Debunking
“The Kennedy Detail”
PART ONE
“The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly: The Kennedy Detail is a Compelling But Dangerous Mix of
Fact, Faction, and Fiction”
By Vince Palamara, Secret Service expert (as noted by The
History Channel, Vince Bugliosi, the Assassination Records Review Board, and, condescendingly,
by Blaine himself!)
A detailed and exhaustive review of “The Kennedy Detail”,
a book written by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin; Foreword by Clint Hill
(2010, Gallery Books)
On June 1, 2005, I sent a 22-page registered letter,
signed receipt required, to former Secret Service agent Clint Hill[1] (infamous for his leap onto the
back of the limousine during the assassination of President Kennedy on November
22, 1963). My letter was, in essence, a “cliff notes” version of my own book
“Survivor’s Guilt: The Secret Service & The Failure To Protect The
President”[2], focusing mainly on the issue
of the agents’ presence—or lack thereof—on the rear of the presidential
limousine on 11/22/63, as well as the actions and inactions of three specific
agents I have many misgivings about: Floyd Boring (the number two agent on the
Kennedy Detail and the Secret Service planner of the Texas trip), Shift Leader
Emory Roberts (the commander of the agents in the follow-up car in Dallas), and
William Greer (the driver of JFK’s limousine). When I phoned the gentleman on
June 13, 2005, I received a very cantankerous “non reply”, so to speak:
“[Refering to my letter:] About what? Yeah, I’m here. I’m just not interested
in talking to you.” I did not really expect much, but it was worth a try
(having received an unexpected recommendation to talk to Mr. Hill from former
agent Lynn Meredith, who was gracious enough to provide Mr. Hill’s unlisted
address and phone number).
On June 10, 2005, I phoned fellow former agent Gerald
Blaine (having previously spoken to the gentleman on 2/7/04).Blaineconfirmed
his deep friendship with Hill and, much to my surprise, seemingly out of
nowhere, said: “Don’t be too hard on Emory Roberts. He was a double, even a
triple checker. He probably took Jack Ready’s life into consideration.” It was
at that moment that I realized that Clint Hill shared the contents of my letter
toBlaine; probably with a good dose of anger and indignation, as well. When I
received word thatBlainewas coming out with a book called “The Kennedy Detail”
AND that Clint Hill was writing the Foreword, I KNEW that I was responsible, as
a catalyst, for their endevours! Blaine and Hill are now on a book tour
together, as well as appearing jointly on several news and media outlets,
including in an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary, based on the book.
In fact, Blaine even admitted to Grand Junction Sentinel
reporter Bob Silbernagel that it was during this exact time that he “began
contacting all he could of the 38 agents who were in the Kennedy Detail on Nov.
22, 1963,” adding further that once “he began seeing all the misinformation and
outright deceit about the assassination on the Internet, as well as in books
and films, he decided, “Essentially, it was a book that had to be written.”[3] There was no question in my
mind that I ruffled feathers with Blaine and Hill. If all this weren’t enough,
Blaine’s attorney even sent me a certified letter in November 2009, a year
before his book was to appear, asking me to take down a blog that Blaine
noticed on my main Secret Service blog[4] that merely announced their
forthcoming book. Blaine thought I was trying to say that I was the co-author,
which was the furthest thing from the truth-I was innocently telling my readers
of a book thye might find of interest. In any event, after writing back to
Blaine and his lawyer, I decided to take that specific blog down…but this
incident let me know, in no uncertain terms: Blaine and Hill were men on a
mission. This is further evidenced by what Blaine himself wrote on his blog[5]: “At the annual conference of
the 2500 member former Secret Service Agents Association [AFAUSSS] last week
(8/26-8/28/10) in New York City, Lisa McCubbin and I [Gerald Blaine] presented
an overview of the book at the business meeting to ensure the agents that the
publication was “Worthy of Trust and Confidence.”; “At the conference opening
reception Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin and I [Gerald Blaine] met with
Secret Service Director Sullivan and discussed the book from the perspective of
today’s operations. Clint Hill, who lives in the Washington DC area, had
previously briefed the Director on the accuracy and purpose of writing the
book.”; “I [Gerald Blaine] am the sole surviving charter
member and a past president of the organization. The association was conceived
by Floyd Boring and Jerry Behn with the assistance of fifteen charter members.
Jerry Behn was the Special Agent in Charge of the Kennedy Detail and Floyd
Boring was an Assistant Agent in Charge. The organization’s mission is to
maintain social and professional relationships, to liaison with the
Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies [Emphasis added]”
To quote from a popular commercial, “Can you hear me
now?”
I knew their “mission” was to circle the wagons, so to
speak, and attempt to counter my prolific research on the failings of the
Secret Service on November 22, 1963-specifically, the statements by many of
their colleagues—including BLAINE himself—that President Kennedy was a very
nice man, never interfered with the actions of the Secret Service and, to the point,
did NOT order the agents off his limousine…ever! These men, as well as several
important NON agency personnel (such as Dave Powers, Congressman Sam Gibbons,
and Cecil Stoughton, among others), provided information, on the phone and/ or
in writing, to a total stranger—myself—with no trepidation whatsoever.
“Official” history—the Warren Report, the HSCA Report, William Manchester’s
“The Death of a President”, and Jim Bishop’s “The Day Kennedy Was
Shot”—espouses a decidedly different verdict: President Kennedy was reckless
with his security and did order the agents off his limousine-not in Dallas, but
during the major trip before, in Tampa, FL, on 11/18/63, which allegedly had
grave consequences for JFK’s protection on the day he was assassinated.
First, a detailed look at the contents of ”The Kennedy
Detail” is in order.
The book gets off on the wrong foot with myself and
others right away with the bold pronouncement: “ JFK’s Secret Service Agents
Break Their Silence” (which is also the subtitle of the book). This is hogwash:
not only did several agents, including Clint Hill, testify to the Warren
Commission, many of the agents spoke to the aforementioned William Manchester
(including Blaine and Hill[6]), Jim Bishop, and the HSCA, as
well as to, among others, Prof. Philip Melanson (for his book “The Secret
Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency”), several prominent Secret
Service television documentaries between 1995 and 2004 (Hill was involved in
all of these productions that made their way to VHS and/ or DVD, as well), and,
last but certainly not least, to myself, Vince Palamara, between 1992 and 2006
(again, including Blaine and Hill)! Things only get worse once one gets to the
inside flap jacket: Blaine writes that JFK “banned agents from his car”, which
is patently false- as Winston Lawson, the lead advance agent for the fateful
Dallas trip, wrote to me in a letter dated 1/12/04: “I do not know of any standing
orders for the agents to stay off the back of the car. After all, foot holds
and handholds were built into that particular vehicle…it never came to
my attention as such. I am certain agents were on the back on certain
occasions.” For his part, ATSAIC (Shift Leader) Art Godfrey told this reviewer
on May 30, 1996, regarding the notion that JFK ordered the agents not to do
certain things which included removing themselves from the rear of the
limousine: “That’s a bunch of baloney; that’s not true. He never ordered us to
do anything. He was a very nice man … cooperative.” Godfrey reiterated this on
June 7, 1996. In a letter dated November 24, 1997, Godfrey stated the
following: “All I can speak for is myself. When I was working [with] President
Kennedy he never ask[ed] me to have my shift leave the limo when we [were]
working it,” thus confirming what he had also told the author telephonically on
two prior occasions. As we shall see, Blaine makes much ado about this
issue…for obvious reasons (Thou Protest Too Much).
Although very well written and containg some nice
photographs, “The Kennedy Detail” provides the reader a generous dose of fact,
“faction” (playing hard and loose with alleged ‘facts’ and encompassing
reconstructed dialogue and supposed meetings that allegedly occurred without
documentation) and fiction. In fact, there are no footnotes, endnotes, sources,
or a bibliography to be found (although, to his credit, Blaine did include an
impressive index). It is important to note that many important former agents
and officials, such as “the brass”—Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon,
Asst Sec. G. d’Andelot Belin, Chief James Rowley, Aide to the Chief Walter
Blaschak, Deputy Chief Paul Paterni, Assistant Chief Russell Daniels, Assistant
Chief Ed Wildy, Chief U.E. Baughman, Special Agent In Charge (SAIC) Gerald
Behn, ASAIC Floyd Boring (the planner of the Texas trip), ASAIC Roy
Kellerman (rode in JFK’s limo), ASAIC John Campion, ATSAIC (Shift
Leader) Emory Roberts (rode in follow up car), ATSAIC Stu Stout (on Texas trip),
ATSAIC Art Godfrey (on Texas trip), SAIC of Personnel Howard Anderson, SAIC
of PRS Robert Bouck, ASAIC of LBJ Detail (and former JFK agent) Rufus
Youngblood, Head Inspector of PRS Elliot Thacker, Chief Inspector
Jackson Krill, Inspector Thomas Kelley, Inspector Gerard McCann, &
Inspector Burrill Peterson—and many “privates”, such as Bill Bacherman, Glen
Bennett (of PRS; rode in motorcade), Andy Berger (on the Texas trip), Bert
deFreese (on the Texas trip), Jerry Dolan, Paul Doster, PRS Dick Flohr,
Morgan Gies, William Greer (the driver of JFK’s limo), Dennis Halterman (on
the Texas trip), Ned Hall II (on the Texas trip), Harvey Henderson,
George Hickey (rode in the follow-up car), Andy Hutch, Jim Jeffries, Sam
Kinney (drove the follow-up car), PRS Elmer Lawrence, James Mastrovito, John
“Muggsy” O’Leary (on the Texas trip), Bill Payne (on the Texas trip), PRS
Walter Pine, Wade Rodham[7], Henry Rybka (on the Texas trip),
Thomas Shipman (deceased 10/14/63!), PRS Frank Stoner, & PRS Walter
Young—not to mention countless agents from field offices (such
as the SAIC of the Dallas Office Forrest Sorrels and his assistant Robert
Steuart AND Charlie Kunkel), DIED YEARS BEFORE THIS BOOK WAS EVEN A
THOUGHT. In addition, since there are no specific references, it is hard to
know exactly WHO among the living WAS interviewed, as Blaine recently admitted
that “three agents still cannot discuss the emotional aspects of that day in Dallas”
and he was unable “to contact three other agents who served.”[8] In addition, several OTHER
agents (such as Lynn Meredith, Bob Foster, Paul Burns, Jerry Kivett and Stu
Knight) passed away during the time Blaine was writing his book, so we are
unable to know if they were contacted, as well.
That said, it is most telling that Blaine admitted that
three agents—Larry Newman, Tony Sherman, and Tim McIntyre (rode in the
follow-up car)— were not contacted because they had “responded to Seymour
Hirsch’s [sic] book The Dark Side of Camelot, which violated the code of
silence”[9], yet, the fourth agent, Joe
Paolella, apparently WAS interviewed for Blaine’s volume-why wasn’t he banished
from his work, as well? Using this criteria, several (perhaps many) of the
agents who spoke to myself and others should have been ignored, as well (example:
former agent Walt Coughlin told me that LBJ was “a first-class prick”[10]). It was obvious why Blaine
ignored former agent Abraham Bolden: the controversial nature of Bolden’s
beliefs and so forth[11]. So, it appears a little
selectivity, necessary and otherwise, was used regarding former agent
interviews for “The Kennedy Detail.”[12]
As for the aforementioned Newman, Sherman, McIntyre, and
Paolella, they waxed on to Seymour Hersh (and others, including the December
1997 ABC/ Peter Jennings special “Dangerous World: The Kennedy Years”) about
their anger and disgust over JFK’s private lives; incredibly, even Emory
Roberts’ concerns over these issues was voiced by McIntyre. This is very
disturbing because it shows a MOTIVE FOR INACTION on 11/22/63. For his part,
McIntyre told ABC News, regarding JFK’s private life: “Prostitution—that’s
illegal. A procurement is illegal. And if you have a procurer with prostitutes
paraded in front of you, then, as a sworn law enforcement officer, you’re
asking yourself, ‘Well, what do they think of us?’ ” McIntyre felt this way
after having only spent a very brief time with JFK before the
assassination: he joined the WHD in the fall of 1963.[13] McIntyre also told Hersh: “His
shift supervisor, the highly respected Emory Roberts, took him aside and
warned … that ‘you’re going to see a lot of shit around here. Stuff with the
President. Just forget about it. Keep it to yourself. Don’t even talk to your
wife.’ … Roberts was nervous about it. Emory would say, McIntyre recalled with
a laugh, ‘How in the hell do you know what’s going on? He could be hurt in
there. What if one bites him’ in a sensitive area? Roberts ‘talked about it
a lot’, McIntyre said. ‘Bites’ … In McIntyre’s view, a public scandal
about Kennedy’s incessant womanizing was inevitable. ‘It would have had to come
out in the next year or so. In the campaign, maybe.’ McIntyre said he and
some of his colleagues … felt abused by their service on behalf of President
Kennedy … McIntyre said he eventually realized that he had compromised his
law enforcement beliefs to the point where he wondered whether it was ‘time to
get out of there. I was disappointed by what I saw.’ ” [Emphasis added.][14] Blaine chose to ignore these
men and this issue entirely in his book: is this good history? I think not. It
might not be pleasant, but these men said what they said-to ignore this matter
speaks of a cover up of guilty knowledge. I did not ignore it.
From the first photo section and page 19 of his book
(and, later, on pages 240 and 288), we learn something I had already reported
years before: that SAIC Gerald Behn “always traveled with the president. In the
three years since Kennedy had been elected, Jerry Behn had not taken one day of
vacation…He took his first vacation in four years the week JFK was
assassinated.” Quirk of fate or convenient absence? You decide. I have.
Also on page 19, Blaine begins to (using a lawyer’s term)
“lay the foundation”, as it were, for blaming the victim (JFK) and, in the
process, makes a real whopper-Blaine writes: “the Secret Service was not
authorized to override a presidential decision.” Wrong! Ample proof to the
contrary abounds. Chief James J. Rowley testified under oath to the Warren
Commission: “No President will tell the Secret Service what they can or cannot
do.”[15] In fact, Rowley’s predecessor,
former Chief U. E. Baughman, who had served under JFK from Election Night 1960
until September 1961, had written in his 1962 book Secret Service Chief:
“Now the Chief of the Secret Service is legally empowered to countermand a
decision made by anybody in this country if it might endanger the life or limb
of the Chief Executive. This means I could veto a decision of the President
himself if I decided it would be dangerous not to. The President of course knew
this fact.”[16] Indeed, an Associated Press
story from November 15, 1963 stated: “The (Secret) Service can overrule even the
President where his personal security is involved.” Even President Truman
agreed, stating, “The Secret Service was the only boss that the President of
the United States really had.”[17] Finally, In an 11/23/63 UPI
story written by Robert J. Serling from Washington entitled “Secret Service Men
Wary of Motorcade”, based in part on “private conversations” with unnamed
agents: “An agent is the only man in the world who can order a President of the
United States around if the latter’s safety is believed at stake … in
certain situations an agent outranks even a President.” [Emphasis added.]
One major myth down, one major one left to demolish.
Peppered throughout the book, but starting on page 74,
Blaine begins to bring up the issue of the agents’ presence (or lack thereof)
on the back of JFK’s limousine (in Tampa on 11/18/63, in Dallas on 11/22/63,
and elsewhere—further “laying the foundation” for his false premise of blaming
the victim), accurately stating for the record, AFTER revealing his knowledge
of the Joseph Milteer threat received via the Miami Police Department before
JFK’s trip to Florida: “…the only way to have a chance at protecting the
president against a shooter from a tall building would be to have agents posted
on the back of the car.” Indeed, on pages 81-84, as various films and photos
confirm, Blaine tells of his having rode on the rear of President Kennedy’s
limousine in Rome and Naples, Italy (7/2/63). In addition, his first photo
section depicts Blaine and his colleagues on or near the rear of JFK’s car in
Costa Rica (March 1963), Berlin, Germany (June, 1963) and Ireland (also in June
1963), while his second photo section depicts yet another photo of the agents
on the car in Ireland, as well as in Tampa, Florida (11/18/63) and even agent
Clint Hill on the rear of the car in Dallas, Texas on 11/22/63, albeit before
the motorcade reached Dealey Plaza.
It is on pages 100-101, in his zeal to set up his
premise, that Blaine makes a costly error-Blaine writes: “Fortunately, they’d
have SS100X [JFK’s special 1961 Lincoln Continental] in Dallas, which had the
rear steps and handholds so two agents could be perched directly behind the president
and could react quickly. He’d [Win Lawson would] be sure to tell Roy Kellerman,
the Special Agent in Charge for the Texas trip, that when the motorcade was
driving through downtown, agents would need to be on the back of the car.”
