More than 60 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, previously unseen and unknown footage of the motorcade prior to and after the shooting has emerged for the first time.
The release isn’t the result of a recently declassified report or otherwise intense investigation. Rather, the 8 mm, color film comes from the grandson of its original videographer, a truck driver named Dale Carpenter Sr.
The film sold for $137,500 at RR Auctions on Saturday.
Carpenter’s silent footage of downtown Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, offers extended film from after the end of the famed Zapruder Film, capturing the only known footage of the motorcade post-shooting as it raced to the hospital. The film provides a never-before-seen videographic account of the fateful moments in the wake of one of the worst tragedies in U.S. history.
The footage is 40 seconds, with the last 10 containing the post-assassination scenes.
The final price exceeded RR's pre-auction estimate of $100,000. The winning bidder acquired full copyright ownership and interest in the film “subject to an existing non-exclusive licensing agreement that expires March 5, 2025,” and allows the footage to be used in an upcoming film about Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, which is expected to premiere next year.
Life Magazine purchased the rights to the Zapruder Film for $150,000 the day after the assassination. After the Zapruder family obtained the film back from Life in April 1975 as part of a royalties suit, the family profited off of the footage by allowing its use in Oliver Stone’s film “JFK,” charging more than $85,000. In 1999, the government purchased the film from the family for $16 million.
Considering nearly all footage of the assassination was confiscated from the scene of the tragedy — around 32 people were believed to have taken some sort of photo or video — the emergence of this new footage is especially rare and historically unprecedented.
As for its value, the demand for unique footage such as the Zapruder Film has proven lucrative in the past, with the potential for additional licensing deals for documentaries or sales to the U.S. government representing possible pay days.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.