Interviews by Name

Joe Bagley

Bagley was an elementary school student in Colorado in 1963. His late grandmother, Georgia Ella Beale Smith, observed the motorcade from the corner of Main and Houston Streets and heard shots fired in Dealey Plaza. Recorded April 24, 2013.

The Rev. Wilfred Bailey

As minister of the Casa View Methodist Church in the 1960s, Bailey served as a community leader and took a prominent position on civic matters, particularly in the area of racial integration. He was at the Trade Mart luncheon on the day of the assassination. Recorded October 15, 1999.

Russ Baker

An award-winning investigative journalist, Baker wrote the book Family of Secrets (2008), which includes new information on the Kennedy assassination. He continues to research and speak on the subject. Recorded November 12, 2012.

Eddie Barker

In 1963, Barker was news director for Dallas CBS affiliate KRLD-TV/Channel 4. He was heavily involved in the coverage of the Kennedy assassination. Recorded April 14, 1993, November 22, 1998, October 23, 2003, June 8, 2006, and January 24, 2007.

Malcolm E. Barker

A native of Great Britain, Barker was living in California at the time of the assassination. Six months later, he visited Dallas as part of a two-month cross-country tour, during which he witnessed and extensively photographed the FBI and Secret Service reenactment of the shooting on May 24, 1964. In 2008, Barker donated his photographs to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Recorded August 8, 2008.

Antony Anson Barnes

Barnes and his mother left the United States in 1952 after she was exposed by the FBI as a Communist sympathizer in the 1930s. Barnes returned in 1961 and enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin. He was attending a Russian language class at the time of the assassination. Recorded January 9, 2008.

Archie Barnes

A Dallas County deputy sheriff for 26 years, Barnes spent three months guarding Jack Ruby in his jail cell in 1965. He and Ruby talked and played board games, and Ruby drew pictures for Barnes' children. Recorded September 29, 2006.

W.E. "Gene" Barnett

Working crowd control at the corner of Elm and Houston Streets, Barnett was the closest Dallas police officer to the Texas School Book Depository entrance at the time of the assassination. Prior to 1963, Barnett knew Jack Ruby and once arrested him for fighting. Recorded January 18, 2013.

Charles Barnette

A car enthusiast and JFK memorabilia collector, Barnette refurbished a 1962 Lincoln convertible to resemble the Kennedy limousine, complete with flag stands and identical license plates. It was featured in a 2003 Discovery Channel special. Recorded November 4, 2003.

Bud Barnum

Barnum was serving in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1963 and was assigned to the Honor Guard at the time of the assassination. He was part of the security detail for President Kennedy's casket upon its arrival in Washington, D.C. During the funeral, he served as a pallbearer and marched in the processional to Arlington National Cemetery. Recorded April 24, 2007.

Benny Bob Barrett

A Dallas County deputy sheriff from 1966 to 1977, Barrett was often assigned guard duty inside Jack Ruby's cell at the Dallas County Jail and later in his room at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Over a period of approximately seven months, Barrett had numerous personal conversations and interactions with Ruby about a variety of topics, including the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. Recorded September 22, 2009.

Robert Barrett

A Dallas FBI agent in 1963, Barrett was at the Texas School Book Depository, the scene of the J.D. Tippit shooting, and the Texas Theatre following the Kennedy assassination. Later he followed up investigative leads and took detailed measurements in Dealey Plaza for the FBI's scale model. Recorded February 22, 2011.

Robbins Barstow

An amateur filmmaker for over 70 years, Barstow shot a color home movie of his family's 1956 California vacation that was added to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress in 2008. Barstow was an active Democrat during the 1960 presidential election and saw Senator Kennedy at a Connecticut rally. Recorded January 25, 2010.

Jerry Bartos

A former Dallas city councilman (1987-1993), Bartos watched the motorcade on Lemmon Avenue on November 22, 1963. In 1960, he witnessed the Johnsons accosted by right-wing supporters in front of the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. Recorded March 8, 2004.

