Disputed historic Kodacolor photo of John F. Kennedy’s final motorcade belongs to museum, court rules

Over the years, the assassination of John F. Kennedy (JFK) has raised all sorts of questions, from who fired the fatal shots to the ownership of various photos and films of the president on that infamous day in Dallas, Texas, 1963.

Now, the latest of these disputes, between The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (SFMDP) – the official JFK museum in Dallas, Texas – and a private photo collector has been settled in US copyright court, with the ruling in favor of SFMDP.

The image in question, simply known as the Motorcade Portrait, depicts JFK riding in the open-top Lincoln Continental alongside his wife, Jacqueline, shortly before the president was shot and killed. Lee Harvey Oswald was later accused of the assassination, firing from the building that is now the museum.

In the image, which can be viewed at the museum’s website, Texas governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, are in front of the president, with Secret Service agents William Greer (also the driver) and Roy Kellerman ahead of them.

The image was shot on Kodacolor 35mm slide film and is one of five slides, according to the museum. The image is notable because most of the car’s occupants are facing the camera.

According to the claim, which was filed with the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) in September 2024 by private collector Cade Campbell, the museum had been physically displaying the photo since 2012, flouting what Cambell believed was his copyright.

Campbell maintained the image was taken by Jack Jordan at Dallas Love Field Airport, where Jordan was an employee, and where Kennedy and his wife had flown into the morning of the assassination. According to Campbell, after Jack’s death, the image passed to his son, Ron Jordan, who later sold the image to Campbell.

The court, however, sided with SFMDP, who said the image was taken by Jack Titus as the motorcade drove down a local street. The photo was the fourth in a series of five Titus took, which later passed to his wife, who subsequently donated them to the museum.

This version of events was backed up by Reverend Richard Tullius, who was among the same group of photographers as Titus the day Kennedy was killed, and who had also owned copies of the five-shot series.

Campbell had registered the image with the US Copyright Office in 2014 and even claimed that, on the day he bought it, Jordan (now deceased) signed a sworn affidavit stating that his late father had even touched the President’s hand before snapping the image, but this evidence was deemed weak.

While the ruling has ultimately decided on who owns the Motorcade Portrait, it raises questions around how Jack Jordan obtained his copy of the image, which Campbell believed to be the original all these years.