For Dallas Police officer Ray Hawkins, November 22, 1963 was just another day on the job. Back in 1963 that job was as an Accident Investigator. Hawkins was doing just that when he and his partner Officer Charles Walker saw President Kennedy’s motorcade blow by running “Code Three”. Hawkins didn’t realize it at the time, but he had just witnessed President Kennedy being rushed to Parkland Hospital in a futile attempt to save his life. Realizing that something was wrong, Hawkins called his dispatcher and the startling news crackled over the radio: “The President has been shot”.

      Hawkins and Walked finished with their investigation and headed towards downtown Dallas. Suddenly the radio crackled again, this time reporting that Officer Tippet had been shot in Oak Cliff. Hawkins and Walker turned their car towards Oak Cliff. First they responded to a false suspect sighting at a library, then received word that the suspect was sighted heading into the Texas Theater. Hawkins and Walker joined a group of Dallas Policemen who descended on the theater. Having all the exits covered, the house lights were turned on and the officers converged on the man who fit the description of Tippet’s shooter. Hawkins went up the middle aisle, Walker took the north aisle and Officer McDonald the south. McDonald reached the suspect first. Hawkins heard the officer yell “I have him” and then watched as the suspect drew a revolver. Rushing over, Hawkins grabbed the suspect’s left hand and drew his handcuffs. In one swift motion he closed the manacle on the struggling man’s wrist, and as soon as the revolver was secured, did the same with the right hand. No one knew it at the time, but they had just captured Lee Harvey Oswald, the murderer of the President of the United States.

      Oswald was bundled into a patrol car and taken downtown. Hawkins followed and then went about fulfilling the routine written reports and pertinent interviews. The handcuffs, no longer needed once Oswald was secure in the Dallas Police holding cells, were returned to Officer Hawkins. These are the handcuffs that captured President Kennedy’s assassin. The Smith & Wesson cuffs were originally issued to Officer Hawkins when he joined the Dallas Police Department in 1953. Bearing the serial number “38468”, Hawkins used these rare and iconic cuffs throughout his entire career and retained them after he left the force. The Smith & Wesson handcuffs remain a silent reminder of that fateful day in Dallas when the Nation changed forever. The handcuffs are accompanied by a signed and notarized affidavit from Ray Hawkins describing his actions on November 22, 1963 and the role these handcuffs played the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald. It is also noteworthy to mention that this is one of the very few significant JFK-Oswald items that is not in the National Archives. The Dallas Police Department made its officers and detectives buy their own handcuffs, thus allowing Hawkins to retain his private property after the assassination.

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