Jack Ruby Biography

Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of president John F. Kennedy, on November 24, 1963.

Jack Ruby was born in Chicago, and served in the U.S. Army an aircraft mechanic during World War II. After the war he moved to Dallas, changed his name from Jacob Rubenstein to Jack Ruby, and began managing nightclubs and strip clubs. Ruby was described as a “police buff”; he became friendly with a number of Dallas police officers, offering them free drinks and (allegedly) prostitutes as well. He also gained a reputation as something of a hothead.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Two days later, Jack Ruby made his way into Dallas Police headquarters, and was present as Oswald was being escorted through the basement to an armored car that was to carry him to the county jail. Ruby pulled a .38 caliber Colt Cobra revolver and fired once at Oswald from near point-blank range. Ruby was immediately grabbed by a swarm of officers, but Oswald died shortly thereafter.

The shooting was broadcast on live TV, making it one more grotesque spectacle in the killing of President Kennedy. Ruby was arrested, tried, and convicted of murder in 1964 with a sentence of death. That sentence was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals based on issues around Ruby’s confession and the venue of his trial. Ruby was still in prison, awaiting further legal decisions and a new trial, when he died of an embolism related to cancer in 1967.