Ruby’s Activities From November 21 to November 24, 1963
The Commission has attempted to reconstruct as precisely as possible the movements of Jack Ruby during the period November 21-November 24, 1963. It has done so on the premise that, if Jack Ruby were involved in a conspiracy, his activities and associations during this period would, in some way, have reflected the conspiratorial relationship. The Commission has not attempted to determine the time at which Ruby first decided to make his attack on Lee Harvey Oswald, nor does it purport to evaluate the psychiatric and related legal questions which have arisen from the assault upon Oswald. Ruby’s activities during this 3-day period have been scrutinized, however, for the insight they provide into whether the shooting of Oswald was grounded in any form of conspiracy.
The eve of the President’s visit.—On Thursday, November 21, Jack Ruby was attending to his usual duties as the proprietor of two Dallas night spots—the Carousel Club, a downtown nightclub featuring striptease dancers, and the Vegas Club, a rock-and-roll establishment in the Oaklawn section of Dallas. Both clubs opened for business each day in the early evening and continued 7 days a week until after midnight.[C6-830] Ruby arrived at the Carousel Club at about 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon, as was his custom,[C6-831] and remained long enough to chat with a friend and receive messages from Larry Crafard, a handyman and helper who lived at the Carousel.[C6-832] Earlier in the day Ruby had visited with a young lady who was job hunting in Dallas,[C6-833] paid his rent for the Carousel premises,[C6-834] conferred about a peace bond he had been obliged to post as a result of a fight with one of his striptease dancers,[C6-835] consulted with an attorney about problems he was having with Federal tax authorities,[C6-836] distributed membership cards for the Carousel Club,[C6-837] talked with Dallas County Assistant District Attorney William F. Alexander about insufficient fund checks which a friend had passed,[C6-838] and submitted advertising copy for his nightclubs to the Dallas Morning News.[C6-839]
Ruby’s evening activities on Thursday, November 21, were a combination of business and pleasure. At approximately 7:30 p.m., he drove Larry Crafard to the Vegas Club which Crafard was overseeing because Ruby’s sister, Eva Grant, who normally managed the club, was convalescing from a recent illness.[C6-840] Thereafter, Ruby returned to the Carousel Club and conversed for about an hour with Lawrence Meyers, a Chicago businessman.[C6-841] Between 9:45 and 10:45 p.m., Ruby had dinner with Ralph Paul, his close friend and financial backer. While dining Ruby spoke briefly with a Dallas Morning News employee, Don Campbell, who suggested that they go to the Castaway Club, but Ruby declined.[C6-842] Thereafter, Ruby returned to the Carousel Club where he acted as master of ceremonies for his show and peacefully ejected an unruly patron.[C6-843] At about midnight Ruby rejoined Meyers at the Bon Vivant Room of the Dallas Cabana where they met Meyers’ brother and sister-in-law.[C6-844] Neither Ralph Paul nor Lawrence Meyers recalled that Ruby mentioned the President’s trip to Dallas.[C6-845] Leaving Meyers at the Cabana after a brief visit, Ruby returned to close the Carousel Club and obtain the night’s receipts.[C6-846] He then went to the Vegas Club which he helped Larry Crafard close for the night;[C6-847] and, as late as 2:30 a.m., Ruby was seen eating at a restaurant near the Vegas Club.[C6-848]
Friday morning at the Dallas Morning News.—Jack Ruby learned of the shooting of President Kennedy while in the second-floor advertising offices of the Dallas Morning News, five blocks from the Texas School Book Depository, where he had come Friday morning to place regular weekend advertisements for his two nightclubs.[C6-849] On arriving at the newspaper building at about 11 or 11:30 a.m., he talked briefly with two newspaper employees concerning some diet pills he had recommended to them.[C6-850] Ruby then went to the office of Morning News columnist, Tony Zoppi, where he states he obtained a brochure on his new master of ceremonies that he wanted to use in preparing copy for his advertisements.[C6-851] Proceeding to the advertising department, he spoke with advertising employee Don Campbell from about noon until 12:25 p.m. when Campbell left the office.[C6-852] In addition to the business at hand, much of the conversation concerned Ruby’s unhappiness over the financial condition of his clubs and his professed ability to handle the physical fights which arose in connection with the clubs.[C6-853] According to Campbell, Ruby did not mention the Presidential motorcade nor did he display any unusual behavior.[C6-854]
About 10 minutes after the President had been shot but before word had spread to the second floor, John Newnam, an advertising department employee, observed Ruby sitting at the same spot where Campbell had left him. At that time Ruby had completed the advertisement, which he had apparently begun to compose when Campbell departed, and was reading a newspaper.[C6-855] To Newnam, Ruby voiced criticism of the black-bordered advertisement entitled “Welcome, Mr. Kennedy” appearing in the morning paper and bearing the name of Bernard Weissman as the chairman of the committee sponsoring the advertisement.[C6-856] (See Commission Exhibit No. 1031, [p. 294].) According to Eva Grant, Ruby’s sister, he had telephoned her earlier in the morning to call her attention to the ad.[C6-857] At about 12:45 p.m., an employee entered the office and announced that shots had been fired at the President. Newnam remembered that Ruby responded with a look of “stunned disbelief.”[C6-858]
Shortly afterward, according to Newnam, “confusion reigned” in the office as advertisers telephoned to cancel advertising they had placed for the weekend.[C6-859] Ruby appears to have believed that some of those cancellations were motivated by the Weissman advertisement.[C6-860] After Newnam accepted a few telephone calls, he and Ruby walked toward a room where other persons were watching television.[C6-861] One of the newspaper employees recalled that Ruby then appeared “obviously shaken, and an ashen color—just very pale * * *”[C6-862] showed little disposition to converse,[C6-863] and sat for a while with a dazed expression in his eyes.[C6-864]
After a few minutes, Ruby placed telephone calls to Andrew Armstrong, his assistant at the Carousel Club, and to his sister, Mrs. Grant. He told Armstrong, “If anything happens we are going to close the club” and said he would see him in about 30 minutes.[C6-865] During the call to his sister, Ruby again referred to the Weissman advertisement; at one point he put the telephone to Newnam’s ear, and Newnam heard Mrs. Grant exclaim, “My God, what do they want?” It was Newnam’s recollection that Ruby tried to calm her.[C6-866]
Ruby testified that after calling his sister he said, “John, I will have to leave Dallas.”[C6-867] Ruby explained to the Commission:
I don’t know why I said that, but it is a funny reaction that you feel; the city is terribly let down by the tragedy that happened. And I said, “John, I am not opening up tonight.”
And I don’t know what else transpired. I know people were just heartbroken * * *.
I left the building and I went down and I got in my car and I couldn’t stop crying. * * * [C6-868]