Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wow- not EVERYONE likes Clint Hill's book...
1.0 out of 5 stars A SAD WASTE OF TIME, November 28, 2012
By M. Tomory (illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mrs. Kennedy and Me (Paperback)
This is a poor excuse for a book. Mr. Hill has unwittedly revealed the very selfish nature of rich people in the form of Mrs. Kennedy. He also has shown himself a poor example of a husband and a father. He writes he had nothing to live for after the assassination forgetting that he had two sons and a wife. How his wife put up with him not being home 95% of the time is a mystery. The book has a mind numbing redundancy to it as Hill recounts similar incidents over and over. A huge disappointment in reading this book.
Being an assassination buff I am curious why Hill took the assassination so personally. From all accounts Hill could not have prevented the killing...or could he have? His severe reaction indicates a guilty conscience. Posted on Jun 4, 2012 7:19:46 PM PDT
C. Moen says:
I think the author is using this book as part of his therapy, his effort to sort through and deal with the guilt and burdens he has carried for so long.
I seem to remember from an interview I heard that he and his wife are divorced. I think part of the problem was that his wife was not comfortable with the relationship (however innocent it may have been) her husband had with Jackie.
4 of 11 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Talk about sugar coating the past!, August 25, 2012
By nana (Manahawkin, Nj) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mrs. Kennedy and Me (Kindle Edition)
I am having a hard time even getting through this one. It is like a schoolboy crush!
Its very hard to believe she said some of the things to him that are quoted in the book and he makes the Kennedys out to be the perfect family!
Also, I have never heard a man describe her outfits like this guy does..."Mrs Kennedy took off her coat to reveal a formfitting dress with cap sleeves..."
REALLY! How many secret service agents know what a cap sleeve is, or would describe a dress as 'formfitting'?!
I am sorry I got this book. 3 of 11 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Fluff, September 7, 2012
By Readmorebooks - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mrs. Kennedy and Me (Kindle Edition)
Clearly, Clint Hill fell in love with Jackie. Not an objective examination of his time protecting her. However, I feel that even writing the book is a breach of his former profession. Kind of takes the secret out of "Secret Service" Hill contradicts his own Warren Commission testimony, May 5, 2012
By Steven Kossor - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir (Hardcover)
In his new book, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, Clint Hill describes his visit to the Bethesda morgue to view President Kennedy's body: "...Then gently rolling the president over to one side, he pointed out a wound in the upper back, at the neckline quite small."
In his testimony before the Warren Commission in 1964, Clint Hill testified as follows: Representative BOGGS. "Did you see any other wound other than the head wound?" Mr. HILL. "Yes, sir; I saw an opening in the back, about 6 inches below the neckline to the right-hand side of the spinal column."
Clint moved the entrance wound on the back UP six inches in his new book. That's where the Warren Commission wanted it to be, because if it really WAS six inches lower, the bullet couldn't possibly have exited from Kennedy's neck (that would make "the single bullet theory" even more preposterous).
Memories nearer to the event are always more accurate than memories 50 years later! Did Clint need to lie to get a chance to promote his book? Sure looks like it.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Another terrific Jefferson Morley article
Another terrific Jefferson Morley article
I highly recommend everyone take a look at this fine article by the great Jefferson Morley:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jefferson-morley/jfk-assassination_b_2175898.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Vince Palamara
Thursday, November 22, 2012
RARE 11/18/63 Tampa, FL JFK motorcade pic
NEW photo discovered- a Tampa resident sent me this pic of the returning 11/18/63 JFK motorcade in Tampa- Agents Charles Zboril (shown) and Don Lawton (not shown) STILL on rear of limo while Kennedy, George Smathers, and Sam Gibbons share a laugh. ASAIC Boring, Godfrey McHugh, and SA Bill Greer in front seat. JFK did NOT order the agents off his limo, as both Boring and Gibbons told me. And, as someone else mentioned, with his bad back, HOW could JFK even turn around to see the agents?? Agents on or near the rear of the limo 11/22/63- JFK lives
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
It's time to demand accountability from the officials who failed to protect the president -- and then spent decades covering up their mistakes.
What Can We Do About JFK's Murder?
By Jefferson Morley
Nov 21 2012
It's time to demand accountability from the officials who failed to protect the president -- and then spent decades covering up their mistakes.
As November 22 comes around again, the memory of John F. Kennedy's assassination seems to be fading in America's collective consciousness, save among aging Baby Boomers like myself. Few people younger than me (I'm 54) have any memory of the day it actually happened. 9/11 has replaced 11/22 as the date stamp of catastrophic angst.
Yet that doesn't mean people have stopped looking for answers. The buzz surrounding the release of Jackie Kennedy's private conversations and Tom Hanks' upcoming Dallas movie shows that the public is still seeking new theories and clues. Two years ago on this site, I tried to answer the question "What Do We Really Know About JFK?" With the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination approaching next year, the time for conspiracy theories has passed and the time for accountability is coming. Now is the time to ask, "What can we do about JFK's assassination?"
For one thing, we can use the Internet. The World Wide Web has birthed many conspiracy theories (most of them easily debunked), but it has also made the historical record of JFK's murder available to millions of people outside of Washington and the federal government for the first time. I have to believe this diffusion of historical knowledge will slowly clarify the JFK story for everybody.
For now, though, many American cultural elites continue to ignore the widely available facts. Earlier this year, in an exchange with sports columnist Bill Simmons, Malcolm Gladwell endorsed baseball statistician Bill James' theory that the fatal shot was fired by one of Kennedy's own Secret Service men. "When you have lots of trigger-happy people and lots of guns and lots of excitement all situated in the same place at the same time," Gladwell wrote, unburdened by evidence, "sometimes stupid and tragic accidents happen."
We can likewise treat with skepticism the CIA's latest interpretation of Kennedy's murder, proposed by Brian Latell, a former Cuba specialist at the Agency. In a new book, Latell has updated and modified the unconvincing "Fidel Castro did it" theory that was that was first put forward by the CIA within hours of JFK's death and is still believed by some.
Latell now argues that Castro knew (via his DGI intelligence service) that Oswald posed a threat to JFK, but he did nothing. The heartless Cuban communist, he says, played a "passive but knowing" role in JFK's murder. As I reported in Salon last spring, the most basic corroboration for these claims is lacking, as even an otherwise approving reviewer had to acknowledge in the CIA's Studies in Intelligence publication.
Latell is on firmer ground when he suggests that the media's obsession with "conspiracy" obscures other more nuanced explanations of JFK's death. But his allegations advertently highlight a truth that the CIA and my friends in the Washington press corps prefer not to acknowledge: There is a lot more evidence of CIA negligence in JFK's assassination than Cuban complicity.
The record available online confirms that Oswald was well known to the CIA shortly before JFK was killed -- so well known, in fact, that a group of senior officials collaborated on a security review of him in October 1963. And these officials assured colleagues and the FBI that Oswald, far from being a dangerous Castroite, was actually "maturing" and thus becoming less of a threat.
Read this CIA cable (not declassified until 1993) from beginning to end. You will see that Oswald's travels, politics, intentions, and state of mind were known to six senior CIA officers as of October 10, 1963. At that date, JFK and Jackie were just beginning to think about their upcoming political trip to Dallas.
Because the CIA is so often caricatured in JFK discussions, some background is helpful in understanding who wrote this document and why.
In the fall of 1963, Oswald, a 23-year old ex-Marine, traveled from his hometown of New Orleans to Mexico City. There he contacted the Cuban and Soviet Embassies, seeking a visa to travel to both countries. A CIA wiretap picked up his telephone calls, which indicated he had been referred to a Soviet consular officer suspected of being a KGB assassination specialist. Win Scott, the respected chief of the CIA station in Mexico, was concerned. He sent a query to headquarters: Who is this guy Oswald?
Scott's question was referred to the agency's counterintelligence (CI) staff. The CI staff was responsible for detecting threats to the secrecy of agency operations. Its senior members had been closely monitoring Oswald ever since he had defected to the Soviet Union in October 1959. Oswald had lived there two years, married a Russian woman, and then returned to the United States in June 1962.
Jane Roman a senior member of the CI staff retrieved the agency's fat file on Oswald. It included some three dozen documents, including family correspondence, State Department cables, and a recent FBI report stating said Oswald was an active pro-Castro leftist who had recently been arrested for fighting with anti-Castro exiles in New Orleans.
Roman and the CI staff drafted a response to the Mexico City station, which said, in effect, Don't worry. Ignoring the FBI report, the cable stated the "latest HQS info" on Oswald was a 16-month old message from a diplomat in Moscow concluding that Oswald's marriage and two year residence in the Soviet Union had a "maturing effect" on him. This inaccurate and optimistic message was reviewed and endorsed by five senior CIA officers, identified on the last page of the cable.
The CIA would kept the names of these highly-regarded officers -- Tom Karamessines, Bill Hood, John Whitten ("John Scelso"), Jane Roman, and Betty Egeter -- secret for thirty years. Why? Because the officers most knowledgeable about Oswald reported to two of the most powerful men in the CIA: Deputy Director Richard Helms and Counterintelligence Chief James Angleton.
These high-level aides could have -- and should have -- flagged Oswald for special attention. All five were anti-communists, well-versed in running covert operations and experienced in detecting threats to U.S. national security.
Karamessines, a trusted deputy to Helms, was a former beat cop who had served as a prosecutor in New York City before joining the CIA and becoming Athens station chief. Bill Hood was a former Berlin hand who oversaw all covert operations in the Western Hemisphere (and would later co-author Dick Helms' posthumous memoir). John Whitten, dogged and curmudgeonly, had built a reputation in the agency with his pioneering use of the polygraph.
Their complacent assessment of Oswald had real-world consequences.
In Mexico City, Win Scott never learned about Oswald's recent arrest or the fact that he gone public with his support for Castro. He stopped investigating Oswald. In Washington, a senior FBI official, Marvin Gheesling, responded to the CIA's benign assessment by taking Oswald off an "alert" list of people of special interest to the Bureau. When it came to the erratic and provocative Oswald, the CIA and the FBI were standing down.
Conspiracy or not, the CIA blew it. Oswald had been calling attention to himself. He had clashed with anti-Castro students in New Orleans, then contacted a suspected KGB operative to arrange an illegal trip to Cuba. By standard agency procedures of the day, he should have gotten closer attention. Instead, he got a pass from Helms and Angleton's staffers. Oswald returned from Mexico to Dallas where he rented a room in a boarding house under an assumed name.
Six weeks later JFK was shot dead, and the allegedly "maturing" Oswald was arrested.
After the assassination, Helms and Angleton stayed mum about their failure to identify Oswald as a threat. So did the agency hands who had vetted the accused assassin. The honorable exception was John Whitten, one of the few CIA operatives in the JFK assassination story who acted admirably. In 1963, Whitten served as chief of the Mexico Desk. He was a "good spy," specializing in counterespionage investigations to determine a suspect's ultimate allegiances. That was exactly the kind of information the U.S. government needed about Oswald after JFK was killed.
Whitten tried to mount an internal investigation of the accused assassin, drawing particularly on his contacts with pro-and anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans and Miami. As Whitten later recounted in secret testimony to Congress, he was blocked by Angleton and then effectively fired by Helms.
His career over, Whitten retired and moved to Europe, telling his story only to those who had been cleared to hear it. He died in a Pennsylvania nursing home in 2001, his efforts to pursue the truth about Oswald concealed by his employer and forgotten by his country.
What did Helms and Angleton want to hide in 1963? Probably the same thing that the CIA and "Castro did it" conspiracy theorists hope to obscure today: U.S. intelligence failures contributed to JFK's wrongful death.
Neither Richard Helms or James Angleton was ever held accountable for their staff's faulty handling of intelligence about Oswald, and it is easy to see why. Both men were hard-line skeptics of JFK's liberal foreign policy who found President Lyndon Johnson a much more capable commander in chief. Both had friends and allies in high places. (Angleton was close to J. Edgar Hoover; Helms was lionized by syndicated columnist Stewart Alsop.) .Both used official secrecy to prevent the Warren Commission from asking too many questions. After the Warren Report came out, they kept their jobs and enjoyed the respect of the Washington press corps, at least for a while.
President Lyndon Johnson named Helms to be CIA director in 1966 and he served until 1973, gaining a well-deserved reputation as The Man Who Kept the Secrets. Helms played an inscrutable role in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon and later pled guilty to lying to Congress. The "gentlemanly planner of assassinations," as one journalist dubbed him, died in 2002. His widow, Cynthia Helms, has just published a memoir defending his good name.
Jim Angleton remained chief of the Counterintelligence Staff until 1974, when he was disgraced by the revelation he had overseen a massive illegal spying program on Americans. He died in 1988. His espionage exploits have inspired many book and several Hollywood movies (most recently The Good Shepherd, starring Matt Damon). Angleton's close monitoring of Lee Harvey Oswald from October 1959 to October 1963 was first documented in historian John Newman's groundbreaking book, Oswald and the CIA.
So those Americans still seeking to understand the meaning of November 22, 1963, in American history, would do well to consider the legal culpability of two titans in the annals of the CIA, Richard Helms and James Angleton. Their negligence could spawn any number of new conspiracy theories: Were they (or other national security mandarins) using Oswald in a sinister maneuver against JFK? Or did their staffs use Oswald in service of a legitimate secret operation, only to realize too late that he was a lone psychopath?
Ultimately, what matters most is that these decorated CIA men were criminally negligent -- or, at the very least, clueless about a clever assassin. If we honor the memory of JFK, they should be held responsible. Their complacent and inaccurate reporting on Oswald before JFK's assassination, and their evasion of responsibility afterwards, are central to the confusion that sadly still clouds the case of the murdered president.
That much we know. Some day, we may also have access to deeper information - for instance, the records of George Joannides, a decorated Miami-based undercover officer (now deceased) who knew about Oswald's Cuban contacts and who reported to Dick Helms in 1963. (In 2003 I filed a Freedom of Information Action Act lawsuit for his files in 1963. Nine years later, my case is still pending.)
We can't do much about the JFK tragedy at this late date, but we can acknowledge that CIA negligence led directly to the president's death. The officers who obscured information about Oswald should be stripped of any medals or commendations they received for their job performance in 1963. Fifty years later, it's time for accountability.
Jefferson Morley - Jefferson Morley is a former editor at The Washington Post and the author of Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA. He writes about JFK's assassination at JFKfacts.org.
By Jefferson Morley
Nov 21 2012
It's time to demand accountability from the officials who failed to protect the president -- and then spent decades covering up their mistakes.
As November 22 comes around again, the memory of John F. Kennedy's assassination seems to be fading in America's collective consciousness, save among aging Baby Boomers like myself. Few people younger than me (I'm 54) have any memory of the day it actually happened. 9/11 has replaced 11/22 as the date stamp of catastrophic angst.
Yet that doesn't mean people have stopped looking for answers. The buzz surrounding the release of Jackie Kennedy's private conversations and Tom Hanks' upcoming Dallas movie shows that the public is still seeking new theories and clues. Two years ago on this site, I tried to answer the question "What Do We Really Know About JFK?" With the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination approaching next year, the time for conspiracy theories has passed and the time for accountability is coming. Now is the time to ask, "What can we do about JFK's assassination?"
For one thing, we can use the Internet. The World Wide Web has birthed many conspiracy theories (most of them easily debunked), but it has also made the historical record of JFK's murder available to millions of people outside of Washington and the federal government for the first time. I have to believe this diffusion of historical knowledge will slowly clarify the JFK story for everybody.
For now, though, many American cultural elites continue to ignore the widely available facts. Earlier this year, in an exchange with sports columnist Bill Simmons, Malcolm Gladwell endorsed baseball statistician Bill James' theory that the fatal shot was fired by one of Kennedy's own Secret Service men. "When you have lots of trigger-happy people and lots of guns and lots of excitement all situated in the same place at the same time," Gladwell wrote, unburdened by evidence, "sometimes stupid and tragic accidents happen."
We can likewise treat with skepticism the CIA's latest interpretation of Kennedy's murder, proposed by Brian Latell, a former Cuba specialist at the Agency. In a new book, Latell has updated and modified the unconvincing "Fidel Castro did it" theory that was that was first put forward by the CIA within hours of JFK's death and is still believed by some.
Latell now argues that Castro knew (via his DGI intelligence service) that Oswald posed a threat to JFK, but he did nothing. The heartless Cuban communist, he says, played a "passive but knowing" role in JFK's murder. As I reported in Salon last spring, the most basic corroboration for these claims is lacking, as even an otherwise approving reviewer had to acknowledge in the CIA's Studies in Intelligence publication.
Latell is on firmer ground when he suggests that the media's obsession with "conspiracy" obscures other more nuanced explanations of JFK's death. But his allegations advertently highlight a truth that the CIA and my friends in the Washington press corps prefer not to acknowledge: There is a lot more evidence of CIA negligence in JFK's assassination than Cuban complicity.
The record available online confirms that Oswald was well known to the CIA shortly before JFK was killed -- so well known, in fact, that a group of senior officials collaborated on a security review of him in October 1963. And these officials assured colleagues and the FBI that Oswald, far from being a dangerous Castroite, was actually "maturing" and thus becoming less of a threat.
Read this CIA cable (not declassified until 1993) from beginning to end. You will see that Oswald's travels, politics, intentions, and state of mind were known to six senior CIA officers as of October 10, 1963. At that date, JFK and Jackie were just beginning to think about their upcoming political trip to Dallas.
Because the CIA is so often caricatured in JFK discussions, some background is helpful in understanding who wrote this document and why.
In the fall of 1963, Oswald, a 23-year old ex-Marine, traveled from his hometown of New Orleans to Mexico City. There he contacted the Cuban and Soviet Embassies, seeking a visa to travel to both countries. A CIA wiretap picked up his telephone calls, which indicated he had been referred to a Soviet consular officer suspected of being a KGB assassination specialist. Win Scott, the respected chief of the CIA station in Mexico, was concerned. He sent a query to headquarters: Who is this guy Oswald?
Scott's question was referred to the agency's counterintelligence (CI) staff. The CI staff was responsible for detecting threats to the secrecy of agency operations. Its senior members had been closely monitoring Oswald ever since he had defected to the Soviet Union in October 1959. Oswald had lived there two years, married a Russian woman, and then returned to the United States in June 1962.
Jane Roman a senior member of the CI staff retrieved the agency's fat file on Oswald. It included some three dozen documents, including family correspondence, State Department cables, and a recent FBI report stating said Oswald was an active pro-Castro leftist who had recently been arrested for fighting with anti-Castro exiles in New Orleans.
Roman and the CI staff drafted a response to the Mexico City station, which said, in effect, Don't worry. Ignoring the FBI report, the cable stated the "latest HQS info" on Oswald was a 16-month old message from a diplomat in Moscow concluding that Oswald's marriage and two year residence in the Soviet Union had a "maturing effect" on him. This inaccurate and optimistic message was reviewed and endorsed by five senior CIA officers, identified on the last page of the cable.
The CIA would kept the names of these highly-regarded officers -- Tom Karamessines, Bill Hood, John Whitten ("John Scelso"), Jane Roman, and Betty Egeter -- secret for thirty years. Why? Because the officers most knowledgeable about Oswald reported to two of the most powerful men in the CIA: Deputy Director Richard Helms and Counterintelligence Chief James Angleton.
These high-level aides could have -- and should have -- flagged Oswald for special attention. All five were anti-communists, well-versed in running covert operations and experienced in detecting threats to U.S. national security.
Karamessines, a trusted deputy to Helms, was a former beat cop who had served as a prosecutor in New York City before joining the CIA and becoming Athens station chief. Bill Hood was a former Berlin hand who oversaw all covert operations in the Western Hemisphere (and would later co-author Dick Helms' posthumous memoir). John Whitten, dogged and curmudgeonly, had built a reputation in the agency with his pioneering use of the polygraph.
Their complacent assessment of Oswald had real-world consequences.
In Mexico City, Win Scott never learned about Oswald's recent arrest or the fact that he gone public with his support for Castro. He stopped investigating Oswald. In Washington, a senior FBI official, Marvin Gheesling, responded to the CIA's benign assessment by taking Oswald off an "alert" list of people of special interest to the Bureau. When it came to the erratic and provocative Oswald, the CIA and the FBI were standing down.
Conspiracy or not, the CIA blew it. Oswald had been calling attention to himself. He had clashed with anti-Castro students in New Orleans, then contacted a suspected KGB operative to arrange an illegal trip to Cuba. By standard agency procedures of the day, he should have gotten closer attention. Instead, he got a pass from Helms and Angleton's staffers. Oswald returned from Mexico to Dallas where he rented a room in a boarding house under an assumed name.
Six weeks later JFK was shot dead, and the allegedly "maturing" Oswald was arrested.
After the assassination, Helms and Angleton stayed mum about their failure to identify Oswald as a threat. So did the agency hands who had vetted the accused assassin. The honorable exception was John Whitten, one of the few CIA operatives in the JFK assassination story who acted admirably. In 1963, Whitten served as chief of the Mexico Desk. He was a "good spy," specializing in counterespionage investigations to determine a suspect's ultimate allegiances. That was exactly the kind of information the U.S. government needed about Oswald after JFK was killed.
Whitten tried to mount an internal investigation of the accused assassin, drawing particularly on his contacts with pro-and anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans and Miami. As Whitten later recounted in secret testimony to Congress, he was blocked by Angleton and then effectively fired by Helms.
His career over, Whitten retired and moved to Europe, telling his story only to those who had been cleared to hear it. He died in a Pennsylvania nursing home in 2001, his efforts to pursue the truth about Oswald concealed by his employer and forgotten by his country.
What did Helms and Angleton want to hide in 1963? Probably the same thing that the CIA and "Castro did it" conspiracy theorists hope to obscure today: U.S. intelligence failures contributed to JFK's wrongful death.
Neither Richard Helms or James Angleton was ever held accountable for their staff's faulty handling of intelligence about Oswald, and it is easy to see why. Both men were hard-line skeptics of JFK's liberal foreign policy who found President Lyndon Johnson a much more capable commander in chief. Both had friends and allies in high places. (Angleton was close to J. Edgar Hoover; Helms was lionized by syndicated columnist Stewart Alsop.) .Both used official secrecy to prevent the Warren Commission from asking too many questions. After the Warren Report came out, they kept their jobs and enjoyed the respect of the Washington press corps, at least for a while.
President Lyndon Johnson named Helms to be CIA director in 1966 and he served until 1973, gaining a well-deserved reputation as The Man Who Kept the Secrets. Helms played an inscrutable role in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon and later pled guilty to lying to Congress. The "gentlemanly planner of assassinations," as one journalist dubbed him, died in 2002. His widow, Cynthia Helms, has just published a memoir defending his good name.
Jim Angleton remained chief of the Counterintelligence Staff until 1974, when he was disgraced by the revelation he had overseen a massive illegal spying program on Americans. He died in 1988. His espionage exploits have inspired many book and several Hollywood movies (most recently The Good Shepherd, starring Matt Damon). Angleton's close monitoring of Lee Harvey Oswald from October 1959 to October 1963 was first documented in historian John Newman's groundbreaking book, Oswald and the CIA.
So those Americans still seeking to understand the meaning of November 22, 1963, in American history, would do well to consider the legal culpability of two titans in the annals of the CIA, Richard Helms and James Angleton. Their negligence could spawn any number of new conspiracy theories: Were they (or other national security mandarins) using Oswald in a sinister maneuver against JFK? Or did their staffs use Oswald in service of a legitimate secret operation, only to realize too late that he was a lone psychopath?
Ultimately, what matters most is that these decorated CIA men were criminally negligent -- or, at the very least, clueless about a clever assassin. If we honor the memory of JFK, they should be held responsible. Their complacent and inaccurate reporting on Oswald before JFK's assassination, and their evasion of responsibility afterwards, are central to the confusion that sadly still clouds the case of the murdered president.
That much we know. Some day, we may also have access to deeper information - for instance, the records of George Joannides, a decorated Miami-based undercover officer (now deceased) who knew about Oswald's Cuban contacts and who reported to Dick Helms in 1963. (In 2003 I filed a Freedom of Information Action Act lawsuit for his files in 1963. Nine years later, my case is still pending.)
We can't do much about the JFK tragedy at this late date, but we can acknowledge that CIA negligence led directly to the president's death. The officers who obscured information about Oswald should be stripped of any medals or commendations they received for their job performance in 1963. Fifty years later, it's time for accountability.
Jefferson Morley - Jefferson Morley is a former editor at The Washington Post and the author of Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA. He writes about JFK's assassination at JFKfacts.org.
UPDATE: David McCullough To Headline Dallas' JFK Tribute
UPDATE: David McCullough To Headline Dallas' JFK Tribute
BY KERA STAFF
Five stories that have North Texas talking: JFK 50, Walmart walk-offs, Museum Tower shines on and more.
Updated, 2:58 p.m.: Dallas will mark the 50th anniversary next year of one of its darkest moments, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, with a solemn ceremony narrated by historian David McCullough.
Mayor Mike Rawlings unveiled plans for the commemoration, which he described as "understated , serious, with dignity and honor,” at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
McCullough, at age 79 one of the country's most recognized historians, has been a stalwart voice of public television as the narrator of The Civil War and American Experience.
During the Nov. 22, 2013, ceremony -- dubbed The 50th: Honoring the Memory of President John F. Kennedy -- the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner will read excerpts from Kennedy's speeches and share recollections of the slain president. The 45-minute ceremony will include a nationwide moment of silence at 12:30 p.m., music by the U.S. Naval Academy Men's Glee Club and a concluding military flyover.
Our original post continues: If there’s anything to celebrate here, its the distance from that day. Just ask former Secret Service agent Clint Hill, the last surviving person who rode in the car to Parkland hospital with Kennedy after the shooting. I heard him speak at the Sixth Floor Museum in April. He answered gruesome questions about whose foot was where in the convertible with dutiful grace; it was obvious Hill much preferred to speak about Camelot’s first couple as they were before that day.
When one journalist asked about his hopes for next year’s ceremony in Dallas, here’s what Hill said:
Well I’m sure it’ll be remembered very seriously, but you know, with memories of President and Mrs. Kennedy as they were prior to that moment. They were a wonderful, loving couple; and they were very well-received when they came to Dallas that day. Large crowds. If you ever look at the photographs of downtown Main Street, we could barely get through there with cars, it was so packed. But that’s the way they should be remembered.
BY KERA STAFF
Five stories that have North Texas talking: JFK 50, Walmart walk-offs, Museum Tower shines on and more.
Updated, 2:58 p.m.: Dallas will mark the 50th anniversary next year of one of its darkest moments, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, with a solemn ceremony narrated by historian David McCullough.
Mayor Mike Rawlings unveiled plans for the commemoration, which he described as "understated , serious, with dignity and honor,” at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
McCullough, at age 79 one of the country's most recognized historians, has been a stalwart voice of public television as the narrator of The Civil War and American Experience.
During the Nov. 22, 2013, ceremony -- dubbed The 50th: Honoring the Memory of President John F. Kennedy -- the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner will read excerpts from Kennedy's speeches and share recollections of the slain president. The 45-minute ceremony will include a nationwide moment of silence at 12:30 p.m., music by the U.S. Naval Academy Men's Glee Club and a concluding military flyover.
Our original post continues: If there’s anything to celebrate here, its the distance from that day. Just ask former Secret Service agent Clint Hill, the last surviving person who rode in the car to Parkland hospital with Kennedy after the shooting. I heard him speak at the Sixth Floor Museum in April. He answered gruesome questions about whose foot was where in the convertible with dutiful grace; it was obvious Hill much preferred to speak about Camelot’s first couple as they were before that day.
When one journalist asked about his hopes for next year’s ceremony in Dallas, here’s what Hill said:
Well I’m sure it’ll be remembered very seriously, but you know, with memories of President and Mrs. Kennedy as they were prior to that moment. They were a wonderful, loving couple; and they were very well-received when they came to Dallas that day. Large crowds. If you ever look at the photographs of downtown Main Street, we could barely get through there with cars, it was so packed. But that’s the way they should be remembered.
Monday, November 19, 2012
"Lincoln" movie: fabulous! a must-see! The "Gone With The Wind" of this generation! Classic
Mere words cannot do justice to just how phenomenal "Lincoln" the movie truly is! Oscar nominations---and wins---must go to Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones. Also, kudos go out to Hal Holbrook, James Spader, and some of the other fine actors who helped make this film such a treat from start to finish.
