Newly discovered footage of the motorcade racing President John F. Kennedy to a hospital after he was shot has fetched an impressive $137,500 at an auction. The 8 mm colour home film was auctioned by RR Auction in Boston, with the buyer opting to remain anonymous.
The film had been in the possession of Dale Carpenter Sr.’s family since he captured it on November 22, 1963. The footage starts as Carpenter narrowly misses the limousine carrying President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy but captures other vehicles in the motorcade as it made its way down Lemmon Avenue towards downtown. It continues after Kennedy is shot, with Carpenter filming as the motorcade speeds down Interstate 35.
The filming occurred as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in front of the Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald was later discovered to have carried out the assassination from a sniper’s vantage point on the sixth floor. Carpenter’s footage from I-35, lasting around 10 seconds, shows Secret Service Agent Clint Hill standing over the president and Jacqueline Kennedy as they speed towards Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead.
James Gates, Carpenter’s grandson, mentioned that the family was aware of the film but rarely discussed it. When the film was passed down to him along with other family films stored in a milk crate, Gates didn’t realise the significance of the footage. It wasn’t until around 2010 when Gates projected the film on his bedroom wall that he truly grasped its historical value, particularly the scenes from I-35.
The executive vice president of the auction house, Bobby Livingston, described the film as providing a “gripping sense of urgency and heartbreak.” While still photos from the I-35 footage have been released, the video of that segment has not been made public. This newly surfaced footage offers a poignant glimpse into the tragic events of that fateful day in American history.