36 Facts About Hugh Aynesworth

Hugh Grant Aynesworth was an American journalist, investigative reporter, author, and teacher.

Hugh Aynesworth first worked in his home state as a freelancer for the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram.

Hugh Aynesworth conducted his first interview with a murderer while working at the American.

In 1957, Hugh Aynesworth left the American after a dispute with Reynolds regarding compensation.

Hugh Aynesworth was a business writer for the Dallas Times Herald at 26, then was hired to work for United Press International in their Denver, Colorado news bureau in 1959.

Hugh Aynesworth covered the United States space program for the Dallas Morning News as a space and aviation reporter, a position he held at the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963.

In 2007, Hugh Aynesworth was elected President of the 300-member Press Club of Dallas, an organization of which he had been a member since the early 1960s.

Hugh Aynesworth served on the board of directors for The Texas Observer's MOLLY National Journalism Prize.

Hugh Aynesworth was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize six times, and was a finalist four times.

Hugh Aynesworth said that he saw Jack Ruby around 11:30 that morning in the employee's cafeteria of the Dallas Morning News before Ruby went upstairs to place an advertisement for his nightclub.

Hugh Aynesworth said he decided to take a long lunch hour and walk over to watch Kennedy's motorcade from in front of the Dallas County Records Building.

Hugh Aynesworth described hearing a first shot as possibly backfire from a motorcycle, and recognizing a second and a third shot as coming from a rifle.

Hugh Aynesworth described the scene immediately afterwards as "total chaos".

Hugh Aynesworth reported that activity converged upon the Texas School Book Depository, and that he did not enter the building possibly for fear of running into a gunman.

Hugh Aynesworth said he started interviewing people and, as he was without paper, began taking notes on a "bunch of envelopes" he had in his pocket.

Hugh Aynesworth positioned himself near a three-wheeled police motorcycle in front of the Texas School Book Depository to listen to the voice traffic and find out what was happening.

Hugh Aynesworth stated that police radio transmissions, as well as the number of police entering the building, gave him the impression that a gunman was on the building's roof.

Hugh Aynesworth described listening to the police radio and hearing what turned out to be the first report of the shooting of JD Tippit in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas by a citizen using the radio in Tippit's police car.

Hugh Aynesworth said he instructed another reporter to stay at the Texas School Book Depository and followed the police to the scene of the shooting in a WFAA mobile unit.

Hugh Aynesworth was with the police when they entered the Texas Theater searching for Oswald, and he saw Oswald's attempt to shoot Officer Nick McDonald.

Two days later, Hugh Aynesworth was talked into going to the Dallas Police Headquarters by his wife and then saw Ruby lunge and shoot Oswald.

Hugh Aynesworth worked on the story for some time after Kennedy was shot and became the lead reporter for the Dallas Morning News regarding the assassination.

Hugh Aynesworth broke the story of Oswald's escape route, and had the first major interview with Marina Oswald.

Hugh Aynesworth was reported to have spent much of his career attempting to refute conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.

Hugh Aynesworth supported the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone and believed that conspiracy theories had been generated by people motivated by money and fame.

In 1967, Hugh Aynesworth had just begun working in Newsweek's Houston bureau at the time of the Jim Garrison investigation.

Hugh Aynesworth said Garrison invited him to New Orleans to "compare notes".

Irvin Dymond characterized Hugh Aynesworth's help in the case as "crucial".

Hugh Aynesworth said that he had an affair with Marina, even commenting that Marina and Ruth Paine were involved in a lesbian relationship prior to the assassination.

Martin said that Hugh Aynesworth was bitter about Merriman Smith winning the Pulitzer for his JFK coverage.

Hugh Aynesworth was reportedly offered to snitch on William Walter for the FBI.

Hugh Aynesworth writes about Aynesworth's possible trip to Cuba when he was a reporter with The Dallas Morning News, and how Aynesworth "has offered his services to us if it develops that he receives a visa" to Cuba.

Moore wrote that Hugh Aynesworth "told me that he had applied for a visa for Cuba approximately a year ago," and that Hugh Aynesworth had received a call from someone with the Czech embassy saying it was under consideration.

In 1980, Stephen Michaud, a former Business Week reporter, enlisted the help of Hugh Aynesworth in interviewing serial killer Ted Bundy, who initially claimed he was innocent and was interested in cooperating on a book.

In 1993, Hugh Aynesworth covered the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, once referring to it as "[t]he Branch Davidian massacre".

Hugh Aynesworth died on December 23,2023, at the age of 92.