Calvin S. Beauregard

Longtime transportation manager for the Ford Motor Company's office of public affairs, Beauregard worked with the U.S. Secret Service on the construction and maintenance of presidential limousines. Recorded October 15, 2005.

Dr. William R. Beavers

A psychiatrist at Woodlawn Hospital in Dallas, Beavers was at Parkland Memorial Hospital when the assassination took place. Later, following the Jack Ruby trial, Beavers was hired by the Ruby family to conduct a psychiatric evaluation of Ruby. Beavers spent eleven hours with Ruby and was present for his polygraph test. Recorded May 8, 2013.

C.T. Beckham

A real estate developer who moved to Dallas in the summer of 1963, Beckham and his daughters saw the presidential motorcade on both Lemmon Avenue and Stemmons Freeway. Beckham can be seen in a widely distributed Associated Press photograph taken shortly after the shooting. Recorded February 4, 2010.

Mavis Belisle

A sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin in 1963, Belisle contributed to the university newspaper and was locally involved in the Civil Rights Movement. From 1966 to 1969, she served in the Peace Corps in Micronesia in the western Pacific. Recorded September 13, 2010.

Andrew Bell

Owner of radio station KSKY in Dallas, Bell had been an acquaintance of Jack Ruby since the early 1950s. He recalled the advertisements Ruby read on the air for his clubs. Recorded November 7, 1997.

Mark Bell

Bell was an eyewitness to the assassination. His memories were briefly recorded as part of a group interview with Dealey Plaza eyewitnesses. Recorded November 22, 1996.

Mary Sue Bennett

A twenty-two-year employee with Allyn and Bacon publishing company, Bennett was working on the third floor of the Texas School Book Depository in 1963. Standing on Elm Street, she witnessed the assassination. Recorded July 29, 2010.

Susan Bennett

Director of international exhibits at the Newseum and co-editor of the 2003 book President Kennedy Has Been Shot, Bennett moderated a live panel discussion with retired journalists Eddie Barker, Bob Jackson, Darwin Payne and Bert Shipp. Recorded October 23, 2003.

Paul Bentley

Chief polygraph examiner with the Dallas Police Department in 1963, Bentley was involved in the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theatre. Recorded February 16, 1994, April 18 and September 14, 2007, and January 22 and May 16, 2008.

Sam Berger

An employee of the Peacock Jewelry Company in Dallas, Berger sold Abraham Zapruder the Bell & Howell home movie camera used to film the Kennedy assassination. Berger observed and photographed the motorcade himself on Main Street. Recorded October 10, 2011.

Michael R. Beschloss

A recognized presidential historian and author of several books, including The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev (1991) and Presidential Courage (2007), Beschloss was seven years old at the time of the Kennedy assassination. Recorded June 12, 2007.

Fred Bieberdorf

A first aid technician working at Dallas police headquarters on November 24, 1963, Bieberdorf was the first individual to examine Lee Harvey Oswald after he was shot. After riding in an ambulance with Oswald to Parkland Memorial Hospital, Bieberdorf returned to police headquarters and conducted an examination of Jack Ruby. Recorded March 9, 2007.

Kent Biffle

A reporter for the Dallas Morning News, Biffle was one of the only journalists inside the Texas School Book Depository while investigators gathered evidence on the sixth floor of the building. He later covered the Clay Shaw trial for Newsweek magazine. In 1959, as a reporter for the Fort Worth Press, he wrote stories about Lee Harvey Oswald's defection and tried to reach Oswald by telephone in Moscow. Recorded June 28, 1993.

Delbrook Binns

A freelance photographer in Massachusetts, Binns photographed John F. Kennedy at various times between 1953 and 1960. At the time of the assassination, he was serving jury duty in Boston. Recorded July 5, 2007.