When we went to see this film at a local theater, the place was packed. What was truly amazing was what happened during the entire movie: not one person got up to leave. In addition, the audience spontaneously applauded at the end! The word of mouth on this movie is truly amazing---all the hype DOES indeed do the film justice. See this film asap. I plan on seeing it again and getting the DVD when it becomes available. An Oscar feast awaits! ----------
"Box Office Mojo reports that Lincoln is doing better than expected at the box office on its expansion to 1,175 theaters. Lincoln is especially impressive, given that it’s not dumbed down for maximum profits at the box office but instead is keeping the fire burning through great reviews and strong word of mouth. Current estimates for Lincoln put it at double the previous highest opening weekend for a presidential biopic. None of the forecasters predicted it would open this big. Wow, $21 million for Lincoln on well under 2,000 screens is a great haul. Lincoln will end its run well over 100M in the US, received rave reviews, has a very Academy-friendly genre with a very Academy-friendly team. I thought Lincoln was extraordinary, one of the finest films I’ve seen all year. I was not only surprised at the large crowds (they put up ropes for the Twilighters, but they could have used them for Lincoln and Flight too), I’ve never seen a theater packed with so many over 40s in my life. I suspect that the recent election season which included profound and historical issues to which Lincoln could not help but to allude is the cause of this boom in business. That, plus the best word of mouth of the year. Also, the film provides the chance to see three (or more) of the screen’s best and most beloved artists doing the most substantial work of their careers: Day-Lewis, Field, and Jones. I have to admit that all three performances are haunting me a full day later. Field especially makes a difficult, sixty-something woman effortlessly attractive. There is real heat in the relationship; this is the last thing I was expecting from this movie. Jones reveals great depths of caring and morality through a man who uses grumpiness as a weapon and as a mask for the hurt he feels at having to constantly defend the end of slavery. I thought the screenplay was Pulitzer Prize level playwriting. The film is nearly all dialogue-driven, but oh what dialogue! There was none of the faux formalism that plagues so many period films. Plus the look of the film was downright gritty and dark, as life was back them. The score was restrained, but undistinguished; a wise move in a film with a strong potential to overstate its every element.All of the elements – writing, directing, visuals, performance, editing, pacing – were married in a brisk and invigorating way. I suspect it will be number one next week after word of mouth spreads."- Awards Daily Blog
----------
"Lincoln, even with Spielberg’s éclat and two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, could have hit the fatal front line of audience indifference, given the scarcity of movies about the struggle to pass important legislation. (The only example that leaps to mind: 1776, the 1972 musical rendition of the fight over the Declaration of Independence.) But this fact-based drama, detailing the battle to win votes in the House of Representatives for the anti-slavery amendment, surpassed early forecasts and earned a robust $21 million at 1,775 theaters. The next weeks will tell whether Lincoln can continue to attract mainstream acclaim, in a national forum where people vote by buying tickets. The film’s status as an Oscar finalist is all but certain."- TIME. SEE ALSO:
http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/08/lincoln-spielbergs-urgent-civics-lesson/?iid=ent-main-belt
When we went to see this film at a local theater, the place was packed. What was truly amazing was what happened during the entire movie: not one person got up to leave. In addition, the audience spontaneously applauded at the end! The word of mouth on this movie is truly amazing---all the hype DOES indeed do the film justice. See this film asap. I plan on seeing it again and getting the DVD when it becomes available. An Oscar feast awaits! ----------
"Box Office Mojo reports that Lincoln is doing better than expected at the box office on its expansion to 1,175 theaters. Lincoln is especially impressive, given that it’s not dumbed down for maximum profits at the box office but instead is keeping the fire burning through great reviews and strong word of mouth. Current estimates for Lincoln put it at double the previous highest opening weekend for a presidential biopic. None of the forecasters predicted it would open this big. Wow, $21 million for Lincoln on well under 2,000 screens is a great haul. Lincoln will end its run well over 100M in the US, received rave reviews, has a very Academy-friendly genre with a very Academy-friendly team. I thought Lincoln was extraordinary, one of the finest films I’ve seen all year. I was not only surprised at the large crowds (they put up ropes for the Twilighters, but they could have used them for Lincoln and Flight too), I’ve never seen a theater packed with so many over 40s in my life. I suspect that the recent election season which included profound and historical issues to which Lincoln could not help but to allude is the cause of this boom in business. That, plus the best word of mouth of the year. Also, the film provides the chance to see three (or more) of the screen’s best and most beloved artists doing the most substantial work of their careers: Day-Lewis, Field, and Jones. I have to admit that all three performances are haunting me a full day later. Field especially makes a difficult, sixty-something woman effortlessly attractive. There is real heat in the relationship; this is the last thing I was expecting from this movie. Jones reveals great depths of caring and morality through a man who uses grumpiness as a weapon and as a mask for the hurt he feels at having to constantly defend the end of slavery. I thought the screenplay was Pulitzer Prize level playwriting. The film is nearly all dialogue-driven, but oh what dialogue! There was none of the faux formalism that plagues so many period films. Plus the look of the film was downright gritty and dark, as life was back them. The score was restrained, but undistinguished; a wise move in a film with a strong potential to overstate its every element.All of the elements – writing, directing, visuals, performance, editing, pacing – were married in a brisk and invigorating way. I suspect it will be number one next week after word of mouth spreads."- Awards Daily Blog
----------
"Lincoln, even with Spielberg’s éclat and two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, could have hit the fatal front line of audience indifference, given the scarcity of movies about the struggle to pass important legislation. (The only example that leaps to mind: 1776, the 1972 musical rendition of the fight over the Declaration of Independence.) But this fact-based drama, detailing the battle to win votes in the House of Representatives for the anti-slavery amendment, surpassed early forecasts and earned a robust $21 million at 1,775 theaters. The next weeks will tell whether Lincoln can continue to attract mainstream acclaim, in a national forum where people vote by buying tickets. The film’s status as an Oscar finalist is all but certain."- TIME. SEE ALSO:
http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/08/lincoln-spielbergs-urgent-civics-lesson/?iid=ent-main-belt
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Gee, if General David Petraeus could lie, do ya think Blaine could, too? People are so naive...
