1776Reporting
Recently discovered footage from President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade en route to the hospital in Dallas has reignited long-standing debates over his assassination, particularly the controversial theories surrounding the number of shooters and the infamous “magic bullet.” The 10-second color film, auctioned for $137,500, shows the president’s motorcade speeding along a Dallas freeway after he was fatally shot, an intense moment that continues to spark curiosity and questions six decades later.
As academics eagerly await the opportunity to study the frames, many hope this footage could illuminate the puzzling inconsistencies that have fueled alternative theories. A government official remarked on the enduring fascination: “Everyone has an opinion on the JFK assassination, and they don’t always match. There has been a lot of interest in the footage, and now it has been sold, academics want to look through it frame by frame to see if there are any clues that point towards a second shooter.”
The enduring theories of multiple shooters date back to November 22, 1963, when Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and their wives were riding in a slow, open-top motorcade through Dallas. As they passed Dealey Plaza, shots rang out, striking both Kennedy and Connally. The car rushed to a nearby hospital, where the president was declared dead.
The arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald as the primary suspect added fuel to the mystery. Days after his arrest, Oswald was killed, leaving the world without a definitive answer. President Lyndon B. Johnson promptly appointed a commission led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the assassination. The Warren Report concluded that Oswald had fired three shots from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository, where he worked.
However, the case was far from resolved, largely due to a home movie by Abraham Zapruder, a bystander who captured the moment of the shooting. At 26 seconds and 486 frames, the Zapruder film became one of the most analyzed pieces of evidence for the Warren Commission. Originally, experts assumed Kennedy and Connally were hit by separate bullets, but the timing captured in the Zapruder film made that theory difficult to reconcile with Oswald’s bolt-action rifle, which could not fire fast enough to account for all the shots in sequence.
The Warren Report settled on the idea that a single bullet struck both men, giving rise to the contentious “Magic Bullet Theory.” Some experts believe this recent film footage is a valuable addition to the JFK assassination files, potentially revealing unknown details. As Stephen Fagin, curator at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, points out, “These images, these films and photographs, a lot of times they are still out there. They are still being discovered or rediscovered in attics or garages.”
The 8mm footage, sold by RR Auction in Boston, originates from Dale Carpenter Sr., who happened to be filming the motorcade that day. The sequence picks up after the initial shots, capturing the motorcade on Interstate 35. As the car raced toward the hospital, Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, who famously climbed onto the back of the limousine to shield the president and the First Lady, can be seen standing over them. Hill recalls the chaos: “I did not know that there were not any more shots coming.”
Carpenter’s grandson, James Gates, said his family was aware of the film but seldom discussed it. Years later, Gates uncovered it among old family films and projected it onto his bedroom wall, where the shocking footage came to life before his eyes.
As more details emerge, historians, academics, and enthusiasts alike await to see what, if anything, this new footage may reveal about the tragic day in Dallas. The question remains—could this 10-second clip finally unravel some of the mysteries surrounding one of the most infamous events in American history?
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