
maintain his own apartment alone following his roommate’s marriage.
Ruby again offered to help and on November 1, 1963, Senator moved into
Ruby’s apartment.[C6-1271] The Commission has found no evidence that
Senator ever engaged in any political activities.[C6-1272]

Against this background the Commission has evaluated Senator’s account
of his own activities on November 22, 23, and 24. When questioned by
Dallas and Federal authorities hours after the shooting of Oswald,
Senator omitted mention of having accompanied Ruby to photograph the
“Impeach Earl Warren” sign on Saturday morning. Senator stated to
Commission staff members that in the interviews of November 24 he
omitted the incident because of oversight.[C6-1273] However, he spoke
freely about it in his sworn testimony and no inaccuracies have been
noted in that portion of his testimony. Senator also failed to mention
to the Commission and to previous interrogators that, shortly after
Ruby left their apartment Sunday morning, he called friends, Mr. and
Mrs. William Downey, and offered to visit their apartment and make
breakfast for them.[C6-1274] Downey stated, in June 1964, that Senator
said he was alone and that, after Downey declined the offer, Senator
remarked that he would then go downtown for breakfast.[C6-1275] When
told of Downey’s account, Senator denied it and explained that the two
were not friendly by the time Senator left Dallas about six weeks after
the assassination.[C6-1276]

The Commission also experienced difficulty in ascertaining the
activities of Senator on November 22 and 23. He was unable to
account specifically for large segments of time when he was not with
Ruby.[C6-1277] And, as to places and people Senator says he visited
on those days prior to the time Oswald was shot, the Commission has
been unsuccessful in obtaining verification.[C6-1278] Senator admitted
that he had spent much of that time drinking but denied that he was
intoxicated.[C6-1279]

It is difficult to know with complete certainty whether Senator had
any foreknowledge of the shooting of Oswald. Ruby testified that at
about 10:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, November 24, he said, in Senator’s
presence, “If something happened to this person, that then Mrs.
Kennedy won’t have to come back for the trial.”[C6-1280] According
to Ruby, this is the most explicit statement he made concerning
Oswald that morning.[C6-1281] Senator denies any knowledge of Ruby’s
intentions.[C6-1282]

Senator’s general response to the shooting was not like that of a
person seeking to conceal his guilt. Shortly before it was known that
Ruby was the slayer of Oswald, Senator visited the Eatwell Restaurant
in downtown Dallas. Upon being informed that Ruby was the attacker,
Senator exclaimed, “My God,” in what appeared to be a genuinely
surprised tone.[C6-1283] He then ran to a telephone, returned to gulp
down his coffee, and quickly departed.[C6-1284] He drove promptly to
the home of James Martin, an attorney and friend. Martin recalled that
Senator’s concern was for his friend Ruby and not for himself.[C6-1285]
Martin and Senator drove to the Dallas Police Department where
Senator voluntarily submitted himself to police questioning, and
gave interviews to newspaper and television reporters.[C6-1286] The
Commission has concluded, on the basis of its investigation into
Senator’s background, activities, and reaction to the shooting, that
Senator did not aid or conspire with Jack Ruby in the killing of Oswald.

_Ruby’s activities preceding President’s trip._--In addition to the
broad investigation into Ruby’s background and associations, the
Commission delved particularly into Ruby’s pattern of activities during
the 2 months preceding President Kennedy’s visit to Dallas in order to
determine whether there was unusual conduct which might be linked to
the President’s forthcoming trip.

The Commission has been able to account specifically for Jack Ruby’s
presence in Dallas on every day after September 26, 1963, except
five--September 29, 30 and October 11, 14, and 24--and there is no
evidence that he was out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area on those
days.[C6-1287] The report of one person who saw Ruby on September 28
indicates that Ruby probably remained in Dallas on September 29 and
30,[C6-1288] when Oswald was in Mexico City. The Commission has looked
for but has found no evidence that Ruby traveled to Mexico at that
time.[C6-1289] Both Ruby and Ralph Paul have stated that Ruby did not
leave the Dallas-Fort Worth area during September, October, or November
1963.[C6-1290]

During October and November of 1963, Jack Ruby maintained his usual
vigorous pace of business activities. In particular, he directed
considerable attention to his two nightclubs and to other business
promotions.[C6-1291] During the final month before the Kennedy trip,
his time was increasingly occupied with personnel problems at both his
clubs. There is no indication that he devoted less than full attention
to these matters or that he appeared preoccupied with other affairs.
His acquaintances did feel that Ruby seemed depressed and concerned
that his friends were deserting him.[C6-1292] However, there were no
signs of secretive conduct.

Scrutiny of Ruby’s activities during the several days preceding the
President’s arrival in Dallas has revealed no indication of any
unusual activity. Ruby is remembered to have discussed the President’s
impending trip with only two persons and only briefly.[C6-1293] Two
newspapers containing a description of the expected motorcade routes
through Dallas and Fort Worth were found in Ruby’s car at the time of
this arrest. However, such papers circulated widely in Dallas, and
Ruby’s car, like his apartment, was so cluttered with other newspapers,
notebooks, brochures, cards, clothing, and personal items[C6-1294] that
there is no reason to attach any significance to the papers.

