Skip to content

Eamon Kennedy, JFK Assassination Photographer, speaks at the Allen Public Library

Jack Ruby, By Eamon Kennedy Eamon Kennedy provided the public a front row seat to watch one of the most tragic chapters in American history—the drama that followed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
jack-ruby-eamon-kennedy-at-the-allen-public-library
Jack-ruby-eamon-kennedy-at-the-allen-public-library
jack-ruby-eamon-kennedy-at-the-allen-public-library
Jack Ruby, By Eamon Kennedy

Eamon Kennedy provided the public a front row seat to watch one of the most tragic chapters in American history—the drama that followed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy (no relation to the late President) is a former Dallas Times Herald photographer who took one of the most iconic images captured during that sorrowful weekend. His photo of a 12-year- old student tearfully praying after learning the news of JFK’s death on November 22, 1963, was a global sensation. In the days that followed the assassination, Kennedy’s amazing pictures of Marina Oswald, Jack Ruby, and Ruby’s attorney Melvin Belli became part of the historical record.

Hear the recollections of acclaimed photographer Eamon Kennedy at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 17, at the Allen Public Library. Sponsored by the Allen Public Library, the program is free.

As the President and Vice President hastily departed in the ill-fated motorcade from Dallas Love Field, Eamon Kennedy stayed behind. While dining with other journalists at a nearby restaurant to wait for their return from the parade and luncheon, a waitress asked, “Are you guys with the newspaper? The president just got shot.”

They made dash to Parkland Hospital, and the famous picture was taken. “I knew it was the biggest story I was ever going to cover, that’s for sure,” Eamon Kennedy recalls.

A couple of weeks after the assassination, Marina Oswald was in seclusion. Then Kennedy got a call from a Russian-speaking woman who connected him with the wife of the president’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy had an exclusive interview with the reclusive widow.

At Jack Ruby’s trial, the defense attempted to prove that their client was insane. While Ruby was being transferred for psychiatric evaluation, Kennedy snapped a sardonic image of Ruby that was carried in LIFE magazine.

The library is located at 300 N. Allen Dr. Allen, TX 75013. Call 214-509- 4911 for more information.