Newly emerged film footage of President John F. Kennedy's motorcade speeding down a Dallas freeway toward a hospital after he was fatally wounded was sold at auction for $137,500. The 8 mm color home film, recorded on Nov. 22, 1963, was offered by RR Auction in Boston. The buyer chose to remain anonymous.
The film, which had been in the possession of Dale Carpenter Sr.'s family, captures the motorcade as it traveled down Lemmon Avenue toward downtown. It then shows the aftermath of Kennedy being shot, with the motorcade rushing down Interstate 35. The shots were fired as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in front of the Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald was later found to have positioned himself on the sixth floor.
The footage from I-35, lasting about 10 seconds, shows Secret Service Agent Clint Hill standing over the president and Jacqueline Kennedy, who can be seen in her pink suit. Kennedy was pronounced dead upon arrival at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The executive vice president of the auction house described the film as providing a gripping sense of urgency and heartbreak. Carpenter's grandson, James Gates, mentioned that the film had been stored with other family films in a milk crate and was passed on to him without much discussion about its contents. When Gates projected the footage onto his bedroom wall, he was initially unimpressed by the Lemmon Avenue scenes but was shocked by the footage from I-35.
The auction house has released still photos from the film but has chosen not to publicly share the video of the motorcade racing down I-35.