Aside from the results of the Commission’s investigation reported
above, there are other reasons to doubt that Jack Ruby would have shot
Oswald as he did if he had been involved in a conspiracy to carry out
the assassination, or that he would have been delegated to perform the
shooting of Oswald on behalf of others who were involved in the slaying
of the President. By striking in the city jail, Ruby was certain to
be apprehended. An attempt to silence Oswald by having Ruby kill him
would have presented exceptionally grave dangers to any other persons
involved in the scheme. If the attempt had failed, Oswald might have
been moved to disclose his confederates to the authorities. If it
succeeded, as it did, the additional killing might itself have produced
a trail to them. Moreover, Ruby was regarded by most persons who knew
him as moody and unstable--hardly one to have encouraged the confidence
of persons involved in a sensitive conspiracy.[C6-1295]

Since his apprehension, Jack Ruby has provided the Federal authorities
with several detailed accounts of his activities both preceding and
following the assassination of President Kennedy. Ruby has shown no
reluctance to answer any questions addressed to him. The accounts
provided by Ruby are consistent with evidence available to the
Commission from other sources.

These additional considerations are thus fully consistent with the
results of the Commission’s investigation. Rumors of a connection
between Ruby and Oswald have proved groundless, while examination
of Ruby’s background and associations, his behavior prior to the
assassination, and his activities during the November 22-24 weekend
has yielded no evidence that Ruby conspired with anyone in planning
or executing the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald. Whatever the legal
culpability of Jack Ruby for his act of November 24, the evidence is
persuasive that he acted independently in shooting Oswald.

CONCLUSION

Based upon the investigation reviewed in this chapter, the Commission
concluded that there is no credible evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald
was part of a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Examination
of the facts of the assassination itself revealed no indication that
Oswald was aided in the planning or execution of his scheme. Review
of Oswald’s life and activities since 1959, although productive in
illuminating the character of Lee Harvey Oswald (which is discussed
in the next chapter), did not produce any meaningful evidence of a
conspiracy. The Commission discovered no evidence that the Soviet Union
or Cuba were involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. Nor
did the Commission’s investigation of Jack Ruby produce any grounds
for believing that Ruby’s killing of Oswald was part of a conspiracy.
The conclusion that there is no evidence of a conspiracy was also
reached independently by Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State; Robert S.
McNamara, the Secretary of Defense; C. Douglas Dillon, the Secretary of
the Treasury; Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General; J. Edgar Hoover,
the Director of the FBI; John A. McCone, the Director of the CIA; and
James J. Rowley, the Chief of the Secret Service, on the basis of the
information available to each of them.[C6-1296]

CHAPTER VII

Lee Harvey Oswald: Background and Possible Motives

The evidence reviewed above identifies Lee Harvey Oswald as the
assassin of President Kennedy and indicates that he acted alone in
that event. There is no evidence that he had accomplices or that he
was involved in any conspiracy directed to the assassination of the
President. There remains the question of what impelled Oswald to
conceive and to carry out the assassination of the President of the
United States. The Commission has considered many possible motives
for the assassination, including those which might flow from Oswald’s
commitment to Marxism or communism, the existence of some personal
grievance, a desire to effect changes in the structure of society or
simply to go down in history as a well publicized assassin. None of
these possibilities satisfactorily explains Oswald’s act if it is
judged by the standards of reasonable men. The motives of any man,
however, must be analyzed in terms of the character and state of mind
of the particular individual involved. For a motive that appears
incomprehensible to other men may be the moving force of a man whose
view of the world has been twisted, possibly by factors of which
those around him were only dimly aware. Oswald’s complete state of
mind and character are now outside of the power of man to know. He
cannot, of course, be questioned or observed by those charged with the
responsibility for this report or by experts on their behalf. There is,
however, a large amount of material available in his writings and in
the history of his life which does give some insight into his character
and, possibly, into the motives for his act.

Since Oswald is dead, the Commission is not able to reach any definite
conclusions as to whether or not he was “sane” under prevailing legal
standards. Under our system of justice no forum could properly make
that determination unless Oswald were before it. It certainly could
not be made by this Commission which, as has been pointed out above,
ascertained the facts surrounding the assassination but did not draw
conclusions concerning Oswald’s legal guilt.

