PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A long-lost version of the Air Force One recordings made in the immediate aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with more than 30 minutes of additional material not in the official version in the government's archives, has been found and is for sale.
There are incidents and code names described on the newly discovered two-plus hour recording, which predates the shorter and newer recording currently housed in the National Archives outside Washington and the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Texas. The shorter recording was thought to be the only surviving version of the tape.
The asking price is $500,000 for the reel-to-reel tape, which is inside its original box with a typewritten label showing it was made by the White House Communications Agency for Army Gen. Chester "Ted" Clifton Jr.
It is titled "Radio Traffic involving AF-1 in flight from Dallas, Texas to Andrews AFB on November 22, 1963."
"As Americans have looked to the history of the Kennedy assassination in search of answers, somewhere in an attic there existed a tape made years before the only known surviving version, of the conversations on Air Force One on that fateful day," said Nathan Raab, vice president of The Raab Collection, a Philadelphia historic documents dealer that put the tape up for sale Tuesday.
The recording is the highlight of the personal effects from the estate of Clifton, who was Kennedy's senior military aide and was in the Dallas motorcade when the president was assassinated.
Clifton, who died in 1991, had kept a collection of audio tapes, documents, photographs and video stemming from his years in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The Raab Collection, which is selling the tape and the rest of the archive, acquired the items at a public sale from Clifton's heirs after the death of Clifton's wife in 2009.
"At a time when there really wasn't what we consider today a chief of staff, Clifton carried on many of those functions," Raab said. "He retires in 1965, this goes with him."
The recording consists of in-flight radio calls between the aircraft, the White House Situation Room, Andrews Air Force Base and a plane that was carrying Kennedy press secretary Pierre Salinger and six Cabinet members from Hawaii to Tokyo when the president was assassinated.
The Clifton tapes include additional debate about whether Kennedy's body would be brought to Bethesda Naval Hospital or Walter Reed Hospital for autopsy and if first lady Jackie Kennedy would accompany the fallen president, as well as expanded discussions about arranging for ambulances and limousines to meet the plane.
No references to Kennedy nemesis Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay occur in the shorter version, but the Clifton tape contains an urgent attempt by an aide to contact him. The aide, seeking to interrupt Air Force transmissions to reach LeMay, is heard saying the general "is in a C140. Last three numbers are 497. His code name is Grandson. And I want to talk to him."
The whereabouts of LeMay, whose enmity for the president makes him a central figure for Kennedy assassination researchers, have long been disputed. The newly discovered recording can finally end the speculation and pinpoint his location immediately after the president's murder, Raab said.
Other conversations on the tape refer to "Monument" and "W.T.E." — code names for people as yet unknown — and someone only called "John."
Parts of the audio are difficult to discern because several conversations from the different patches are going on simultaneously. Raab said their digital copy was made as a straightforward recording, not as a forensic analysis, and current or future technology may be able to tease out and enhance the conversations.
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Nathan Raab (left) and his father Steven Raab, talk about their recently discovered White House communications tapes involving Air Force One in flight from Dallas on November 22, 1963, during an interview at their office, in Philadelphia, on Wednesday Nov. 9, 2011. (AP) |
<한글기사>
케네디 암살의혹 풀리나? 결정적테입 발견
1963년 11월 22일 존 F. 케네디 전 미국 대통령이 암 살당한 직후 상황을 담은 `에어포스 원(AF1)' 녹음 테이프가 발견됐다.
케네디 암살 사건 직후 미국 대통령 전용기인 에어포스 원의 녹음 테이프가 15일(현지시간) 필라델피아의 한 역사자료 수집상에 의해 발견돼 매물로 나왔다.
2시간 이상 분량의 이 녹음 테이프는 에어포스 원과 백악관 상황실, 앤드루스 공군기지 등과의 교신내용을 담고 있다.
녹음 테이프를 매물로 내놓은 라브 컬렉션 측은 이 테이프의 가치가 50만달러에 달할 것으로 추정했다.
이 녹음 테이프는 `1963년 11월 22일 텍사스주 댈러스에서 앤드루스 공군기지까지 비행한 에어포스 원과 관련된 라디오 트래픽'이라는 제목이 붙어있다.
특히 이 녹음테이프는 케네디 전 대통령의 시신을 베데스다 해군병원으로 옮길지, 아니면 월터리드 육군 의료센터로 운구할지 등에 대한 대화내용이 담겨있다.
또 퍼스트 레이디인 재클린 케네디 여사를 시신 운구에 동행하도록 할지와 앰뷸런스와 리무진의 준비 문제 등에 대한 대화내용도 수록돼 있다.
라브 컬렉션 측은 이 녹음 테이프가 미국 국립공문서관에 보관된 케네디 전 대 통령 암살사건과 관련한 녹음 테이프에 비해 분량이 30분 이상 길고, 사건과 코드 이름을 담고 있다고 지적했다.
라브 컬렉션의 부회장인 나단 라브 씨는 "과거의 녹음 테이프에 비해 더 길고, 완성도가 높은 이 녹음 테이프는 미국 역사상 결정적인 발견이자 기념비적인 성격을 띠고 있는 테이프"라고 말했다.
라브 컬렉션 측은 이 녹음 테이프의 디지털 파일을 국립공문서관과 존 F. 케네 디 도서관측에 무료로 제공할 예정이라고 밝혔다.
백악관 공보실이 제작한 이 녹음 테이프는 케네디 전 대통령과 린든 존슨 전 오령의 군사 고문 역할을 한 테드 크리프턴의 소장품 가운데 포함돼 있었다.
크리프톤의 소장품들은 최근 상속인들에 의해 판매됐다.
케네디 전 대통령은 1963년 11월 22일 텍사스주 댈러스 시내에서 포드 자동차가 만든 링컨 컨티넨탈 차를 타고 퍼레이드를 하던중 리 하비 오스월드가 쏜 총탄을 맞고 사망했다.
