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Charles Whitman... Texas Tower Shootings...
Charles Whitman... Texas Tower Shootings...
Item # 568497
August 03, 1966
FITCHBURG SENTINEL, Massachusetts, August 3, 1966
* Charles Whitman (Sniper)
* Texas Tower Shootings
* University of Texas, Austin, Texas
This 34 page newspaper has a two column headline on the front page: "Texas Governor Calls For Sniper Meeting" with related photo. (see)
Other news of the day. Good condition.
wikipedia notes: Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was a student at the University of Texas at Austin who killed 14 people and wounded 32 others as part of a shooting rampage on and around the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Three were killed inside the University's tower and ten killed from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building on August 1, 1966; one died a week later from her wounds. He did this shortly after murdering his wife and mother at their homes. He was eventually shot and killed by Austin Police Officer Houston McCoy,[1] assisted by Austin Police Officer Ramiro Martinez.
Whitman's early life was one of upper middle class stature. The father owned a successful plumbing contract business in Lake Worth, Florida and his family had most of the material needs and desires that they needed. Whitman excelled at academic achievements and was well liked by his peers and neighbors. There were underlying dysfunctional issues within the family that escalated over time. Primarily, the father was an authoritarian who demanded successes from all of his family members and was known to exercise his authority with mental and physical abuses.
The development stages of Whitman were erratic, and privately, he developed values that echoed both his father's domineering personality while trying to incorporate the nurturing values of the mother. Eventually, through the course of time and acquisition, Whitman would form a schema that caused him confusion and frustration that affected his own values, which intersected the varying differences of the mother and father.
Although the above issues were of no degree to cause his actions on August 1, 1966, his health, family deterioration, and heavy use of Amphetamines to stay awake for days at a time to study, finally forced their weight on him. Between the brain tumor and all the other previously mentioned issues, Whitman was driven by his failures in the Marines, as a student at the University of Texas, personal expectations and psychotic features he expressed in his type written note left at 906 Jewel Street, Austin, Texas, dated both July 31, 1966 and later by hand "3 A.M., both dead August 1, 1966".
Category: The 20th Century
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