However, as we have seen, and it bears repeating, Win Lawson wrote to this
reviewer on 1/12/04, before this book was even a thought, and said: “I do
not know of any standing orders for the agents to stay off the back of the car.
After all, foot holds and handholds were built into that particular vehicle…it
never came to my attention as such. [emphasis added].” Needless to say,
this is in direct contradiction to these statements, attributed to Lawson by
Blaine, in “The Kennedy Detail.”
Blaine makes much of the 11/18/63 trip JFK took to Tampa
as ‘evidence’ that President Kennedy ordered the agents off the car (as did the
Secret Service, exactly five months after the assassination, via five reports
submitted to the Warren Commission by Chief Rowley[18]). As with SAIC Behn’s
first-time absence, we now supposedly have another instance of a brand new
notion, as Blaine writes on page 148: “In the three years he’d been with JFK,
he’d never heard the president call the agents off the back of the car in the
middle of a motorcade.” Indeed, on page 162, Blaine reports that agent Ron
Pontius stated: “I’ve never heard the president say anything about agents on
the back of the car,” registering his astonishment based on allegedly hearing
this, for the first time, on 11/21/63 from long-deceased agent Bert deFreese
(in a 47-year-old reconstructed conversation—faction? Fiction?—that Blaine
makes in the book). Blaine is alleging that JFK ordered the agents
(specifically, agents Don Lawton and Chuck Zboril) off the back of the car in
Tampa, allegedly using the phrase made infamous by William Manchester[19]: “Floyd [Boring], have the Ivy
League charlatans drop back to the follow-up car.” Blaine later adds, on page
184: “None of the agents understood why he [JFK] was willing to be so
reckless.” If that weren’t enough, Blaine also stated (on the upcoming
Discovery Channel documentary airing on 11/22/10): “President Kennedy made a
decision, and he politely told everybody, ‘You know, we’re starting the
campaign now, and the people are my asset,’” said agent Jerry Blaine. “And so,
we all of a sudden understood. It left a firm command to stay off the back of
the car.”[20] Huh? “Everybody”? THAT alleged
statement “left a firm command”? In any event, once again, we have a major
conflict with reality—not only do many films and photos depict the agents
(still) riding on (or walking/ jogging very near) the rear of the limousine in
Tampa[21][22], Congressman Sam Gibbons, who
actually rode a mere foot away IN the car with JFK, wrote to me in a
letter dated 1/15/04: ““I rode with Kennedy every time he rode. I heard no such
order. As I remember it the agents rode on the rear bumper all the way. Kennedy
was very happy during his visit to Tampa. Sam Gibbons.” Also, photographer Tony
Zappone, then a 16-year-old witness to the motorcade in Tampa (one of whose
photos for this motorcade was ironically used in “The Kennedy Detail”!), told
me that the agents were “definitely on the back of the car for most of the day
until they started back for MacDill AFB at the end of the day [Emphasis
added].”[23]
As for the “Ivy League Charlatans” remark JFK allegedly
uttered to ASAIC Floyd Boring and, again, first made famous by Manchester,
Boring this author, “I never told him [Manchester]that.” As for the merit of
the quote itself, Boring said, “No, no, no—that’s not true,” thus contradicting
his own report in the process, stating further: “He actually—No, I told them
… He didn’t tell them anything … He just—I looked at the back and I seen these
fellahs were hanging on the limousine—I told them to return to the car … [JFK]
was a very easy-going guy … he didn’t interfere with our actions at all.”[24]In a later interview, Boring
expounded further: “Well that’s not true. That’s not true. He was a very nice
man; he never interfered with us at all.”[25] If that weren’t enough, Boring
also wrote the author: “He [JFK] was very cooperative with the Secret
Service.”[26] Incredibly, Boring was not even interviewed for Manchester’s
book! We may never know Mr. Manchester’s source for this curious statement:
he told the author on August 23, 1993 that “… all that material is under seal
and won’t be released in my lifetime” and denied the author access to his notes
(Manchester has since passed away). Interestingly, Manchester did
interview the late Emory Roberts—an agent this reviewer is most suspicious of[27]— and GERALD BLAINE,
Manchester’s probable “source(s)”[28][29].
As for Blaine, this is what he told this reviewer: Blaine
told the author on February 7, 2004 that President Kennedy was “very
cooperative. He didn’t interfere with our actions. President Kennedy was
very likeable—he never had a harsh word for anyone. He never interfered with
our actions.” [Emphasis added.] When the author asked Blaine how often
the agents rode on the back of JFK’s limousine, the former agent said it was a
“fairly common” occurrence that depended on the crowd and the speed of the
cars. In fact, just as one example, Blaine rode on the rear of JFK’s limousine
in Germany in June 1963, along with fellow Texas trip veterans Paul A. Burns
and Samuel E. Sulliman.Blaine added, in specific reference to the agents on the
follow-up car in Dallas: “You have to remember, they were fairly young agents,”
seeming to imply that their youth was a disadvantage, or perhaps this was seen
as an excuse for their poor performance on November 22, 1963.Surprisingly,
Blaine, the WHD advance agent for the Tampa trip of November 18, 1963, said
that JFK did make the comment “I don’t need Ivy League charlatans back there,”
but emphasized this was a “low-key remark” said “kiddingly” and demonstrating
Kennedy’s “Irish sense of humor”. However, according to the “official” story,
President Kennedy allegedly made these remarks only to Boring while traveling
in the presidential limousine in Tampa: Blaine was nowhere near the vehicle at
the time, so Boring, despite what he conveyed to this reviewer, had to be his
source for this story (more on this in a moment)[30]! In addition to Emory Roberts,
one now wonders, as mentioned previously, if Blaine was a source (or perhaps
the source) for Manchester’s exaggerated “quote” attributed to Boring, as Agent
Blaine was also interviewed by Manchester . Blaine would not respond to a
follow-up letter on this subject.
However, when the author phoned Blaine on June 10, 2005,
the former agent said the remark “Ivy League charlatans” came “from the
guys … I can’t remember who [said it] … I can’t remember [emphasis added].”
Thus, Blaine confirms that he did not hear the remark from JFK. That said,
Blaine’s memory got a whole lot “better” 5 years later: he writes on page 148:
“The message came though loud and clear on Blaine’s walkie-talkie.” Incredible.
As for ASAIC Floyd Boring, this reviewer has no doubt
that Boring DID INDEED CONVEY the fraudelent notion that JFK had asked that the
agents remove themselves from the limo between 11/18-11/19/63, but that the
former agent was telling the TRUTH of the matter when he spoke to me years
later. You see, Clint Hill wrote in his report: ““I … never personally was
requested by President John F. Kennedy not to ride on the rear of the
Presidential automobile. I did receive information passed verbally from the
administrative offices of the White House Detail of the Secret Service to
Agents assigned to that Detail that Presi-dent Kennedy had made such requests. I
do not know from whom I received this information … No written instructions
regarding this were ever distributed … [I] received this information after the
President’s return to Washington, D.C. This would have been between November
19, 1963 and November 21, 1963 [note the time frame!]. I do not know specifically
who advised me of this request by the President.” [Emphasis added.] Mr.
Hill’s undated report was presumably written in April 1964, as the other four
reports were written at that time. Why Mr. Hill could not “remember” the
specific name of the agent who gave him JFK’s alleged desires is very
troubling—he revealed it on March 9, 1964, presumably before his report was
written, in his (obviously pre-rehearsed) testimony under oath to the future
Senator Arlen Specter, then a lawyer with the Warren Commission[31]:
Specter: “Did you have any other occasion en route from
Love Field to downtown Dallas to leave the follow-up car and mount that portion
of the President’s car [rear portion of limousine]?”
Hill: “I did the same thing approximately four times.”
Specter: “What are the standard regulations and
practices, if any, governing such an action on your part?”
Hill: “It is left to the agent’s discretion more
or less to move to that particular position when he feels that there is a
danger to the President: to place himself as close to the President or the
First Lady as my case was, as possible, which I did.”
Specter: “Are those practices specified in any written
documents of the Secret Service?”
Hill: “No, they are not.”
Specter: “Now, had there been any instruction or comment
about your performance of that type of a duty with respect to anything
President Kennedy himself had said in the period immediately preceding the trip
to Texas?”
Hill: “Yes, sir; there was. The preceding Monday, the
President was on a trip to Tampa, Florida, and he requested that the agents not
ride on either of those two steps.”
Specter: “And to whom did the President make that
request?”
Hill: “Assistant Special Agent in Charge Boring.”
Specter: “Was Assistant Special Agent in Charge Boring
the individual in charge of that trip to Florida?”
Hill: “He was riding in the Presidential automobile on
that trip in Florida, and I presume that he was. I was not along.”
Specter: “Well, on that occasion would he have been in a
position comparable to that occupied by Special Agent Kellerman on this trip to
Texas?”
Hill: “Yes sir; the same position.”
Specter: “And Special Agent Boring informed you of
that instruction by President Kennedy?”
Hill: “Yes sir, he did.”
Specter: “Did he make it a point to inform other
special agents of that same instruction?”
Hill: “I believe that he did, sir.”
Specter: “And, as a result of what President Kennedy said
to him, did he instruct you to observe that Presidential admonition?”
Hill: “Yes, sir.”
Specter: “How, if at all, did that instruction of
President Kennedy affect your action and—your action in safeguarding him on
this trip to Dallas?”
Hill: “We did not ride on the rear portions of the
automobile. I did on those four occasions because the motorcycles had to
drop back and there was no protection on the left-hand side of the car.”
[Emphasis added.]
However, keeping in mind what Boring told this reviewer,
the ARRB’s Doug Horne—by request of this reviewer— interviewed Mr. Boring
regarding this matter on 9/18/96. Horne wrote: “Mr. Boring was asked to read
pages 136–137 of Clint Hill’s Warren Commission testimony, in which Clint Hill
recounted that Floyd Boring had told him just days prior to the assassination
that during the President’s Tampa trip on Monday, November 18, 1963, JFK had
requested that agents not ride on the rear steps of the limousine, and that
Boring had also so informed other agents of the White House detail, and that as
a result, agents in Dallas (except Clint Hill, on brief occasions) did not ride
on the rear steps of the limousine. Mr. Boring affirmed that he did make
these statements to Clint Hill, but stated that he was not relaying a policy
change, but rather simply telling an anecdote about the President’s kindness
and consideration in Tampa in not wanting agents to have to ride on the rear of
the Lincoln limousine when it was not necessary to do so because of a lack of
crowds along the street.” [Emphasis added.]
This reviewer finds this admission startling, especially
because the one agent who decided to ride on the rear of the limousine in
Dallas anyway—and on at least four different occasions—was none other than Clint
Hill himself.
This also does not address what the agents were to do
when the crowds were heavier, or even what exactly constituted a “crowd”, as agents
did ride on the rear steps of the limousine in Tampa on November 18, 1963
anyway (agents Donald J. Lawton, Andrew E. Berger, and Charles T. Zboril,
to be exact)! (Perhaps this is why Blaine felt the need to caption a photo of
Boring with the following: “[Boring] was highly respected by all the agents, as
well as by JFK”)
“Presidential admonition” (as Specter said to Hill)?
Simply an “anecdote” of “the President’s kindness” (what Boring said to Horne)?
“Not true” (what Boring said to this reviewer)? You decide. I have…and so has
Blaine: twice, in fact—what he told this reviewer and what he now claims in
“The Kennedy Detail (see the flapjacket, pages 148-150, 162, 183-184, 206, 208,
209, 232).”
On page 162, Blaine alleges that SAIC Gerald Behn, from
his office in the White House, told agent Ron Pontius on 11/21/63: “[JFK]
wanted the agents off the back of the car [in Tampa and Dallas] in order for
the people to get an unobstructed view.” However, in a contradiction Blaine
doesn’t even notice (although he previously mentioned it on page 19 and in the
first photo section), BEHN WAS ON VACATION DURING THIS TIME! Perhaps
most importantly, Behn told this reviewer on 9/27/92: “I don’t remember
Kennedy ever saying that he didn’t want anybody on the back of his car. “I
think if you watch the newsreel pictures you’ll find agents on there from time
to time.”[32] In fact, MANY former agents and
White House aides told this reviewer the same thing Lawson, Boring, and Behn
all said![33]
And yet, despite all of this defensive posturing,
faction, and fabricating, Blaine states, with regard to the agents’ not being
on the rear of the car in Dealey Plaza (on page 209): “It was standard
procedure—regardless of the president’s request—for all agents to fall back to
the follow-up car in this situation.” (see also page 289)
But Blaine wasn’t done just yet.
In what this reviewer regards as a clever fabrication
with “faction” (reconstructing alleged dialogue, 47 years later, from long-dead
colleagues), Blaine claims (on pages 285-289 & 360) that there was a
meeting at 8 a.m. on 11/25/63, the morning of JFK’s funeral, in which the issue
of JFK’s alleged orders to remove the agents from the car in Tampa (and Dallas)
was allegedly covered up so the public would not blame the president for his
own death…SOMETHING THIS BOOK, AND ESPECIALLY THIS “TALE”, DOES WITH VIGOR!
Blaine claims that this meeting was attended by himself, Chief James Rowley
(deceased 11/1/92), Rowley’s secretary Walter Blaschak (long deceased) , ASAIC
Floyd Boring (deceased 2/1/08 and in ill heath long beforehand), SAIC Jerry
Behn (as noted previously, deceased 4/21/93), ATSAIC Stu Stout (deceased
December 1974), and ATSAIC Emory Roberts (deceased 10/8/73). ASAIC Roy
Kellerman (deceased 3/22/84) allegedly did NOT attend and, while Blaine
mentions that “every supervising agent” was in attendance, he does not mention
ATSAIC Art Godfrey (deceased 5/12/2002) by name, although it is ‘inferred’ that
he was there, as well. It must be said forcefully: there is NO documentation
whatsoever that this alleged meeting occurred and all the participants, save
Blaine (imagine that), are long dead AND many of them said and wrote things to
this reviewer contradictory to the substance of this alleged meeting. On page
288, Blaine writes, speaking for SAIC Behn: “Jim, after Floyd told me about the
incident [the alleged JFK orders to remove the agents 11/18/63 in Tampa], I
told him to relay the information to the shift leaders—Emory Roberts, Art
Godfrey, and Stu Stout—and I know that he did that. They in turn told the men
on their shift, which included the agents out on advances.” Incredible. We
already know what Behn, Boring, Blaine, Godfrey, and Lawson said to this
reviewer; Stout[34] and Kellerman never said
anything officially, one way or the other on the matter. Roberts’ report
confirms nothing except that ASAIC Boring told him to remove the agents from
the car on 11/18/63; nothing about JFK or anything else. What about the other
“agents out on advances”? Frank Yeager, Blaine’s advance partner in Tampa, in a
letter to this reviewer dated December 29, 2003, Yeager wrote: “I did not
think that President Kennedy was particularly “difficult” to protect. In
fact, I thought that his personality made it easier than some because he was
easy to get along with ….” [Emphasis added.] With regard to the author’s
question “Did President Kennedy ever order the agents off the rear of his
limousine?”, Yeager responded: “I know of no ‘order’ directly from President
Kennedy. I think that after we got back from Tampa, Florida where I did
the advance for the President, a few days before Dallas, Kenny O’Donnell, Chief
of Staff, requested that the Secret Service agents not ride the rear
running board of the Presidential car during parades involving political
events so that the president would not be screened by an agent. I don’t
know what form or detail that this request was made to the Secret Service who
worked closely with O’Donnell. I also do not know who actually made the
final decision, but we did not have agents on the rear of the President’s
car in Dallas.” [Emphasis added.] Like Hill’s report mentioned above, please
note the timing . Further regarding the notion of JFK’s staff having a hand in
this matter, in a letter to the author dated January 15, 2004, former agent
Gerald O’Rourke, who was on Blaine’s shift on the Texas trip, wrote: “Did
President Kennedy order us (agents) off the steps of the limo? To my
knowledge President Kennedy never ordered us to leave the limo. You must
remember at times we had to deal with the Chief of Staff” [Emphasis added.] The
agent added: “President Kennedy was easy to protect as he completely trusted
the agents of the Secret Service. We always had to be entirely honest with him
and up front so we did not lose his trust.”. So, while both agents say JFK was
easy to protect and that no order came from JFK, they imply, or seem to imply,
that the Chief of Staff—O’Donnell—had something to do with this. More on this
crucially important matter in a moment, as we shall look at the other advance
agents and what they conveyed to this reviewer.
J. Walter Coughlin, who helped do the San Antonio advance
with the late Dennis Halterman (deceased 1988), wrote this reviewer: “In
almost all parade situations that I was involved w[ith] we rode or walked the
limo [emphasis added].” Coughlin later wrote: “We often rode on the back of
the car.” (For the record, Ned Hall II, who helped with the advance in Fort
Worth, passed away in 1998; his son, Ned Hall III, had no comment to make on
the matter. The other agent on the Fort Worth advance, Bill Duncan, never has
said a thing regarding this issue, officially or otherwise, and it is not
apparent if he was even contacted for Blaine’s book or not). Ronald Pontius,
who helped advance the Houston stop with the late Bert deFreese (died sometime
in the 1980’s), wrote this reviewer that JFK DID convey these alleged orders “through
his staff [emphasis added],” and here is why this “staff” notion is so
important: this is a notion that Blaine doesn’t even touch in the book!
For the record, Presidential Aide (Chief of Staff / Appointments Secretary)
Kenneth P. O’Donnell does not mention anything with regard to telling
the agents to remove themselves from the limousine (based on JFK’s alleged
“desires”) during his lengthy Warren Commission testimony (nor to author
William Manchester, nor even in his or his daughter’s books, for that matter);
the same is true for the other two Presidential aides: Larry O’Brien and Dave
Powers. In fact, Powers refutes this whole idea—he wrote this reviewer in a
letter dated 9/10/93 that “they never had to be told to ‘get off’ the
limousine. “ JFK’s staff is not mentioned as a factor during any of the agents’
Warren Commission testimony, nor in the aforementioned five reports submitted
in April 1964. Furthermore, Helen O’Donnell wrote this reviewer on 10/11/10:
“Suffice to say that you are correct; JFK did not order anybody off the car, he
never interfered with my dad’s direction on the Secret Service, and this is
much backed up by my Dad’s tapes. I think and know from the tapes Dallas always
haunted him because of the might-have-beens—but they involved the motorcade
route [only].” In addition, former agents Art Godfrey and Kinney denounced
the “staff/O’Donnell” notion to this reviewer, despite what a small minority of
the agents I contacted—Yeager, O’Rourke, and Pontius—suggested (although,
again, Yeager and O’Rourke agreed that JFK was easy to protect and that no
order came from him).
Just WHY are these seemingly contradictory accounts of
this minority of agents’ Yeager, O’Rourke, and Pontius (seemingly
contradictory, that is, to this reviewer AND definitely contradictory to
Blaine) so very important? Because Blaine’s alleged 11/25/63 “meeting” mentions
not a thing about staff interference or input, his BOOK mentions not a thing
about staff interference or input, and, in fact, on page 352, Blaine even
writes: “If ever asked about whether JFK had ordered them [the former agents]
off the back of his car, the answer was always, “Oh, no. President
Kennedy was wonderful. He was very easy to protect. No, I don’t remember him
ever ordering agents off the back of his car [Emphasis added].” This is simply
false. In addition to the aforementioned three agents (Yeager, O’Rourke, and
Pontius), several agents contacted by the author would not comment,
several would claim not to remember, and three (one, contacted by
myself, the other two, via the HSCA) gave hazy second-hand information (of
dubious quality) seeming to blame JFK after all![35] If that weren’t enough, Rufus
Youngblood in his book[36] and Emory Roberts in his report
[37], claimed it was THE MOTORCYCLES
that got in the way of the agents (Ready especially) getting onto the rear of
the car…geez. Finally, in addition to Blaine, former agents Lynn Meredith,
Larry Newman, and Don Lawton mentioned the “Ivy League Charlatan” remark to
myself, although none claimed to have heard it from JFK (Meredith told me: “I
must admit that I was not along on the trip and was back at the White House
with Caroline and John, Jr. .. I do not know first hand if President
Kennedy ordered agents off the back end of his limousine .” The former agent
said that “No Secret Service agents riding on the rear of the limousine” was
the number one reason JFK was killed! Newman, not interviewed for Blaine’s
book, said “supposedly, I didn’t hear this [the “Ivy league charlatan”
comment] directly” and that Manchester’s book was “part of myth, part of
truth”. Newman added: “There was not a directive, per se” from President
Kennedy to remove the agents from their positions on the back of his limousine.
For his part, Lawton told me: “I didn’t hear the President say it, no. The word
was relayed to us—I forget who told us now—you know, ‘come back to the
follow-up car.’ ” Lawton also added: “Everyone felt bad. It was our job to
protect the President. You still have regrets, remorse. Who knows, if they
had left guys on the back of the car … you can hindsight yourself to
death.”[38])
You see, almost none of these former agents were
contacted by anyone other than this reviewer, as the agents had unlisted
addresses and phone numbers; only the hospitality of a couple former agents led
me to these men. Blaine’s comment on page 352 (and, indeed, his whole book)
were aimed squarely at myself and my 22-page letter mentioned at the beginning
of this review. After calling me a “self-described “Secret Service
expert”—without actually naming me— on page 359 (guilty as charged; that said,
The History Channel, Vince Bugliosi, the Assassination Records Review Board,
and many authors and researchers have given me this tag), Blaine saves his
special ire for me on page 360: “This same “expert” who had been interviewed
for many conspiracy theory books relentlessly blamed the Secret Service for
JFK’s death by using their own statements against them [no theories, just
facts---it is what it is: they said what they said, they wrote what they wrote,
and to a total stranger, to boot]. In many cases he called agents and recorded
their conversations without their knowledge [not “in many cases”: only in a
very few instances many years ago and these agents are now deceased. That said,
thank God I did: WHO would chose to believe my word NOW, especially with
Blaine’s book out now for public consumption?]” And HERE is the kicker,
in the context of the aforementioned alleged “meeting” Blaine detailed on pages
285-289 (and on page 352), Blaine continues (still on page 360): “When asked
whether President Kennedy had ever ordered the agents off the back of his car,
the agents gave him the standard line that Chief Rowley requested they give.
And as the agents upheld their code, Rowley’s words from the day of President
Kennedy’s funeral resonating in their minds, the Secret Service “expert” turned
around and used their words to stab them—and their brothers—in the back with
baseless accusations.” Incredible.
There was NO morning-of-JFK’s-funeral-meeting to cover
for the dead president so he wouldn’t be blamed for ordering the agents off his
car—this was used as a clever device to diffuse and cast aside the damning
evidence of just what all these men (including BLAINE himself!) said and wrote
to me, many of whom died years before this book—and this alleged meeting—was
even a figment of Blaine’s imagination. Again, there is no documentation for
this 47-year-old meeting—we have to take Blaine, the “sole survivor” of this
alleged meeting, at his word. And, what—all these men are LIARS now for what
they said and wrote to myself? In the context of my 22-page letter, I believe
this “meeting” to be a total fabrication. But it IS clever for another reason:
I am sure there WAS most likely A meeting regarding the security detail’s
coverage of all the dignitaries and their walk with Jackie to St. Matthew’s Cathedral
and so forth; a clever cover story, indeed.
That said, there are two major reasons why Blaine’s
47-year-old cover story is patently false: first, several important NON Secret
Service agents (Dave Powers, Congressman Sam Gibbons, Marty Underwood, Helen
O’Donnell, and Pierre Salinger, among others, such as various newsmen on
11/22/63, etc.[39]) ALSO told this reviewer that
JFK did NOT interfere with the Secret Service or order the agents off his
car—what “code” would THEY have been following, Mr. Blaine? Why would they be
“lying” to me (yes, I am being facetitious)? Methinks this is why Blaine chose
to ignore the other cover story of blaming the staff: he had no control over
THEIR refutations.
The second reason also reveals an embarassing error on
Blaine’s part—he writes on page 360: “If these “experts” [me!] and
“researchers” had only read some of the documents that were released in 1992
and available online, they would have found a letter from Chief James J. Rowley
written in response to J. Lee Rankin, general counsel on the Warren Commission,
in which Rowley admitted what he so desperately did not want to become
public. He did not want it to look as if the Secret Service was in any way
blaming President Kennedy for his own death [Emphasis added].” (see also
page 289 of Blaine’s book) Epic fail—not only does this book achieve Rowley’s
“non-goal” of blaming JFK for the security inefficiencies in Dallas, but these
“documents” were released in 1964 in the Warren Commission Volumes: 18 H
803–9, to be exact! In addition, Rowley’s alleged “desperation” to ‘hide’ JFK’s
own alleged culpability in his own death was a monster failure of epic proportions:
as we know, Clint Hill testified to the Warren Commission[40] and this testimony was
mentioned in the Warren Report, a massive best-seller which was also quoted by
many major newspapers and magazines the world over and, if that weren’t enough,
the 5 reports were mentioned by Jim Bishop in his own massive best-seller “The
Day Kennedy Was Shot”; many other books mention these reports (and/ or Hill’s
testimony). And just WHY would Rowley even NEED these 5 after-the-fact reports:
why didn’t he just tell Rankin, in “confidence”, about the meeting they all
supposedly had on the matter on 11/25/63? Why, indeed. For what it’s worth,
Blaine (on pages 360-363) proceeds to quote from the five reports but does NOT
state what they each say in verbatim fashion. Interestingly, nothing is
mentioned specifically about JFK’s alleged desires regarding THE motorcade of
November 22, 1963, as was requested by the Commission. And, of the five Secret
Service reports, four have as their primary source for JFK’s alleged
request Agent Boring, including one by Boring himself, while the remaining
report, written by SAIC Behn, mentions the same November 18, 1963 trip with Mr.
Boring as the others do (Boring’s report was the first one written, then came
one each from Roberts, Ready, Behn, and Hill, respectively). Again, both
Behn and Boring totally contradicted the contents of their reports at different
times, independent of each other, to the author, while Roberts report is
nothing more than his having heard BORING telling him to have the agents
removed from the car on 11/18/63; Ready and Hill freely admit they weren’t even
ON the Tampa trip in the first place in these reports (and, as Blaine omits,
Hill wrote “I do not know from whom I received this information … I
do not know specifically who advised me of this request by the President.”.
In addition, agents did ride on the rear of the limousine on July 2,
1963 and November 18, 1963 anyway, despite these alleged Presidential requests,
as the film and photo record proves.[41] Needless to say, with Boring
joining Behn in refuting the substance of their reports, the official Secret
Service ‘explanation’ falls like a house of cards.
All these reports are supposedly evidence of JFK
expressing his desire to keep Secret Service agents off the limousine,
particularly in Tampa, Florida on November 18, 1963.
Importantly, no mention is made of any alleged orders via
President Kennedy’s staff.
And, again, there is nothing about what JFK said
or “requested” on November 22, 1963, the critical day in question!
(As a “postscript” to Blaine’s cover stories about the
agents removal from the car, on page 343 of his book, Blaine makes yet another
embarrassing error: “When it came to the agents and whether they should or
should not have been on the back of the car, the [Warren ] report stated that
“the configuration of the presidential car and the seating arrangements of the
Secret Service agents in the car did not afford the Secret Service agents the
opportunity they should have had to be of immediate assistance to the president
at the first sign of danger,” but this was in reference to AGENT ROY
KELLERMAN’S position in the front seat and the obstacles he may have faced, NOT
the agents who should have been on or near the REAR of the car using the
UNOBSTRUCTED grabhandles!)
Regarding the issue of the bubbletop, although Blaine (on
page 188) states that agent Lawson conveyed to Sam Kinney, the driver of the
follow-up car, that the bubbletop was to be removed in Dallas, Sam told this
reviewer on 10/19/92 and, again, on 3/4/94 and 4/15/94 : “It was my fault the
top was off [the limousine in Dallas]—I am the sole responsibility of that.”[42] In addition, Kinney’s
oft-ignored report dated November 30, 1963 confirms this fact[43], as does the former agent’s
recently-released February 26, 1978 HSCA interview: “… SA Kinney indicated that
he felt that his was the responsibility for making the final decision about
whether to use the bubble-top.”[44] Blaine later states, on page
244, that the bubbletop “was meant to shield the passengers from the weather-he
[agent Sam Kinney] could count on one hand how many times it had been used,”
but this is simply untrue on two counts: the bubbletop was often used in nice
weather conditions and was used more frequently that Blaine, speaking for the
long-deceased Kinney (died 7/21/97), admits.[45]
On page 193, Blaine states that agent Henry J. Rybka
“never worked [the] follow-up [car], other than driving,” yet the record
indicates otherwise.[46]
Predictably, on pages 306-307 & 312-313, Blaine
covers up the infamous drinking incident involving NINE agents of the Secret
Service, including Clint Hill, Paul Landis, Glen Bennett, and Jack Ready!
Interestingly, they were all from Shift Leader Emory Roberts’ particular
shift. Significantly, None of the agents from the V.P. LBJ detail were
involved in the drinking incident.[47]
Blaine doesn’t even touch the issue of the Secret Service
and their involvement of removing motorcycle coverage for JFK on 11/22/63.
During a November 19, 1963 security meeting in Dallas, with no Secret Service
men present, it was agreed that eighteen motorcycles would be used, some
positioned along side the limousine, similar to the plan used in the prior
Texas cities of San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth.[48] However, there was another
meeting on November 21, 1963 in which those plans were changed.[49] Captain Perdue Lawrence of the
Dallas Police testified to the Warren Commission: “I heard one of the Secret
Service men say that President Kennedy did not desire any motorcycle officer
directly on each side of him, between him and the crowd, but he would want the
officers to the rear.”
Mr. Dulles: “… do you recall that any orders were given
by or on behalf of the President with regard to the location of those
motorcycles that were particularly attached to his car?”
The HSCA summed up the situation best:
The Secret Service’s alteration of the original Dallas
Police Department motorcycle deployment plan prevented the use of maximum
possible security precautions … Surprisingly, the security measure used in the
prior motorcades during the same Texas visit shows that the deployment of
motorcycles in Dallas by the Secret Service may have been uniquely insecure.[51]
Blaine ALSO does not deal with the issue of the press and
photographer’s displacement from the motorcade. Dallas Morning News reporter
Tom Dillard testified to the Warren Commission: “We lost our position at the
airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned
as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, normally a truck
precedes the President on these things [moto-cades] and certain representatives
of the photographic press ride with the truck. In this case, as you know,
we didn’t have any and this car that I was in was to take photographs which was
of spot-news nature.”[52]
On pages 221-222, Blaine, referring to the president’s
physician, Admiral George Burkley, writes: “Normally the admiral rode in a
staff car in the motorcade, or in the rear seat of the follow-up car, but he
and the president’s secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, had misjudged the timing of the
motorcade’s departure from Love Field and wound up scurrying to the VIP bus. He
was furious for not having been in his normal seat but had nobody to blame
but himself. His sole purpose for being in the motorcade was to be close to
the president in case anything happened, but who could have predicted this?
[Emphasis added]” Again, the record indicates otherwise: “Dr. George Burkley …
felt that he should be close to the President at all times … Dr. Burkley was
unhappy … this time the admiral protested. He could be of no assistance to the
President if a doctor was needed quickly.”[53] Burkley also said: “It’s not
right … the President’s personal physician should be much closer to him,” even
to the extent of “… sitting on an agent’s lap”.[54] Burkley stated a few years
after the assassination: “I accompanied President Kennedy on every trip that he
took during his time as President … I went on all trips … we had a regular
setup … all the pos-sible angles were covered by cooperation with the Secret
Service, in that we knew the areas of most likely danger. We knew where
additional medical aid would be available, and things of that nature … When
we were in Fort Worth, Mrs. [Evelyn] Lincoln and I were in the second car in
the motorcade … [in Dallas] I complained to the Secret Service that I should be
either in the follow up car or the lead car … this was brought to their [the
Secret Service’s] attention very strongly at the foot of the stairway from the
airplane [Air Force One] … Most of the time, however, I was within one or two
cars of the President. This was one of the few times that this did not occur
[Emphasis added].”[55] In fact, Burkley rode in the
lead car in Miami on November 18, 1963.[56] “The only other time
that it did not occur, to my direct recollection, is when we were in Rome [July
2, 1963] … [emphasis added],”[57] which was a model of very good
security in every other respect.
Evelyn Lincoln, JFK’s secretary, confirmed Burkley’s
feelings on the matter to the HSCA: “Mrs. Lincoln also mentioned what she
thought was a curious incident in Dallas prior to the assassination. She said
she was with Dr. Burkley … when they left Love Field for the beginning of the
motorcade. She said they were somewhat surprised at being ‘shoved’ back in the
motorcade into a bus. She said they usually rode in an automobile a few cars
behind the car carrying the President.”[58] It appears even Jackie Kennedy
and, by extension, Dave Powers, were wondering about this situation regarding
Burkley: On the weekend after President Kennedy’s funeral, Powers showed Mrs.
