A home movie showing footage of the presidential motorcade moments after John F. Kennedy was shot was auctioned for nearly $138,000. Photo courtesy of PR Auction
Sept. 29 (UPI) — Rarely seen footage of President John F. Kennedy, being rushed to a Dallas hospital after his assassination, has sold at auction for almost $138,000.
The 8mm home film was recorded by amateur photographer Bill Carpenter Sr., who died in 1991 but had left the tape in a milk crate which his grandson, James Gates, discovered in 2010 and projected it onto his bedroom wall. He said he was “shocked” by what he saw.
“Dale Carpenter Sr. was just like any other Texan who arrived along the motorcade route to catch a glimpse of America’s leader,” the Boston-based PR Auction, which sold the film, said in a statement.
“He had settled into a spot early in the motorcade route, ready to film. But unfortunately for him, he had just missed his chance to capture JFK on tape.”
The film, which only lasts about 10 seconds, shows the President’s motorcade speeding along Interstate 35 toward Parkland Memorial Hospital hospital with Secret Service agent Agent Clint Hill shielding Jackie Kennedy, whose pink suit can be glimpsed briefly.
Carpenter had originally set out to get video of Kennedy and the first lady waving to the crowd, but when he was not able to record that in his location on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas, he quickly changed locations to get ahead of the motorcade. The route had been widely publicized.
He set up on a sliver of freeway shoulder along the Stemmons Freeway. During the time Carpenter was changing locations, the president was assassinated and what Carpenter got on his camera instead was footage of the motorcade rushing to the hospital amid the chaos that ensued. Kennedy was pronounced dead at Parkland at 1 p.m.
Kennedy himself is not visible in the video, but historians say the tape is an important addition to the collection of facts and documents surrounding the assassination.
The film, which also included images of his twin boys’ birthday party and other family events, was passed to Carpenter’s wife Mabel when Dale Carpenter died in 1977. It was then passed down to various members of the family and was an heirloom.
It remained in the milk crate as time went by, until it was rediscovered by Gates and put up for auction.