Indications of Oswald’s motivation may be obtained from a study of
the events, relationships and influences which appear to have been
significant in shaping his character and in guiding him. Perhaps
the most outstanding conclusion of such a study is that Oswald was
profoundly alienated from the world in which he lived. His life was
characterized by isolation, frustration, and failure. He had very
few, if any, close relationships with other people and he appeared to
have great difficulty in finding a meaningful place in the world. He
was never satisfied with anything. When he was in the United States
he resented the capitalist system which he thought was exploiting him
and others like him. He seemed to prefer the Soviet Union and he spoke
highly of Cuba.[C7-1] When he was in the Soviet Union, he apparently
resented the Communist Party members, who were accorded special
privileges and who he thought were betraying communism, and he spoke
well of the United States.[C7-2] He accused his wife of preferring
others to himself and told her to return to the Soviet Union without
him but without a divorce. At the same time he professed his love for
her and said that he could not get along without her.[C7-3] Marina
Oswald thought that he would not be happy anywhere, “Only on the moon,
perhaps.”[C7-4]

While Oswald appeared to most of those who knew him as a meek and
harmless person, he sometimes imagined himself as “the Commander”[C7-5]
and, apparently seriously, as a political prophet--a man who said that
after 20 years he would be prime minister.[C7-6] His wife testified
that he compared himself with great leaders of history. Such ideas of
grandeur were apparently accompanied by notions of oppression.[C7-7]
He had a great hostility toward his environment, whatever it happened
to be, which he expressed in striking and sometimes violent acts long
before the assassination. There was some quality about him that led
him to act with an apparent disregard for possible consequences.[C7-8]
He defected to the Soviet Union, shot at General Walker, tried to go
to Cuba and even contemplated hijacking an airplane to get there. He
assassinated the President, shot Officer Tippit, resisted arrest and
tried to kill another policeman in the process.

Oswald apparently started reading about communism when he was about 15.
In the Marines, he evidenced a strong conviction as to the correctness
of Marxist doctrine, which one associate described as “irrevocable,”
but also as “theoretical”; that associate did not think that Oswald was
a Communist.[C7-9] Oswald did not always distinguish between Marxism
and communism.[C7-10] He stated several times that he was a Communist
but apparently never joined any Communist Party.[C7-11]

His attachment to Marxist and Communist doctrine was probably, in some
measure, an expression of his hostility to his environment. While there
is doubt about how fully Oswald understood the doctrine which he so
often espoused, it seems clear that his commitment to Marxism was an
important factor influencing his conduct during his adult years. It was
an obvious element in his decision to go to Russia and later to Cuba
and it probably influenced his decision to shoot at General Walker. It
was a factor which contributed to his character and thereby might have
influenced his decision to assassinate President Kennedy.

The discussion below will describe the events known to the Commission
which most clearly reveals the formation and nature of Oswald’s
character. It will attempt to summarize the events of his early life,
his experience in New York City and in the Marine Corps, and his
interest in Marxism. It will examine his defection to the Soviet Union
in 1959, his subsequent return to the United States and his life here
after June of 1962. The review of the latter period will evaluate his
personal and employment relations, his attempt to kill General Walker,
his political activities, and his unsuccessful attempt to go to Cuba in
late September of 1963. Various possible motives will be treated in the
appropriate context of the discussion outlined above.

The Early Years

Significant in shaping the character of Lee Harvey Oswald was the death
of his father, a collector of insurance premiums. This occurred 2
months before Lee was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1939.[C7-12]
That death strained the financial fortunes of the remainder of the
Oswald family. It had its effect on Lee’s mother, Marguerite, his
brother Robert, who had been born in 1934, and his half-brother
John Pic, who had been born in 1932 during Marguerite’s previous
marriage.[C7-13] It forced Marguerite Oswald to go to work to provide
for her family.[C7-14] Reminding her sons that they were orphans and
that the family’s financial condition was poor, she placed John Pic
and Robert Oswald in an orphans’ home.[C7-15] From the time Marguerite
Oswald returned to work until December 26, 1942, when Lee too was sent
to the orphans’ home, he was cared for principally by his mother’s
sister, by babysitters and by his mother, when she had time for
him.[C7-16]

Marguerite Oswald withdrew Lee from the orphans’ home and took him
with her to Dallas when he was a little over 4 years old.[C7-17] About
6 months later she also withdrew John Pic and Robert Oswald.[C7-18]
Apparently that action was taken in anticipation of her marriage to
Edwin A. Ekdahl, which took place in May of 1945.[C7-19] In the fall of
that year John Pic and Robert Oswald went to a military academy where
they stayed, except for vacations, until the spring of 1948.[C7-20] Lee
Oswald remained with his mother and Ekdahl,[C7-21] to whom he became
quite attached. John Pic testified that he thought Lee found in Ekdahl
the father that he never had.[C7-22] That situation, however, was
short-lived, for the relations between Marguerite Oswald and Ekdahl
were stormy and they were finally divorced, after several separations
and reunions, in the summer of 1948.[C7-23]

After the divorce Mrs. Oswald complained considerably about how
unfairly she was treated, dwelling on the fact that she was a widow
with three children. John Pic, however, did not think her position was
worse than that of many other people.[C7-24] In the fall of 1948 she
told John Pic and Robert Oswald that she could not afford to send them
back to the military school and she asked Pic to quit school entirely
to help support the family, which he did for 4 months in the fall of
1948.[C7-25] In order to supplement their income further she falsely
swore that Pic was 17 years old so that he could join the Marine
Corps Reserves.[C7-26] Pic did turn over part of his income to his
mother, but he returned to high school in January of 1949, where he
stayed until 3 days before he was scheduled to graduate, when he left
school in order to get into the Coast Guard.[C7-27] Since his mother
did not approve of his decision to continue school he accepted the
responsibility for that decision himself and signed his mother’s name
to all his own excuses and report cards.[C7-28]