Kennedy the color still frames from the Zapruder film as displayed in that
week’s Life magazine. The pictures, of course, depict Jackie leaving the
rear seat to crawl onto the back of the car. “Dave, what do you think I was
trying to do?” she asked. Dave could only sug-gest that maybe she was searching
for the President’s doctor, Rear Admiral George G. Burkley, who was in a bus at
the rear of the motorcade.”[59]
Incredibly, as documented in agent Andy Berger’s report[60], Blaine writes on page 233,
with regard to Parkland Hospital: “A representative of the CIA appeared a while
later.”
Also, as Blaine never even mentions, JFK’s Military Aide,
General Godfrey McHugh, a devout Kennedy loyalist was relegated to the distant
VIP car in the Dallas motorcade[61], stated that he was asked by
the Secret Service “for the first time” to “ride in a car in the back [of the
motorcade], instead, as normally I would do, between the driver and the Secret
Service agent in charge of the trip.”[62] Indeed, McHugh had just
occupied this very spot on JFK’s previous trip to Florida, not to mention
countless other times beforehand when either himself or fellow military aide,
General Ted Clifton, rode in this position. (Greer admitted that many times an
aide rode in the front seat of the limo with the driver and the supervisor[63], as the film and photo record
bears out.) McHugh admitted that this was “unusual”: “That’s exactly what I
thought.” The reason? “To give the President full exposure … they told me it
would be helpful politically to the President [emphasis added].”[64] There’s that qualifier again:
“politically”. The HSCA’s Mark Flanagan, who interviewed McHugh, reported:
“Ordinarily McHugh rode in the Presidential limousine in the front seat. This
was the first time he was instructed not to ride in the car so that all
attention would be focused on the President to accentuate full exposure.”[65]
In yet another matter Blaine chose to ignore, Dallas
Sheriff Bill Decker, who rode in the lead car with Lawson and Sorrels, told his
men to in no way participate in the security of the motorcade.[66] As verified in several films
and photos, Decker’s men were standing idle at the corner of Main and Houston
as mere spectators, nothing more. Indeed, Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney told
author Larry Sneed: “I was merely a spectator with a number of other plain
clothes officers on Main Street just north of the Old Red Court House. We in
the sheriff’s department had nothing to do with security.”[67] Decker had given this unusual
order to his men after telling Forrest Sorrels the previous day that he
had agreed to incorporate additional personnel for security purposes, and even
offered his full support to the agent: Decker had agreed to furnishing fifteen
of his men for duty![68] Incredibly, the Dallas
Morning News on October 26, 1963 reported the following, based on an
interview with DPD Chief Jesse Curry: “LARGE POLICE GUARD PLANNED FOR
KENNEDY—Signs Friday pointed to the greatest concentration of Dallas police
ever for the protection of a high-ranking dignitary when President Kennedy
visits Dallas next month … The deployment of the special force, he [Curry]
said, is yet to be worked out with the U.S. Secret Service.”[69] Yet Homicide Detective Gus Rose
said: “I didn’t hear of any extraordinary security measures being set up thus
we continued our normal rotation.”[70]
Blaine also is seemingly unaware of the following, as
noted by reporter Seth Kantor: “Will Fritz’s men called off nite before by SS.
Had planned to ride closed car w/ machine guns in car behind Pres.” [which
could mean someplace behind JFK's car, as was the case in Chicago, IL, on
3/23/63[71]
& New York on 11/15/63][72]
Furthermore, Milton Wright, a Texas Highway Patrolman who
was the driver of Mayor Cabell’s car, wrote this reviewer: “As I recall, prior
to the President arriving at the airport we were already staged on the tarmac.
I do not recall what position I was in at that time but it was not #1[the
number taped to his car's windshield]. At the last minute there was a lot of
shuffling and I ended up in the 5th vehicle. My vehicle was the last to leave
downtown after the shooting because the police set up a road block behind my
car.”[73]
On page 224, Blaine writes: “It was very rare for both
the president and vice president to be together at the same time in the same
place.” This is an understatement—being in the same MOTORCADE was unique![74] Agent Youngblood later wrote:
“It is strictly taboo, from the security standpoint, for the President and the
Vice President to ride together in the same car, boat, plane, wagon, or
anything else.”[75] As J. F. terHorst (from the
White House Press Corps), a man who covered every major presidential
trip—including November 22, 1963—both at home and abroad, and Colonel Ralph
Albertazzie (Nixon’s Air Force One pilot) observed in their book: “Beyond the
environs of Washington, the Vice President rarely accompanies the President.
The reason is not only a matter of physical security but one of politics … But
Texas was a special case, the exception that proved the rule.”[76] As HSCA attorney Belford Lawson
succinctly put it: “Why for the first time in American history were the President
and Vice-President together in the same motorcade?”[77]
Blaine ALSO ignores the fact that the roofs along the
route were not manned or checked. SAIC of the Nashville office Paul Doster told
the Nashville Banner back on May 18, 1963 that “a complete check of the
entire motorcade route” was done for JFK’s trip to Nashville. In addition,
Doster stated: “Other [police] officers were assigned atop the municipal terminal
and other buildings along the route. These men took their posts at 8 a.m. and
remained at their rooftop stations until the president and his party passed.”
The roofs of buildings were also guarded on November 18, 1963[78], four short days before Dallas,
in addition to San Antonio on November 21, 1963[79], just the day before, as well
as in Fort Worth on the morning of the assassination.[80]
On page 201, regarding agent Bill Greer, the driver of
JFK’s car in Dallas, Blaine writes: “And, God forbid, if he [Greer]ever did
have to make a sudden getaway, he knew the 7,500-pound car with its
300-horsepower engine just didn’t gather speed as quickly as he would like.” Yet
Roy Kellerman testified to the Warren Comnission (2 H 74): "I have driven
that car many times, and I never cease to be amazed even to this day with the
weight of the automobile plus the power that is under the hood; we just
literally jumped out of the God - damn road." If that wasn’t enough, Blaine adds, on page 212: “[Greer,
after the shooting commenced] quickly tapped on the brake to see how the car
would respond.” Finally, on page 356, Blaine delivers the coup de grace: “Yes,
Bill Greer put his foot on the brake after the first shot. But for God’s sake,
it had nothing to do with a conspiracy, or negligence-he was merely responding
as any professionally trained driver would respond.”
Oh, really?
Sixty witnesses (ten police officers, seven Secret Service agents, thirty-eight
spectators, two Presidential aides, one Senator, Governor Connally, and Jackie
Kennedy) and the Zapruder film document Secret Service agent William R. Greer’s
deceleration of the presidential limousine, as well as his two separate looks
back at JFK during the assassination[81] (Greer denied all of this to
the Warren Commission[82]). By decelerating from an
already slow 11.2 mph, Greer greatly endangered the President’s life, and, as
even Gerald Posner admitted, Greer contributed greatly to the success of the
assassination. When we consider that Greer disobeyed a direct order from his
superior, Roy Kellerman, to get out of line before the fatal shot struck
the President’s head, it is hard to give Agent Greer the benefit of the doubt.
As ASAIC Roy H. Kellerman said: “Greer then looked in the back of the car.
Maybe he didn’t believe me.”[83] Ken O’Donnell stated: “Greer
had been remorseful all day, feeling that he could have saved President
Kennedy’s life by swerving the car or speeding suddenly after the first shots.”[84] In addition, Greer told Jackie
the following on November 22, 1963 at Parkland Hospital, shortly after the
murder: “Oh, Mrs. Kennedy, oh my God, oh my God. I didn’t mean to do it, I
didn’t hear, I should have swerved the car, I couldn’t help it. Oh, Mrs.
Kennedy, as soon as I saw it I swerved. If only I’d seen it in time! Oh!”[85] Finally, Dave Powers confirmed
Greer’s guilt to CBS newsman Charles Kuralt on November 22, 1988, also adding
that if Greer would have sped up before the fatal headshot, JFK might still be
alive today.[86]
When this reviewer asked Richard Greer, the surviving son
of Bill Greer, on 9/17/91: “What did your father think of JFK?”, Richard did
not respond the first time. When this author asked him a second time, Greer
responded: “Well, we’re Methodists … and JFK was Catholic.” Bill Greer
was born and raised in County Tyrone, Ireland, coming to America in
February 1930 and, if that weren’t enough, “worked one summer on the estate of
Henry Cabot Lodge”[87], JFK’s two-time political
opponent (a staunch Republican defeated twice by Kennedy) and Ambassador to
Saigon during the CIA and U.S. government–sponsored assassi-nation of President
Diem of Vietnam on November 2, 1963 (Lodge was principally involved[88]). Obviously, Greer, just from
his association with Lodge, as well as his work in and around Boston, had to
have known about Kennedy, as well as his rich family, Ambassador father Joe,
and their controversial heritage of alleged bootlegging, Nazi sympathizing, and
political history in Boston.[89]
The sequence is crucial:
1. First shot (or shots) rings out: the car slows.
2. Greer turns around once.
3. Kellerman orders Greer to “get out of line; we’ve been
hit!”.
4. Greer disobeys his superior’s order and turns around
to stare at JFK for the second time, until after the fatal headshot finds its
mark!
As stated before, Greer was responsible, at fault, and
felt remorse. In short, Greer had survivor’s guilt.
But, then, stories and feelings changed.
Agent Greer to the FBI, November 22, 1963: “Greer stated
that he first heard what he thought was possibly a motorcycle backfire and
glanced around and noticed that the President had evidently been hit [notice
that, early on, Greer admits seeing JFK, which the Zapruder proves he did two
times before the fatal head shot occurred]. He thereafter got on the radio and
communicated with the other vehicles, stating that they desired to get the
President to the hospital immediately [in reality, Greer did not talk on the
radio, and Greer went on to deny ever saying this during his Warren Commission
testimony] … Greer stated that they (the Secret Service) have always been
instructed to keep the motorcade moving at a considerable speed inasmuch as a
moving car offers a much more difficult target than a vehicle traveling at a
very slow speed. He pointed out that on numerous occasions he has attempted to
keep the car moving at a rather fast rate, but in view of the President’s
popularity and desire to maintain close liaison with the people, he has, on
occasion, been instructed by the President to ‘slow down’.[90] Greer stated that he has been
asking himself if there was any-thing he could have done to avoid this
incident, but stated that things hap-pened so fast that he could not account
for full developments in this matter ….”[91] [The “JFK-as-scapegoat”
theme—and so much for Greer’s remorse from earlier the same day.]
Finally, what did Jacqueline Kennedy think of Greer’s
performance on 11/22/63? Mary Gallagher reported in her book: “She mentioned
one Secret Service man who had not acted during the crucial moment, and said
bitterly to me, ‘He might just as well have been Miss Shaw!’ ”[92] Jackie also told Gallagher:
“You should get yourself a good driver so that nothing ever happens to you.”[93] Secret Service agent Marty
Venker confirmed that the agent Jackie was referring to was Agent Greer:
“If the agent had hit the gas before the third shot, she griped, Jack might
still be alive.”[94] Later, authors C. David Heymann
and Edward Klein further corroborated that the agent Mrs. Kennedy was referring
to was indeed Greer.[95] Manchester wrote: “[Mrs.
Kennedy] had heard Kellerman on the radio and had wondered why it had taken the
car so long to leave.”[96] In addition, Jackie “played the
events over and over in her mind …. She did not want to accept Jack’s death as
a freak accident, for that meant his life could have been spared—if only the
driver in the front seat of the presidential limousine [Agent William R. Greer]
had reacted more quickly and stepped on the gas … if only the Secret Service
had stationed agents on the rear bumper … [emphasis added].”[97]
Incredibly, ASAIC Roy Kellerman told the following to FBI
agents’ Sibert & O’Neil on the night of the murder: “The advanced security
arrangements made for this specific trip were the most stringent and thorough
ever employed by the Secret Service for the visit of a President to an American
city”[98]
Perhaps THIS is why JFK reassured a worried San Antonio Congressman Henry
Gonzalez on 11/21/63 by saying: “The Secret Service told me that they had taken
care of everything – there’s nothing to worry about.”[99]
If that weren’t enough, President Kennedy told an equally concerned advance
man, Marty Underwood, on 11/21/63: in Houston “Marty, You worry about me too
much.”[100]
On pages 230-231, Blaine seeks to pass the blame on to
others once again, this time in the form of JFK’s Chief of Staff, Ken
O’Donnell: “Ken O’Donnell agreed…that Johnson should return to Washington as
soon as possible and that yes, he should leave Dallas on Air Force One.”
However, O’Donnell denied this, telling author William Manchester: “The
President and I had no conversation regarding Air Force One. If we had known he
was going on Air Force One, we would have taken Air Force Two. One plane was
like the other.”[101] In fact, when Arlen Specter of
the Warren Commission asked O’Donnell, “Was there any discussion about his
[LBJ] taking the presidential plane, AF–1, as opposed to AF–2?”, O’Donnell
responded: “There was not.”[102] In this regard, O’Donnell later
wrote in his book Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye that a Warren Commission
attorney—the aforementioned Arlen Specter—asked him to “change his testimony so
that it would agree with the President’s”: an offer O’Donnell refused.[103] With this in mind, author Jim
Bishop reported: “Emory Roberts suggested that Johnson leave at once for Air
Force One … Roberts asked Kenny O’Donnell and he said: ‘Yes.’ Johnson
refused to move. Roberts returned to O’Donnell and asked again: ‘Is it all
right for Mr. Johnson to board Air Force One now?’ ‘Yes,’ O’Donnell said,
‘Yes.’ ” [Emphasis added.] [104]This author believes O’Donnell
when he says he had no part in LBJ going to Air Force One over Air Force Two.
This was a Secret Service (Emory Roberts) decision. Presidential aides Ken
O’Donnell and Dave Powers best summed up the situation when they wrote:
“Roberts, one of President Kennedy’s agents … had decided to switch to Johnson
as soon as Kennedy was shot.”[105] In addition, four other authors
have noted Agent Roberts’ “switch of allegiance”, including Chief Curry.[106] Incredibly, Roberts was the
President’s receptionist during the Johnson administration while still a member
of the Secret Service, receiving a Special Service Award from the Treasury
Department for improving communications and services to the public in 1968![107] LBJ thought highly of Roberts,
and the feeling was mutual—President Johnson told a gathering that “Emory
Roberts, who I am sorry can’t be here today–he greets me every morning and
tells me goodbye every night.”[108] (For the record, LBJ didn’t
think much of Roy Kellerman: “This fellow Kellerman … he was about as loyal a
man as you could find. But he was about as dumb as an ox.”[109])
Also predictably, on pages 334-335 & 356-357, Blaine
seeks to minimize former agent Abraham Bolden’s claims of Secret Service
negligence and conspiracy. [110]
Blaine (on pages 350 and 352) seeks to cast away ANY
notion that the Secret Service agents believed there was a conspiracy, yet
there is the record that says differently:
From the February 22, 1978 House Select Committee on
Assassinations (HSCA) interview of Miami SAIC John Marshall, former White House
Detail agent who conducted all the advance work on President Kennedy’s frequent
trips to Palm Beach:
TWICE DURING THE INTERVIEW, MR. MARSHALL MENTIONED THAT,
FOR ALL HE KNEW, SOMEONE IN THE SECRET SERVICE COULD POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN
INVOLVED IN THE ASSASSINATION. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME AN AGENT HAS
MENTIONED THE POSSIBILITY THAT A CONSPIRACY EXISTED, BUT IT IS THE FIRST TIME
THAT AN AGENT HAS ACKNOWLEDGED THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE SECRET SERVICE COULD
HAVE BEEN INVOLVED.
In addition, former agents Jerry O’Rourke, Sam Kinney,
Abraham Bolden, and Maurice Martineau believed there was a conspiracy, as well![111]
“The Kennedy Detail”, a book firmly rooted in the “Oswald-did-it-alone”
camp, also contains contradictory evidence of conspiracy in its pages. On page
216, Blaine describes the shooting sequence in this manner: the first shot
strikes the president, the second shot strikes Governor Connally, and the third
shot strikes JFK in the head…there is no acknowledgement of the Warren
Commission’s fictional single bullet theory or the known missed shot that
struck bystander James Tague! This is a pattern Hill and Blaine repeat on
national television.[112] On page 217, Blaine writes that
agent Clint Hill saw “a bloody, gaping, fist-sized hole clearly visible in the
back of his head,” clear evidence that JFK was struck by a shot from the FRONT,
as also confirmed by Hill’s report[113] and Warren Commission testimony[114], not to mention the reports
(plural) from fellow agent Paul Landis (whose contents were confirmed by
Landis to the HSCA)[115], no matter what Landis or
Blaine say now (see pages 225 & 352-353), as well as the statements made by
agent Sam Kinney to Vince Palamara[116] (and, ironically, in Blaine’s
own book, pages 216 & 218, regarding blood hitting his windshield!) and
agent Win Lawson, who also “saw a huge hole in the back of the president’s
head.”[117] Blaine also uses this same
language later in the book (page 258): “Now the men who just four and a half
hours earlier had seen the back of President Kennedy’s head blown off hauled
the casket holding his dead body…” Finally, regarding Hill, Blaine describes
his friends’ recollections of the autopsy (page 266): “Six inches down from the
neckline, just to the right of the spinal column, there was a small wound, a
hole in the skin…All Clint could see was that the right rear portion of
President Kennedy’s head was completely gone.”
