JFK Assassination Tape: Long-Lost Version Of Air Force One Recording Made Public

PHILADELPHIA -- A long-lost version of an Air Force One recording made right after President John F. Kennedy's assassination can now be heard by the general public.

The Raab Collection is a Philadelphia historic documents dealer that acquired the tape from a Kennedy aide's estate and put it up for sale. It donated a digitized copy Monday to the National Archives outside Washington.

U.S. archivist David Ferriero calls the recording an important discovery that's accessible at the National Archives and on its website.

Raab vice president Nathan Raab says the tape provides a more complete view of the chaotic circumstances following Kennedy's assassination in Dallas in 1963.

The tape has around 40 minutes of additional material not in the official version in the government's archives for decades, including debate about what to do with Kennedy's body.

The tape includes an exchange between Rose Kennedy, JFK's mother, just sworn-in President Lyndon Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.

"I wish to God there was something that I could do. And I wanted to tell you that we are grieving with you," said President Johnson.

"Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I know you loved Jack. And he loved you," said Rose Kennedy.

"Mrs. Kennedy. We just wanted to -- we feel like we've lost..." said Lady Bird Johnson.

"Thank you very much," responded Kennedy.

In another part of the tape, an aide is heard trying to locate the whereabouts of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Curtis LeMay. The tapes reveal that LeMay was airborne during the assassination, while his whereabouts had before been a source of speculation. "General LeMay,” said the aide, “is in a C 140...He's inbound. His code name is Grandson. And I wanna talk to him...If you can't work him now, it's gonna be too late, because he'll be on the ground in a half-hour."

Comments

[Richard Raznikov]

02:47 AM on 02/16/2013

http://www.amazon.com/News-From-A-Parallel-World/dp/1478194448/.

[kidmac32]

12:49 AM on 02/06/2012

ill give him credit for having the stones to stare down the ruskies.

[I AM THAT]

11:39 PM on 02/02/2012

JFK was our last real president. RIP America.

[ProCynic]

11:29 AM on 02/03/2012

Well, not really. Remember, the reason he was in Texas was to shore up and make amends for some slights. He was in very real danger of being a single term President. He was seen as nice, popular, but very weak in office. His death stunned the nation, it should never have happened, but what most people remember of him as a "great President" are the result of the assassination.

There is a very real chance that had he not been killed, we'd be remembering him as a so-so one termer.

[I AM THAT]

11:56 AM on 02/03/2012

Here is what killed our last great president...and even if he was a one termer...so what? Bush was two, and he was the worst. On June 4, 1963, a virtually unknown Presidential decree, Executive Order11110, was signed with the authority to basically strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Federal Government at interest. With t...he stroke of a pen, President Kennedy declared that the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business. The Christian Common Law Institute has exhaustively researched this matter through the Federal Register and Library of Congress and can now safely conclude that this Executive Order has never been repealed, amended, or superceded by any subsequent Executive Order. In simple terms, it is still valid.

"The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the Americans freedom and before I leave office I must inform the Citizen of his plight." PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY(10 days before he was murdered)"The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings. A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all... human morality." -JFK

[I AM THAT]

11:32 PM on 02/03/2012

well? got a reply to this comment below?

[evilgoogleman]

08:45 PM on 02/02/2012

Thought I would post the links to the actually recordings since the article doesn't. If anyone is interested.

http://www­.gpo.gov/f­dsys/pkg/G­PO-NARA-JF­K-ASSASSIN­ATION-AUDI­O/content-­detail.htm­l

http://blo­g.wikimedi­a.org/2012­/01/30/us-­national-a­rchives-wi­kimedia-re­lease-jfk-­assassinat­ion-discov­ery/

http://www­.archives.­gov/resear­ch/jfk/air­-force-one­-tape.html

[windancin]

