Ruth Paine Oral History

Object number2019.001.0132

Date11/19/2019

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Ruth Paine

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)

DimensionsDuration: 61 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Ruth Paine. A housewife in Irving, Texas, Paine met Lee and Marina Oswald in February 1963 and became a central figure in the Kennedy assassination story. Marina Oswald and her daughters were living with Paine on November 22, 1963, and Paine had previously helped get Lee Harvey Oswald a job at the Texas School Book Depository. Oswald's rifle was stored in her garage in Irving. Paine actively cooperated with investigators following the assassination, and she testified at length to the Warren Commission in 1964. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, TX on November 19, 2019 by Curator Stephen Fagin. The interview is 1 hour and 1 minute long.

Curatorial Commentary

When I began working on the Museum's Oral History Project as an intern in 2000, I made a personal "wish list" of interview subjects related to the assassination and legacy of President Kennedy. One of the names high on that list was Ruth Paine, who very politely declined an interview request in 2002. Her name remained on my list, however, and it was a great pleasure to finally sit down with her for this one-on-one conversation some seventeen years later in November 2019.

In addition to this oral history, Ruth Paine participated in a half-hour audience Q&A at the Texas Theatre on September 22, 2019, following the screening of the documentary, Truth is the Only Client. This Q&A was recorded by the Museum and can be seen in full on our YouTube channel: "Truth Is The Only Client" Premiere Panel Discussion - YouTube. She also participated in a Museum public program on November 19, 2019, the same day that this oral history was recorded. That 70-minute program may be viewed in full here on the Museum's YouTube channel: The Last Days of Lee Harvey Oswald: A Conversation with Ruth Paine - YouTube. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator