MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024

MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024
MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024

JFK ASSASSINATION SECRET SERVICE DOCUMENTARY

MAJOR SECRET SERVICE RELATED BOOKS/DVDs/BLU RAYS I AM REFERENCED IN

MAJOR SECRET SERVICE RELATED BOOKS/DVDs/BLU RAYS I AM REFERENCED IN
Zero Fail (quotes from my fourth book), The updated version of The Secret Service-The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (several pages), The Secrets of the Secret Service (the former agent quotes from my third book), The Kennedy Detail (the former agent refers to me on a few pages- he wrote his book as a reaction to my research), Guardians of Democracy (the former agent refers to this blog), Within Arm’s Length (the former agent has my blurb on the cover), C-SPAN November 2010 DVD with former agents Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill (they show a You Tube video of me and discuss my research), C-SPAN May 2012 DVD with former agent Clint Hill (he discusses my letter about his first book), the original edition of The Secret Service-The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (several pages), My History Channel appearance on The Men Who Killed Kennedy (DVD), My NEWSMAX TV appearance on The Men Who Killed Kennedy (2019-2020), The Final Report of the Assassinations Records Review Board (images of the excerpt about my Secret Service interviews donation, President Clinton receiving the report, and an image of the cover), Last Word (several pages and my blurb on the cover of the paperback), A Coup in Camelot DVD/ Blu Ray, They Killed Our President (16 pages refer to my work), an image of myself on C-SPAN, A Coup in Camelot via Amazon Prime television, The Man Behind the Suit DVD (I am Associate Producer on this documentary about former agent Robert DeProspero), JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (I am credited at the end), Vanity Fair article 10/17/14 (refers to my first book a couple times), JFK: The Final Hours DVD (program credits-in background slightly above), Murder in Dealey Plaza (I have two chapters), The Kennedy Half Century (refers to this blog), Coinage Magazine February 2010 (several quotes from myself), Publishers Weekly 8/28/2000 (refers to my contribution to Murder in Dealey Plaza, above), JFK: DESTINY BETRAYED (thanked at the end of all four episodes), and 2 images from THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK SBS UK DOCUMENTARY 2021

ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:

ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:
ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:

Secret Service JFK

Secret Service, JFK, President Kennedy, James Rowley, Gerald Behn, Floyd Boring, Roy Kellerman, John Campion, William Greer, Forest Sorrels, Clint Hill, Winston Lawson, Emory Roberts, Sam Kinney, Paul Landis, John "Jack" Ready, William "Tim" McIntyre, Glenn Bennett, George Hickey, Rufus Youngblood, Warren "Woody" Taylor, Jerry Kivett, Lem Johns, John "Muggsy" O'Leary, Sam Sulliman, Ernest Olsson, Robert Steuart, Richard Johnsen, Stewart "Stu" Stout, Roger Warner, Henry "Hank" Rybka, Donald Lawton, Dennis Halterman, Walt Coughlin, Andy Berger, Ron Pontius, Bert de Freese, Jim Goodenough, Bill Duncan, Ned Hall II, Mike Howard, Art Godfrey, Gerald Blaine, Ken Giannoules, Paul Burns, Gerald O'Rourke, Robert Faison, David Grant, John Joe Howlett, Bill Payne, Robert Burke, Frank Yeager, Donald Bendickson, Gerald Bechtle, Howard Norton, Hamilton Brown, Toby Chandler, Chuck Zboril, Joe Paolella, Wade Rodham, Bob Foster, Lynn Meredith, Rad Jones, Thomas Wells, Charlie Kunkel, Stu Knight, Paul Rundle, Glen Weaver, Arnie Lau, Forrest Guthrie, Eve Dempsher, Bob Lilley, Ken Wiesman, Mike Mastrovito, Tony Sherman, Larry Newman, Morgan Gies, Tom Shipman, Ed Tucker, Harvey Henderson, Abe Bolden, Robert Kollar, Ed Mougin, Mac Sweazey, Horace "Harry" Gibbs, Tom Behl, Jim Cantrell, Bill Straughn, Tom Fridley, Mike Kelly, Joe Noonan, Gayle Dobish, Earl Moore, Arthur Blake, John Lardner, Milt Wilhite, Bill Skiles, Louis Mayo, Thomas Wooge, Milt Scheuerman, Talmadge Bailey, Bob Lapham, Bob Newbrand, Bernie Mullady, Jerry Dolan, Vince Mroz, William Bacherman, Howard Anderson, U.E. Baughman, Walt Blaschak, Robert Bouck, George Chaney, William Davis, Paul Doster, Dick Flohr, Jack Fox, John Giuffre, Jim Griffith, Jack Holtzhauer, Andy Hutch, Jim Jeffries, John Paul Jones, Kent Jordan, Dale Keaner, Brooks Keller, Thomas Kelley, Clarence Knetsch, Jackson Krill, Elmer Lawrence, Bill Livingood, J. Leroy Lewis, Dick Metzinger, Jerry McCann, John McCarthy, Ed Morey, Chester Miller, Roy "Gene" Nunn, Jack Parker, Paul Paterni, Burrill Peterson, Max Phillips, Walter Pine, Michael Shannon, Frank Stoner, Cecil Taylor, Charles Taylor, Bob Taylor, Elliot Thacker, Ken Thompson, Mike Torina, Jack Walsh, Jack Warner, Thomas White, Ed Wildy, Carroll Winslow, Dale Wunderlich, Walter Young, Winston Gintz, Bill Carter, C. Douglas Dillon, James Johnson, Larry Hess, Frank Farnsworth, Jim Giovanneti,Bob Gaugh,Don Brett, Jack Gleason, Bob Jamison, Gary Seale, Bill Sherlock, Bob Till, Doc Walters...

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Several random points re: "The Kennedy Detail" upon rereading

Several random points re: "The Kennedy Detail" upon rereading


NOTE: please see my extensive prior review:
http://www.ctka.net/reviews/kennedydetailreview.html

-The book is of value for its non-assassination/ non-controversial content. Great pictures, well written, and good index, as well (although no bibliography, specific sources, footnotes, or endnotes, and the book is written in the third person narrative). That said, there are well over 100 "returns" on Amazon and the book WAS only a minor best-seller (making the extended NY Times best-seller list)---one wonders how interesting this book truly is/ was for the casual fan/ student of the case (or even of JFK, in general);

-There is even more "faction", even of a seemingly trivial nature (i.e. Floyd Boring sips on coffee, sighs, etc.), than I remembered---it makes me baffled that, 47 years later, an author--or anyone---can claim to recall specific words and actions from "his" memory...and ESPECIALLY from the "memories" of agents long deceased;

-Page 101: "If the motorcade was to go down Main Street, this [the Houston-to-Elm jog past the TSBD] was the only option to get to the Trade Mart": FALSE--Main to Industrial would have done the trick;

-Page 146: sounds VERY similar---almost TOO similar (ahem)---to Floyd Boring's JFK Library oral history (page 20): "But on several occasions in the White House when he started to enter into
crowds and shake hands and do—he was actually the first, to my knowledge, of any
president who left the vehicle and was gregarious enough to go into the crowds and shake
hands and so forth. I, in the automobile one day, said, to the President, “You know, Mr.
President, I think that by going into these crowds you could be leaving yourself wide open to
be assassinated or seriously injured.” And he said, “Well, Floyd, I'll tell ya. I couldn't get
elected dog catcher, and I don't think any other politician could, if they didn't get out and
meet the people.
People vote for us, and we have to go out and shake hands.”

-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.” In fact, MANY former agents and White House aides told this reviewer the same thing Lawson, Boring, and Behn all said!

As the Church Lady would say, "How convenient!"---Behn now allegedly is still on vacation, yet happens to saunter into the White House to be available for a business call...yeah, right. Sam Kinney and Behn's neighbor, as well as all previous indicators point to Behn TRULY being on vacation-away from his office.

-pages 174, 1976-177: Nine of the agents from Kennedy’s White House Detail drank alcohol the night before the assassination in Fort Worth (at the Fort Worth Press Club and, presumably, The Cellar “Coffee House”), including four who had critical duties in the follow-up car directly behind his limousine: Bennett, Landis, Hill, and 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. In addition, although all the agents had to report for duty at 8:00 a.m., several stayed out until between 1:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. One—Landis—stayed out until 5:00 a.m. Sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on even the best-trained reflexes. Although this flagrant violation of Secret Service regulations was grounds for dismissal from the service [18 H 665], none of the men were punished in any way whatsoever by Chief Rowley, who did not want to stigmatize the agents and their families [A good discussion of this the drinking incident, based in part on the author’s work, can be found in The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency by Philip Melanson with Peter Stevens, pp. 69–71]

-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.” 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. And, as Roy Kellerman testified before the Warren Commission: "Mr. Congressman [Ford], 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."


A CONTRADICTION: page 193- Agent George Hickey on the Tampa (Florida) trip of 11/18/63, working the follow-up car (as I already was much aware of); yet on page 217: Blaine states that Hickey's appearance in the follow-up car in Dallas on 11/22/63 was "his first presidential motorcade"---?!? It was not;

Page 305: LBJ DID BELIEVE THERE WAS A CONSPIRACY!


pp 314-315: Take Jackie's comments with a huge grain of salt: 2 sides to every story. On the one hand, she wrote a nice letter to Greer, yet criticized him harshly to others. Remember also the very nice correspondence between RFK and Hoover, yet they hated each other

page 319 Lawson---see Melanson's book and the 1995 Discovery Channel documentary. "If it had to happen, I'm glad it happened to you." Lawson cries

INTERLUDE:
Page 20 of Ronald Kessler's true best-selling book "In The President's Secret Service" (2009) confirms Blaine's tale of hitting a bird with a rock on the LBJ Ranch and assuming it was dead, only to have it "awaken" and come out staggering from of the water later!

Page 12: Marilyn Monroe DID indeed have sexual liaisons with JFK, as MULTIPLE Secret Service agents confirmed to Kessler, thus debunking Blaine's statements on this issue


Page 396: Blaine writes of his "anger at the character assassination and defamation of outstanding men who were ready to sacrifice their lives to protect the president"...they weren't Ready (pun intended)and they DID NOT sacrifice their lives. Many people have commented on the lethargic "reactions" of the agents that day, as well as the poor planning;

Page 397: Blaine writes "The president is not legally bound to follow the directives of the Secret Service"---WRONG! (from my review:) 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)

15 5 H 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 ... .”

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Page 398: Blaines states that Ike "rode in a closed-top car and didn't like parade-type motorcades"---WRONG! See the FOUR pics in fellow agent Darwin Horn's book depicting a SMILING Ike in an OPEN-top limo, as well as the FOUR pics in "Looking Back And Seeing The Future"...AND I FOUND OVER A DOZEN PICS OF IKE SMILING IN AN OPEN CAR ONLINE (JUST GOOGLE "PRESIDENT EISENHOWER MOTORCADE" IN THE 'IMAGES' SECTION)!!!!!!!!!

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