--- title: President John F. Kennedy in Paris in 1961: See Home Video Footage description: One man from Virginia shares a very special home-movie find canonical: https://time.com/3894849/jfk-1961-video-footage/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-01T11:30:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:21.675Z article:section: History og:title: President John F. Kennedy in Paris in 1961: See Home Video Footage og:description: One man from Virginia shares a very special heirloom og:url: https://time.com/3894849/jfk-1961-video-footage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9927eafe38131390/6988525ce20a871fbaa8b9d0/jfk.png?branch=production&width=472&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 472 og:image:height: 266 og:image:alt: JFK Video og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President John F. Kennedy in Paris in 1961: See Home Video Footage twitter:description: One man from Virginia shares a very special heirloom twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9927eafe38131390/6988525ce20a871fbaa8b9d0/jfk.png?branch=production&width=472&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See President Kennedy in a Home Movie from 1961 > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 1, 2015 11:30 AM UTC  Screenshot / Steve Smirco  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 1, 2015 11:30 AM UTC Steve Smirco’s father, Edwin, always liked to take home movies. Birthday parties, first communions, holidays—name the event, and odds are he was there with his camera. So when he made each of his children a gift of a compilation of those taped moments, the present was not out of character. The first volume of the gift covered the 1960s. “There was a section in there that he had taken when our family was stationed overseas in Paris,” Smirco, a 57-year-old fitness-center manager from Fredericksburg, Va., recalls. “It just so happened that President Kennedy came in at the time that we were in Paris as well.” Naturally, Smirco’s father—who was an Army officer at the time—brought his camera to cover that moment as well. When Smirco got his tape of childhood family moments, it included a glimpse of the young president. That footage, which Smirco provided first to TIME, is presented here. The moment it shows was part of a European tour that Kennedy undertook during his first year in office. The Bay of Pigs disaster, which wounded Kennedy’s standing on the world stage, hung heavy over the trip. But at least one leg of the tour was easy: winning over the people of Paris. The City of Light–where the President was to meet with Charles de Gaulle to discuss arming France with nuclear weapons, among other topics—was his first stop. And as TIME [reported,](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-06-09/page/15/) the First Lady made an instant connection with her admirers abroad. (“I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris,” the President was heard to joke.) It was exactly 54 years ago this week, [on June 2, 1961](http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHA-034-007.aspx), that Smirco’s father decided to head down to the headquarters of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and see if he could catch a glimpse of the visiting President, bringing his new camera and wearing his street clothes rather than his Army uniform. Smirco says that every time he’s shown the footage to someone who was alive at the time, that person’s eyes have lit up as he or she recalls the era. “It just stirs up really pleasant memories in peoples’ minds of this young president and what he could have been,” Smirco says. That lot includes his father, now 79\. In addition to conjuring warm memories, the video is also a reminder of a missed opportunity. Though Kennedy was standing right in front of Edwin Smirco and extended a hand for a shake, he didn’t get the chance for that contact. He was, he later told his son, too busy trying to get a good shot. **_Read more about Kennedy’s 1961 visit to Paris, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Grand Tour](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-06-02/page/22/) ### JFK in Germany, 1963: Rare and Classic Photos  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy in Cologne, Germany, June 1963. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy (right) walks past German armed forces during his June 1963 visit to Germany. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. People watch and listen to John F. Kennedy on TV during his June 1963 visit to Germany. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. People watch John F. Kennedy's motorcade during his June 1963 visit to Germany. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. German police restrain crowds during President Kennedy's June 1963 tour. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (right) and Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt (center) look on as President John Kennedy shakes hands with enthusiastic women during JFK's June 1963 visit to Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Fainting woman carried by Red Cross workers during commotion caused by President Kennedy's June 1963 visit to Germany. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. From a viewing stand, President John F. Kennedy gazes over the Berlin Wall at East Germany and the Brandenburg Gate, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Friedrichstrasse, in Frankfurt, during President Kennedy's June 1963 visit. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Germans demand a reunited Germany during President Kennedy's June 1963 visit to Berlin. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. From a viewing stand, President John F. Kennedy gazes over the Berlin Wall into East Germany, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy rides in a motorcade during his June 1963 visit to Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy in a motorcade during his trip to Germany, June 1963. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy rides in a limo with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer during JFK's June 1963 visit to Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Crowds during President John F. Kennedy's June 1963 visit to Germany. John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A Kennedy admirer, Frankfurt, Germany, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy walks with dignitaries during his June 1963 visit to Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  German factory workers watch President Kennedy's motorcade make its way through Frankfurt, Germany, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy waves at the crowd during a speech in Bonn, Germany, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Crowd scene during President John F. Kennedy's June 1963 visit to Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. People watch from windows during President John F. Kennedy's June 1963 visit to Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy (right), with Major General John R. Pugh (left), reviews the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Division ("Spearhead"), West Germany, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy (right) meets with American Army officers during his June 1963 trip to West Germany. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. President John F. Kennedy, in open limo, reviews the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Division ("Spearhead"), West Germany, June 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. West German police officers take snapshots of governmental building during President John F. Kennedy's June 1963 visit. 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