Pic thought that his mother overstated her financial problems and was
unduly concerned about money. Referring to the period after the divorce
from Ekdahl, which was apparently caused in part by Marguerite’s
desire to get more money from him, Pic said: “Lee was brought up in
this atmosphere of constant money problems, and I am sure it had quite
an effect on him, and also Robert.”[C7-29] Marguerite Oswald worked
in miscellaneous jobs after her divorce from Ekdahl.[C7-30] When she
worked for a time as an insurance saleslady, she would sometimes
take Lee with her, apparently leaving him alone in the car while she
transacted her business.[C7-31] When she worked during the school year,
Lee had to leave an empty house in the morning, return to it for lunch
and then again at night, his mother having trained him to do that
rather than to play with other children.[C7-32]

An indication of the nature of Lee’s character at this time was
provided in the spring of 1950, when he was sent to New Orleans to
visit the family of his mother’s sister, Mrs. Lillian Murret, for 2
or 3 weeks. Despite their urgings, he refused to play with the other
children his own age.[C7-33] It also appears that Lee tried to tag
along with his older brothers but apparently was not able to spend as
much time with them as he would have liked, because of the age gaps
of 5 and 7 years, which became more significant as the children grew
older.[C7-34]

New York City

Whatever problems may have been created by Lee’s home life in Louisiana
and Texas, he apparently adjusted well enough there to have had an
average, although gradually deteriorating, school record with no
behavior or truancy problems. That was not the case, however, after
he and his mother moved to New York in August of 1952, shortly
before Lee’s 13th birthday. They moved shortly after Robert joined
the Marines; they lived for a time with John Pic who was stationed
there with the Coast Guard.[C7-35] Relations soon became strained,
however,[C7-36] so in late September Lee and his mother moved to
their own apartment in the Bronx.[C7-37] Pic and his wife would
have been happy to have kept Lee, however, who was becoming quite a
disciplinary problem for his mother, having struck her on at least one
occasion.[C7-38]

The short-lived stay with the Pics was terminated after an incident in
which Lee allegedly pulled out a pocket knife during an argument and
threatened to use it on Mrs. Pic. When Pic returned home, Mrs. Oswald
tried to play down the event but Mrs. Pic took a different view and
asked the Oswalds to leave. Lee refused to discuss the matter with Pic,
whom he had previously idolized, and their relations were strained
thereafter.[C7-39]

On September 30, 1952, Lee enrolled in P.S. 117,[C7-40] a junior
high school in the Bronx, where the other children apparently teased
him because of his “western” clothes and Texas accent.[C7-41] He
began to stay away from school, preferring to read magazines and
watch television at home by himself.[C7-42] This continued despite
the efforts of the school authorities and, to a lesser extent, of
his mother to have him return to school.[C7-43] Truancy charges were
brought against him alleging that he was “beyond the control of his
mother insofar as school attendance is concerned.”[C7-44] Lee Oswald
was remanded for psychiatric observation to Youth House, an institution
in which children are kept for psychiatric observation or for detention
pending court appearance or commitment to a child-caring or custodial
institution such as a training school.[C7-45] He was in Youth House
from April 16 to May 7, 1953,[C7-46] during which time he was examined
by its Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Renatus Hartogs, and interviewed and
observed by other members of the Youth House staff.[C7-47]

Marguerite Oswald visited her son at Youth House, where she recalled
that she waited in line “with Puerto Ricans and Negroes and
everything.”[C7-48] She said that her pocketbook was searched “because
the children in this home were such criminals, dope fiends, and had
been in criminal offenses, that anybody entering this home had to be
searched in case the parents were bringing cigarettes or narcotics or
anything.”[C7-49] She recalled that Lee cried and said, “Mother, I want
to get out of here. There are children in here who have killed people,
and smoke. I want to get out.”[C7-50] Marguerite Oswald said that she
had not realized until then in what kind of place her son had been
confined.[C7-51]

On the other hand, Lee told his probation officer, John Carro, that
“while he liked Youth House he miss[ed] the freedom of doing what he
wanted. He indicated that he did not miss his mother.”[C7-52] Mrs.
Evelyn Strickman Siegel, a social worker who interviewed both Lee and
his mother while Lee was confined in Youth House, reported that Lee
“confided that the worse thing about Youth House was the fact that he
had to be with other boys all the time, was disturbed about disrobing
in front of them, taking showers with them etc.”[C7-53]