Marca Lee Bircher

A conservative Dallas housewife, Bircher stayed indoors with a neighbor after the assassination, fearing that the president's death was the start of a foreign invasion. Recorded November 9, 2010.

Diane Birdwell

A longtime Dallas educator, Birdwell celebrated her third birthday three days before the Kennedy assassination. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, she conducted an oral history project with firefighters and police officials in New York City. Birdwell was interviewed with her mother, Jeanette Green. Recorded 8/11/2011.

Jo Ann Birkmeyer

During the Kennedy years, Birkmeyer and her family lived on Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas where her husband worked as a radar technician. Following the assassination, the base was put on high alert. Recorded April 20, 2010.

Bernard Birnbaum

A longtime producer, editor and director with CBS News in New York, Birnbaum was in the studio with Walter Cronkite when Cronkite announced President Kennedy's death on national television. Birnbaum flew to Dallas on Saturday to cover the breaking news with Dan Rather and went on to work extensively in the development and production of every major CBS program related to the Kennedy assassination from 1964 to 2003. Recorded March 8, 2007.

Dr. Earl Black

A political science professor at Rice University, Earl Black, with brother Merle Black, is the author of several books about southern politics, including The Vital South: How Presidents are Elected (1992) and The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002). Recorded February 21, 2012.

Dr. Merle Black

A political science professor at Emory University, Merle Black, with brother Earl Black, is the author of several books about southern politics, including The Vital South: How Presidents are Elected (1992) and The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002). Recorded February 21, 2012.

Gerald Blaine

A U.S. Secret Service agent during the Kennedy years, Blaine was in Austin, Texas, at the time of the assassination. He later authored, with journalist Lisa McCubbin, the book The Kennedy Detail (2010). Recorded November 18, November 19, and November 20, 2010.

Joanne Bland

As a young child in Selma, Alabama, Bland participated in the famous civil rights march on "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965. Later that month, she joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Her memories were recorded with those of other civil rights activists. Recorded February 28, 2006.

Camille Blankenship

Living in Arizona in 1963, Blankenship moved to Dallas the following year. She celebrated her 20th birthday one week prior to the assassination. Recorded January 26, 2010.

Ann Blankinship

A student at Highland Park High School in 1963, Blankinship observed the Kennedy motorcade with friends on Main Street. Recorded June 26, 2009.

Rose Blatch

Blatch was secretary of the Time-Life bureau in Dallas (1961-62) and Houston (1963-72). During their coverage of the Kennedy assassination and Jack Ruby trial, Blatch managed temporary Time-Life offices out of Dallas hotel suites. Recorded January 9, 2012, and February 26, 2013.

Isadore "Izzy" Bleckman

A photographer for Fox Movietone News in 1963, Bleckman filmed the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. Earlier that weekend, he filmed on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, at the Texas Theatre, and at other assassination-related sites in the Dallas area. In 1964, he covered the Jack Ruby trial. Recorded August 15, 2009.

Elizabeth Blessing

One of the first women elected to the Dallas City Council, Blessing served on the council from 1961 to 1965. On the day of the assassination, she was present at the Trade Mart luncheon. She vividly recalled a special meeting prior to the assassination when Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry informed the City Council that he could not effectively protect President Kennedy during his Dallas visit. Recorded January 26, 2007.

Gary Blockley

A resident of California at the time of the assassination, Blockley generously donated a camera lens for the Museum's "The Photographers and the Evidence" exhibition, which opened in 1996. Recorded June 5, 1997.

Robert H. Bloom

Bloom is the former U.S. chairman and CEO of Publicis Worldwide and the author of The Inside Advantage (2007) and The New Experts (2010). His father, the late Sam Bloom, was a prominent Dallas advertising executive and coordinated PR for the Kennedy visit and later the Jack Ruby trial. Robert Bloom and his father were at the Trade Mart luncheon on November 22, 1963. Recorded March 6, 2012.

