Extra! Extra! Eyes of the World on Texas: UT Sniper
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UT Sniper
On August 1, 1966, 25-year-old student Charles J. Whitman brought an assortment of weapons up to the UT Tower’s observation deck and conducted a shooting spree aimed at the people below. It was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history at the time. Whitman had taken the lives of his wife and mother the night before and went on to murder 15 others over the course of an hour and a half. Austin police managed to take him down in an ambush. The event emphasized the need for a campus police force along with coordinated responses to such situations. The University of Texas Police Department was formed the following year as an outcome of state legislation, and a Counseling and Mental Health Center was established on campus as a priority from Governor John Connally’s commission that studied the shooting. The incident led President Johnson to call on Congress to pass firearms legislation.
“Sniper on the Tower,” Aug. 7, 1966, Austin American-Statesman. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
“Tower tragedy’s lesson,” The Houston Post, Sunday, January 8, 1967. SNIPER—August 1, 1966, Whitman-Tower, University of Texas, Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Associated Press journalist Robert Heard, who was injured while covering the UT Tower shooting, wrote this article about a proposed hospital facility for the criminally insane. In the aftermath of the tragedy, people sought to understand why anyone would undertake a mass shooting. Public discourse began over the connection between mental health and those who carry out mass shootings.
“Shootings May Help Dodd To Curb Sale of Firearms,” The Austin Statesman, page 17, Tuesday, August 2, 1966. SNIPER—August 1, 1966, Whitman-Tower, University of Texas, Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Politicians pointed to the UT Austin shooting as an example of why there should be laws controlling the sale of firearms.
Untitled photograph of the University of Texas at Austin Main Building, no. 040, 1966. Pictures of UT Sniper, Charles J. Whitman, Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Located at the center of campus, the University of Texas at Austin’s Main Building features the school’s iconic 307-foot-tall clock tower. The tower boasts an observation deck on its 28th floor that provides visitors with a unique view of the school and the city of Austin.
Supplemental Offense Report made by Sgt. E. Silvanage, 237/mm-503, 1966 August 2. 4-38-11, Original Copies of Austin Police Department, Re: UT Sniper, Charles J. Whitman, Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4.
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Supplemental Offense Report made by Bob Day, 338/pav 587, 1966 August 2. 4-38-11, Original Copies of Austin Police Department, Re: UT Sniper, Charles J. Whitman, Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4. Supplemental Offense Report made by Bob Day, 338/pav 587, 1966 August 2. 4-38-11 Page 1 and Supplemental Offense Report made by Bob Day, 338/pav 587, 1966 August 2. 4-38-11 Page 2.
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Once the Austin Police Department received the first reports of shootings, all available police officers and highway patrolmen were immediately dispatched to the university. After the incident ended, all police officers at the scene submitted their own accounts of what they saw and did that day.
AP News Teletype “With Sniper,” 1966. SNIPER—August 1, 1966, Whitman-Tower, University of Texas,
Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4.
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AP News Teletype “Sniper Roundup,” 1966. SNIPER—August 1, 1966, Whitman-Tower, University of Texas, Criminal Law Enforcement Division investigation files, Texas Department of Public Safety Records, 2008/054-4. AP News Teletype “Sniper Roundup,” 1966 Page 1, AP News Teletype “Sniper Roundup,” 1966 Page 2, AP News Teletype “Sniper Roundup,” 1966 Page 3, and AP News Teletype “Sniper Roundup,” 1966 Page 4. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
The Associated Press distributed news stories about the UT shooting tragedy to national media outlets. Publications across the country recounted the events of August 1, 1966.
“The Texas Sniper,” Life magazine, August 12, 1966. The Tower Sniper, 1966. TSLAC MAIN collection, 904.7 T655 OVER-X.
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The mass shooting at the UT Austin was the first ever to occur on a college campus. Major national publications such as Life magazine covered the event, profiled the victims, and attempted to help Americans make sense of the tragedy.