Dallas Times Herald newspaper with a cover story about the Ruby-Oswald shooting

This object is featured in the Museum's special exhibit, "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963," which opened on April 29, 2026.

The two stars under the nameplate or banner, Dallas Times Herald, indicates that this version of the "Final Edition" has been updated from a previous printing. Even though all copies of the Dallas Times Herald were labeled "Final Edition," there were numerous printings with major and minor differences throughout the Kennedy assassination weekend as additional information became available. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Bob Jackson's iconic image of the Oswald shooting appeared on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald on Monday, November 25, 1963, the day after the shooting occurred. However, the image circulated almost immediately on Sunday via wire/photo services and was published elsewhere very quickly as editors recognized it as a major national image and rushed to press. Jackson's image was also not the first photograph of the Oswald shooting to be published. A similar shot captured by Dallas Morning News photographer Jack Beers, taken a fraction of a second before Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, was published first: Photo of Lee Harvey Oswald moments before he was shot by Jack Ruby – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Stephen Fagin, Curator 

Close examination of this newspaper reveals that the image of the Oswald shooting has been physically retouched by a newspaper graphic artist. Black and white photographs in the 1960s had major limitations when published since ink on newsprint often made images look muddy without fine detail. Long before Photoshop, graphic artists used a variety of tools, including airbrushes, pencils, and even knives to sharpen details, lighten and darken key areas, increase contrast, and - as seen here on Detective Jim Leavelle's right arm - outline edges in order to make photographs look better in print. The Dallas Times Herald artist who worked on this and many other images during his career was Abner E. Tardy (1928-1978). In 2025, photographer Bob Jackson paid tribute to Tardy's work during a public program at the Museum. The discussion begins at the 24-minute mark in this video: Dallas: Through the Lens of Bob Jackson. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Bob Jackson was a staff photographer at the Dallas Times Herald in 1963. He covered the presidential party’s arrival at Dallas Love Field and, while riding in a motorcade press car, spotted a rifle in a sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. He was also at Parkland Memorial Hospital and Dallas police headquarters that day. On Sunday, November 24, 1963, Jackson captured an iconic photograph of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of Dallas police headquarters. His image won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in News Photography. Jackson later covered the 1964 Jack Ruby trial in Dallas. In 2025, Jackson donated to The Sixth Floor Museum more than 20,000 images from his Dallas photojournalism in the 1960s and 1970s.

As a longtime friend of the Museum, he recorded several oral history interviews and programs. His interview from March 2025 may be viewed on the Museum’s online collection database here: Bob Jackson Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

Other objects related to Bob Jackson, including several of his photographs, may be found here: Thesaurus – Vocabularies – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger