Kennedy’s Limousine After the Assassination
W–046
Early on 23 November 1963, FBI agents examined the limousine in which President John F. Kennedy had been fatally wounded in Dallas the day before. The open Lincoln had been brought to Washington. Investigators were looking for impact marks and bullet fragments. Three small particles of lead were found on the carpet beneath the left jump seat.
1. The interior the next day
Provenance and sources for frame 1
File and rights
Public 900 × 676 Reddit copy; image matched to the Getty/Corbis catalogue, exhibit number checked against the Warren Commission record. Sources disagree on the agency behind the colour photographs: the museum names the FBI, an ARRB memorandum names Secret Service photographer James Fox. No personal credit is asserted. Rights-managed; no free licence stated.
The day before, President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy had ridden through Dallas in the open limousine. Texas governor John Connally and his wife Nellie sat ahead of them on the folding jump seats. The limousine, based on a 1961 Lincoln Continental, was unarmoured.
2. Before the shots
Provenance and sources for frame 2
File and rights
Archival copy, 3636 × 2429. Commons identifies partial restoration; the Library of Congress reports no known restrictions on use.
Shots rang out on Elm Street. Kennedy and Connally were wounded, and the driver took them to Parkland Hospital. Kennedy died that day; Connally survived. Outside the hospital, White House photographer Cecil Stoughton photographed the limousine surrounded by police officers and other people.
3. Outside Parkland
Provenance and sources for frame 3
File and rights
3000 × 1986 scan from the JFK Library, marked public domain in the US as a federal photograph. Commons lists ST-527-4-63, while the JPEG comment says ST-527-5-63; the negative number needs checking.
Once the car returned to Washington, its condition was documented from more than one angle. Two colour views of the rear seat, upholstered in pale-blue leather, entered the Warren Commission record as Exhibits CE 352 and CE 353. The first photograph in this collection is often labelled 'right after the assassination', though it was taken in Washington on 23 November, the day after the shooting in Dallas. FBI examiner Robert Frazier later confirmed that the photographs reflected what he had seen in the early hours of 23 November.
4. Another angle
Provenance and sources for frame 4
File and rights
Public 1200 × 956 Hearst copy; image matched to the Getty/Corbis catalogue, exhibit number checked against the Warren Commission record. Sources disagree on the agency behind the colour photographs: the museum names the FBI, an ARRB memorandum names Secret Service photographer James Fox. No personal credit is asserted. Rights-managed; no free licence stated.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza also warns of a different misleading image: a black-and-white hospital photograph of a car interior strewn with roses is often mistaken for Kennedy's limousine. It shows Lyndon Johnson's car.
After the assassination, the limousine was rebuilt with a permanent roof, armour and bullet-resistant glass. Its midnight-blue body was repainted black. It returned to White House service and remained in use until 1977. The car is now at The Henry Ford in Dearborn.
5. The same car in the museum
Provenance and sources for frame 5
File and rights
Author's photograph, 3000 × 1789, CC BY-SA 3.0; source and licence linked. Car identification checked against The Henry Ford's catalogue.