Never-before-seen colour footage has emerged of JFK riding in his presidential motorcade moments before he is assassinated. The short clip,...
Never-before-seen colour footage has emerged of JFK riding in his presidential motorcade moments before he is assassinated. The short clip, which was believed lost until earlier this year, shows the President looking relaxed and giving athumbs up as he is driven past cheering crowds lined up along Main Street in Dallas. The footage was shot shortly before the motorcade headed west towards Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was assassinated. It was taken by office worker Andre Leche, who was living in Dallas at the time. He had just bought a new movie camera and thought the President's visit would be a perfect opportunity to use it. Mr Leche died in 1987 and the film canister was thought lost. But this year his son Paul was placing something in his safety deposit box and discovered a yellow Kodak box with 'Kennedy' written on it. He said: 'My family lived in Dallas in November of 1963. On the 22nd my father, Andre Leche, decided we should use his new movie camera to film President Kennedy. This footage was shot as the President’s motorcade proceeded on Main Street through very enthusiastic crowds. The route would take him west to Dealey Plaza, where he was assassinated. 'This short clip was shot just before 12:30 p.m. from the north side of Main Street, a few blocks and probably about a minute from the turn into Dealey Plaza. This was five blocks from my father’s office. 'After the President’s car and that minute passed there was no sound of shots but after a few minutes you could hear sirens in the background. 'The first news of the shooting was on a small – and for the time – novel Japanese radio on radio station KRLD in my father’s office. A while later the local radio news reported the President’s death, some time before the national media. 'After my father’s death in 1987 the original film canister was lost until this year. After looking in vain in my house, I was putting something valuable in my safety deposit box and came across a yellow Kodak box with “Kennedy" written on it.' This month will see the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. Last week the widow of Lee Harvey Oswald, the former marine who is believed to have pulled the trigger, was pictured for the first time in 25 years after reportedly turning down £3m to discuss the shooting. Marina Oswald Porter, is said to be struggling through a life blighted by illness, made worse by the impending 50th anniversary and the inevitable media frenzy which will ensue. Friends say the 72-year-old grandmother and mother-of-three, whose greying brown hair was swept back in a ponytail, has lived as a virtual recluse since after her last television interview a quarter of a century ago. In it, she vehemently insisted there was no firm evidence against her former Marine husband - a belief she still has today. Gripped by fear and facing accusations from those who believe she was a co-conspirator in a KGB plot, the grandmother has lived in Rockwall, Texas, since the mid-Seventies with her second husband and three children #financial_support_div{ display:none; position: absolute; width:300px; height:140px; margin-left: -150px; margin-top: -70px; /*- half of width and height */ top:50%; left:50%; padding: 5px; opacity:0.9; filter:alpha(opacity=90); z-index:1000; background-color:#000; color: white; } .close_box{ background: gray; color:#fff; padding:1px 3px; display:inline; position:absolute; right:1px; margin-right: -13px; margin-top: -13px; border-radius:3px; cursor:pointer; border: 1px #000 solid; } $(document).on("click",".close_box",function(){ $(this).parent().fadeTo(300,0,function(){ $(this).remove(); }); }); Loading the player ... Less