On page 261, Blaine writes: “[7:55 p.m., 11/22/63] For
about twenty minutes [Chief James J] Rowley gave [the agents] what could only
be called a pep talk…There was no feeling that he blamed anyone or that the
assassination could somehow have been prevented.” On page 275, Blaine says of
SAIC Behn (deceased 4/21/93): “From everything Jerry Behn had heard about the
tragedy in Dallas, nobody was to blame.” Blaine carries this incredibly dumb
statement even further during television interviews for the book—he told
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on 11/12/10: “No, there was nothing that could have been
done to stop it.”
On pages 264-265, Blaine related how he almost shot
President Johnson on 11/23/63 with his Thompson submachine gun, a tale of
dubious merit that garnered much press before the release of the book.
Blaine seems to be unaware of the following, as reported
by the Assassination Records Review Board in 1998: “Congress passed the JFK Act
of 1992. One month later, the Secret Service began its compliance efforts.
However, in January 1995, the Secret Service destroyed presidential protection
survey reports for some of President Kennedy’s trips in the fall of 1963. The
Review Board learned of the destruction approximately one week after the Secret
Service destroyed them, when the Board was drafting its request for additional
information. The Board believed that the Secret Service files on the
President’s travel in the weeks preceding his murder would be relevant.”[118]
On page 359, Blaine identifies the agent recalled at Love
Field as SA Don Lawton, the OTHER agent (along with SA Henry Rybka)
“ostensibly” left to secure Love Field for the President’s departure, and takes
this reviewer to task for his misidentification. In the interest of time,
please see this reviewer’s online videos wherein he fully explains himself, his
rationale, and his belief that, regardless of WHO the agent is (and he is
willing to concede that it was probably Lawton after all), the SUBSTANCE of
what is being depicted in the video—the essence—remains the same.[119] Suffice to say that many people
were “fooled” by this footage—former JFK agent Larry Newman, the ARRB, The
History Channel, Rybka’s family, millions of You Tube viewers, countless
authors and researchers, and even a December 2009 Discovery Channel Secret
Service documentary “Secrets of the Secret Service”!
Although very well written, along with some nice
photographs, as well, “The Kennedy Detail” is really a thinly veiled attempt to
rewrite history (a la Gerald Posner and Vince Bugliosi, who believe 11/22/63
was the act of a single lone man) and absolve the agents of their collective
survivor’s guilt (and to counter the prolific writings of a certain reviewer).
In the eyes of those from “The Kennedy Detail”, the assassination was the act
of TWO “lone men”: Oswald, who pulled the trigger, and JFK, who set himself up
as the target. Simply put: President Kennedy WAS indeed a very nice man, did
not interfere with the actions of the Secret Service, did not order the agents
off his limousine (in Tampa, in Dallas, or elsewhere), and did not have his staff
convey any anti-security sentiments, either. The sheer force and power of what
these men all told me, a complete stranger, in correspondence and on the phone,
is all the more strong because, not only did they have a vested interest to
protect themselves, the vast majority believe that Oswald acted alone and that
all official “stories” are correct.
In light of the work of this reviewer, future pensions,
professional and personal reputations, and so forth, “The Kennedy Detail” makes
perfect sense. After the reviewer’s letter to Clint Hill, it truly WAS “a book
that HAD to be written”.
A postscript: Gerald Blaine stated on 11/11/10 on MSNBC’s
“Morning Joe”: “We felt we were 100% failure.”[120]
Finally, you said something we can ALL agree on, Mr.
Blaine.
[note: some of the links may no longer be working since
original publication date of Nov. 2010- please advise if you need more info/
new link]
[3] see also page 364 ofBlaine’s
book
[6] For the record, Clint Hill was
interviewed by: Warren Commission (March 9, 1964), for Manchester, The Death of
a President (November 18, 1964; May 20, 1965), and 60 Minutes (December 7,
1975; November 1993); December 1963 newsreel regarding Treasury award (with C.
Douglas Dillon as presenter); Who Killed JFK: The Final Chapter? (CBS, November
19, 1993); The Secret Service and Inside the Secret Service videos (1995);
Inside the U.S. Secret Service documentary (2004); Larry King Live (March 22,
2006); and, now, numerous tv shows 2010
[7] Rodham was Hillary Rodham
Clinton’s uncle! I received confirmation of this via former agent Don Cox
[8] http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/newslettersnewsletterbucketbooksmack/887623-439/qa_former_kennedy_secret_service.html.csp
[9] Ibid
[10] “Survivor’s Guilt”, Palamara,
Chapter 13
[11] Bolden is also the author of
“The Echo From Dealey Plaza” (2008)
[12] The agents we DO know
were involved in “The Kennedy Detail”, based on the text of the book and
Blaine’s online blogs and so forth (and the upcoming Discovery tv documentary),
are the following: Gerald Blaine, Clint Hill, Joe Paolella, Chuck Zboril, Robert
Faison, Hamilton Brown, Walt Coughlin, Richard Johnsen, Ken Wiesman, Radford
Jones, Winston Lawson, Toby Chandler, Ron Pontius, David Grant (Clint Hill’s
brother-in-law!), Paul Rundle, Eve Dempsher, Tom Wells and Paul Landis. That
leaves, from the Texas trip, Sam Sulliman, John Ready, Warren “Woody” Taylor,
Lem Johns, Jerry Bechtle, Donald Bendickson, Jim Goodenough, Bill Duncan, PRS
Dale Wunderlich, Mike Howard (Dallas office), John Joe Howlett (Dallas office),
Roger Warner, Bob Burke, Frank Yeager, Don Lawton, Ken Giannoules, and Ernest
Olsson as still living and eligible to have been interviewed…maybe.
[13] Author’s interview with Gerald
Blaine 6/10/05
[14] ‘The Dark Side Of Camelot” by
Seymour Hersh, pages 240-241
[15] 5H 570
[16] U. E. Baughman, Secret
Service Chief (New York: Harper & Row, Popular Library edition, January
1963), p. 70.
[17] Rowley oral history, LBJ
Library, January 22, 1969, p. 2. See also David Seidman, Extreme
Careers—Secret Service Agents: Life Protecting the President (New York: The
Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2003), p. 11. Rowley himself said: “Most
Presidents have responded to our requests ….”
[18] CE1025: 18 H 803-809. I have
dealt with these reports exhaustively in my own book (“Survivor’s Guilt”: see
Chapter one in entirety) and on my online blog—please see http://vincepalamara.blogspot.com/2010/10/kennedy-detail.html
[19] The Death of a President by
William Manchester, pp. 37-38 (all references to Manchester’s book are from
the 1988 Perennial Library edition.)
[22] Ibid
[23] E-mail to Vince Palamara from
Tony Zappone dated 10/20/10
[24] Author’s interview with Floyd
Boring 9/22/93
[25] Author’s interview with Floyd
Boring dated 3/4/94. For the relevant AUDIO portions of this interview, please
see: http://www.youtube.com/user/VincePalamara
[26] Floyd Boring letter to Vince
Palamara dated 11/22/97
[28] Manchester, p. 667. Of the 21
agents/officials interviewed by Manchester, only Roberts, Greer, Kinney, and
Blaine were on the Florida trip. Blaine was the advance agent for Tampa (riding
in the lead car), Greer drove JFK’s car, Kinney drove the follow-up car, and
Roberts was the commander of the follow-up car. That said, in the author’s
opinion, Roberts is still the main suspect of the four as being Manchester’s
dubious source for this quote: after all, he was asked to write a report about
JFK’s so-called desires, citing Boring as the source for the order via radio
transmission. The others—Greer, Kinney, and Blaine—were not asked to write a
similar report. In addition, Manchester had access to this report while writing
his book (see next footnote). Also, unlike the other three, Roberts was
interviewed twice and, while Greer never went on record with his feelings about
the matter, one way or the other, Kinney adamantly denied the veracity of
Manchester’s information, while Blaine denied the substance of the
information, although he did mention the “Ivy league charlatan” remark
coming from a secondary source. Finally, of the 21 agents interviewed by
Manchester, Blaine is the only agent—save two headquarters Inspectors (see next
footnote)—whose interview comments are not to be found in the text or index.
Since, in addition to Blaine, three other agents—Lawton, Meredith and
Newman—also mentioned the remark to this reviewer strictly as hearsay,
in some fashion or another, it is more than likely that Manchester seized upon
the remark and greatly exaggerated its significance … and attributed it
to Boring, while his actual source was likely Roberts and/or Blaine. Again,
since Boring wasn’t interviewed, the comment had to come second-hand from
another agent, who, in turn, received the remark second-hand from Boring.
Ultimately, the question is: did Boring really give out this order on
instructions from JFK?
[29] Interestingly, Manchester,
having interviewed 21 different agents/officials for his book (pp. 660–9),
chose to include interviews with Secret Service Inspectors Burrill Peterson
and Jack Warner. What’s the problem? Well, these men, not even associated
with the Texas trip in any way, were interviewed more than any of the other
agents: four times each (Peterson: October 9, 1964, November 17, 1964, November
18, 1964, February 5, 1965; Warner: June 2, 1964, November 18, 1964, February
5, 1965, May 12, 1965)! Only Emory Roberts, Clint Hill, Roy Kellerman, and
Forrest Sorrels had two interviews apiece, while all the other agents/officials
garnered just one inter-view each. And, more importantly, unlike all the other
19 agents, save one, Gerald Blaine (a Texas trip WHD agent), these two
Inspectors are not even mentioned in the actual text or the index; their
comments are “invisible” to the reader. It appears, then, that Manchester’s
book was truly a sanitized, “official” book, more so than we thought before (as
most everyone knows, the book was written with Jackie Kennedy’s approval—it was
her idea, in fact [p. ix]. Manchester even had early, exclusive access to the
Warren Commission itself: “At the outset of my inquiry the late Chief Justice
Earl Warren appointed me an ex officio member of his commission … and provided
me with an office in Washington’s VFW building, where the commission met and
where copies of reports and depositions were made available to me.” [p. xix])
Inspector Peterson figured prominently in the post-assassination press dealings
(or lack thereof)—as Agent Sorrels testified: “… I don’t think at any time you
will see that there is any statement made by the newspapers or television that
we said anything because Mr. Kelley, the Inspector, told me, ‘Any information
that is given out will have to come from Inspector Peterson in Washington.’ ”
[7 H 359] Peterson became an Assistant Di-rector for Investigations in 1968 [20
Years in the Secret Service by Rufus Youngblood (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1973), p. 220], while Inspector Warner would go on to become Director
of Public Affairs (a position he held until the 1990s), acting as a buffer to
critical press questions during the assassination attempts on President Ford
and other related matters [The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an
Enigmatic Agency (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003) by Philip Melanson
with Peter Stevens, pp. 101, 201, 224, 237]. Warner would also later become a
consultant to the 1993 Clint Eastwood movie In The Line of Fire.
[31] 2 H 136–7
[33] Ibid
[34] Stout’s son, Stu Stout III,
wrote this reviewer on 11/1/10: “Vince. Thought I would mention that one of the
influential people that attended the advance planning meetings for the Dallas
trip was the Mayor of Dallas in 63 and I think it was Earle Cabell or Eric ?.
Doesn’t really matter. I distinctly …remember during a conversation at the
dinner table weeks following (that surreal day), my father telling my mother
that “the Mayor thought agents riding on the back of the car (which was common
protocol) would send a message and did not want his city to appear dangerous to
the world though the media. He asked for subtle security exposure if and where
possible.”On that day only two individuals would have been able to direct such
an order and that would have been the President himself or Floyd Boring SAIC.
In my opinion, and you know about opinions, if you find out who else was in
that chain of command “during that moment” you will be able to rationally
determine why the agents jumped down for a portion of that politically
motivated route through the city. Take care Vince and please don’t give up.”
[35] “Survivor’s Guilt”, Chapter 1
[36] 20 Years in the Secret Service
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), p. 111
[37] 18 H 783
[38] “Survivor’s Guilt”, Chapter 1
[39] Ibid
[40] 2 H 136–7
[41] Italy film clip, courtesy Jim
Cedrone of the JFK Library; newly discovered still photos from Naples: John
Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Life In Pictures by Yann-Brice Dherbier and
Pierre-Henri Verlhac (New York: Phaidon Press, 2003), p. 183, 231; Corbis stock
pho-tos discovered by the author in 2005 (and also forwarded to former agents
Blaine, Coughlin, ad O’Rourke). Regarding Italy: See also Johnny, We Hardly
Knew Ye by Kenneth P. O’Donnell, David F. Powers, and Joseph McCarthy
(Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1972), p. 433 [note: all references to this
book are from the Pocket Book paperback edition published in 1973]; Tampa
Tribune, November 19, 1963 (downtown area picture with agents Lawton and
Zboril holding onto the rear handrails); Cecil Stoughton photo, taken from the
follow-up car, November 18, 1963 (suburban area picture depicting same); short
clip in David Wolper’s 1964 film Four Days In November, depicting the
start of the Tampa trip: agent Zboril is running on the left-rear end of the
limo, holding onto the handrail, while agent Berger is riding on the opposite
side; agent Lawton is seen running along Berger’s side; black and white photos
discovered by Ian Griggs and Frank Debenedictis; black and white photos from
photographers Tony Zappone and Tommy Eure.
[42] see also “Survivor’s Guilt”,
chapter 3
[43] 18 H 730
[44] RIF#180–10078–10493
[46] Advance man Jerry Bruno’s notes
from the JFK Library in Boston. Agent Henry Rybka was also on the follow-up car
team in San Antonio on November 21, 1963( as had driver agent George Hickey in
Tampa and in Dallas). Rybka was not the driver
[47] “Survivor’s Guilt”, Chapter 6
[48] 11 HSCA 527; 7 H 577–580; 21 H
567; RIF#180–10093–10320: May 31, 1977 Memorandum from HSCA’s Belford Lawson to
fellow HSCA members Gary Cornwell and Ken Klein (revised August 15, 1977).
[49] 7 H 580–1; 11 HSCA 527, 529;
RIF#180–10093–10320: May 31, 1977 Memorandum from HSCA’s Belford Lawson to
fellow HSCA members Gary Cornwell and Ken Klein (revised August 15, 1977).
[50] 4 H 338
[51] See also RIF#180–10093–10320:
May 31, 1977 Memorandum from HSCA’s Belford Lawson to fellow HSCA members Gary
Cornwell and Ken Klein (revised August 15, 1977)—the original language used for
this passage: “But in comparison with what the SS’s own documents suggest were
the security precautions used in prior motorcades during the same Texas visit, the
motorcade alteration in Dallas by the SS may have been a unique occurrence.”
[52] 6 H 163. As the author
presented at the COPA ’96 and Lancer ’97 conferences, the press photographers
frequently rode in a flatbed truck in front of the motorcade pro-cession [films
courtesy JFK Library; see also John F. Kennedy: A Life in Pictures, pp.
178–180, 183, 231]. Photographer Tony Zappone confirmed to the author on De-cember
18, 2003 that a flat bed truck was used for the photographers in Tampa,
Flor-ida, on November 18, 1963.
[53] Bishop, pp. 109–110, 134
[54] Manchester, pp. 131–2. See also
The Flying White House, p. 209 (O’Donnell seems to get the blame for
Burkley’s lack of proximity).
[55] Burkley’s October 17, 1967 JFK
Library oral history
[56] RIF#154–10002–10422
[57] Burkley’s October 17, 1967 JFK
Library oral history
[58] July 5, 1978 HSCA interview of
Evelyn Lincoln
[59] Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye,
p. 31.
