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Typed notes from police station by Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer
Typed notes from police station by Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer

Typed notes from police station by Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer

Object number1996.003.0193
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsDocuments
Creator
ObjectDocument
Credit LineJohn Schoellkopf Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm)
Collections
  • "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963"
  • All Online Objects
DescriptionA one-page carbon copy of a short report typed in black on tan copy paper, written by Jim Lehrer for the Dallas Times Herald on November 22, 1963. The typed report narrates an interaction between Lee Harvey Oswald and a reporter from Dallas Police Headquarters following his arrest. The notes indicate as Oswald was taken from the lineup room to Chief of Police Captain Fritz's office, he stated that he did not shoot anyone and that he does not have a lawyer. The full text reads: "add four oswald Ten minutes later the lineup was over and Oswald and the officers emerged from the elevator. A reporter shouted the question: "Did you kill the President?" Oswald yelled in reply: "I didn't shoot anybody." Another reporter asked if he had a lawyer. "No I don't," replied Oswald as he was led back into Capt. Fritz's office. lehrer/stevens"
Curatorial Commentary
Jim Lehrer, an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist best known for the long-running PBS NewsHour program and for moderating presidential debates (1988-2012), was a reporter at the Dallas Times Herald in 1963. Assigned to Dallas Love Field on November 22, 1963, he witnessed the Secret Service remove the bubbletop from the presidential limousine shortly before the Dallas motorcade. Following the assassination, he covered the scene at Dallas police headquarters.

Mr. Lehrer recorded an oral history interview with the Museum in November 2013, which may be accessed in the Museum’s online collections database here: Jim Lehrer Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

More objects related to Jim Lehrer may be found here: Thesaurus – Vocabularies – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

This object is featured in the Museum's special exhibit, "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963," which opened on April 29, 2026.
The Museum's John Schoellkopf Collection includes a number of typed notes and draft stories from November 22, 1963, as well as newspaper proofs, a pencil mock-up of the intended front page and other Dallas Times Herald documents related to the weekend of the Kennedy assassination. John L. Schoellkopf (1938-2018) had a remarkable career at the Dallas Times Herald, starting out as an intern while attending Southern Methodist University in 1957. By the time he left journalism in 1970 for a career in business, farming and politics, he had risen to become the Dallas Times Herald vice president of administration. At the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, he was the paper's assistant city editor. Schoellkopf later ran for Dallas mayor and served on the board of a number of organizations including the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Theater Center and the Texas State Historical Association. Schoellkopf recorded an oral history with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on June 11, 1996. - Stephen Fagin, Curator