JFK Film Uncovered: Lost Footage of Motorcade Assassination Goes to Auction

Footage of President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade, filmed in the chaotic moments after his assassination, will soon be up for auction.

Boston-based RR Auction will take bids for the newly unearthed 8 mm home movie on September 28. The footage on November 22, 1963, was shot by Dale Carpenter Sr.—a businessman who died in 1991 at age 77—and unearthed by his grandson, James Gates. It spans roughly 10 seconds of high-speed travel on Interstate 35, capturing the urgency of the motorcade’s race to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

“This footage is remarkable not only for its color but also for the raw, intense speed of the motorcade,” said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auction.

Carpenter didn’t manage to take any good clips of the procession, managing only to capture the back of the president’s convertible and the White House press bus.

He drove several miles to Stemmons Freeway/I-35 to try again. From there, he filmed one of the most harrowing moments in the country’s history as the vehicle sped toward the hospital.

Secret Service Agent Clint Hill—who famously jumped onto the back of the limousine— can be seen standing precariously over the president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, her distinctive pink suit visible in the grainy film.

Gates said he knew footage of that day existed in his family possessions, but its morbid nature meant it wasn’t talked about often. When the film was passed along to him in a milk crate full of family memorabilia, he wasn’t exactly sure what his grandfather had captured.

In 2010, he decided to project the footage onto his bedroom wall. At first, he was underwhelmed and unable to decipher what was happening. It wasn’t until the footage from the I-35 came to light that he realized what his grandfather had witnessed 47 years earlier.

Until now, he had mostly kept the information to himself, apart getting in touch with Hill and wife Lisa McCubbin Hill, who co-authored of his book, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, after it was published in 2012.

McCubbin Hill admired that Gates was sensitive enough to want Hill to see the footage before he did anything else with it. She said that while she was familiar with Hill’s description of being perched on the limousine as it sped down the interstate, “to see the footage of it actually happen[…]just kind of makes your heart stop.”

Farris Rookstool III, a historian and former FBI analyst, has reviewed the film and noted its unique perspective on the frantic rush to get the president to Parkland.

“This footage provides a more comprehensive view of the race to the hospital compared to other fragmented footage,” he said.

Stephen Fagin, curator at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, remarked on the continued discovery of historical material related to the assassination at the hands of alleged shooter Lee Harvey Oswald.

He said that to this day, analysts and historians often wonder about a male figure seen taking photographs of the tragedy. Echoing this sentiment, he recounted how Jay Skaggs, the unknown photographer captured in one of the iconic images from that day, eventually revealed a box of color photographs to the museum in 2002.

“These images, these films and photographs, a lot of times they are still out there,” he said. “They are still being discovered or rediscovered in attics or garages.”

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.