Contrary to reports that appeared after the assassination, the
psychiatric examination did not indicate that Lee Oswald was
a potential assassin, potentially dangerous, that “his outlook
on life had strongly paranoid overtones” or that he should be
institutionalized.[C7-54] Dr. Hartogs did find Oswald to be a tense,
withdrawn, and evasive boy who intensely disliked talking about himself
and his feelings. He noted that Lee liked to give the impression that
he did not care for other people but preferred to keep to himself,
so that he was not bothered and did not have to make the effort of
communicating. Oswald’s withdrawn tendencies and solitary habits
were thought to be the result of “intense anxiety, shyness, feelings
of awkwardness and insecurity.”[C7-55] He was reported to have said
“I don’t want a friend and I don’t like to talk to people” and “I
dislike everybody.”[C7-56] He was also described as having a “vivid
fantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power,
through which he tries to compensate for his present shortcomings and
frustrations.”[C7-57] Dr. Hartogs summarized his report by stating:

    This 13 year old well built boy has superior mental resources
    and functions only slightly below his capacity level in spite
    of chronic truancy from school which brought him into Youth
    House. No finding of neurological impairment or psychotic
    mental changes could be made. Lee has to be diagnosed as
    “personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and
    passive-aggressive tendencies.” Lee has to be seen as an
    emotionally, quite disturbed youngster who suffers under the
    impact of really existing emotional isolation and deprivation,
    lack of affection, absence of family life and rejection by a
    self involved and conflicted mother.[C7-58]

Dr. Hartogs recommended that Oswald be placed on probation on condition
that he seek help and guidance through a child guidance clinic. There,
he suggested, Lee should be treated by a male psychiatrist who could
substitute for the lack of a father figure. He also recommended that
Mrs. Oswald seek “psychotherapeutic guidance through contact with a
family agency.” The possibility of commitment was to be considered only
if the probation plan was not successful.[C7-59]

Lee’s withdrawal was also noted by Mrs. Siegel, who described him as
a “seriously detached, withdrawn youngster.”[C7-60] She also noted
that there was “a rather pleasant, appealing quality about this
emotionally starved, affectionless youngster which grows as one speaks
to him.”[C7-61] She thought that he had detached himself from the
world around him because “no one in it ever met any of his needs for
love.”[C7-62] She observed that since Lee’s mother worked all day,
he made his own meals and spent all his time alone because he didn’t
make friends with the boys in the neighborhood. She thought that he
“withdrew into a completely solitary and detached existence where he
did as he wanted and he didn’t have to live by any rules or come into
contact with people.”[C7-63] Mrs. Siegel concluded that Lee “just
felt that his mother never gave a damn for him. He always felt like
a burden that she simply just had to tolerate.”[C7-64] Lee confirmed
some of those observations by saying that he felt almost as if there
were a veil between him and other people through which they could not
reach him, but that he preferred the veil to remain intact. He admitted
to fantasies about being powerful and sometimes hurting and killing
people, but refused to elaborate on them. He took the position that
such matters were his own business.[C7-65]

A psychological human figure-drawing test corroborated the
interviewer’s findings that Lee was insecure and had limited social
contacts. Irving Sokolow, a Youth House psychologist reported that:

    The Human Figure Drawings are empty, poor characterizations
    of persons approximately the same age as the subject. They
    reflect a considerable amount of impoverishment in the social
    and emotional areas. He appears to be a somewhat insecure
    youngster exhibiting much inclination for warm and satisfying
    relationships to others. There is some indication that he may
    relate to men more easily than to women in view of the more
    mature conceptualisation. He appears slightly withdrawn and in
    view of the lack of detail within the drawings this may assume
    a more significant characteristic. He exhibits some difficulty
    in relationship to the maternal figure suggesting more anxiety
    in this area than in any other.[C7-66]

Lee scored an IQ of 118 on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children. According to Sokolow, this indicated a “present intellectual
functioning in the upper range of bright normal intelligence.”[C7-67]
Sokolow said that although Lee was “presumably disinterested in school
subjects he operates on a much higher than average level.”[C7-68] On
the Monroe Silent Reading Test, Lee’s score indicated no retardation in
reading speed and comprehension; he had better than average ability in
arithmetical reasoning for his age group.[C7-69]

Lee told Carro, his probation officer, that he liked to be by himself
because he had too much difficulty in making friends.[C7-70] The
reports of Carro and Mrs. Siegel also indicate an ambivalent attitude
toward authority on Oswald’s part. Carro reported that Lee was
disruptive in class after he returned to school on a regular basis in
the fall of 1953. He had refused to salute the flag and was doing very
little, if any, work. It appears that he did not want to do any of
the things which the authorities suggested in their efforts to bring
him out of the shell into which he appeared to be retreating.[C7-71]
He told Mrs. Siegel that he would run away if sent to a boarding
school. On the other hand he also told her that he wished his mother
had been more firm with him in her attempts to get him to return to
school.[C7-72]