[60] 18 H 795 ; See also see Bill
Sloan, Breaking the Silence, pp. 181–5; The Man Who Knew Too Much,
pp. 570–1; Michael Benson, Who’s Who in the JFK Assassination (1993),
pp. 40–41
[61] Along with General Ted Clifton,
the other military aide who often rode in the front seat of the limousine
between the driver and the agent in charge
[62] CFTR radio (Canada) interview
1976 Interview with McHugh conducted late 1975 via phone.
[63] 2 H 129
[64] CFTR radio (Canada) interview
1976 Interview with McHugh conducted late 1975 via phone
[65] May 11, 1978 interview with the
HSCA’s Mark Flanagan (RIF#180–10078–10465 [see also 7 HSCA 14])
[66] Roger Craig, Two Men in
Dallas video
[67] No More Silence by Larry
Sneed (1998), p. 224
[68] 21 H 547, 572: DPD Stevenson
Exhibit
[69] 22 H 626
[70] No More Silence, p. 337
[71] 3/23/63 Secret Service Survey
Report: RIF#154-10003-10012
[72] 20 H 391; see also 4 H 171-172
(Curry); 11 HSCA 530
[73] 9/3/98 e-mail to the author
[74] Author’s interview with Bolden,
September 16, 1993; Lawson: 4 H 336. SA Kinney told the HSCA on February 26,
1978 that it was “unusual for LBJ to be along”
[75] “My Life Protecting Five
Presidents” by Rufus Youngblood, p. 199
[76] The Flying White House,
pp. 214–5
[77] RIF#180–10093–10320: May 31,
1977 Memorandum from HSCA’s Belford Lawson to fellow HSCA members Gary Cornwell
and Ken Klein (revised August 15, 1977).
[78] RIF#154–10002–10423: Secret
Service Final Survey Report, Tampa, FL—under-passes controlled by police and
military units; Sheriff’s office secured the roofs of major buildings in the
downtown and suburban areas; agents on limo; Salin-ger with Kilduff; close
press and photographers (including Stoughton in follow-up car); McHugh in
between Secret Service agents in front seat of limo
[79] RIF#154–10002–10424: Final
Survey report, San Antonio—Forty members of the military police from
Fort Sam Houston, Texas: traffic con-trol, motorcade route security, and
intersection control; police helicopter util-ized along route; many flanking
motorcycles
[80] See also Constance Kritzberg
and Larry Hancock, November Patriots (Colorado, Undercover Press, 1998),
p. 423
[81] See “Survivor’s Guilt”, chapter
8
[82] 2 H 112–132 (Greer): see his
entire testimony.
[83] Manchester, p. 160.
[84] Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye by
Dave Powers & Ken O’Donnell w/ Joe McCarthy, p. 44.
[85] Manchester, p. 290 (and 386).
See also “The Day Kennedy Was Shot” (1992 edition) by Jim Bishop, p. 196.
[86] See also Mikita Brottman, Car
Crash Culture (New York: Palgrave, 2001), p. 173 (chapter authored by
Pamela McElwain-Brown): USPP Motorcycle Officer Nick Pren-cipe spoke to Greer
on the night of the murder and said that the agent was quite dis-tressed that
evening.
[87] 2 H 113
[88] See the book by O’Leary and
Seymour, Triangle of Death (Nashville, TN: WND Books, 2003)
[89] Crossfire by Jim Marrs
(1988), p. 2
[90] Ironically, in former Chief U.
E. Baughman’s book, Secret Service Chief, it is written (p. 69): “It is
a cardinal principle of Presidential protection never to allow the presi-dent
to stop his car in a crowd if it can possibly be avoided.”
[91] Sibert and O’Neil Report,
November 22, 1963
[92] Mary Barelli Gallagher, My
Life With Jacqueline Kennedy (New York: David McKay, 1969), p. 342: Secret
Service Agent Marty Venker (Rush, p. 25) and Jackie biographer C. David Heymann
[A Woman Called Jackie (New York: Lyle Stuart, 1989), p. 401] confirm
that this unnamed agent was indeed Greer. See also Edward Klein, Just
Jackie: Her Private Years (Ballantine Books, 1999), pp. 58, 374.
[93] Gallagher, p. 351.
[94] Rush, p. 25.
[95] A Woman Called Jackie (New
York: Lyle Stuart, 1989), p. 401; Edward Klein, Just Jackie: Her Private
Years (Ballantine Books, 1999), pp. 58, 374
[96] Manchester, p. 163
[97] Edward Klein, Just Jackie:
Her Private Years (Ballantine Books, 1999), pp. 58–59, 374, based on an
interview Klein had with Kitty Carlisle Hart regarding Hart’s conversation with
Jackie.
[98] FBI RIF#124-10012-10239;
Kellerman would go on to deny ever saying such a thing: 18 H 707-708
[99] “High Treason”, page 127; “Two
Men In Dallas” video by Mark Lane, 1976
[100] “Evening Magazine” video
11/22/88; interview with Marty Underwood 10/9/92
[101] Jim Marrs, Crossfire,
pp. 296–7. See also Bishop, p. 259, and Manchester, pp. 234–5.
[102] 7 H 451. See also Johnny, We
Hardly Knew Ye, pp. 35, 38.
[103] Marrs, p. 297. In fact, as
noted by researcher David Starks in his 1994 video The In-vestigations,
while Specter’s name appears in the hardcover version of O’Donnell’s book, it
was deleted from the mass-market paperback (p. 41)!
[104] Bishop, p. 244
[105] Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye,
p. 34
[106] Manchester, pp. 165, 175;
Curry, pp. 36–37; Hepburn, Farewell America, p. 229; The Flying White
House, p. 215
[107] The Washington Post,
October 11, 1973.
[109] Michael R. Beschloss, Reaching
for Glory: Lyndon Johnson’s Secret White House Tapes, 1964–1965 (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2002), p. 703.
[110] See Bolden’s excellent 2008
book “The Echo From Dealey Plaza”.
[112] Fox News 11/12/10
[113] Hill’s November 30, 1963
report: 18 H 740–5. (See also the 2004 National Geographic documentary, Inside
the U.S. Secret Service.)
[114] 2 H 141, 143
[115] Landis’s report dated November
27, 1963: 18 H 758–9; Landis’s detailed report dated November 30, 1963: 18 H
751–7; HSCA Report, pp. 89, 606 (referencing Landis’s interview, February 17,
1979 outside contact report, JFK Document 014571)
[117] See article in The
Virginian-Pilot ,June 17, 2010, by Bill Bartel:
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/06/do-you-remember-where-you-were-he-does-jfk#rfq
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/06/do-you-remember-where-you-were-he-does-jfk#rfq
[118] ARRB Final Report (1998), p.
149
[119] See also http://palamaravince.blogspot.com/2010/11/more-preliminary-thoughts-on-blaines.html; http://www.youtube.com/user/VincePalamara
PART TWO
Slick Propaganda: The Discovery Channel documentary “The
Kennedy Detail” (based on the 2010 Gerald Blaine book of the same name
This Discovery Channel documentary originally
aired—twice—on 12/2/10 and, again, on 12/4/10 (It was originally supposed to
debut on the 47th anniversary of the assassination on 11/22/10 but,
for some reason or reasons unknown, the show aired a week and a half later.
Like the release of the book on 11/2/10, Election Day, the marketing strategy
of Blaine’s work was a tad suspect, in my opinion, but I digress). As one who
has interviewed and corresponded with most of the Secret Service agents who
served under JFK, I was most looking forward to this documentary, as there can
be an appeal to an audio/ visual format of one’s point-of-view that can get
lost in translation in strict black and white writings. That said, as with the
book of the same name, there are some things to commend in “The Kennedy Detail”
television special, while there are also several noteworthy items to condemn
or, at the very least, tread cautiously on.
I must give credit where credit is due: I was most
impressed with many of the visuals—the many sundry films and photographs used—
in this documentary. In addition, I was also heartened to see then-and –now
photographs of the agents and some of their wives, as well. For the record, the
JFK Secret Service agents involved in the production were (naturally) Gerald
Blaine (in Austin on 11/22/63), Clint Hill (in Dallas on 11/22/63), Paul
Landis (same), Winston Lawson (same), David Grant (same,
albeit at the Trade Mart), Ron Pontius (the 11/21/63 Houston lead
advance agent), and, oddly enough, Toby Chandler (attending Secret
Service school in Washington, D.C. on 11/22/63), as well as Tom
Wells (with Caroline Kennedy at the White House on 11/22/63). The non-assassination aspects of this program where, by
and large, entertaining and somewhat riveting at times; in this regard, I don’t
have much of a problem with these areas of the production, per se, except with
the almost too saccharine “Camelot” portrayal of the Kennedys and the
“choir-boy”, near angelic image that was portrayed of the agents themselves,
traits also to be found in the book, as well. Then again, regarding the latter
image portrayal, one would think it would be in Blaine’s best interest to put
the best foot forward, so to speak, and present the agents in the finest light
possible, especially in light of their miserable failings on 11/22/63, the day
President Kennedy was assassinated under their watch.
There is an old saying: “The devil is in the details.” It
is with this in mind that a look at some of those details, mentioned in the
program or avoided, as they pertain to the Secret Service and the assassination
of JFK, is in order now.
In a curious and ironic program note, the 2009 Discovery
Channel documentary “Secrets of the Secret Service” aired right before both
initial airings of “The Kennedy Detail” program and, in this show, an official
Secret Service documentary, the narrator, as well as a couple former agents,
Joseph Funk and Joe Petro, briefly mention the mistakes the agents made with
regard to the assassination that go directly against what is being espoused in
the Blaine production; quite a noticeable contrast, to say the least, and one
many people, myself included, noticed immediately! In general, the
“blame-the-victim” (JFK) notion that is such part and parcel of both the Blaine
book and the documentary is largely replaced by rightfully noting the mistakes
made by the agency (taking the president through Dealey Plaza, in particular),
as well as the equally false “blame-the-staff” idea, a notion Blaine does not
even MENTION in his book and is, for the record, like blaming JFK for the
security deficiencies, false. Specifically, the most alarming contrast with
“The Kennedy Detail” program is what “The Secrets of the Secret Service”
decided TO deal with that the Blaine show strangely avoided (although it is
mentioned in his book): the infamous WFAA/ ABC black and white video of an agent
being recalled at Love Field during the start of the motorcade in Dallas. This
program “buys into” my notion of what is being depicted hook, line, and sinker,
which is quite an endorsement, considering that, once again, this is an
official Secret Service documentary, made with agency input (as mentioned in my
review of the book, many other people “bought into” my notion of what is being
shown in this footage, including, notably, former JFK agent Larry Newman, the
Rybka family, and countless authors and researchers who have viewed the video,
not to mention the 3 million plus people who have viewed this controversial
video, popularized by myself, on You Tube).[ It is strange that Blaine chose
not to show this footage, even to debunk it. Equally disturbing is the
aforementioned contrast between his views, as espoused only in his book, and my
views, as displayed on the very same network on the very same night of Blaine’s
documentary!
To his “credit”, Blaine and Hill both endorse their book
point-of-view regarding the Love Field agent recall video during their joint
appearance on C-SPAN on 11/28/10[. Ironically, I was discussed by the agents and host
Brian Lamb on the show (I was also noted in a major review of the book in the
Vancouver Sun] but, again, I digress)! For her part, co-author Lisa
McCubbin posted the following on 11/24/10 on the official Facebook edition of
“The Kennedy Detail”: “Contrary to Vince Palamara’s claims, the book was
absolutely NOT written to counteract his letter to Clint Hill. Mr. Hill
never read Palamara’s letter–it went straight into the trash. Gerald Blaine
wrote this book on his volition, and Mr. Hill contributed after much
deliberation (emphasis added).” For his part, Hill told Brian Lamb on the
aforementioned C-SPAN program four days later: “I recall receiving a letter which
I sent back to him. I didn’t bother with it…he called me and I said ”Hello”
but that was about it. But he alleges that because he sent me a letter 22 pages
in length apparently, and that I discussed that with Jerry. I forgot that I
ever got a 22-page letter from this particular individual until I heard him say
it on TV and I never discussed it with Jerry or anybody else because it
wasn’t important to me (emphasis added).” Yet, in the biggest contradiction of
all, Blaine QUOTED FROM MY LETTER TO HILL when I spoke to him on 6/10/05
and mentioned his deep friendship with Hill, as well, extending back to the
late 1950’s! For the record, I received Hill’s signed receipt for the letter
and it was NEVER returned to me, either. For his part, Blaine stated on the
very same C-SPAN program: “I have never talked to any author of a book,”
another blatant falsehood that went unchallenged—Blaine was interviewed on
5/12/65 for Manchester’s massive best-selling “The Death of a President”
(Blaine is also thanked in Manchester’s “One Brief Shining Moment”, to boot)
AND he was interviewed 2/7/04 and 6/10/05, not to mention e-mail
correspondence, by myself for MY book “Survivor’s Guilt: The Secret Service
& The Failure To Protect The President.”
Bear with this seeming digression just a tad more, for it
does indeed bear directly on both Blaine’s book and on the documentary under
specific discussion herein. On the C-SPAN appearance with Hill, regarding
myself, Blaine stated: “I am familiar with him, I don’t know him… My assessment
of Mr. Palamara is that he called probably all of the agents [true], and what
agent who answers a phone is going to answer a question ”Was President Kennedy
easy to protect?” [many of them did, and, like Blaine, told me that JFK
was a very nice man, never interfered with the actions of the Secret
Service at all, nor did President Kennedy ever order the agents off his
limousine] Well, probably he was too easy to protect because he was
assassinated [what?]. But the fact that the agents aren’t going to tell him
anything [many told me information of much value, Blaine included]and he
alludes to the fact that when I wrote the book, most of these people were dead.
Well, I worked with these people, I knew them like brothers and I knew exactly
what was going on and always respected Jim Rowley because he stood up to the
issue and said ”Look, we can’t say the President invited himself to be killed
so let’s squash this.” So that was the word throughout the Secret Service and
he – Mr. Palamara is – there are a number of things that had happened [sic]
that he has no credibility [your opinion, Mr. Blaine], he is a self-described
expert in his area which I don’t know what it is, he was born after the
assassination [as was your co-author, Lisa McCubbin!]and he keeps creating
solutions to the assassination until they are proven wrong [again, your
opinion, Mr. Blaine].” But Blaine wasn’t finished with me just yet: “The
Zapruder film, when the Zapruder film was run at normal speed, another theme
that Palamara throws out is that Bill Greer stopped the car, when it’s run at
its normal speed, you will notice the car absolutely does not stop at all. This
happened in less than six seconds after the President was hit in the throat
and moving along (emphasis added).” Oh, so you agree with my “solutions” that
JFK was shot in the neck from the FRONT, do you, Mr. Blaine? And there were
close to SIXTY WITNESSES to the limousine slowing or stopping, including SEVEN
SECRET SERVICE AGENTS AND JACQUELINE KENNEDY—not my “theme” or theory, just the
facts. Returning directly to “The Kennedy Detail” documentary, Ron Pontius
specifically refers to one of my articles (also a part of a chapter in my book)
without naming me. As the narrator, Martin Sheen, notes: “The most painful
theories point fingers at the agents themselves.” To his credit, Pontius
mentioned earlier in the program how the threats to Kennedy’s life increased
dramatically over those directed toward Eisenhower when JFK took office. That
said, the same narrator later mentioned that “Dallas worried the men on the
detail,” a notion seemingly not made manifest in the security
preparations for the fateful Dallas trip.
Keeping all of these points into focus, as with the book
itself, it is the fraudulent allegations that JFK ordered the agents off the
limousine in Tampa, Florida on 11/18/63, which allegedly were made into
standing orders for Kennedy’s trip to Texas four days later, that is given a
spotlight herein. Blaine’s words are simply incredible (literally, NOT
credible) and deserve to be quoted, verbatim, here: “President Kennedy made a
decision, and he politely told everybody, ‘You know, we’re starting the
campaign now, and the people are my asset,’” said agent Jerry Blaine. “And so,
we all of a sudden understood. It left a firm command to stay off the back of
the car.” Huh? “Everybody”? THAT alleged statement “left a firm command”? As I
stated in the review for Blaine’s book, not only do many films and photos
depict the agents (still) riding on (or walking/ jogging very near) the rear of
the limousine in Tampa, INCLUDING A FEW SHOWN IN THIS DOCUMENTARY, Congressman
Sam Gibbons, who actually rode a mere foot away IN the car with JFK,
wrote to me in a letter dated 1/15/04: ““I rode with Kennedy every time he
rode. I heard no such order. As I remember it the agents rode on the rear
bumper all the way. Kennedy was very happy during his visit to Tampa. Sam
Gibbons.” Also, photographer Tony Zappone, then a 16-year-old witness to the
motorcade in Tampa (one of whose photos for this motorcade was ironically used
in The Kennedy Detail!), told me that the agents were “definitely on the
back of the car for most of the day until they started back for MacDill AFB at
the end of the day.” Agent Hill fibs and blames the entering of the
freeway via Dealey Plaza as the reason agents weren’t on the back of the car
during the shooting, neglecting to mention the fact that, during prior trips,
the agents rode on the rear of the car at fast highway speeds, including IN TAMPA
four days before, as well as in Berlin and Bogota, Columbia, to name just a
couple others.