01:26 PM on 02/02/2012

LBJ is a LIAR ! Caroline Kennedy just released her mother's private tapes. Jackie requested they NOT be released until 50 years AFTER her death. WHY...Beca­use Jackie KNEW that LBJ was involved in JFK assasinati­on. Info also supplied by Johnson's mistress of 25 years, Madeleine Duncan Brown.The night before JFK assassinat­ion, LBJ met with Dallas tycoons, FBI moguls & organized crime kingpins. As they emerged from the conference­....he told his mistress Madeleine Duncan Brown that "Those SOB's "would never embarrass him again." He hated JFK. It's a jaw-droppi­ng deposition & the biggest JFK smoking gun there is, Despite it has received little media attention. Check the picture of LBJ while being sworn in as President.­..SHOCKING !! Congressma­n Albert Thomas WINKS back at a quickly-sm­iling LBJ as he's being sworn in for the next President of the United States on Air Force One ! Grief-stri­cken Jackie stands next to him..CREEP­Y ! WHY would Johnson be winking & smiling? 'Cuz he's guilty ! "It was a political crime for political power," said Brown. She highlighte­d how people, who were set to testify against Johnson for indictment proceeding­s, (related to illegal kickbacks LBJ was receiving from agricultur­e programs before the assassinat­ion)....we­re mysterious­ly set-up in homosexual scandals or found dead having allegedly shot themselves five times in the head. LBJ had a huge ego & appetite for power. Glad Caroline didn't wait 50 years, as Jackie requested. The TRUTH needs to be told !

[ProCynic]

11:30 AM on 02/03/2012

Another conspiracy.

[Kelsie Dawn Cleaver]

03:26 PM on 02/26/2012

I'm confused on why you are only focusing on who killled JFK why don't you look at the bigger picture and see that JFK was a great guy and great president. We haven't had one that is like him since. JFK changed everyone's life. And his death was hard for America to deal with. I understand that whoever killed JFK was seriously demented but we can't do anything about it now besides hope that the person who did the crime paid the time.

[windancin]

12:26 PM on 02/02/2012

I'm glad Caroline released Jackie Kennedy's secret tapes. Jackie requested they not be revealed until 50 years AFTER her death. She was fearful of retaliation for her & her family. She always believed LBJ was involved in JFK's assassination, as did LBJ's mistress, Madeline Duncan Brown. She was privey to LBJ's private/political life. I'm betting Jackie had more than 'a hunch'....as did LBJ's mistress of 25 years. She professed her love for LBJ until the end...BUT, had no delusion as to his involvemen­t in the JFK assassinat­ion. The night before the Kennedy assassination, LBJ met with Dallas tycoons, FBI moguls and organized crime kingpins...as they were emerging from the conference....he told his mistress Madeleine Duncan Brown that "Those SOB's "would never embarrass him again." Madeline says it was a "Political crime for Political Power." Jackie.said : " I'm convinced that then vice president, along with businessme­n in the South, had orchestrat­ed the Dallas shooting, with gunman Lee Harvey Oswald – long claimed to have been a lone assassin – merely part of a much larger conspiracy­." Say what you will about these 2 women, but I believe they're telling the truth !

[Al Schrader]

11:39 AM on 02/02/2012

Kennedy was amazing.

[rockysparks]

11:21 AM on 02/02/2012

I thought this article would have included the tapes being discussed. Instead, all we got were a couple of brief clips of Kennedy trying to get his kids to talk and a barely audible conversation with one of his aides. All accompanied by too much of Lauren Zima yammering.

[kinogod]

08:06 AM on 02/02/2012

We still havent been told he truth. Read "legacy of secrecy" by thom hartman and finally have your eyes opened

[plebian43]

01:35 PM on 02/02/2012

Thanks.

[speedydan79]

06:45 AM on 02/02/2012

A touching reminder for those of us who remember the tragic events of that day.

[juicybrisket]

06:12 AM on 02/02/2012

*nerdgasm*

[evilgoogleman]

04:55 AM on 02/02/2012

This story got taken off the main pages REAL fast.. Hummm, I wonder.

[windancin]

01:48 AM on 02/02/2012

This website has a better explanatio­n of LBJ's involvemen­t in JFK's assassinat­ion. LBJ's mistress of 25 years confirms Jackie's belief, she heard it from LBJ himself :
http://www­.prisonpla­net.com/ar­ticles/aug­ust2006/30­0806jfk.ht­m

[Paul Rainwater]

01:42 AM on 02/02/2012

whenever a new president is elected, a council of the ruling elite take him to a room and show him a film of the assassination from a new angle they have never seen, and then say, "any questions"

[Ed whowannaknow]

06:41 AM on 02/02/2012

and there are aliens at area 51

[Paul Rainwater]

07:09 AM on 02/02/2012

it's a joke, but if you believe the Warren commission, i wanta smoke some of what you got dude...

[I AM THAT]

11:38 PM on 02/02/2012

a mobster in the street drain did the shooting. another inside job. Our last real president.

[sextonfan]

11:58 PM on 02/01/2012

A terrible time in our history.