The reports of the New York authorities indicate that Lee’s mother gave
him very little affection and did not serve as any sort of substitute
for a father. Furthermore she did not appear to understand her own
relationship to Lee’s psychological problems. After her interview with
Mrs. Oswald, Mrs. Siegel described her as a “smartly dressed, gray
haired woman, very self-possessed and alert and superficially affable,”
but essentially a “defensive, rigid, self-involved person who had real
difficulty in accepting and relating to people” and who had “little
understanding” of Lee’s behavior and of the “protective shell he has
drawn around himself.”[C7-73] Dr. Hartogs reported that Mrs. Oswald
did not understand that Lee’s withdrawal was a form of “violent but
silent protest against his neglect by her and represents his reaction
to a complete absence of any real family life.”[C7-74] Carro reported
that when questioned about his mother Lee said, “well I’ve got to live
with her. I guess I love her.”[C7-75] It may also be significant that,
as reported by John Pic, “Lee slept with my mother until I joined the
service in 1950. This would make him approximately 10, well, almost 11
years old.”[C7-76]

The factors in Lee Oswald’s personality which were noted by those who
had contact with him in New York indicate that he had great difficulty
in adapting himself to conditions in that city. His usual reaction to
the problems which he encountered there was simply withdrawal. Those
factors indicated a severe inability to enter into relationships with
other people. In view of his experiences when he visited his relatives
in New Orleans in the spring of 1950, and his other solitary habits,
Lee had apparently been experiencing similar problems before going to
New York, and as will be shown below, this failure to adapt to his
environment was a dominant trait in his later life.

It would be incorrect, however, to believe that those aspects of Lee’s
personality which were observed in New York could have led anyone to
predict the outburst of violence which finally occurred. Carro was the
only one of Oswald’s three principal observers who recommended that
he be placed in a boy’s home or similar institution.[C7-77] But Carro
was quite specific that his recommendation was based primarily on the
adverse factors in Lee’s environment--his lack of friends, the apparent
unavailability of any agency assistance and the ineffectualness of
his mother--and not on any particular mental disturbance in the boy
himself.[C7-78] Carro testified that:

    There was nothing that would lead me to believe when I saw
    him at the age of 12 that there would be seeds of destruction
    for somebody. I couldn’t in all honesty sincerely say such a
    thing.[C7-79]

Mrs. Siegel concluded her report with the statement that:

    Despite his withdrawal, he gives the impression that he is not
    so difficult to reach as he appears and patient, prolonged
    effort in a sustained relationship with one therapist might
    bring results. There are indications that he has suffered
    serious personality damage but if he can receive help quickly
    this might be repaired to some extent.[C7-80]

Lee Oswald never received that help. Few social agencies even in New
York were equipped to provide the kind of intensive treatment that he
needed, and when one of the city’s clinics did find room to handle him,
for some reason the record does not show, advantage was never taken of
the chance afforded to Oswald. When Lee became a disciplinary problem
upon his return to school in the fall of 1953, and when his mother
failed to cooperate in any way with school authorities, authorities
were finally forced to consider placement in a home for boys. Such a
placement was postponed, however, perhaps in part at least because
Lee’s behavior suddenly improved. Before the court took any action,
the Oswalds left New York[C7-81] in January of 1954, and returned to
New Orleans where Lee finished the ninth grade before he left school
to work for a year.[C7-82] Then in October of 1956, he joined the
Marines.[C7-83]

Return to New Orleans and Joining the Marine Corps

After his return to New Orleans Oswald was teased at school because of
the northern accent which he had acquired.[C7-84] He concluded that
school had nothing to offer him.[C7-85] His mother exercised little
control over him and thought he could decide for himself whether to go
on in school.[C7-86] Neighbors and others who knew him at that time
recall an introverted boy who read a great deal.[C7-87] He took walks
and visited museums, and sometimes rode a rented bicycle in the park
on Saturday mornings.[C7-88] Mrs. Murret believes that he talked at
length with a girl on the telephone, but no one remembers that he had
any dates.[C7-89] A friend, Edward Voebel, testified that “he was more
bashful about girls than anything else.”[C7-90]

Several witnesses testified that Lee Oswald was not aggressive.[C7-91]
He was, however, involved in some fights. Once a group of white boys
beat him up for sitting in the Negro section of a bus, which he
apparently did simply out of ignorance.[C7-92] Another time, he fought
with two brothers who claimed that he had picked on the younger of
them, 3 years Oswald’s junior. Two days later, “some big guy, probably
from a high school--he looked like a tremendous football player”
accosted Oswald on the way home from school and punched him in the
mouth, making his lip bleed and loosening a tooth. Voebel took Oswald
back to the school to attend to his wounds, and their “mild friendship”
stemmed from that incident.[C7-93] Voebel also recalled that Oswald
once outlined a plan to cut the glass in the window of a store on
Rampart Street and steal a pistol, but he was not sure then that Oswald
meant to carry out the plan, and in fact they never did. Voebel said
that Oswald “wouldn’t start any fights, but if you wanted to start
one with him, he was going to make sure that he ended it, or you were
going to really have one, because he wasn’t going to take anything from
anybody.”[C7-94] In a space for the names of “close friends” on the
ninth grade personal history record, Oswald first wrote “Edward Vogel,”
an obvious misspelling of Voebel’s name, and “Arthor Abear,” most
likely Arthur Hebert, a classmate who has said that he did not know
Oswald well. Oswald erased those names, however, and indicated that he
had no close friends.[C7-95]

It has been suggested that this misspelling of names, apparently on a
phonetic basis, was caused by a reading-spelling disability from which
Oswald appeared to suffer.[C7-96] Other evidence of the existence of
such a disability is provided by the many other misspellings that
appear in Oswald’s writings, portions of which are quoted below.

