Ruth Hyde Paine and Paul Landis Jr.: Ordinary Lives Interrupted by the Kennedy Assassination

Accident – Death – Obituary News : In the late 1940s, two young individuals named Ruth Hyde Paine and Paul Landis Jr. were leading simple lives in Ohio. Paine, a teenager from Columbus, enjoyed playing sports and had dreams of studying education in college. Landis, from the village of Worthington, was also involved in sports and extracurricular activities. Both had no idea what was about to unfold and how it would change their lives forever.

On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, a mysterious ex-Marine turned proclaimed Russian defector, would carry out the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Landis, who had once aspired to be a geologist, found himself working for the Secret Service and was assigned to protect the president’s wife, Jackie Kennedy. He would witness the tragic events unfold at Dealey Plaza, just feet behind the open-top presidential limousine. Landis saw the president’s head explode and the air fill with blood and flesh. He ducked to avoid getting splattered as they drove through it.

This experience would shape Landis’s life forever. He would accompany Jackie Kennedy to the emergency room at Parkland Hospital as surgeons tried to save the president’s life. He would witness Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in as the new president aboard Air Force One. Recently, Landis released a book in which he claims to have secretly moved critical evidence linking Oswald to the assassination, fueling conspiracy theories and challenging the official “magic-bullet theory” presented by the Warren Commission.

While Landis was an eyewitness to history, Paine, who had been watching live TV reports of the assassination, found herself unexpectedly involved in the investigation. Paine had met the Oswalds at a party nine months before the shooting and had developed a close friendship with Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife. Marina and her child were living with Paine in Irving, Texas, at the time of the assassination.

Paine had driven Oswald to the bus station when he left for New Orleans that summer and had driven Marina to reunite with him in New Orleans. Paine had also driven Marina and her child back to Dallas in September 1963. Unbeknownst to Paine, she had transported Oswald’s rifle hidden in a bag in her car. Oswald had retrieved the gun from Paine’s garage the night before the shooting.

Law enforcement officials became interested in Paine after Oswald was accused of killing Kennedy and a Dallas police officer. Paine’s house was searched without a warrant, and she and Marina were questioned by the police. Paine found herself explaining her association with the Oswalds to the national news media, as she had been the one who introduced Oswald to the potential job at the Texas School Book Depository.

Paine’s explanation remained consistent throughout the years. She had met the Oswalds at a party and had taken an interest in Marina, hoping to improve her Russian-language skills. Paine’s association with Antioch College, a liberal institution, and her Quaker and pacifist beliefs were also highlighted in the media, painting her as a progressive individual in the conservative town of Columbus, Ohio.

As the years have passed, Paine and Landis have been linked to one of the most significant events in American history. Their lives took unexpected turns, with Landis witnessing the assassination and Paine being thrust into the investigation. The events of November 22, 1963, forever changed their lives and left an indelible mark on their place in history..