Lisa Blumberg

A longtime disability rights activist and author, Blumberg was eleven years old in 1963. A letter she wrote to Jackie Kennedy shortly after the assassination was included in Dr. Ellen Fitzpatrick's Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation (2010). Recorded September 28, 2010.

Henry Bodden

An employee of the John Sexton Company in 1963, Bodden saw the Kennedy motorcade on Stemmons Freeway immediately after the assassination. Recorded November 11, 2009.

Eugene Boone

Boone was the Dallas deputy sheriff who discovered the rifle on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Prior to joining the sheriff's department, he worked at the Dallas Times Herald and had contact with Jack Ruby. Recorded November 25, 2003, November 20, 2006, and November 18, 2008.

Paul Boone

A state trooper with the Texas Highway Patrol in 1963, Boone was assigned guard duty for Gov. John Connally during his recovery at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Boone was interviewed with his partner, Ralph Allen. Recorded April 14, 2010.

Mary M. Booth

A cashier at the Skyliner Ballroom in Fort Worth in 1960, Booth had occasional contact with Jack Ruby. In 1963, she was married to the late Capt. Lloyd Booth of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, who served as one of Ruby's jailers. As a result, Booth had the opportunity to visit with Ruby in prison. Recorded July 28, 2005.

Bryant C. Boren, Sr.

Boren filmed the motorcade shortly before the shooting occurred. Later he joined with other amateur photographers to form the Dallas Cinema Associates and played an active role in producing the group's compilation film, President Kennedy's Final Hour. Recorded October 17, 2003.

Warren Bosworth

A reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, Bosworth covered the Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker shooting incident as well as the Kennedy assassination. Recorded September 24, 1997.

Roy R. Botello

As the first Scholarship Corporation Chairman of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Botello attended the organization's annual conference at the Rice Hotel in Houston on November 21, 1963. He captured a home movie of President and Mrs. Kennedy at the event, which he later donated to The Sixth Floor Museum. Recorded March 19, 2011.

Susan Boucher

A student nurse in Washington D.C., Boucher volunteered to serve in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol during President Kennedy's funeral services. Recorded August 6, 1997.

Sheriff Jim Bowles

A longtime Dallas County sheriff (1985-2005), Bowles was supervisor of the Dallas Police Department radio division in 1963. Since the 1970s, he has thoroughly researched the assassination acoustics controversy. Recorded September 14, 1993.

Elmer L. Boyd

A Dallas homicide detective in 1963, Boyd was heavily involved in the investigation November 22-24, 1963, and he served as one of Oswald's primary handlers on Friday and Saturday. He was at the Trade Mart, Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Texas School Book Depository, and Dallas police headquarters over the weekend. He was with Oswald during his first interrogations, police lineups, paraffin tests, and the famous midnight press conference. Ironically, Boyd previously worked a security detail for Kennedy when the president briefly visited Dallas in 1962. Recorded February 23, 2007.

Jonathan Braddick

A Dallas native, Braddick served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ukraine from 2001 to 2002 and was there during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Recorded March 5 and August 26, 2011.

Lillian Bradshaw

Head of the Dallas Public Library System throughout the 1960s, Bradshaw was an original board member of the Dallas County Historical Foundation. As a longtime community leader, she was instrumental in obtaining funding for the Museum. Recorded May 11, 1998.

George W. Bramblett, Jr.

Now a partner with Haynes and Boone, LLP, Bramblett was a freshman law student at Southern Methodist University in 1964 and attended one day of the Jack Ruby trial, which turned out to be the day of the infamous Dallas County jailbreak. Recorded March 10, March 14 and May 19, 2004.

Ernest Brandt

An assassination eyewitness who did not come forward until the 1990s, Brandt was standing on Elm Street and can be seen in the Abraham Zapruder film. Since his first public interview in 1993, Brandt has been a regular fixture in Dealey Plaza on the annual assassination anniversary. Recorded May 12, 1994, and July 3, 2008.