Gee, if General David Petraeus could lie, do ya think Blaine could, too? People are so naive...
Whenever I see all these trusting, naive (mostly-planted-by-friends-and-associates) 5-star reviews of Blaine's book "The Kennedy Detail", the degree of naivete reminds one of the mindset of America during the 1950's. You would think the word of Blaine was the received Word of God or something; makes one want to throw up. Not only because I know what he REALLY said to me, as well as what all his many colleagues said and wrote that goes against what Blaine espouses in his book, but because, as an educated man, I know cover-ups and propaganda are more common than we care to admit.
Now that CIA Director--- and modern-day Eisenhower--- General David Petraeus has been caught in a lying, morally degrading scandal and cover up, can we now cease and desist from believing Blaine at face value? Geez.
Whenever I see all these trusting, naive (mostly-planted-by-friends-and-associates) 5-star reviews of Blaine's book "The Kennedy Detail", the degree of naivete reminds one of the mindset of America during the 1950's. You would think the word of Blaine was the received Word of God or something; makes one want to throw up. Not only because I know what he REALLY said to me, as well as what all his many colleagues said and wrote that goes against what Blaine espouses in his book, but because, as an educated man, I know cover-ups and propaganda are more common than we care to admit.
Now that CIA Director--- and modern-day Eisenhower--- General David Petraeus has been caught in a lying, morally degrading scandal and cover up, can we now cease and desist from believing Blaine at face value? Geez.
Winston Lawson
Winston Lawson Recognized by the Virginia Health Care Association for illustrious Cold War era career protecting Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson
(Norfolk, VA) – Winston George Lawson, a 81 year-old resident of Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital, was recently featured in the first publication of the Virginia Health Care Association’s Who’s Who in Virginia’s Long Term Care Facilities calendar.
The calendar’s theme, “Strolling Down Memory Lane,” captures Mr. Lawson’s experiences in the United States Secret Service, which included duty postings protecting Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
“From listening to his family’s stories about his service and seeing his private photograph collection, it’s evident that Mr. Lawson embraced his duty to protect our nation’s top leaders as a solemn and sacred commitment,” said (Orsini?).
“We at Lake Taylor are privileged to have Mr. Lawson as a resident, and appreciate his service to our country. “We also congratulate and welcome the Virginia Health Care Association’s decision to honor Mr. Lawson in this special publication.”
Lawson was born and raised in western New York state. He retired from the U.S. Secret Service after 22 years as Deputy Assistant Director of the US Secret Service. Following his retirement from government service, Lawson worked for Billy Graham and his son, Franklin Graham. He has been a resident of Lake Taylor since February 2008.
Mr. Lawson’s profile is featured on Virginia Health Care Association’s (VHCA) website at www.vhca.org. The VHCA selected 24 residents to be featured in this special publication from among its statewide membership of nearly 275 licensed nursing and assisted living facilities.
(Norfolk, VA) – Winston George Lawson, a 81 year-old resident of Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital, was recently featured in the first publication of the Virginia Health Care Association’s Who’s Who in Virginia’s Long Term Care Facilities calendar.
The calendar’s theme, “Strolling Down Memory Lane,” captures Mr. Lawson’s experiences in the United States Secret Service, which included duty postings protecting Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
“From listening to his family’s stories about his service and seeing his private photograph collection, it’s evident that Mr. Lawson embraced his duty to protect our nation’s top leaders as a solemn and sacred commitment,” said (Orsini?).
“We at Lake Taylor are privileged to have Mr. Lawson as a resident, and appreciate his service to our country. “We also congratulate and welcome the Virginia Health Care Association’s decision to honor Mr. Lawson in this special publication.”
Lawson was born and raised in western New York state. He retired from the U.S. Secret Service after 22 years as Deputy Assistant Director of the US Secret Service. Following his retirement from government service, Lawson worked for Billy Graham and his son, Franklin Graham. He has been a resident of Lake Taylor since February 2008.
Mr. Lawson’s profile is featured on Virginia Health Care Association’s (VHCA) website at www.vhca.org. The VHCA selected 24 residents to be featured in this special publication from among its statewide membership of nearly 275 licensed nursing and assisted living facilities.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
A You Tube subscriber debunks Blaine in an interesting way
A You Tube subscriber debunks Blaine in an interesting way
{blankdogman wrote-
Thank you Vince,
just so you know, I don't trust Jer at all.
His alleged decision to put men on the back in Tampa only to save them the leg work of running to the limo everytime it stopped & now an actual witness to Roberts' order to pull the men off the back? Garbage.
This is what I'm after, visual confirmation that refutes part of the myth.
So,
the motorcade section in Tampa had agents on the back the entire time? You haven't seen a single image from that first part with no agents on the back?
I need to be clear on this point thank you.
Of course, I understand how crouching like that is a temporary relief for the legs but the images from Tampa tell us it was a full time position, far more uncomfortable than standing, indeed far more work & totally unatural.
Hill was on the back in Dallas for a few minutes tops & he's already crouching for relief?
I don't believe JFK ordered men off the back either(thanks to your important research) but I do think he may of said something in Tampa that resulted in those two on the back laying low.
This event I feel was used later by Rowley to pass the buck.
The idea here is, after a complaint, Roberts had the men remain on the back but more out of sight for JFK's "benefit".
Roberts did not take them off the back at all, he lied about that to help Rowley.
You have shown one image from Tampa where we see Lawton & his colleague standing, in the rest they are crouching. So the odds are they crouched most of the way.
This is observed in no other motorcade, in fact do you have one single image from another trip that caught men crouching? It should be a rare event as you said, temporary.
In Tampa it was the norm & there must be a reason for it.
