Editing Jack Ruby (section)

==Early life and career==
Ruby was born Jacob Leon Rubenstein<ref name="Saturday2">{{cite journal|last=Bagdikian|first=Ben H.|author-link=Ben Bagdikian| editor1-first= Clay Jr.|editor1-last=Blair|editor1-link=Clay Blair|date=December 14, 1963|title=The Assassin|journal=The Saturday Evening Post|issue=44|page=26}}</ref> on or around March 25, 1911,<ref name=dob2>The Warren Commission found that various dates were given in the records for Ruby's birth; the one most used by Ruby himself was March 25, 1911. His grave marker has April 25, 1911, as his birthdate.</ref> in the [[Maxwell Street]] area of [[Chicago]], the son of Joseph Rubenstein and Fannie Turek Rutkowski (or Rokowsky), both Polish-born [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]]. Ruby was the fifth of his parents' 10 surviving children. While he was growing up, his parents were often violent towards each other and frequently separated; Ruby's mother was eventually committed to a mental hospital.<ref name="Capshaw">{{cite news|last=Capshaw|first=Ron|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/276222/inside-jack-rubys-jewish-paranoia|title=Inside Jack Ruby's Jewish Paranoia|work=Tablet|date=December 3, 2018|access-date=December 3, 2018|archive-date=December 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204005901/https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/276222/inside-jack-rubys-jewish-paranoia|url-status=live}}</ref> 

His troubled childhood and adolescence were marked by [[juvenile delinquency]] with time being spent in foster homes. He was arrested at the age of 11 for [[truancy]]. Ruby eventually skipped school so often that he had to spend time at the [[Institute for Juvenile Research]]. He sold [[Horse racing|horse-racing]] tip sheets and various novelties, then acted as a business agent for a local refuse collectors union that later became part of the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters]].

From his early childhood, Ruby was nicknamed "Sparky" by those who knew him.<ref name="WCR-A16">{{cite book|title=Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report|year=1964|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D.C.|page=786|chapter=Appendix 16: A Biography of Jack Ruby|chapter-url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-16.html|ref={{harvid|Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Appendix 16|1964}}|access-date=December 11, 2016|archive-date=April 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408112649/https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report|url-status=live}}</ref> His sister, Eva Grant, said that he acquired the nickname because he resembled [[Barney Google and Snuffy Smith#Spark Plug|a slow-moving horse named "Spark Plug" or "Sparky"]] in the contemporary comic strip ''[[Barney Google and Snuffy Smith|Barney Google]]''. ("Spark Plug" debuted as a character in the strip in 1922.)<ref name="WCR-A16"/> Other accounts say that the name was given because of his quick temper.<ref name="WCR-A16"/> Grant stated that Ruby did not like the nickname and was quick to fight anyone who called him that.<ref name="WCR-A16"/>

In the 1940s, Ruby frequented race tracks in Illinois and California. He was [[conscription|drafted]] in 1943 and served in the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]] during [[World War II]], working as an aircraft mechanic at U.S. bases until 1946. He had an honorable record and was promoted to [[Private first class|Private First Class]]. Upon discharge, in <!-- on February 21 --> 1946, Ruby returned to Chicago.<ref name="Capshaw" />

In 1947, Ruby moved to [[Dallas]], purportedly because of the failure of merchandise deals in Chicago and to help operate his sister's nightclub.<ref name="WCR-A16"/> Soon afterward he and his brothers shortened their surnames from Rubenstein to Ruby. The stated reason for the name change was that the name "Rubenstein" was too long and that he was "well known" as Jack Ruby.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jrKTKDhvfkC&q=jack%20ruby%201947&pg=PA1089|title=Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy|isbn=9780393045253|last1=Bugliosi|first1=Vincent|location=New York|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co|year=2007}}</ref> Ruby later went on to manage various [[nightclub]]s, [[strip club]]s, and dance halls in Dallas. He developed close ties to many [[Dallas Police Department|Dallas police]] officers who frequented his nightclubs, where he provided them with free liquor, prostitutes, and other favors.<ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol9/html/HSCA_Vol9_0068a.htm Ruby's Friendships with Police Officers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626083013/http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol9/html/HSCA_Vol9_0068a.htm |date=June 26, 2022 }}, House Select Committee on Assassinations – Appendix to Hearings, Volume 9, 5, pp. 127–30.</ref> Ruby's nightclubs were also frequented by [[Buck Owens]], who discovered [[Lulu Roman]]—then working as bawdy comic relief at one of Ruby's clubs—and hired Roman to join the cast of ''[[Hee Haw]]''.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Barnes |first=Mike |date=2025-04-24 |title=Lulu Roman, Popular ‘Hee Haw’ Comedian and Gospel Singer, Dies at 78 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/lulu-roman-dead-hee-haw-1236199874/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref>

Ruby never married and had no children.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.libarts.uco.edu/history/faculty/roberson/course/1493/supplements/chp27/27.%20Jack%20Ruby.htm|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130217110031/http://www.libarts.uco.edu/history/faculty/roberson/course/1493/supplements/chp27/27.%20Jack%20Ruby.htm |url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2013|title=Ruby, Jack L. (1911–1967), assassin|first= David R.| last= Wrone|publisher=[[American Council of Learned Societies]]|access-date=February 3, 2010|author-link=UWSP Albertson Center for Learning Resources#Special Collections}}</ref> At the time of the assassination, Ruby was living with George Senator, who referred to Ruby as "my boyfriend" during the Warren Commission hearing, although he denied the two were homosexual lovers. Warren Commission lawyer Burt Griffin later told author [[Gerald Posner]]: "I'm not sure if Senator was honest with us about his relationship with Ruby. People did not advertise their homosexuality in 1963".<ref name=posner>{{cite book |last1=Posner |first1=Gerald |title=Case Closed : Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK |date=2013 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=9781480412309 }}</ref>