Rare Footage of JFK's Motorcade Released at Auction

An 8 mm color home film showing President John F. Kennedy's motorcade speeding towards a hospital after he was fatally wounded has sold for USD137,500 at an auction. The film, taken by Dale Carpenter Sr. on November 22, 1963, was in the possession of the Carpenter family for decades.

Newly emerged film footage of President John F. Kennedy's motorcade speeding down a Dallas freeway towards a hospital after he was fatally wounded has been sold at auction for USD137,500.

The 8 mm color home film was offered up by RR Auction in Boston. The auction house disclosed that the buyer wishes to remain anonymous.

The film has been with the family of the man who took it, Dale Carpenter Sr., since he recorded it on November 22, 1963. It begins as Carpenter barely misses capturing the limousine carrying the president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, but records other vehicles in the motorcade as they traveled down Lemmon Avenue towards downtown. The film then captures the moments after Kennedy has been shot, with Carpenter filming as the motorcade roars down Interstate 35.

The shots were fired as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in front of the Texas School Book Depository, where it was later found that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had positioned himself from a sniper's perch on the sixth floor. The assassination itself was famously captured on film by Abraham Zapruder.

Carpenter's footage from I-35, which lasts about 10 seconds, shows Secret Service Agent Clint Hill — who heroically jumped onto the back of the limousine as the shots rang out — in a standing position over the president and Jacqueline Kennedy, whose pink suit is visible. The president was pronounced dead after arriving at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of the auction house, said in a news release that the film "provides a gripping sense of urgency and heartbreak."

Carpenter's grandson, James Gates, said that while his family knew his grandfather had taken film that day, it wasn't frequently discussed. Gates revealed that when the film, stored with other family reels in a milk crate, was eventually passed on to him, he was initially unsure of what his grandfather, who died in 1991 at age 77, had captured.

Projecting it onto his bedroom wall around 2010, Gates was at first underwhelmed by the footage from Lemmon Avenue. However, the footage from I-35 played out before his eyes, and he found it shocking. The auction house has released still photos of the motorcade's race down I-35 but is not publicly releasing video of that part.

(With inputs from agencies.)