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Photograph of courtroom sketch of witness Jim Leavelle at Jack Ruby trial
Photograph of courtroom sketch of witness Jim Leavelle at Jack Ruby trial

Photograph of courtroom sketch of witness Jim Leavelle at Jack Ruby trial

Object number2014.034.0035
DateFebruary 1964 - March 1964
ClassificationsArt
Artist Howard Brodie
ObjectCourtroom sketch
Credit LineTonahill Family Partners Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions14 1/2 × 19 in. (36.8 × 48.3 cm)
Collections
DescriptionPhotograph of courtroom pencil sketch on paper by CBS News courtroom artist Howard Brodie. The sketch shows Dallas Police Detective Jim Leavelle during the Jack Ruby trial between February and March of 1964. The sketch shows Leavelle, wearing a suit and tie, seated with his hands in his lap. A handwritten caption along the top edge of the image reads "Officer Lavell." Brodie made the original pencil sketches for CBS News during the trial of Jack Ruby after the judge barred cameras from the courtroom. Brodie then gave Joe Tonahill this photograph of a courtroom sketch as part of a collection of more than 40 in 1964.
Curatorial Commentary
Howard Brodie (1915-2010) was a sports artist for the San Francisco Chronicle when he enlisted in the U.S. Army with America's entry into World War II. He ultimately became one of the best-known sketch artists of the war, frequently published in the weekly U.S. military magazine, Yank, which ran from June 1942 to December 1945. After the war, Brodie spent the next thirty-five years as a courtroom artist, attending several notable trials including the Chicago Seven, Charles Manson and, of course, the Jack Ruby trial in 1964. For the Ruby trial, Brodie worked as a CBS-TV artist correspondent. Mr. Brodie recorded an oral history with the Museum in 2006. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

Longtime Dallas police detective James R. "Jim" Leavelle will always be remembered as the man in the light-colored suit who was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of police headquarters when Ruby shot Oswald. His look of shock and horror was immortalized in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken the moment that Ruby fired.

Jim Leavelle was a good friend of The Sixth Floor Museum, participating in multiple oral histories and programs over the years. Upon his passing in August 2019, we shared this post on our Museum blog: In Memoriam: James R. “Jim” Leavelle, 1920 – 2019 | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey PlazaThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (jfk.org). -- Stephen Fagin, Curator