A home film, recently unearthed, offers a different perspective of the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The video, set to go up for auction later this month, captures JFK’s motorcade moments after the fateful event.
The 8mm color footage, taken by Dale Carpenter Sr. on November 22, 1963, documents the presidential vehicle speeding down Interstate 35 toward Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Specialists consider the film the most comprehensive depiction of the disordered aftermath of the fatal shooting.
The film will be part of a live auction on September 28 by RR Auction in Boston. Online bidding has already started, and as of Wednesday evening, the highest bid stood at $12,100.
“This is remarkable, in color, and you can feel the 80 mph,” commented Bobby Livingston, RR Auction’s executive vice president.
The approximately 10-second film begins with the president’s motorcade support vehicles moving down Lemmon Avenue toward downtown Dallas. It then shifts to capture the scene just after Kennedy was mortally wounded, with the motorcade speeding down I-35.
The film notably shows Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, now 92, protecting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in her memorable pink suit. Hill is known for jumping onto the rear of the Kennedys’ vehicle when the shooting began in Dealey Plaza near the Texas School Book Depository.
“I did not know that there were not any more shots coming,” stated Hill. “I had a vision that, yes, there probably were going to be more shots when I got up there as I did.”
Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin, had positioned himself on the sixth floor of the Depository with a sniper rifle. After his single, lethal shot hit Kennedy in the head, the motorcade raced down I-35 to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was declared dead about 30 minutes later.
James Gates, Carpenter’s grandson, found the film stored with family movies in a milk crate. He first viewed it projected onto his bedroom wall in 2010, finding the I-35 scene especially “shocking,” particularly Hill’s precarious position on the limousine.
Before publicly sharing the footage, Gates contacted Hill during the publication of his book, “Mrs. Kennedy and Me,” in 2012. Lisa McCubbin Hill, Hill’s co-author and later, wife, expressed the impact of viewing the footage: “To see the footage of it actually happen … just kind of makes your heart stop.”
Farris Rookstool III, a historian, documentary filmmaker, and former FBI analyst, emphasized the film’s unique viewpoint after reviewing it. He said, “It shows the rush to Parkland Hospital in a more complete way than other, more fragmented film footage.” He expressed hope that the footage would be made available to filmmakers and researchers after the auction.
Stephen Fagin, The Sixth Floor Museum curator at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, said that new material related to the Kennedy assassination is regularly discovered. “These images, these films and photographs, a lot of times they are still out there,” Fagin explained. “They are still being discovered or rediscovered in attics or garages.”
Fagin also pointed out that many people recognized the historical importance of the assassination and preserved any related materials, leading to the constant emergence of new artifacts over the years.
Although the auction house has released some still photos from the film, it has not publicly shared any images showing the motorcade on the highway. As the auction date approaches, historians, researchers, and collectors are showing heightened interest in examining this newly disclosed piece of American history.