Dr. Robert Breen

Thirteen years old in 1963, Breen saw the Kennedys arrive at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth on November 21, 1963. The following morning Breen shook hands with President Kennedy at the Hotel Texas. Recorded June 28, 2010.

Johnny Calvin Brewer

The manager of Hardy's Shoe Store in Oak Cliff on the day of the assassination, Brewer noticed a suspicious individual (who turned out to be Lee Harvey Oswald) and followed him down the street to the Texas Theatre. Brewer pointed Oswald out to Dallas police officers and witnessed his arrest. Recorded November 21, 2005.

Susan Bridge

A nurse's aide in New Mexico in 1963, Bridge was battling a major dysentery outbreak impacting the local community, including her infant daughter, at the time of the assassination. Recorded September 3, 2009.

Charles A. Briggs

The former executive director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Briggs spent one year working on research for The Sixth Floor project in the Washington, D.C., offices of exhibition designers Bob Staples and Barbara Charles. Recorded February 16, 2009.

Dr. Douglas Brinkley

A noted author and historian, Brinkley was a featured speaker on presidential history at The Sixth Floor Museum in 1999, and he later co-moderated the Museum's 40th anniversary symposium on the life, death and legacy of President Kennedy. Recorded March 12, 1999, and November 21, 2003.

William Bristow

As technical director of Wadley Blood Bank in Dallas, Bristow personally took blood to Parkland Memorial Hospital after learning of the presidential shooting. He later arranged for blood to be sent to Parkland after Lee Harvey Oswald was shot on November 24, 1963. Recorded May 31, 2012.

Clarence Broadnax

A longtime civil rights activist, Broadnax was the first African-American hairstylist hired to work at the Neiman Marcus department store in Dallas. A member of the NAACP and the Nation of Islam, he was one of the key organizers of the prominent 1964 protest of the downtown Piccadilly Cafeteria, and he was arrested on several different occasions during the civil rights movement. Recorded August 14, 2006, and June 11, 2008.

Robert Brock

In 1963, Brock was the Dallas Times Herald television editor. Prior to that, he covered local nightclubs and was an acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Recorded February 7, 2000.

Howard Brodie

A noted courtroom sketch artist for more than 35 years, Brodie covered every day of the Jack Ruby trial in 1964 for CBS News. Previously, during the 1960 campaign, he sketched both Kennedy and Nixon for Newsweek. Recorded October 13, 2006.

Tom Brokaw

Former anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Brokaw was a local television reporter at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska, when the assassination took place. Recorded April 15, 2004.

Frances Bronson

Interviewed with her daughter, Barbara Young, Bronson was an eyewitness to the Kennedy assassination. Her late husband, Charles Bronson, was filming in Dealey Plaza and caught the fatal headshot on film from a distance. Recorded August 14 and November 22, 1996.

Carroll Brown

As a student at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Brown became one of the earliest civil rights activists in Dallas by organizing a 1960 drugstore sit-in. Brown, one of the few white activists in the city, played a prominent role in local protests from 1960 to 1967. Recorded August 6, 2008.

Charles L. Brown

An employee of the Lone Star Gas Company in 1963, Brown photographed the Kennedy motorcade on Harwood Street. His uncle, the late Lynn Brown, was the mayor of Irving, Texas, at the time and flew with Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell to Washington, D.C., for President Kennedy's funeral on Monday. Recorded March 1, 2007.

Gloria Brown

Brown was a student teacher at an all African American school in Marshall, Texas, at the time of the assassination. She moved to Dallas less than one year later. Recorded November 9, 2010.

Phill Brown

A teenager in 1963, Brown saw the presidential motorcade on Houston Street and ran toward the Triple Underpass after shots were fired. He then lingered for hours in the Dealey Plaza area. His father, the late Dallas County deputy sheriff Richard Brown, served as Jack Ruby's dietician during his incarceration. Brown was interviewed with his friend, Les French. Recorded November 5, 2008.

