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Jack Beers
Jack Beers
	Portrait of Beers
Born	Ira Jefferson Beers Jr.; July 14, 1923; Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Died	February 17, 1975 (aged 51); Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Other names	Ira Jefferson
Occupation	Photojournalist

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]

Early life and education

Ira 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

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

Beers' 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]