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Extraordinary, previously unknown and unseen original 8mm color silent film of President John F. Kennedy's motorcade traveling through downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963, capturing segments of the motorcade passing through the city prior to its arrival in Dealey Plaza, followed by a remarkable post-shooting clip of Kennedy's presidential limousine speeding along North Stemmons Freeway en route to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
In the latter part of the film, four Dallas Police Department motorcycles, followed by one police car, fly up the wide Stemmons corridor, red strobe lights flashing. The presidential limousine—a modified midnight blue four-door 1961 Lincoln Continental Convertible—whizzes into frame, with large flags of the United States and Presidential Seal fluttering at speed. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill dominates the scene, spreadeagled precariously above the back seat, having leapt onto the back of the vehicle to shield the first lady and wounded president. Jacqueline Kennedy, slumping over her stricken husband, is easily identified in the rear seat by the bright hue of her iconic pink suit. On their arrival at Parkland, Lady Bird Johnson observed that she 'saw in the President's car a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms, lying in the back seat. It was Mrs. Kennedy lying over the President's body.'
In the book Five Days in November by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill, the agent recalls the grisly scene: 'The president, without a doubt, has suffered a fatal wound. 'My God! They have shot his head off!' Mrs. Kennedy shrieks. 'Get us to a hospital!' I scream at the driver. 'Get us to a hospital!' As the car accelerates, I wedge myself on top of the rear seat, trying to get my body above and behind Mrs. Kennedy and the president, to shield them from whatever shots might still be coming...In the car, Mrs. Kennedy is in shock. Staring at her husband, his head bleeding into her lap, she moans, 'Jack, oh, Jack. What have they done?' And then, 'I have his brains in my hands.' Quietly, she adds, 'I love you, Jack.' Nothing else is said as we speed down Stemmons Freeway at about eighty miles an hour. I turn my head and my sunglasses blow off...Time has stopped. It feels like an eternity before we arrive at the hospital. In reality, it has been just four minutes since the shots rang out in Dealey Plaza.'
The limousine has not yet left the frame when it cuts into a standard home movie: a Texas toddler rubs one weary eye; his brother, dressed alike, bounces on a couch with a toy dump truck. It presents a jarring contrast, this defining moment of the 20th century interrupted by the mundanity of American domestic life.
Although several still photos and home movies of JFK's Dallas motorcade are known—the most famous being the Zapruder film, shot on similar 8mm silent color home-movie stock—very little exists that documents the aftermath of the shooting or the race to Parkland Hospital. Prior to the discovery of this film, the only known imagery of Kennedy's limousine on North Stemmons Freeway were three still photographs, also captured by spectators along the route (see: 'Stemmons Freeway and the John F. Kennedy Assassination' by Oscar Slotboom). There were no reporters or press photographers stationed on the freeway, since the quick drive north to the Trade Mart, where Kennedy was to give an address, was not supposed to be a newsworthy event.
That this footage even exists seems to be the result of a twist of fate. The cameraman, a truck driver named Dale Carpenter, Sr., initially 'missed his shot' of the presidential limousine: the film opens in a different location earlier on the motorcade route, one car behind Kennedy's, with the Presidential Secret Service Follow-Up Car (carrying Clint Hill) and the Vice Presidential Car in frame. Senator Ralph W. Yarborough and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, flanking Lady Bird in the rear of the steel gray Lincoln convertible, wave to the adoring masses. In the lower left corner, partly obscured by the film's perforations, one youthful onlooker eagerly holds up a Kennedy campaign poster. The excitement is palpable as the densely packed crowd spills into the street.
Carpenter remains in place to capture much of the rest of the motorcade. Trailing LBJ's car, we see the Vice Presidential Secret Service Follow-Up Car, the Mayor's Car, the National Press Pool Car, the National Motion Picture Camera Car, the Local Camera Car, the Dallas Police Department's Forward/Mid Motorcade Motorcycles, Congressman's Car #1, Congressman's Car #2, White House Press Bus #1, the Official Party Bus, and the Rear Police Car and Motorcycles (see: 'Motorcade Schematic Listing, November 22, 1963' by Todd Wayne Vaughan). All together, this initial footage amounts to about 40 seconds, while the footage from North Stemmons Freeway lasts just over 10 seconds.
Having missed his initial opportunity to capture footage of President Kennedy, Carpenter made his way up to North Stemmons Freeway in an effort to catch a glimpse. The motorcade's intended route had been well publicized, published locally in the Dallas Times Herald and Dallas Morning News, and the plodding parade pace (estimated at 45 minutes from Love Field to the Trade Mart) gave Carpenter ample time to relocate. Standing in the thin shoulder on the freeway's edge, he managed to capture the only known film footage of the motorcade during its ill-fated dash to Parkland Memorial Hospital—a stunning scene from one of America's most tragic days.
Virtually every still photograph and motion picture of the events in Dallas was confiscated for examination by authorities in the aftermath of the assassination; every frame of all known footage has been exhaustively studied by government investigators, historians, researchers, conspiracy theorists, and the public at large. As this reel has remained unknown and unseen for decades, it represents a unique opportunity to reopen the study of the tragedy of November 22, 1963.
Viewings available by appointment.
The seller is the grandson of the original camera and film owner, who also took the footage. Sale of the physical film is intended to include all of seller's copyright ownership and interest in the film subject to an existing non-exclusive licensing agreement that expires March 5, 2025 and permits use of a small portion of the film in 'Agent Number Nine', a documentary feature about Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, which is expected to premiere in 2025.
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