Jack Beers picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas on November 24, 1963.

Ira Jefferson "Jack" Beers Jr. (1923–1975), known professionally as Jack Beers, was an American photojournalist who worked for The Dallas Morning News.[1] Beers was best known for his widely distributed photograph capturing Jack Ruby lunging toward Lee Harvey Oswald a split-second before firing his fatal shot on November 24, 1963.[2][3][4] He also took a famous photograph of football player Kyle Rote en route to a touchdown in 1948 – the only other photograph to be featured on a full page in The Dallas Morning News over a 25-year period.[5][6]

Early life and education

Jack Beers was born in Parkland Hospital in Dallas.[1] An only child, his parents divorced when he was seven; he was raised by his mother during the Great Depression.[1] Upon graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, he joined the Army Air Forces, and worked as a photographer.[1][6]

Career

After his military service, Beers was hired by The Dallas Times Herald, where he worked for nearly three years, then moved to The Dallas Morning News in 1948.[6][1] During his career, he captured many dramatic photographs, including one of football player Kyle Rote of Southern Methodist University smiling as he headed for a touchdown through the Notre Dame defensive line, which ran as a full-page picture in the Morning News in 1949.[6][1] He often accompanied the Dallas Police to take pictures for crime stories, and was acquainted with strip-club owner Jack Ruby.[1]

On November 22, 1963, moments before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Beers took a sweep shot with a movie camera of people looking down at the presidential motorcade in the surrounding buildings, including the Texas School Book Depository.[7] Although a shadow was visible in a corner window of the sixth floor, the person could not be identified from the footage.[7]

At 9 a.m. on November 24, 1963, Beers joined other photographers, television cameramen, and reporters in the basement of Dallas City Hall,[8] positioning for a view of alleged JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being transferred from the city jail to the larger county jail.[4][8] Over two hours later, as Oswald was being brought into the basement, Beers had his twin-reflex camera focused on Oswald and the guards, when he sensed a sudden movement of a man six-feet away from him.[8] His instinct was to take the photograph before the man obstructed his view; he had no idea that the man was about to assassinate Oswald.[8]

The Dallas Morning News immediately ran Beers' photograph as a full-page picture.[6] He wrote an article about his experience on the day of Oswald's assassination for the Associated Press.[8] Beers was also called to testify in front of the Warren Commission.[9]

Personal life and death

Beers's rival at The Dallas Times Herald, Robert H. Jackson, took an almost identical photo, but six-tenths of a second later, as Oswald screams in pain. That photo was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1964.[10] According to his daughter, Beers suffered from depression that went untreated, due to "missing out" on the recognition that Jackson received.[1]

Beers died of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 51.[4] A few months after his death, FBI agents asked The Dallas Morning News for the negatives of three photographs taken by Beers shortly after Oswald's assassination.[11] The photographs were of "three shabbily dressed men at Dealey Plaza" whom the FBI said had mysteriously not been booked or fingerprinted.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Granberry, Michael (June 30, 2002). "Photographer snapped Oswald's murder a hair too soon, lost Pulitzer, place in history to rival". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Comprehensive Coverage". TIME Magazine. December 6, 1963. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via EBSCOHost.
  3. ↑ Sanderson, Bill (November 22, 2013). "Fifty Years Ago This Minute: How the Assassination Story Broke". New York Observer. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via EBSCOHost.
  4. 1 2 3 "Oswald Death Photographer Dead in Dallas". Springfield Leader and Press. UPI. February 18, 1975. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Photographer Jack Beers dies". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Associated Press. February 18, 1975. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Wednesday rites for photographer". Brownwood Bulletin. Associated Press. February 18, 1975. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 Harrington, Tex (November 22, 1964). "That Terrible November Day In Dallas". The Chapel Hill News. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Beers, Jack (November 26, 1963). "Photographer Tells Events Surrounding Oswald Murder". The News. Frederick, Maryland. Associated Press. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Testimony for the Warren Commission of Ira Jefferson "Jack Beers Jr."" (PDF).
  10. ↑ "Press Clips: A Remarkable Journalism Tale, in Remembrance of the JFK Assassination". .newsmakerswithjr.com. Newsmakers with JR. November 23, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Rhodes, George (May 9, 1975). "FBI snaps assassination site". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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