Never-Before-Seen: New JFK Film Discovered
Footage Shows Frantic Moments After His Assassination
Former Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, who appears in the unearthed film clip, tells PEOPLE that the previously unreported footage is “an emotional thing” to watch six decades later
More than six decades after the murder of President John F. Kennedy, never-before-seen footage of the assassination’s immediate aftermath has come to light.
A minute-long, 8mm color film — the existence of which was previously unknown — will soon be sold through RR Auction. Online bidding is now underway, and the live auction is scheduled for Sept. 28.
The unearthed footage, in two parts, shows the president’s motorcade driving in downtown Dallas and then speeding toward Parkland Hospital as Clint Hill, Jackie Kennedy’s Secret Service agent, shields both her and the president.
After the first shot rang out on Nov. 22, 1963, Agent Hill leapt onto the back of the presidential limousine and placed his body spread-eagle over the back seat.
Now 92, Hill tells PEOPLE that the discovery of the film is “an emotional thing for me because I know what has happened. I know what I’m seeing in that film is a dead president.”
The footage was shot by Dale Carpenter Sr., a local Dallas truck driver who filmed from Stemmons Freeway. Carpenter’s grandson, James Gates, tells PEOPLE that the film landed in his possession when his mother handed down family mementos sometime after his grandfather’s death from Parkinson’s disease.
“She gave me several reels of family films and audio recordings, a projector and the reel-to-reel audio recorder,” Gates says. “The film was stored in a plastic Dean Foods milk crate and had been in my closet for several years before I decided to put it in a fire safe.”
Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, says, “Unlike any other footage known to exist, this film captures a segment immediately following the Zapruder film, providing a fresh perspective on one of the most analyzed moments in history.”
“Once you see it,” Livingston adds, “you’ll never forget Clint Hill’s heroic efforts to protect Mrs. Kennedy, racing at 80 miles an hour in a desperate attempt to save the president’s life as they sped to Parkland.”
The Zapruder film, taken by clothing manufacturer Abraham Zapruder, as the presidential motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza, is considered the most complete — and graphic — footage of the assassination, whereas the new footage depicts the aftermath as the presidential motorcade races to the hospital and Mrs. Kennedy leans over her wounded husband.
“It brings it back so vividly,” says Agent Hill’s wife, Lisa McCubbin Hill, with whom he wrote Mrs. Kennedy and Meand three additional bestsellers.
“It really brings the moment to life,” she continues. “When you see the president’s limousine, you see Clint on the back of the car. To see the speed of the car and how precarious that was — Clint is still trying to protect the president and Mrs. Kennedy from whatever else might be coming. One slip and he would have gone flying off and he would have been killed.”
There are two segments to Carpenter’s film. PEOPLE obtained the first segment, which can be seen below, that shows the presidential motorcade before it arrived at Dealey Plaza.
As Hill explains, Carpenter “initially missed seeing the president in his open top car, but he captured the rest of the motorcade. You see the back of the follow up car and then he made his way to Stemmons Freeway because the president was on his way to the Dallas Trade Mart to give a speech.
The second segment of the film shows the motorcade’s dramatic race to the hospital after President Kennedy was shot.
Not knowing at that point that Kennedy had been injured, Carpenter stood on the shoulder of the Stemmons Freeway hoping to catch a glimpse of the president. That’s when he captured the footage showing the first lady wearing her now-iconic bright pink suit, draped over the wounded president.
Gates decided to track Agent Hill down around 2012 to let him and his wife know that his grandfather had been holding onto private footage from the assassination.
“About 10 years or so ago, I started to research the JFK assassination, knowing I had something possibly of some historical value,” Gates says. “I found Clint and Lisa, but it wouldn’t be until another 10 years when I made the decision to properly preserve and archive the film.”
The Carpenter film will now be included in an upcoming documentary about Hill called Agent Number 9: The Clint Hill Story, which is set for release in 2025.
As remarkable as the film is, Hill says matter-of-factly, “It doesn’t change anything for me.” Nor does it bring the events of that horrible day back any more than usual.
“I’m back there all the time anyways,” he says.
RFK, Jr. with Tucker Carlson RE: Withholding JFK Assassination Files
27 August, 2024
AARC STATEMENT ON TRUMP PROMISE TO RELEASE JFK RECORDS
The truth of the matter is that both political parties have failed to release the JFK assassination records. Ex-President Trump had that opportunity in 2017 and was prevailed upon by persons unknown to keep the records secret. The Biden-Harris administration has had the power since 2021 to release them and instead has imposed secrecy while using the rhetoric of transparency. The Biden-Harris administration could release the records before the end of their term. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is to be commended for educating himself on the assassinations and calling for full disclosure.
One hopes Ex-President Trump and Vice-President Harris will follow this example.
RELATED:
RFK, Jr. with Tucker Carlson RE: Withholding JFK Assassination Files
US Secret Service chief resigns following Trump assassination attempt
Story by Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the agency came under harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from wounding former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, the White House said on Tuesday.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of current and former U.S. presidents, faces a crisis after a gunman was able to fire on Trump from a roof overlooking the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” Democratic President Joe Biden said in a statement. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again.”
Biden said he would appoint a successor soon.
Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when she appeared before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Monday, declining to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about the security plan for the rally and how law enforcement responded to the suspicious behavior of the gunman.
Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called on her to resign. NBC News was first to report that Cheatle would leave her post.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
“While Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward,” James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service.”
Cheatle, who has led the agency since 2022, told lawmakers she took responsibility for the shooting, calling it the largest failure by the Secret Service since then-President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The Secret Service faces investigations from multiple congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization, over its performance. Biden, who has ended his reelection campaign, has also called for an independent review.
House leaders said on Tuesday they planned to form a bipartisan task force to probe the shooting.
Much of the criticism has focused on the failure to secure the roof of an industrial building where the gunman was perched about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking.
The rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security perimeter for the event, a decision criticized by former agents and lawmakers.
Cheatle held a top security role at PepsiCo when Biden named her Secret Service director in 2022. She previously served 27 years in the agency.
She took over following a series of scandals involving the Secret Service that scarred the reputation of an elite and insular agency.
Ten Secret Service agents lost their jobs after revelations they brought women, some of them prostitutes, back to their hotel rooms ahead of a trip to Colombia by then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
The agency also faced allegations that it erased text messages from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Those messages were later sought by a congressional panel probing the riot.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, additional reporting by Ted Hesson, David Morgan and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Scott Malone, Cynthia Osterman and Nick Zieminski)
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