Ira Jefferson Beers Jr. (July 14, 1923 – February 17, 1975), known professionally as Jack Beers, was an American photojournalist who worked for The Dallas Morning News.[1] Beers was best known for his widely distributed photograph capturing Jack Ruby lunging toward Lee Harvey Oswald a split-second before firing his fatal shot on November 24, 1963.[2][3][4] He also took a famous photograph of football player Kyle Rote en route to a touchdown in 1948 – the only other photograph to be featured on a full page in The Dallas Morning News over a 25-year period.[5][6]
Jack Beers | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Beers | |
| Born | Ira Jefferson Beers Jr. July 14, 1923 |
| Died | February 17, 1975 (aged 51) Dallas, Texas U.S. |
| Other names | Ira Jefferson |
| Occupation | Photojournalist |
Early life and education
editIra Jefferson Beers Jr. was born in Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.[1] An only child, his parents divorced when he was seven; he was raised by his mother during the Great Depression.[1] Upon graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, he joined the Army Air Forces and worked as a photographer.[1][6]
Career
edit
After his military service, Beers was hired by The Dallas Times Herald, where he worked for nearly three years, then moved to The Dallas Morning News in 1948.[6][1] During his career, he captured many dramatic photographs, including one of football player Kyle Rote of Southern Methodist University smiling as he headed for a touchdown through the Notre Dame defensive line, which ran as a full-page picture in the Morning News in 1949.[6][1] He often accompanied the Dallas Police to take pictures for crime stories, and was acquainted with strip-club owner Jack Ruby.[1]
On November 22, 1963, moments before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Beers took a sweep shot with a movie camera of people looking down at the presidential motorcade in the surrounding buildings, including the Texas School Book Depository.[7] Although a shadow was visible in a corner window of the sixth floor, the person could not be identified from the footage.[7]
At 9 a.m. on November 24, 1963, Beers joined other photographers, television cameramen, and reporters in the basement of Dallas City Hall,[8] positioning for a view of Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being transferred from the city jail to the larger county jail.[4][8] Over two hours later, as Oswald was being brought into the basement, Beers had his twin-reflex camera focused on Oswald and the guards, when he sensed a sudden movement of a man (Jack Ruby) several feet away from him.[8] Beer's instinct was to take the photograph before the man, who he assumed was a cameraman, obstructed his view.[8] The picture captured Ruby, holding a 38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver, stepping forward right before he fatally shot Oswald.
The Dallas Morning News immediately ran Beers' photograph as a full-page picture.[6] He wrote an article about his experience on the day of Oswald's murder for the Associated Press.[8] Beers was also called to testify in front of the Warren Commission.[9]
Personal life and death
editBeers' rival at The Dallas Times Herald, Robert H. Jackson, took a similar photo, but approximately six-tenths of a second later, as Oswald screams in pain. That photo was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1964.[10] According to his daughter, Beers suffered from depression that went untreated, due to "missing out" on the recognition that Jackson received.[1]
Beers died of a heart attack at his home in Dallas on February 17, 1975.[4] A few months after his death, FBI agents asked The Dallas Morning News for the negatives of three photographs taken by Beers shortly after Oswald's murder.[11] The photographs were of "three shabbily dressed men at Dealey Plaza" whom the FBI said had mysteriously not been booked or fingerprinted.[11]
External links
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Granberry, Michael (June 30, 2002). "Photographer snapped Oswald's murder a hair too soon, lost Pulitzer, place in history to rival". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ "Comprehensive Coverage". TIME. December 6, 1963. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via EBSCOHost.
- ^ Sanderson, Bill (November 22, 2013). "Fifty Years Ago This Minute: How the Assassination Story Broke". New York Observer. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via EBSCOHost.
- ^ a b c "Oswald Death Photographer Dead in Dallas". Springfield Leader and Press. UPI. February 18, 1975. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Photographer Jack Beers dies". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Associated Press. February 18, 1975. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e "Wednesday rites for photographer". Brownwood Bulletin. Associated Press. February 18, 1975. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Harrington, Tex (November 22, 1964). "That Terrible November Day In Dallas". The Chapel Hill News. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Beers, Jack (November 26, 1963). "Photographer Tells Events Surrounding Oswald Murder". The News. Frederick, Maryland. Associated Press. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Testimony for the Warren Commission of Ira Jefferson "Jack Beers Jr."" (PDF).
- ^ "Press Clips: A Remarkable Journalism Tale, in Remembrance of the JFK Assassination". .newsmakerswithjr.com. Newsmakers with JR. November 23, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
- ^ a b Rhodes, George (May 9, 1975). "FBI snaps assassination site". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.