A film showing John F Kennedy, former President of the United States, riding in a motorcade 90 seconds before his assassination in Dallas has been released to the public, after it was in private hands for over four decades.

Amateur photographer George Jefferies shot the silent, 40-second, colour film on November 22, 1963, showing the motorcade from the side closest to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

George Jefferies donated the film to the Sixth-Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which posted the film on the Web.

“When I first saw it last week, I thought: ‘Oh wow, Jackie looks so gorgeous,” museum spokeswoman Deborah Marine said on Tuesday in an interview. “She and President Kennedy were radiating happiness.”

Deborah Marine said other films of the Kennedy’s Dallas visit may be donated in the future.

The only known recording of Jon Kennedy’s assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald, who fired shots from the sixth-floor of a book depository at Dealey Plaza, was captured by Abraham Zapruder, according to the museum’s website.

Jefferies and his son-in-law, Wayne Graham, had contacted the museum over a year ago about donating the film released today, Deborah Marine said.

The film lasts only 39 seconds and presents few insights into the assassination of John F Kennedy. But, the 8-mm home movie offers unusually close and captivating footage of a smiling and waving First Lady.

The public release of the film, stored for over 40 years in a drawer in the owner’s home, created a nationwide buzz on Monday and overwhelmed the website at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

“It is by far the best view of Jackie Kennedy in the motorcade that day that I’ve ever seen,” Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum, said. “It’s a moment in time 90 seconds or less – really, less – before the moment of the assassination.”

The movie was taken by George Jefferies, who at that time was a Dallas insurance executive.

Jefferies, 82, who now lives in the East Texas town of Gladewater, says he was a fan of the John Kennedy and wanted to capture the parade on film.

“I wanted to go to Dealey Plaza because I knew the limousine would slow down when it turned down Houston Street and then again when it turned onto Dealey Plaza from Elm Street,” he said.

His co-worker had emphysema, so the two men made it only as far as Main Street.

The film begins with crowd shots, then focuses on the presidential Lincoln limousine as it comes up Main Street.

The highlight is a radiant Jacqueline Kennedy, with Nellie Connally, wife of the Texas Governor, clearly visible in front of her, and the President smiling beside her.

The final seconds depict mourners on Dealey Plaza the next day.

After the motorcade passed, Jefferies returned to his office, not aware that the President had been shot.

After he had the film developed, “I showed it to a few people and then put it in a drawer, and frankly, I forgot all about it."

Auto news for auto freaks! iDrive.in
DWS community! / Cricket blog
DWS F1 News