Sometime during this period, and under circumstances to be discussed
more fully below, Oswald started to read Communist literature, which he
obtained from the public library.[C7-97] One of his fellow employees,
Palmer McBride, stated that Oswald said he would like to kill President
Eisenhower because he was exploiting the working class.[C7-98] Oswald
praised Khrushchev and suggested that he and McBride join the Communist
Party “to take advantage of their social functions.”[C7-99] Oswald also
became interested in the New Orleans Amateur Astronomy Association, an
organization of high school students. The association’s then president,
William E. Wulf, testified that he remembered an occasion when Oswald

    * * * started expounding the Communist doctrine and saying that
    he was highly interested in communism, that communism was the
    only way of life for the worker, et cetera, and then came out
    with a statement that he was looking for a Communist cell in
    town to join but he couldn’t find any. He was a little dismayed
    at this, and he said that he couldn’t find any that would
    show any interest in him as a Communist, and subsequently,
    after this conversation, my father came in and we were kind of
    arguing back and forth about the situation, and my father came
    in the room, heard what we were arguing on communism, and that
    this boy was loud-mouthed, boisterous, and my father asked him
    to leave the house and politely put him out of the house, and
    that is the last I have seen or spoken with Oswald.[C7-100]

Despite this apparent interest in communism, Oswald tried to join the
Marines when he was 16 years old.[C7-101] This was 1 year before his
actual enlistment and just a little over 2½ years after he left New
York. He wrote a note in his mother’s name to school authorities in New
Orleans saying that he was leaving school because he and his mother
were moving to San Diego. In fact, he had quit school in an attempt
to obtain his mother’s assistance to join the Marines.[C7-102] While
he apparently was able to induce his mother to make a false statement
about his age he was nevertheless unable to convince the proper
authorities that he was really 17 years old.[C7-103] There is evidence
that Oswald was greatly influenced in his decision to join the Marines
by the fact that his brother Robert had done so approximately 3 years
before.[C7-104] Robert Oswald had given his Marine Corps manual to his
brother Lee, who studied it during the year following his unsuccessful
attempt to enlist until “He knew it by heart.”[C7-105] According to
Marguerite Oswald, “Lee lived for the time that he would become 17
years old to join the Marines--that whole year.”[C7-106] In John Pic’s
view, Oswald was motivated to join the Marines in large part by a
desire “to get from out and under * * * the yoke of oppression from my
mother.”[C7-107]

Oswald’s inability or lack of desire to enter into meaningful
relationships with other people continued during this period in New
Orleans (1954-56).[C7-108] It probably contributed greatly to the
general dissatisfaction which he exhibited with his environment, a
dissatisfaction which seemed to find expression at this particular
point in his intense desire to join the Marines and get away from his
surroundings and his mother. His study of Communist literature, which
might appear to be inconsistent with his desire to join the Marines,
could have been another manifestation of Oswald’s rejection of his
environment.[C7-109]

His difficulty in relating to other people and his general
dissatisfaction with the world around him continued while he was in
the Marine Corps. Kerry Thornley, a marine associate, who, shortly
after Oswald’s defection, wrote an as yet unpublished novel based in
considerable part on Oswald’s life, testified that “definitely the
Marine Corps was not what he had expected it to be when he joined.”
He said that Oswald “seemed to guard against developing real close
friendships.”[C7-110] Daniel Powers, another marine who was stationed
with Oswald for part of his marine career, testified that Oswald seemed
“always [to be] striving for a relationship, but whenever he did * * *
his general personality would alienate the group against him.”[C7-111]
Other marines also testified that Oswald had few friends and kept very
much to himself.[C7-112]

While there is nothing in Oswald’s military records to indicate that
he was mentally unstable or otherwise psychologically unfit for duty
in the Marine Corps,[C7-113] he did not adjust well to conditions
which he found in that service.[C7-114] He did not rise above the
rank of private first class, even though he had passed a qualifying
examination for the rank of corporal.[C7-115] His Marine career was
not helped by his attitude that he was a man of great ability and
intelligence and that many of his superiors in the Marine Corps were
not sufficiently competent to give him orders.[C7-116] While Oswald did
not seem to object to authority in the abstract, he did think that he
should be the one to exercise it. John E. Donovan, one of his former
officers, testified that Oswald thought “that authority, particularly
the Marine Corps, ought to be able to recognize talent such as his own,
without a given magic college degree, and put them in positions of
prominence.”[C7-117]

Oswald manifested this feeling about authority by baiting his officers.
He led them into discussions of foreign affairs about which they often
knew less than he did, since he had apparently devoted considerable
time to a study of such matters.[C7-118] When the officers were unable
to discuss foreign affairs satisfactorily with him, Oswald regarded
them as unfit to exercise command over him.[C7-119] Nelson Delgado,
one of Oswald’s fellow Marines, testified that Oswald tried to “cut up
anybody that was high ranking” in those arguments “and make himself
come out top dog.”[C7-120] Oswald probably engaged his superiors in
arguments on a subject that he had studied in an attempt to attract
attention to himself and to support his exaggerated idea of his own
abilities.