Richard Brown

Brown served as a member of the Navy Ceremonial Guard during President Kennedy's funeral ceremonies in Washington D.C. Recorded March 28, 1995.

Judge Joe B. Brown, Jr.

A Dallas justice of the peace in 1963, Brown held an inquest into the death of Officer Tippit and issued search warrants for several assassination-related locations. His father, the late Judge Joe B. Brown, presided over the Jack Ruby trial in 1964. Recorded March 2, March 14 and May 19, 2004, and January 24, 2007.

Robert Bruton

As operations manager for KXOL radio in Fort Worth in 1963, Bruton covered the president's visit to the city in 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald's death at Parkland Memorial Hospital, and Oswald's funeral the following day. Recorded January 24, 2011.

Archibald Bryant

In 1963, Bryant was a teenager living in Washington, D.C. He visited the U.S. Capitol rotunda with friends the weekend of the assassination to pay his respects. Recorded July 13, 1999.

Matthew Brzezinski

A former Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Brzezinski is the author of the 2007 book Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age, which explores the history of Sputnik's launch on October 4, 1957. This lecture was recorded in conjunction with the World Affairs Council of Dallas. Recorded October 11, 2007.

Ruth Buckhanan

A lifelong professional quilter, Buckhanan produced numerous handmade John F. Kennedy memorial quilts after the assassination in 1963. Recorded on February 20, 2003.

Ann H. Buell

During the 1960 presidential campaign, Buell had frequent contacts with John F. Kennedy as she helped campaign for his election. Recorded February 13, 1995.

Janice Crabtree Bunnell

Bunnell observed the Kennedy motorcade on Main Street. The letter she wrote to Jackie Kennedy six months after the assassination was selected for publication in Dr. Ellen Fitzpatrick's book, Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation (2010). Recorded March 16, 2010.

Gayla Burke

A ninth-grader in Richardson, Texas, in 1963, Burke recalled not being allowed to miss school to observe the parade in downtown Dallas. Recorded April 14, 1995.

Phil Burleson

One of Jack Ruby's defense attorneys during his trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, Burleson remained part of the counsel until Ruby's death in 1967. Recorded April 4, 1995.

Phil Burleson, Jr.

Burleson, an attorney in Dallas, is the son of the late Phil Burleson, who served as one of Jack Ruby's defense attorneys until Ruby's death in 1967. His recollections of his father were recorded in conjunction with the Center for American and International Law during a Higginbotham Inn of Court panel discussion on the Ruby trial. Recorded May 19, 2004.

Marvin Burlison

An installation supervisor with the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1963, Burlison oversaw temporary communications installations at the Dallas Trade Mart in preparation for the presidential visit. Immediately after the assassination, he assisted in the emergency setup of microwave communications at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Recorded March 25, 2005.

Rodger Burson

A longtime architect, Burson worked on the first phase of the adaptive reuse of the Texas School Book Depository building after it was purchased by Dallas County in 1978. Recorded February 13, 2002.

Alex Burton

A reporter for Dallas NBC affiliate WBAP-TV, Burton covered some of the events of the assassination weekend in Dallas. Later, he served as a commentator on community affairs. Recorded August 30, 1995.

Ronald Buschbom

A student at the U.S. Naval Academy in the early 1960s, Buschbom was a member of the Navy Midshipmen football team. He was with the team at the 1963 Army-Navy game following the assassination and then visited Dealey Plaza with his teammates in January 1964. Recorded November 11, 2011.

Dorothy M. Bush

Bush taught Lee Harvey Oswald ninth-grade science at Beauregard Junior High School in New Orleans. Recorded September 11, 2003.

Bo Byers

The Austin bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, Byers was traveling with the presidential party in Texas and was in the Dallas motorcade aboard the press bus. Recorded July 25, 1995.