Howard Chamberlain Oral History

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Videotaped oral history interview with Howard Chamberlain. A longtime engineer at local CBS affiliate KRLD-TV, Chamberlain was at the Dallas Trade Mart, Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas City Hall and the Dallas County Jail during the weekend of the Kennedy assassination. His late wife, Pollyann Chamberlain, was an employee at the Old Red Courthouse and heard shots fired in Dealey Plaza. On March 6, 1964, Chamberlain's late mother-in-law, Dallas County employee Ruth Thornton, was briefly held hostage by prisoners following a jailbreak that took place during the Jack Ruby trial. Interview conducted at Mr. Chamberlain's home in Dallas on May 17, 2006 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and forty-four minutes long.

Object Details

Object title:

Howard Chamberlain Oral History

Date:

05/17/2006

Medium:

Hi-8 videotape

Dimensions:

Duration: 104 Minutes

Credit line:

Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2006.001.0028

Curatorial Note:

Following two weeks of jury selection, testimony in the Jack Ruby trial began on March 4, 1964. Two days later, on the afternoon of Friday, March 6, a Dallas County jailbreak unconnected with the Ruby trial occurred on an upper floor of the Dallas County Criminal Courts building. One of the seven escapees, who had carved a fake pistol out of a bar of soap covered with shoe polish, briefly took county employee Ruth Thornton hostage on his way out of the building. She was released unharmed. Although all seven escapees were apprehended by the following day, the jailbreak--captured on film by the national news media who were covering the Ruby trial--brought further ridicule to the city of Dallas. The front page of The New York Daily News the following day read simply, "Oh, Dallas!" A photograph of one of the seven prisoners, Frank Crocker, in custody on March 7, 1964 may be found here: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/28145. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Howard Eugene Chamberlain passed away on July 28, 2013 at the age of 89. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Force in the Pacific Theater during World War II, Chamberlain spent his entire professional career at KRLD-TV (later KDFW-TV) in Dallas. - Stephen Fagin, Curator