Film of motorcade driving JFK to hospital after Dallas shooting sells at auction
Newly emerged film video of former President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade driving down a freeway in Dallas, Texas, toward a hospital after he was fatally shot on Nov. 22, 1963, sold on Saturday for $137,500 at an auction.
The home film was offered by RR Auction in Boston, Massachusetts, The Associated Press reported. The buyer wishes to remain anonymous, according to the auction house.
The auction house’s executive vice president, Bobby Livingston, said in a news release that the film offers “a gripping sense of urgency and heartbreak.”
The film has been held by the family of Dale Carpenter Sr., the man who recorded it, since the day of the assassination. Carpenter died in 1991 at the age of 77.
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President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade is seen speeding down a Dallas freeway to a hospital after he was fatally wounded on Nov. 22, 1963. (RR Auction)
In the footage, Carpenter just misses the limousine carrying the president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy but records other vehicles in the motorcade driving down Lemmon Avenue toward downtown Dallas. The video then shows that the president has been shot, and captures the motorcade as it races down Interstate 35 towards Parkland Memorial Hospital, where the president was pronounced dead.
The shots were fired as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in front of the Texas School Book Depository, where assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had positioned himself on the sixth floor.
The assassination itself was captured on film by Abraham Zapruder.
Home film footage of President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade speeding down a Dallas freeway to the hospital after he was fatally wounded on Nov. 22, 1963. (RR Auction)
Carpenter’s footage from I-35 lasts about 10 seconds and shows Secret Service Agent Clint Hill jumping onto the back of the limousine as the shots were fired, hovering in a standing position over the president and first lady.
According to Carpenter’s grandson, James Gates, it was known in his family that his grandfather had film from the day of the shooting, but it was not often discussed.
When the film, which had been stored along with other family films in a milk crate, was eventually passed on to him, Gates said he was unsure what his grandfather had captured.
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A box of home film footage of President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade speeding down a Dallas freeway to the hospital after he was fatally wounded on Nov. 22, 1963. (RR Auction)
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Gates was initially underwhelmed by the footage from Lemmon Avenue when he projected it onto his bedroom wall around 2010 until he observed the footage from I-35.
“That was shocking,” he said.
The auction house has released still photos from the portion of the film showing the motorcade speeding down I-35, but it is not making video of that part publicly available.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
