Mar. 3, 1964 - Jack Ruby shows no signs of guilt or remorse over the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, a Baltimore psychiatrist has reported. Dr. Manfred Guttmacher (pictured right with Ruby attorney Melvin Belli), who examined Ruby on behalf of the defense, said Ruby had persuaded himself that “he had exterminated a rat” by shooting the accused assassin of President Kennedy.
Dr. Guttmacher’s report, based on interviews with Ruby in December, has not previously been made public.
Ruby described to the psychiatrist his feelings when he pulled the trigger: “He [Oswald] had a very smirky expression, he looked cunning and vicious — like an animal — like a Communist. I felt like I was looking at a rat.”
Ruby told the psychiatrist he had had an opportunity to shoot Oswald at the Dallas jail on Friday night, Nov. 22, two days before he actually killed the alleged assassin.
After attending a memorial service for Mr. Kennedy at his synagogue that night, Ruby said, he had gone to the police station. Ruby watched as policemen questioned Oswald. He was standing on a table to get a better look at Oswald, and his pistol was in his pocket, the psychiatrist’s report relates.
Dr. Guttmacher said that “despite an outwardly friendly and ingratiating manner, Ruby seethes with hostility.” But his report continued: “There is no evidence of psychotic thinking at this time — no actual breaks with reality are discernable.”
