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Kennedy-signed front page Dallas Morning News morning edition of Nov. 22, 1963, signed at the Texas Hotel in Ft. Worth before flying to Love Field, at Heritage Auctions, Nov. 7

Dallas, TX -- Two incredibly evocative items relating to John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination will highlight Heritage Auctions' 20th Century Icons Auction, Nov. 6-7 in Dallas. Offered is most certainly one of the last autographs signed by the president, possibly the very last - a morning edition of the Dallas Morning News of Nov. 22, 1963, as well as the fedora hat worn by Jack Ruby when he shot Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

"The Kennedy-signed Dallas Morning News has been authenticated by the three top, independent Kennedy authorities in the world," said Doug Norwine, Heritage Auctions' Director of Music & Entertainment, "and Ruby's fedora, via a sworn affidavit from his brother Earl, can be traced undoubtedly back to Ruby's family, so we know that what we have here is the real deal from the single most seminal event of the second half of the 20^th Century."

On the morning of the Nov. 22, 1963, while Kennedy was on his way to give a breakfast speech before the Fort Worth, Texas Chamber of Commerce at the Texas Hotel, a hotel housekeeper encountered the president and his Secret Service detail in the hallway, where she asked him to sign her copy of the newspaper. Kennedy's inscription and signature span the width of Jackie's skirt. Within hours he was dead, the victim of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Because the Kennedy-Johnson ticket had barely won Texas in 1960 (and had lost in Dallas), the President had traveled to D/FW with three basic goals in mind: to help raise contributions for the Democratic Party presidential campaign fund, to make early campaign steps towards re-election in November 1964, and to end the political infighting occurring within the Texas Democratic Party. The articles featured on the front page, currently on site at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, detail the political maelstrom that surrounded Kennedy on that fateful trip. The banner headline reads: "Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy On Visit."

Heritage Auctions estimates the paper at $20,000+.

The phrase "follow the hat" immediately conjures images of grainy black and white video broadcast from the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters on Nov. 24, 1963. From right to left, a man wearing a gray and black fedora moves across the screen and through the crowd before emerging, drawing a gun, and shooting Oswald point blank. The phrase and the hat, currently at Heritage Auctions awaiting auction, would assure Jack Ruby's place in infamy.

"When Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting he stated that he shot Oswald to avenge Kennedy, to help the city of Dallas 'redeem' itself in the eyes of the public, and to spare First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy the pain of having to testify at Oswald's trial," said Kristen Painter, Chief Cataloger at Heritage Auctions. "He would later claim he shot Oswald on the spur of the moment when the opportunity presented itself, without considering any reason for doing so."

Ruby was convicted of murdering Oswald on March 14, 1964, and successfully appealed his conviction and death sentence. As the date for his new trial was being set, Ruby succumbed to lung cancer on January 3, 1967.

The size 7-1/4 gray Cavanagh fedora with black band worn by Ruby during that fatal encounter is labeled inside the sweatband as a style 5B03 Dawn, priced at $16.50. His name is embossed on it in gold lettering, as is the seller, "Jas. K. Wilson/Dallas." Along with the hat, Heritage Auctions will provide a signed affidavit of authenticity from Earl Ruby, a photocopy of a Dallas County letter testamentary certifying Earl as the executor of Jack's estate, and photocopies of three pages from the Dallas County Probate Court Accounting of Independent Executor document identifying this hat as "worn by Jack L. Ruby at the moment he shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963."

Heritage Auctions' has estimated the fedora at $35,000+.

Two more important Jack Ruby lots will accompany the fedora in the Heritage Auctions event: The shackles that kept Ruby tethered to his death bed - to deter would-be body snatchers - are estimated at $5,000+, and an x-ray of Ruby's skull, taken in early 1964, only two months after his incarceration. Longtime conspiracy theorists will note that Ruby wasn't diagnosed with cancer until 1966 and might even ask the question as to why his brain was being x-rayed so soon after his incarceration and so long before his diagnosis. The x-ray is expected to bring $1,000+.

Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world's third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $700 million, and 470,000+ registered online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HA.com.

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