Al Maddox Oral History
Object number2002.001.0007
Date03/07/2002
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject
Al Maddox
Oral history interviewer
Gary Mack
(1946 - 2015)
Oral history interviewer
Arlinda Abbott
Oral history interviewer
Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumHi-8 videotape
DimensionsDuration: 58 Minutes
Collections
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Al Maddox. A Dallas County deputy sheriff in 1963, Maddox went to the Texas School Book Depository building after the assassination. An acquaintance of Jack Ruby prior to the shooting, he was later assigned guard duty for Ruby in jail and at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on March 7, 2002 by Gary Mack, Arlinda Abbott and Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-eight minutes long.
Curatorial CommentaryAl Maddox passed away on September 7, 2013. I had the pleasure of knowing Al for more than ten years, and he was a longtime friend of The Sixth Floor Museum. In addition to donating materials, including letters written to Jack Ruby at Parkland Hospital in December 1966 and what is believed to be Ruby's last pair of eyeglasses, Al recorded two follow-up oral histories: a 2004 interview that focused on his memories of Jack Ruby and the 1964 Ruby trial and a final 2006 session that focused on his broader career as a deputy sheriff as well as race relations in Dallas in the 1960s. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Dallas County deputy sheriff Al Maddox, wearing a bowtie and no hat, can be seen standing outside the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963 in these color photographs taken by eyewitness Jay Skaggs: (on left, facing camera) https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/22066
and (on far right) https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/22067. - Stephen Fagin, Curator