Mr. Griffin. You, I take it, were not watching television or listening to the radio?
Mr. Rubenstein. No. I didn’t think I was. Because I was walking through the hallway when the phone rang and I forget whether I picked up the phone or Mary picked up the phone. You see Ann doesn’t answer the phone because she doesn’t get many calls. Her son is on the west coast, so we, Mary and I, pick up the phone. It was like an atomic bomb hitting the top of the house and everything caved in on you, like a disaster. It is just unbelievable. If a family has incorrigibles where they get into trouble and you get them out of jail, and the family is used to it, you know, you feel OK. But we never had anything like that in our lives, nothing. We are not accustomed to such things. We all work for a living, some of us work very hard. We are not the notorious type, we don’t care for no publicity. We all have pretty good personalities. My customers still laugh at my corny stories I tell them the year before. I don’t have to impress anybody. We don’t go for none of that big shot stuff.
So, when this thing hit us, you people can’t imagine, and then the phone started to ring. It kept ringing from that Sunday morning from reporters, and newspaper people from all over the country, and it just didn’t stop. We didn’t know what to say. It was just sickening. We had no answer for them.
Mr. Griffin. Did you have occasion to go to Dallas at any time in the fall of—before the President was assassinated?
Mr. Rubenstein. No.
Mr. Griffin. Did you go to Dallas afterward?
Mr. Rubenstein. Yes.
Mr. Griffin. When did you go?
Mr. Rubenstein. Just before Christmas, let’s say December 23, 24, and 25. No; on Christmas day I was on the road so I probably was there for 2 or 3 days around that period.
Mr. Griffin. Now, did you know any of Jack’s friends in Dallas?