By Raul Castillo
04 Sep 2024, 19:14 PM EDT
A previously unreleased one-minute recording of President John F. Kennedy moments after his assassination in Dallas has gone up for auction, offering a little-known glimpse into the tragic event that shocked the world in 1963.
The video was captured by Dale Carpenter, a Dallas truck driver, who filmed the presidential car from a highway as it sped toward Parkland Hospital following the attack.
The auction of this 8mm film, which began on Wednesday, is being promoted by the auction house RR Auction through its website.
According to the company, the price of the recording already reached $12,100 on the day of its release, and it will remain open until September 28.
The footage, which includes color images, shows Secret Service agent Clint Hill riding in the presidential vehicle and then-first lady Jackie Kennedy leaning over former President Kennedy’s body in the back seat.
Dale Carpenter, the film’s author, took the images on the fateful day of November 22, 1963, while watching from a nearby highway.
Decades later, his grandson, James Gates, found the tape stored in a plastic Dean Foods milk carton, forgotten in a closet at home. Gates decided to put it up for sale, considering its historical value and its relevance to those researching the details of that day.
Valuable material
The film, though short in length, is especially valuable for showing a different and little-known angle on the moments immediately after the assassination. Over the years, numerous theories and speculations have arisen about the Kennedy assassination, so this type of material always captures the interest of collectors and historical scholars.
In addition to being auctioned off, the video will also be featured in the upcoming documentary Agent Number 9: The Clint Hill Story, which will be released next year. This documentary will focus on the life of Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who witnessed the assassination firsthand and who, in his attempt to protect Kennedy, climbed into the presidential car after the shooting.
Hill has become an important figure in the narrative of the attack, and his testimony has been key to reconstructing the events.
The auction of the film has generated great expectations among historians and collectors, who see in this short film a unique opportunity to delve into the details of one of the darkest moments in modern American history.
With information from EFE.
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