While it is nice to see Toby Chandler and David Grant
talk about JFK, they add little or nothing to the assassination debate itself
(and neither Grant nor Hill mention the fact that Grant is Clint Hill’s brother
in law, a fact revealed to myself when I spoke to Gerald Blaine on 6/10/05).
For his part, Paul Landis lambastes researchers for “having a field day” with
conspiracy theories, yet doesn’t mention that HE himself tremendously helped
these “theorists” via his reports (plural) describing a shot to JFK from the
FRONT [Landis’s
report dated November 27, 1963: 18 H 758–9; Landis’s detailed report dated
November 30, 1963: 18 H 751–7; HSCA Report, pp. 89, 606 (referencing Landis’s
interview, February 17, 1979 outside contact report, JFK Document 014571)]. Hill further confirms that the back of JFK’s head was
gone. Finally, Agent Lawson says that there were only three shots, yet fails to
mention that, around the very same time as the filming of this documentary, he
also stated that he “saw a huge hole in the back of the president’s head.”[ See
article in The Virginian-Pilot ,June 17, 2010, by Bill Bartel]
Is it any wonder, then, why I refer to “The Kennedy
Detail” Discovery Channel documentary as being slick propaganda, designed to
blame President Kennedy for his own assassination by falsely stating that he
ordered the agents off his limousine, as well as propagating the whole
Oswald-acted-alone mantra?
Viewer beware.
PART THREE
MRS. KENNEDY & ME: A Very
Good Book with a Few pages of Trouble
I. Introduction: Bad precedent
I so wanted to dislike this
book. As the leading civilian literary expert on the Secret Service, I had
previously—-and rightfully—lambasted Lisa McCubbin’s prior effort entitled The
Kennedy Detail for its rewriting of history, blaming JFK for his own death and
putting words in the late president’s mouth that he never once uttered, as
verified by the prior accounts of numerous top agents and White House aides,
many of whom WERE there in Dallas (unlike former agent Gerald Blaine). As
previously stated, it was my 22-page letter to former agent Clint Hill that
angered him and his best friend to whom I had also spoken to, the
aforementioned Blaine, that directly led to the writing of The Kennedy Detail
and, by extension, the need to write a follow-up tome, Mrs. Kennedy & Me
(whenever a book is even a mild best-seller, which their first effort was, it
is almost a guarantee that, if there is any gas left in the tank, so to speak,
a further literary work will be forthcoming). In fact, both agents Blaine and
Hill debated the merits of my research on television and, if that weren’t
enough, I was mentioned on pages 359-360 of The Kennedy Detail (without naming me,
of course). One could argue several other pages refer to my work, directly or
indirectly, but I digress from the matter at hand.
II. My initial review: honesty prevails
Simply put, Mrs. Kennedy &
Me is excellent: a literary home run, second only to another brand new work,
the outstanding 2012 book Within Arm’s Length by former agent Dan Emmett, as
attaining the mantle of being the best book on the Secret Service by a former
agent ever to date (1865-2012 and counting). I have to say in all honesty: Mr. Hill
and Ms. McCubbin have a lot to be proud of in this book. it is consistently
everything The Kennedy Detail is not: truthful, honest, no axe to grind, not
dry or boring, well written, and coming from the perspective of a brave and
dedicated public servant who WAS truly there. (To be fair, even The Kennedy
Detail,and certainly the documentary it was based on, had its moments, although
my judgment is rightfully clouded by what I and others feel are the purposeful
untruths and propaganda contained throughout, as well as the exasperating
third-person narrative interwoven throughout the book, making it hard to pin
down exactly WHO was responsible for specific passages. President Kennedy did
NOT order the agents off his limousine in Tampa, in Dallas, or anywhere else,
for that matter- SAIC Behn, ASAIC Boring, ATSAIC Godfrey, many of their
colleagues, and several prominent White House aides said so).
Do I still have misgivings about
some of the agents on the Kennedy detail? Sure; that will never change. Am I
also an ardent admirer of the Secret Service? You bet: the agency has a whole
lot to be proud of. Clint Hill at least TRIED to do something that fateful day
in Dallas and carried much guilt and depression over the sad events of that
time and place. That is a whole lot more than several of his colleagues can lay
claim to.
That aside, Mrs. Kennedy &
Me is highly recommended to everyone for its honesty and rich body of true,
first-hand accounts of guarding First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Too bad this
book wasn’t even longer and The Kennedy Detail did not exist, but one cannot
ask for everything.
III. On second thought
The assassination-related part
of this book aside, I obviously quite liked this book- there are no if’s,
and’s, or but’s about it. However, upon reflection, there are several items in
the assassination-related section (and elsewhere) that should be duly noted.
(Indeed, I later added a disclaimer to my online review noting this dissent).
On pages 55-56, Hill talks about the benefits of Jackie Kennedy keeping a low
profile during her trip to New York as beneficial to security: “The fewer
people who know your intended destination or route, the better. A police escort
would have just drawn attention to us, so we kept the motorcade to as few
vehicles as possible.” Indeed, on yet another trip to New York in early 1963,
this one involving both Jackie and JFK, Hill records Jackie as stating: “We
want to keep it private…No police escorts, no motorcades, no official
functions. We just want to enjoy the city like we used to.” However, this very
same situation for President Kennedy in New York, the very same city, in
mid-November 1963 was viewed not as a virtue but as a detriment to his safety
and welfare by several writers after his assassination. Today, these kinds of
trips are known by the Secret Service as “OTR”s, or “off the records”, and they
are quite effective, now as then, in their element of surprise from potential
assassins. Indeed, Hill writes: “It was a real challenge for the Secret Service
agents to keep these presidential movements private yet still maintain an
adequate amount of protection, without police escorts or blocking the streets,
but we managed.” That was their job and they did it well…until November 22,
1963.
In addition, this book vividly
demonstrates that Jackie DID indeed travel with JFK on many trips other than
the fateful Texas venture in November 1963: New York, Florida, Boston, Mexico,
Costa Rica, Canada, Germany, etc.
Page 136 has an item of much
interest to those contrasting the measures used in Dallas: “The lead vehicle in
the motorcade was a press truck—an open flatbed truck with rails around the
outside—filled with about a dozen photographers. This was typical when you
expected large crowds along a motorcade route for a president, but I’d never
seen it, prior to this trip [Pakistan], for a first lady (Hill’s emphasis).”
Dallas Morning News reporter Tom Dillard testified to the Warren Commission:
“We lost our position at the airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, normally a truck precedes the President on these things [motorcades] and certain representatives of the photographic press ride with the truck. In this case, as you know, we didn’t have any and this car that I was in was to take photographs which was of spot-news nature.” (Emphasis added)
“We lost our position at the airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, normally a truck precedes the President on these things [motorcades] and certain representatives of the photographic press ride with the truck. In this case, as you know, we didn’t have any and this car that I was in was to take photographs which was of spot-news nature.” (Emphasis added)
On page 202, there is a photo of
the agents surrounding the presidential limousine at the Orange Bowl in Miami
in December 1962: agents Gerald Blaine (of Kennedy Detail infamy), Ken
Giannoules, Clint Hill, Paul Landis, Frank Yeager (uncredited), Ron Pontius
(uncredited), and Bob Lilley (also uncredited). Hill writes: “I and the other
agents jogged alongside the car, constantly scanning the crowd for any sign of
disturbance or disruption, as we headed toward the waiting helicopter outside
the arena.” On page 212, Hill says: “There would always be at least five or six
Secret Service agents around the president, and trailing close behind the
president’s limousine was the not so unobtrusive follow-up car.”
IV. Déjà vu All Over Again
Still, all things considered,
pretty smooth sailing so far- a good book about Jackie Kennedy and Clint Hill;
great human interest anecdotes and dialogue. However, the party ends briefly on
pages 270-271, wherein Hill does his best Gerald Blaine “imitation” and seeks
to rewrite a little history to suit his own ends. Hill states that it was
November 20, 1963, when he saw ASAIC Floyd Boring (the planner of the Texas
trip) and, conveniently, fellow ASAIC Roy Kellerman (the agent nominally in
charge of the Dallas trip) by the Secret Service office in the White House, as
he correctly notes that SAIC Gerald Behn was on vacation at the time. It was
here that Boring—with Kellerman strangely silent by his side—conveyed to Hill
that JFK allegedly ordered the agents off the limousine in Tampa on 11/18/63,
something this author is adamant, based on years of research and interviews
with Boring, Behn, and many of their colleagues, never happened.
When asked if Hill was aware of
what allegedly went down in Tampa, Hill states: “I didn’t recall anything out
of the ordinary [on the radio].” Hill, “quoting” Boring (who passed away
2/1/08), writes: “(as Boring) We had a long motorcade in Tampa, and it was
decided that we should keep two guys on the back of the car for the entire
route—just for added precaution.” Hill further writes (as himself): “I nodded.
That wasn’t all that unusual.” Then, in a little jumbled thought/ sentence,
Hill (once again as Boring), adds: “So, we had Chuck Zboril and Don Lawton on
the back of the car the ENTIRE way,” Floyd said. “But PARTWAY through the
motorcade, in an area where the crowds had thinned, the president requested we
remove the agents from the back of the car (emphasis added).” On page 271, Hill
writes: “Really? I asked. I had NEVER heard the president ever question
procedural recommendations by his Secret Service detail (emphasis added).”
Hill writes: “What was the
reason?” Writing “as” Floyd Boring again (with, again, a strangely silent Roy
Kellerman, assuming he was really there and this really took place as written):
“He said now that we’re heading into the campaign, he doesn’t want it to look
like we’re crowding him. And the word is [FROM WHOM?], from now on, you don’t
get on the back of the car unless the situation absolutely warrants it.”
“Okay,” I said. “Understood.” Nothing is in writing, Kellerman is silent, Behn
is on vacation, and we are to just take Hill at his word that this 2012
reconstruction is the gospel.
Congressman Sam Gibbons, who
actually rode a mere foot away in the car with JFK, wrote to me in a letter
dated 1/15/04: ““I rode with Kennedy every time he rode. I heard no such order.
As I remember it the agents rode on the rear bumper all the way. Kennedy was
very happy during his visit to Tampa. Sam Gibbons.” Also, photographer Tony
Zappone, then a 16-year-old witness to the motorcade in Tampa (one of whose
photos for this motorcade was ironically used in The Kennedy Detail!), told me
that the agents were “definitely on the back of the car for most of the day
until they started back for MacDill AFB at the end of the day.” (Emphasis
added) Win Lawson wrote to this reviewer on 1/12/04, before this book was even
a thought, and said: “I do not know of any standing orders for the agents to
stay off the back of the car. After all, foot holds and handholds were built
into that particular vehicle… it never came to my attention as such.” (emphasis
added). FLOYD BORING himself told me “[JFK] was a very easy-going guy … he
didn’t interfere with our actions at all.” In a later interview, Boring
expounded further: “Well that’s not true. That’s not true. He was a very nice
man; he never interfered with us at all.” If that weren’t enough, Boring also
wrote the author: “He [JFK] was very cooperative with the Secret Service.”
As for ASAIC Floyd Boring, this
reviewer has no doubt that Boring DID INDEED CONVEY the fraudulent notion that
JFK had asked that the agents remove themselves from the limo between
11/18-11/19/63, but that the former agent was telling the TRUTH of the matter
when he spoke to me years later. You see, Clint Hill wrote in his report:
I … never personally was
requested by President John F. Kennedy not to ride on the rear of the
Presidential automobile. I did receive information passed verbally from the
administrative offices of the White House Detail of the Secret Service to
Agents assigned to that Detail that President Kennedy had made such requests. I
do not know from whom I received this information … No written instructions
regarding this were ever distributed … [I] received this information after the
President’s return to Washington, D.C. This would have been between November
19, 1963 and November 21, 1963 [note the time frame!]. I do not know specifically
who advised me of this request by the President. (emphasis added)
Mr. Hill’s undated report was presumably written in April 1964, as the other four reports submitted to the Warren Commission were written at that time. Why Mr. Hill could not “remember” the specific name of the agent who gave him JFK’s alleged desires is very troubling. He revealed it on March 9, 1964, presumably before his report was written, in his (obviously pre-rehearsed) testimony under oath to the future Senator Arlen Specter, then a lawyer with the Warren Commission:
Specter: Did you have any other occasion en route from Love Field to downtown Dallas to leave the follow-up car and mount that portion of the President’s car [rear portion of limousine]?
Hill: I did the same thing approximately four times.
Specter: What are the standard regulations and practices, if any, governing such an action on your part?
Hill: It is left to the agent’s discretion more or less to move to that particular position when he feels that there is a danger to the President: to place himself as close to the President or the First Lady as my case was, as possible, which I did.
Specter: Are those practices specified in any written documents of the Secret Service?
Hill: No, they are not.
Specter: Now, had there been any instruction or comment about your performance of that type of a duty with respect to anything President Kennedy himself had said in the period immediately preceding the trip to Texas?
Hill: Yes, sir; there was. The preceding Monday, the President was on a trip to Tampa, Florida, and he requested that the agents not ride on either of those two steps.
Specter: And to whom did the President make that request?
Hill: Assistant Special Agent in Charge Boring.
Specter: Was Assistant Special Agent in Charge Boring the individual in charge of that trip to Florida?
Hill: He was riding in the Presidential automobile on that trip in Florida, and I presume that he was. I was not along.
Specter: Well, on that occasion would he have been in a position comparable to that occupied by Special Agent Kellerman on this trip to Texas?
Hill: Yes sir; the same position.
Specter: And Special Agent Boring informed you of that instruction by President Kennedy?
Hill: Yes sir, he did.
Specter: Did he make it a point to inform other special agents of that same instruction?
Hill: I believe that he did, sir.
Specter: And, as a result of what President Kennedy said to him, did he instruct you to observe that Presidential admonition?
Hill: Yes, sir.
Specter: How, if at all, did that instruction of President Kennedy affect your action and—your action in safeguarding him on this trip to Dallas?
Hill: We did not ride on the rear portions of the automobile. I did on those four occasions because the motorcycles had to drop back and there was no protection on the left-hand side of the car.”
Mr. Hill’s undated report was presumably written in April 1964, as the other four reports submitted to the Warren Commission were written at that time. Why Mr. Hill could not “remember” the specific name of the agent who gave him JFK’s alleged desires is very troubling. He revealed it on March 9, 1964, presumably before his report was written, in his (obviously pre-rehearsed) testimony under oath to the future Senator Arlen Specter, then a lawyer with the Warren Commission:
Specter: Did you have any other occasion en route from Love Field to downtown Dallas to leave the follow-up car and mount that portion of the President’s car [rear portion of limousine]?
Hill: I did the same thing approximately four times.
Specter: What are the standard regulations and practices, if any, governing such an action on your part?
Hill: It is left to the agent’s discretion more or less to move to that particular position when he feels that there is a danger to the President: to place himself as close to the President or the First Lady as my case was, as possible, which I did.
Specter: Are those practices specified in any written documents of the Secret Service?
Hill: No, they are not.
Specter: Now, had there been any instruction or comment about your performance of that type of a duty with respect to anything President Kennedy himself had said in the period immediately preceding the trip to Texas?
Hill: Yes, sir; there was. The preceding Monday, the President was on a trip to Tampa, Florida, and he requested that the agents not ride on either of those two steps.
Specter: And to whom did the President make that request?
Hill: Assistant Special Agent in Charge Boring.
Specter: Was Assistant Special Agent in Charge Boring the individual in charge of that trip to Florida?
Hill: He was riding in the Presidential automobile on that trip in Florida, and I presume that he was. I was not along.
Specter: Well, on that occasion would he have been in a position comparable to that occupied by Special Agent Kellerman on this trip to Texas?
Hill: Yes sir; the same position.
Specter: And Special Agent Boring informed you of that instruction by President Kennedy?
Hill: Yes sir, he did.
Specter: Did he make it a point to inform other special agents of that same instruction?
Hill: I believe that he did, sir.
Specter: And, as a result of what President Kennedy said to him, did he instruct you to observe that Presidential admonition?
Hill: Yes, sir.
Specter: How, if at all, did that instruction of President Kennedy affect your action and—your action in safeguarding him on this trip to Dallas?
Hill: We did not ride on the rear portions of the automobile. I did on those four occasions because the motorcycles had to drop back and there was no protection on the left-hand side of the car.”
However, keeping in mind what
Boring told this reviewer, the ARRB’s Doug Horne—by request of this
author—interviewed Mr. Boring regarding this matter on 9/18/96. Horne wrote:
“Mr. Boring was asked to read pages 136–137 of Clint Hill’s Warren Commission
testimony, in which Clint Hill recounted that Floyd Boring had told him just
days prior to the assassination that during the President’s Tampa trip on
Monday, November 18, 1963, JFK had requested that agents not ride on the rear
steps of the limousine, and that Boring had also so informed other agents of
the White House detail, and that as a result, agents in Dallas (except Clint
Hill, on brief occasions) did not ride on the rear steps of the limousine. Mr.
