New Footage: JFK Assassination

Ken AshfordHistory1 Comment

It’s a little hard to find on the Internet right now, but I have it here: the complete never-before-seen footage taken by a guy named George Jeffries on November 22, 1963 in Dallas.

The silent footage of JFK and Jackie is brief, lasting only seconds.  Less than ninety seconds after this footage of the President and First Lady was filmed, Kennedy would receive a fatal shot to the head.

As a bit of a JFK assassination buff, let me point out a few things:

(1)  The logo is that of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, who made it public today.

(2)  This is unquestionably the clearest footage of Jackie in any of the Dealey Plaza films taken that day.  She really does look radiant, albeit a little tired.

Dealeymap_1(3)  I may be mistaken, but I believe this wasn’t actually shot on Dealey Plaza, but on Main Street — just prior to the right turn onto Houston Street at the east edge of the Plaza.  Houston Street goes north to the Texas School Book Depository (the red dot on the map at right).  The motorcade traveled a short jog on Houston, and then took a left onto Elm (the red rectangle).  That’s when the shots were fired.

Still, the Jeffries footage was certainly within 90 seconds of the shooting.

(4)  Assassination conspiracy theorists have always questioned the bullet hole in JFK’s outer jacket.  The bullet hole in the jacket was almost 6 inches below the base of the neck — and odd place for a bullet that supposedly came from above (the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository) and exited through the front of the neck at the Adam’s Apple.  However, this footage shows conclusively that JFK’s jacket was bunched up around the neck.  So this would explain the "low" entrance hole in the jacket.

(5)  Jeffries apparently took a few seconds to film the front of the depository, obviously after the assassination.  There is a brief shot in which you can see the 6th floor window.  Note the tree in full bloom between that window and the Elm Street.  Conspiracy theorists claim that the full bloom of the tree made a clear shot from the 6th floor window to the motorcade impossible, especially the first shot (the non-fatal shot) which came before the motorcade came to a large sign.  The window, the tree, and the sign are all lined up in Jeffrie’s footage.