The Execution of The Assassin
Seven photographers captured what would become the most infamous perp walk in history. One found redemption, and won a Pulitzer.
Sixty years ago today, Dallas police unknowingly led John F. Kennedy’s accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, to his death.
Dallas Times Herald photographer Robert “Bob” Jackson was staked out in the basement of police headquarters, anxiously awaiting — and seeking redemption. Two days earlier, Jackson had run out of film after Kennedy was assassinated, missing everything, including a shot of Oswald’s rifle peeking from the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository.
At 11:21 a.m. on November 24, 1963, Jackson squeezed the shutter on his Nikon S3 just as Jack Ruby fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald, capturing The Moment of Impact.
Jackson redeemed himself.
Jackson’s photo is most often published with a heavy crop but the full frame is far more revealing.
The clueless Stetson-wearing detective on the far left and the casual cigar-smoking detective on the far right are boggling, unexpected details.
“He fired, and I hit the shutter,” Jackson told The Denver Post in 2013. “It just came together. I couldn’t have planned it better…I was trying to get a photo before this guy blocked the view.” Jackson is referring to Ruby.
Here’s the film strip — Jackson’s strobe didn’t have time to recycle for the frame following the decisive moment.
Bob Jackson won the Pulitzer Prize. Jack Beers did not.
Beers was a staff photographer for The Dallas Morning News positioned to the right of Jackson, standing on a railing with his Mamiyaflex C3. It’s a solid perp walk photo, but…
“Those who knew him say he never recovered from missing the Pulitzer by six-tenths of a second — the time between his photograph and Mr. Jackson’s,” Michael Granberry wrote in 2002.
“I was there. I was prepared. But I didn’t get it,” Beers’ once said.1
Standing between Jackson and Beers was UPI photographer Frank Johnston. He made this photo seconds before the shooting. Oswald’s glare in Ruby’s direction is fortuitous.
It’s not as apparent in the other photos, but you can see the detective’s hand, which is handcuffed to Oswald’s, leading him by the waistband. An odd detail. This version of Johnston’s photo is from the Warren Commission, hence the numbers.
“I was shooting with a Nikon SP, and I got thrown to the floor,” Johnston said in a 2013 C-SPAN interview. “When I looked up there was a Dallas detective on the back trunk of the car with a gun pointed at me, yelling ‘don’t move’ cause they didn’t know what happened. It happened so quickly.”
After the shooting Johnston called Jackson, who told him about the historic photo he’d made. “When he told me he had it, I said, ‘Bob, that's fantastic!’ I was happy for him. I'm still happy for him,” says Mr. Johnston.
“My gosh, it's an elbow away sometimes.”2
Love that.
Robert Jackson, Jack Beers, and Frank Johnston were the three still photographers in the basement that morning. But four others, tv news cameramen, also captured Ruby’s hit.
I’d never seen this photo before. It’s taken from a completely different angle, directly to Oswald’s left. Obscure, but that’s why I like it. It takes a second, then you recognize Stetson-detective, and then Oswald’s grimacing face. Incredible.
This is the film from which that still frame originated. About :03 seconds in…look closely, it happens fast and then all hell breaks loose. Unfortunately, I do not know who shot this.
Here’s another clip, from a CBS News cameraman. I’ve watched this dozens of times, it’s just insane. You can see Beers’ strobe fire and a split second later Johnston’s. Again, sadly, I couldn’t find the photographer’s name.
Two NBC cameramen were there — one broadcasting live and another shooting 16mm film. This is the live shot. Notice how they changed lenses at the exact wrong moment.
The other NBC cameraman shooting 16mm film was Steven Alexander, who happened to be visiting family in Texas when Kennedy was assassinated so he jumped on the story. Here is the 16mm footage Alexander made.
“I got no credit or recognition for that effort,” Alexander wrote in 2010. “It was then, and still is today, the most historic image I ever captured.”
Alexander’s film and photographs have never been credited until now.
Even while shooting motion pictures — 24 frames per second — none of them were able to capture what Jackson did.
Redemption.
Granberry, Michael. “Photographer snapped Oswald's murder a hair too soon, lost Pulitzer, place in history to rival.” The Dallas Morning News, June 30, 2002.
Ibid.