Boring affirmed that he did make these statements to Clint Hill, but stated
that he was not relaying a policy change, but rather simply telling an anecdote
about the President’s kindness and consideration in Tampa in not wanting agents
to have to ride on the rear of the Lincoln limousine when it was not necessary
to do so because of a lack of crowds along the street.” (emphasis added)
SS Agent Clint Hill rides on the
rear of the Presidential limousine during the Dallas motorcade, November 22,
1963.
This reviewer finds this admission startling, especially because the one agent who decided to ride on the rear of the limousine in Dallas anyway—and on at least four different occasions—was none other than Clint Hill himself.
Returning to Hill’s book, Hill writes on pages 276-277: “What was most useful, from the Secret Service standpoint, were the special handles on the trunk and the steps on the rear bumper area where two additional agents could ride, and have immediate access to the occupants, should the need arise.” Then, in an awkward sentence, Hill continues: “But, as I’d been told the day before, the president did not want us there, on the back of the car.” Lisa McCubbin was also the co-author of Gerald Blaine’s The Kennedy Detail : boy, does this stuff sound familiar—the mantra of JFK-is-to-blame.
V. Other items of interest
After noting that President Kennedy trusted Kellerman “completely” (page 274) and wrongly noting that the SS-100-X was in service since March 1961 (page 276; it was actually in service since June 1961, 3 months later), Hill totally gleans over the infamous drinking incident of 11/21-11/22/63 involving NINE agents of the Secret Service, including Clint Hill himself, Paul Landis, Glen Bennett, and Jack Ready! Interestingly, they were all from Shift Leader Emory Roberts’ particular shift. Significantly, none of the agents from the V.P. LBJ detail were involved in the drinking incident.
Regarding the issue of the bubbletop, although Hill states (on page 284) that agent Lawson conveyed to Sam Kinney, the driver of the follow-up car, that the bubbletop was to be removed in Dallas, Sam told this reviewer on 10/19/92 and, again, on 3/4/94 and 4/15/94: “It was my fault the top was off [the limousine in Dallas]—I am the sole responsibility of that.” In addition, Kinney’s oft-ignored report dated November 30, 1963 confirms this fact, as does the former agent’s recently-released February 26, 1978 HSCA interview:
“… SA Kinney indicated that he
felt that his was the responsibility for making the final decision about whether
to use the bubble-top.”
Hill, in his zeal to show how
“normal” it was for JFK not to use the bubbletop, makes an error, as well as
many omissions- he writes:
“It was the same whether he was
in Berlin, Dublin [wrong-JFK used the top on part of this trip, in bad AND good
weather!], Honolulu, Tampa, San Antonio, or San Jose, Costa Rica.”
What Hill omits are the many
times JFK used a PARTIAL top (just the front and back with the middle open) OR
the FULL top (New York Spring 1963, several motorcades in D.C., Venezuela, and
many other trips).
On page 286, Hill states that Bill Greer, the driver of JFK’s car, was “a Catholic”, yet his own son Richard told me on two occasions that his father was a Methodist. (When asked, “What did your father think of JFK?”, Richard did not respond the first time. When this author asked him a second time, Greer responded: “Well, we’re Methodists … and JFK was Catholic.”)! In addition, Hill states that Greer “spoke with a bit of a brogue”, something not in evidence on his lengthy 1970 interview available on my You Tube Channel.
On page 286, Hill states that Bill Greer, the driver of JFK’s car, was “a Catholic”, yet his own son Richard told me on two occasions that his father was a Methodist. (When asked, “What did your father think of JFK?”, Richard did not respond the first time. When this author asked him a second time, Greer responded: “Well, we’re Methodists … and JFK was Catholic.”)! In addition, Hill states that Greer “spoke with a bit of a brogue”, something not in evidence on his lengthy 1970 interview available on my You Tube Channel.
VI. VERY interesting
On page 287, Hill describes the
makeup of the follow-up car and writes: “Glen Bennett from the Protective
Research Section, handling intelligence (emphasis added).” Oh, really? Thanks
for the confirmation, Clint. Officially-speaking, he was NOT acting as an
active PRS agent that day…well, at least according to your own colleagues who
spoke to me. For his part, former WHD agent J. Walter Coughlin, who assisted
fellow agent Dennis R. Halterman on the advance for the San Antonio part of the
Texas trip (November 21, 1963), wrote the author: “I can only add the
following—I was not in Dallas so my knowledge is hearsay from good friends who
were there.” Glen Bennett was on all these trips [second New York, Florida, and
Texas] not as a member of PRS but as a temporary shift agent in that so many of
us (shift agents) were out on advance. “This I do know to be a fact and read
nothing more into it.”
Furthermore, the author must
have touched a nerve in Coughlin. Winston Lawson wrote the author:
“I understand from my friend
Walt Coughlin that you wondered why Glen Bennett from PRS was on the trip
[note: the author did not tell Coughlin, who lives in Texas, about the author’s
contact with Lawson, who lives in Virginia, regarding this or any other
question]. Nothing sinister about it and had nothing to do with threats or
intelligence. There were so many trips, MD and FL, just prior to TX and so many
stops in TX that the small WH Detail was decimated supplying advance people. A
number of temporarily assigned agents were on all 3 shifts in TX … I believe
Walt had been on an advance before he went to his stop in TX.”
Clearly, we have a conflict: the
written record, my research, and Clint Hill’s account versus Walt Coughlin’s
and Win Lawson’s statements to myself.
Was PRS Agent Glen Bennett
monitoring mortal threats to JFK’s life, made in the month of November, and was
this covered up afterwards? Is this the reason for the conflicting accounts—and
the timing—of Bennett’s participation in the second New York trip, the Florida
trip, and the Texas trip?
Did Bennett ride in the follow-up car and participate on these trips for this purpose? I strongly believe this to be the case. Thanks again, Clint, for the confirmation.
Did Bennett ride in the follow-up car and participate on these trips for this purpose? I strongly believe this to be the case. Thanks again, Clint, for the confirmation.
VII. And another thing (or two)
On pages 288-289, Hill mentions
that JFK looked back at him on two different occasions during the fateful Dallas
motorcade–when Hill briefly rode on the rear of the car on Main St, as depicted
in the photo on page 289– yet did not say anything. JFK not saying anything
speaks volumes, in and of itself. Mainly, that he did not care, one way or the
other, if the agents were there doing their duty or not. But what is most
troubling is the fact that no films or photos this author has ever seen reveal
JFK allegedly turning to look at Hill in the first place! Hmmm…
Just to reiterate the point of
SAIC Behn’s absence from the Texas trip and its importance further, Hill writes
(on page 297): “Jerry Behn…was with the president all the time, just like I was
with Mrs. Kennedy. They had a great relationship. The president loved him,
trusted him…Jerry decided to take a week off…His first annual leave in three
years.” Kind of convenient.
VIII. Another mantra: the back
of the head
On pages 290, 291, 305, and 306,
Clint Hill states firmly, as he has many times in the past, that the BACK of
JFK’s head was gone, thus indicating that President Kennedy was shot from the
front, as entrance wounds leave small holes, while exit wounds leave large
holes. Page 290: “…blood, brain matter, and bone fragments exploded from the
back of the president’s head. The president’s blood, parts of his skull, bits
of his brain were splattered all over me—on my face, my clothes, in my hair.”
Page 291: “His eyes were fixed, and I could see inside the back of his head. I
could see inside the back of the president’s head.” Page 305: (at the autopsy)
“the wound in the upper-right rear of the head.” Page 306: “It looked like
somebody had flipped open the back of his head, stuck in an ice-cream scoop and
removed a portion of the brain…”
IX. In the final analysis
Unlike The Kennedy Detail, Clint
Hill has written (again, with Lisa McCubbin) a fine book. That said, it is best
to take some of his pre-assassination “reenactments” of statements made by
others (“faction”?) with a huge grain of salt, while also noting—with
interest—those assassination and post-assassination revelations and statements
that do ring true and are of interest to all.
POST SCRIPT
It was recently announced that
the first book Clint Hill was involved with, Lisa McCubbin’s and Gerald
Blaine’s The Kennedy Detail, will be made into a movie, set for release in
2013, the 50th anniversary of the assassination. The movie should be about Abe
Bolden. That is a great story and a truthful one. That said, Mark Lane’s movie,
that will include former Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden, is set to be
released soon. That should even out the playing field a little more. Lane’s
movie with Bolden will hopefully fill in the blanks left by the Secret Service
destruction of records.
According to Ch. 8 of the ARRB’s
Final Report (1998):
Congress passed the JFK Act of 1992. One month later, the Secret Service began its compliance efforts. However, in January 1995, the Secret Service destroyed presidential protection survey reports for some of President Kennedy’s trips in the fall of 1963. The Review Board learned of the destruction approximately one week after the Secret Service destroyed them, when the Board was drafting its request for additional information. The Board believed that the Secret Service files on the President’s travel in the weeks preceding his murder would be relevant.
As the ARRB’s Doug Horne wrote in a memo dated April 16, 1996: “The ‘final decision’ to approve the Texas trip made ‘late Tuesday night’ indicates that decision came on September 24, 1963 … the Secret Service Protective Survey Reports … which were destroyed in 1995 commence with trip files starting on this same date: September 24, 1963.”
Congress passed the JFK Act of 1992. One month later, the Secret Service began its compliance efforts. However, in January 1995, the Secret Service destroyed presidential protection survey reports for some of President Kennedy’s trips in the fall of 1963. The Review Board learned of the destruction approximately one week after the Secret Service destroyed them, when the Board was drafting its request for additional information. The Board believed that the Secret Service files on the President’s travel in the weeks preceding his murder would be relevant.
As the ARRB’s Doug Horne wrote in a memo dated April 16, 1996: “The ‘final decision’ to approve the Texas trip made ‘late Tuesday night’ indicates that decision came on September 24, 1963 … the Secret Service Protective Survey Reports … which were destroyed in 1995 commence with trip files starting on this same date: September 24, 1963.”
In addition, the ARRB’s Joan
Zimmerman noted in a May 1, 1997 Memorandum To File:
“Thus far, the US Secret Service
collection is in 6 gray archive boxes for documents, 7 large, flat gray boxes
with newspapers and clippings, and 1 small box with a tape cassette … In Box 5
there are three folders marked “trip file”. All are empty.” The chairman of the
ARRB, Judge Jack Tunheim, stated: “The Secret Service destroyed records after
we were on the job and working. They claimed it was a mistake that it was just
by the normal progression of records destruction.”
More important are the
Florida/Chicago Secret Service Advance reports that the Secret Service
intentionally destroyed after being asked for them by the ARRB, and that,
according to The Kennedy Detail, Gerald Blaine has copies of and preserved. The
largest number of known destroyed JFK documents for the U.S. Secret Service was
implemented by James Mastrovito, publicly recorded in the ARRB Collection, Joan
Zimmerman Correspondence File, Created 04/01/97 CALL REPORT/PUBLIC. USSS
Records.
Mastrovito destroyed a vial containing a portion of JFK’s brain, along with 5 or 6 file cabinets of material, according to the two page document.
Mastrovito destroyed a vial containing a portion of JFK’s brain, along with 5 or 6 file cabinets of material, according to the two page document.
JAMES MASTROVITO WENT ON TO A
CAREER IN THE CIA AND HE WAS A FORMER MEMBER OF JFK’S WHITE HOUSE DETAIL!
PART FOUR
“LOOSE ENDS”:
-[SEE CHAPTER ONE OF MY BOOK"SURVIVOR'S GUILT" FOR WHAT A CERTAIN AGENT SAID ABOUT BLAINE'S SO-CALLED "MEETING"]
-Blaine says former
Shift Leader Art Godfrey gave his blessings to his book [6th Floor Museum
-Blaine says he was never interviewed by any author of any book [C-SPAN], yet, William Manchester, in his massive best-selling book “The Death of a President”, references a 1965 interview with Blaine, even thanking Blaine AGAIN in his 1983 book “One Brief Shining Moment.” If that weren’t enough, I interviewed Blaine twice, not including e-mails, for my own book “Survivor’s Guilt”, while Blaine is mentioned in the updated version of Waldron & Hartmann’s “Ultimate Sacrifice”;
-Blaine later added that he was NOT interviewed by Manchester [joint 6th Floor Museum interview video with Clint Hill]---a fact disputed by Manchester’s own notes and book---and confirms (as I already knew) that Floyd Boring was not interviewed by Manchester;
-Blaine states in his book that Ike rode in a CLOSED car all the time, yet numerous photos and films demonstrate the opposite: Ike most often rode in an OPEN car [You Tube video compilation of 35+ photos];
-Blaine claims that the bubbletop was rarely used by JFK and, if it was, it was only used in bad weather conditions, yet this author has found quite a few photos and films showing the bubbletop in use in bright, no-rain conditions by a smiling JFK (who allegedly hated the top), including those depicting the PARTIAL top: just the front and rear pieces assembled with the MIDDLE part missing, thus allowing a semi “open” car and protection, as well [2 You Tube compilations+ numerous blog photos];
-In PERHAPS a misstatement, Blaine says on that same solo 6th Floor Museum video “We were violating our fellow agents who have passed on”;
-On MSNBC, Chris Matthews asked Blaine if ANYTHING could have been done to prevent the assassination.Blaine Blaine
-Blaine was NOT in Dallas on 11/22/63 and both is co-author Lisa McCubbin and I were born after that date (I mention that only because he made an issue out of it on C-SPAN);
-During yet another 6th Floor Museum appearance (with Hill & Blaine, hosted by Gary Mack), co-author Lisa McCubbin mentions that, during the writing of the book, she would find things that contradicted what Blaine was telling her. Ultimately, she copped out, stating “he was there”…no, he wasn’t there on 11/22/63 in Dallas AND WHAT ABOUT ALL HIS COLLEAGUES WHO REFUTE HIM? Geez. McCubbin strikes me as a good investigative reporter. One wonders if her closeness to Blaine (she grew up with him and even dated his son!), along with the allure of big money, swayed her to “look away”, so to speak, at all the conflicting and contradictory evidence
-Blaine says he was never interviewed by any author of any book [C-SPAN], yet, William Manchester, in his massive best-selling book “The Death of a President”, references a 1965 interview with Blaine, even thanking Blaine AGAIN in his 1983 book “One Brief Shining Moment.” If that weren’t enough, I interviewed Blaine twice, not including e-mails, for my own book “Survivor’s Guilt”, while Blaine is mentioned in the updated version of Waldron & Hartmann’s “Ultimate Sacrifice”;
-Blaine later added that he was NOT interviewed by Manchester [joint 6th Floor Museum interview video with Clint Hill]---a fact disputed by Manchester’s own notes and book---and confirms (as I already knew) that Floyd Boring was not interviewed by Manchester;
-Blaine states in his book that Ike rode in a CLOSED car all the time, yet numerous photos and films demonstrate the opposite: Ike most often rode in an OPEN car [You Tube video compilation of 35+ photos];
-Blaine claims that the bubbletop was rarely used by JFK and, if it was, it was only used in bad weather conditions, yet this author has found quite a few photos and films showing the bubbletop in use in bright, no-rain conditions by a smiling JFK (who allegedly hated the top), including those depicting the PARTIAL top: just the front and rear pieces assembled with the MIDDLE part missing, thus allowing a semi “open” car and protection, as well [2 You Tube compilations+ numerous blog photos];
-In PERHAPS a misstatement, Blaine says on that same solo 6th Floor Museum video “We were violating our fellow agents who have passed on”;
-On MSNBC, Chris Matthews asked Blaine if ANYTHING could have been done to prevent the assassination.
-Blaine was NOT in Dallas on 11/22/63 and both is co-author Lisa McCubbin and I were born after that date (I mention that only because he made an issue out of it on C-SPAN);
-During yet another 6th Floor Museum appearance (with Hill & Blaine, hosted by Gary Mack), co-author Lisa McCubbin mentions that, during the writing of the book, she would find things that contradicted what Blaine was telling her. Ultimately, she copped out, stating “he was there”…no, he wasn’t there on 11/22/63 in Dallas AND WHAT ABOUT ALL HIS COLLEAGUES WHO REFUTE HIM? Geez. McCubbin strikes me as a good investigative reporter. One wonders if her closeness to Blaine (she grew up with him and even dated his son!), along with the allure of big money, swayed her to “look away”, so to speak, at all the conflicting and contradictory evidence
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