Maureen Hughes-Thompson Oral History
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Maureen Hughes-Thompson Oral History
Videotaped oral history interview with Maureen Hughes-Thompson. Hughes-Thompson's late husband, Robert J.E. Hughes, was an eyewitness to the Kennedy assassination and filmed a significant home movie of the Kennedy motorcade and the assassination aftermath in Dealey Plaza. Hughes-Thompson donated her late husband's film to the Museum in 2002. Interview conducted in Ms. Hughes-Thompson's Dallas hotel room on April 27, 2002 by Gary Mack and Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-four minutes long.
Maureen Hughes-Thompson Oral History
04/27/2002
Hi-8 videotape
Duration: 44 Minutes
Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
2002.001.0013
Robert Joseph Elmore Hughes (1938-1985) worked as a customs examiner for the U.S. Treasury and officed in the Terminal Annex Post Office in Dealey Plaza. On November 22, 1963, he took his Bell & Howell 8mm film camera to the southwestern curb at Main and Houston Streets to capture a home movie of the Kennedy motorcade. His film shows the presidential limousine turning from Main and proceeding on Houston towards the Texas School Book Depository. This sequence, which briefly shows the sixth floor of the warehouse seconds before the assassination, has generated law enforcement and researcher interest over the years, making it one of the most significant home movies taken in Dealey Plaza that day. Hughes later wrote that he stopped filming approximately five seconds before he heard the first shot fired. After hearing the shots, Hughes began filming as he quickly moved towards Elm Street, following bystanders running up the grassy knoll area. Hughes shot several sequences in the aftermath of the assassination showing Elm Street, the rail yards beyond Dealey Plaza and the exterior of the Texas School Book Depository. After developing his film, Hughes promptly delivered it to the FBI in Dallas. The film, sent to the FBI's lab in Washington, was copied and examined, though it was years before optical and digital analysis of the film tried to determine whether an individual or individuals could be discerned on the sixth floor of the Depository. Following this oral history in 2002, Maureen Hughes-Thompson donated her late husband's home movie to the Museum. It may be viewed here: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/23202. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Maureen Hughes-Thompson Oral History
Videotaped oral history interview with Maureen Hughes-Thompson. Hughes-Thompson's late husband, Robert J.E. Hughes, was an eyewitness to the Kennedy assassination and filmed a significant home movie of the Kennedy motorcade and the assassination aftermath in Dealey Plaza. Hughes-Thompson donated her late husband's film to the Museum in 2002. Interview conducted in Ms. Hughes-Thompson's Dallas hotel room on April 27, 2002 by Gary Mack and Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-four minutes long.
Maureen Hughes-Thompson Oral History
04/27/2002
Dallas
Eyewitnesses
Photographer
Films
Cameras
Home movie
Grassy knoll
Hughes film
Oral histories
Kennedy, John F.
Hughes-Thompson, Maureen
Hughes, Robert J. E.
Texas School Book Depository
Authors, Filmmakers, and Researchers (OHC)
Motorcade Spectators (OHC)
Dealey Plaza Eyewitnesses (OHC)
Hi-8 videotape
Duration: 44 Minutes
Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
2002.001.0013
Robert Joseph Elmore Hughes (1938-1985) worked as a customs examiner for the U.S. Treasury and officed in the Terminal Annex Post Office in Dealey Plaza. On November 22, 1963, he took his Bell & Howell 8mm film camera to the southwestern curb at Main and Houston Streets to capture a home movie of the Kennedy motorcade. His film shows the presidential limousine turning from Main and proceeding on Houston towards the Texas School Book Depository. This sequence, which briefly shows the sixth floor of the warehouse seconds before the assassination, has generated law enforcement and researcher interest over the years, making it one of the most significant home movies taken in Dealey Plaza that day. Hughes later wrote that he stopped filming approximately five seconds before he heard the first shot fired. After hearing the shots, Hughes began filming as he quickly moved towards Elm Street, following bystanders running up the grassy knoll area. Hughes shot several sequences in the aftermath of the assassination showing Elm Street, the rail yards beyond Dealey Plaza and the exterior of the Texas School Book Depository. After developing his film, Hughes promptly delivered it to the FBI in Dallas. The film, sent to the FBI's lab in Washington, was copied and examined, though it was years before optical and digital analysis of the film tried to determine whether an individual or individuals could be discerned on the sixth floor of the Depository. Following this oral history in 2002, Maureen Hughes-Thompson donated her late husband's home movie to the Museum. It may be viewed here: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/23202. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
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