Sunday, November 24, 2013

Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald Live on TV


If you were alive on Sunday November 24, 1963 then you have never forgotten the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby as it played out in real time across America. I was watching TV with my parents when the transfer of Lee Harvey Oswald was taking place. I guess that everyone was doing the same thing. This was live TV at a time when we had just one satellite.

This film is a bit different from most of the other clips you might be seeing of the event. It seems to have been taken from a slightly different angle than the others, showing Jack Ruby emerging from screen right more clearly than some of the others. In most of the still photographs you only see a vague blur in place of Jack Ruby. He is obscured by the others in the crowd. In this clip you can actually see Ruby gut shoot Oswald.

The three days beginning Friday November 22nd, 1963 with the President’s shooting; and ending with his burial at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday November 25th, are days which can never be forgotten by those who were alive at the time. I remember thinking that I was living through history. I was 9 years old and a big fan of Abe Lincoln, so I could not escape the magnitude of what was happening.

But nobody expected to see Jack Ruby kill Oswald on live TV. Later on, of course, we found out that Ruby was present at the press conference on Friday at the police station where Oswald was held. He was even there for the press conferences which included Oswald, almost as if he were just waiting for the chance to shoot him. On Sunday, November 24, 1963, either in emotional distress; or by design; Jack Ruby got his chance.

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