Thornley also testified that he thought that Oswald’s extreme personal
sloppiness in the Marine Corps “fitted into a general personality
pattern of his: to do whatever was not wanted of him, a recalcitrant
trend in his personality.”[C7-121] Oswald “seemed to be a person who
would go out of his way to get into trouble”[C7-122] and then used
the “special treatment” he received as an example of the way in which
he was being picked on and “as a means of getting or attempting to
get sympathy.”[C7-123] In Thornley’s view, Oswald labored under a
persecution complex which he strove to maintain and “felt the Marine
Corps kept a pretty close watch on him because of his ‘subversive’
activities.” Thornley added: “I think it was kind of necessary to him
to believe that he was being picked on. It wasn’t anything extreme. I
wouldn’t go as far as to call it, call him a paranoid, but a definite
tendency there was in that direction, I think.”[C7-124]

Powers considered Oswald to be meek and easily led,[C7-125] an
“individual that you would brainwash, and quite easy * * * [but]
I think once he believed in something * * * he stood in his
beliefs.”[C7-126] Powers also testified that Oswald was reserved and
seemed to be “somewhat the frail, little puppy in the litter.”[C7-127]
He had the nickname “Ozzie Rabbit.”[C7-128]

Oswald read a good deal, said Powers, but “he would never be reading
any of the shoot-em-up westerns or anything like that. Normally,
it would be a good type of literature; and the one that I recall
was ‘Leaves of Grass,’ by Walt Whitman.”[C7-129] According to
Powers, Oswald said: “‘All the Marine Corps did was to teach you
to kill’ and after you got out of the Marines you might be good
gangsters.”[C7-130] Powers believed that when Oswald arrived in Japan
he acquired a girlfriend, “finally attaining a male status or image in
his own eyes.”[C7-131] That apparently caused Oswald to become more
self-confident, aggressive and even somewhat pugnacious, although
Powers “wouldn’t say that this guy is a troublemaker.”[C7-132] Powers
said “now he was Oswald the man rather than Oswald the rabbit.”[C7-133]
Oswald once told Powers that he didn’t care if he returned to the
United States at all.[C7-134]

While in Japan, Oswald’s new found apparent self confidence and
pugnaciousness led to an incident in which he spilled a drink on one
of his sergeants and abusively challenged him to fight.[C7-135] At the
court-martial hearing which followed, Oswald admitted that he had been
rather drunk when the incident occurred. He testified that he had felt
the sergeant had a grudge against him and that he had unsuccessfully
sought a transfer from the sergeant’s unit. He said that he had simply
wanted to discuss the question with the sergeant and the drink had
been spilled accidentally. The hearing officer agreed with the latter
claim but found Oswald guilty of wrongfully using provoking words
and sentenced him to 28 days, canceling the suspension of a 20-day
sentence that Oswald had received in an earlier court-martial for
possessing an unauthorized pistol with which he had accidentally shot
himself.[C7-136]

At his own request, Oswald was transferred from active duty to the
Marine Corps Reserve under honorable conditions in September of 1959,
3 months prior to his regularly scheduled separation date,[C7-137]
ostensibly to care for his mother who had been injured in an accident
at her work.[C7-138] He was undesirably discharged from the Marine
Corps Reserve, to which he had been assigned on inactive status
following his transfer from active duty, after it was learned that he
had defected to the Soviet Union.[C7-139] In an attempt to have this
discharge reversed, Oswald wrote to then Secretary of the Navy Connally
on January 30, 1962, stating that he would “employ all means to right
this gross mistake or injustice.”[C7-140]

Governor Connally had just resigned to run for Governor of Texas,
so he advised Oswald that he had forwarded the letter to his
successor.[C7-141] It is thus clear that Oswald knew that Governor
Connally was never directly concerned with his discharge and he must
have known that President Kennedy had had nothing to do with it. In
that connection, it does not appear that Oswald ever expressed any
dissatisfaction of any kind with either the President or Governor
Connally.[C7-142] Marina Oswald testified that she “had never heard
anything bad about Kennedy from Lee. And he never had anything against
him.”[C7-143] Mrs. Oswald said that her husband did not say anything
about Governor Connally after his return to the United States. She
testified: “But while we were in Russia he spoke well of him. * * * Lee
said that when he would return to the United States he would vote for
him [for Governor].”[C7-144] Oswald must have already learned that the
Governor could not help him with his discharge because he was no longer
Secretary of the Navy, at the time he made that remark.

Even though Oswald apparently did not express any hostility against
the President or Governor Connally, he continued to be concerned about
his undesirable discharge.[C7-145] It is clear that he thought he had