Whilst crouching they are at least giving the appearance of being less conspicious to JFK. That's who they are doing it for IMO no one else. That was not from an order to stay off the back from now on. That was/is an invention but it may have had a root in an actual event. The best lies usually do.
{blankdogman wrote-
Thank you Vince,
just so you know, I don't trust Jer at all.
His alleged decision to put men on the back in Tampa only to save them the leg work of running to the limo everytime it stopped & now an actual witness to Roberts' order to pull the men off the back? Garbage.
This is what I'm after, visual confirmation that refutes part of the myth.
So,
the motorcade section in Tampa had agents on the back the entire time? You haven't seen a single image from that first part with no agents on the back?
I need to be clear on this point thank you.
Of course, I understand how crouching like that is a temporary relief for the legs but the images from Tampa tell us it was a full time position, far more uncomfortable than standing, indeed far more work & totally unatural.
Hill was on the back in Dallas for a few minutes tops & he's already crouching for relief?
I don't believe JFK ordered men off the back either(thanks to your important research) but I do think he may of said something in Tampa that resulted in those two on the back laying low.
This event I feel was used later by Rowley to pass the buck.
The idea here is, after a complaint, Roberts had the men remain on the back but more out of sight for JFK's "benefit".
Roberts did not take them off the back at all, he lied about that to help Rowley.
You have shown one image from Tampa where we see Lawton & his colleague standing, in the rest they are crouching. So the odds are they crouched most of the way.
This is observed in no other motorcade, in fact do you have one single image from another trip that caught men crouching? It should be a rare event as you said, temporary.
In Tampa it was the norm & there must be a reason for it.
Whilst crouching they are at least giving the appearance of being less conspicious to JFK. That's who they are doing it for IMO no one else. That was not from an order to stay off the back from now on. That was/is an invention but it may have had a root in an actual event. The best lies usually do.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Secret Service re: Mitt Romney, President Obama
On November 08, 2012 at 7:19 AM
How the Secret Service Said Goodbye to Mitt Romney
By Marc Ambinder
At some point, early Wednesday morning, when Gov. Mitt Romney and family were tucked into bed, a quiet call went out on the radio channel used by his Secret Service agents: "Javelin, Jockey details, all posts, discontinue."
Of all the indignities involved in losing a presidential race, none is more stark than the sudden emptiness of your entourage. The Secret Service detail guarding Governor Romney since Feb 1. stood down quickly. He had ridden in a 15-car motorcade to the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston for his concession speech. He rode in a single-car motorcade back across the Charles River to Belmont. His son, Tagg, did the driving.
There is no formal guideline for the Secret Service agents in this situation; it's up to the discretion of the detail leader, who usually consults with the local police to make sure that his protectee's home won't be overrun by protestors and supporters all of a sudden.
But the Service leaves quickly. No more motorcades. No more rope lines. No more bubbles. Familiar faces disappear, never to be seen again.
In 2008, agents offered to see John McCain back to his ranch in Sedona, but McCain insisted on saying his good byes in his suite at the Biltmore Hotel. The next morning, McCain was seen driving his own car to get groceries.
Had Romney won, everything would have been different. A full counter-assault team, "Hawkeye Javelin," was on stand-by in Boston, ready to supplement his detail. A team from the White House Communications Agency, which had been consulting with his informal transition team on secure space for intelligence briefings, was on hand too.
Romney has his family. When the race was close, agents would joke about the number of "j" words they'd need to come up with in order to give every one of his children, their wives, and all of their children code names. That's 29 people who would have received, if not protection, at least a protective survey and recommendations from the Service. Quietly, plans had already been put in place to assign protective details to all of them, just in case.
The Secret Service has had a hellish year. Not only has it been the busiest ever for the small agency, but it has been their most embarrassing since the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981. April's prostitution in scandal in Cartegana, Colombia threatened to demoralize the entity in charge of safeguarding the democratic process right on the eve of their active phase; two conventions, major foreign trips for the president, the presidential debates, the United Nations General Assembly, the campaign season itself (with sometimes more than a thousand agents and officers changing locations daily). An Inspector General's report has concluded that agents did not jeopardize the president's safety, but having spent time with agents over these past few months, their morale has been flagging. The public mockery takes it toll, even on silent soldiers.
And yet, for everything they were confronted with, the Service did its job. Protectees were protected 100 percent of the time. Several assassination plots were nipped in the bud. Thousands of events were secured, perfectly. Results matter, as we learned Tuesday night.
Though no one in the Service was rooting one way or the other for any particular candidate, at least not to colleagues or publicly, not having to secure the Romney family means that agents who have been working 12 hours shifts for eight weeks straight can take some time off before the inauguration. Families of many more agents will get them home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Secret Service said to have foiled several assassination attempts on President Obama and Mitt Romney during the campaign, but report is under scrutiny
GQ author Marc Ambinder defended his reporting with a list of public-record assassination attempts but had few other details to offer. A Secret Service spokesperson said he was unfamiliar with Ambinder’s sources.
BY CHARLIE WELLS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
President Obama and Mitt Romney may have had something much more serious to lose on this year’s campaign trail than the presidency: life itself.
A number of assassination plots were thwarted by Secret Service agents over the course of this campaign, according to one reporter, whose findings have come under scrutiny from the media in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
In an article about Romney’s intensive security detail written by GQ’s Marc Ambinder, the journalist said that in the Secret Service’s busiest year yet, “Several assassination plots were nipped in the bud.”
This claim was almost immediately questioned by members of the media, especially as Ambinder took to Twitter to suggest that more information might come out in a print edition of the article.
Politicker reached out to Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan for further details on the reported plots.
“We didn’t work with Marc Ambinder on that article, so I don’t know what his sourcing is,” Donovan told the publication.
When Politicker contacted the author, he eventually responded but without many juicy details.
“There was that guy who shot at the White House from across the ellipse, and then the soldiers arrested for plotting the assassination of the president and others,” Ambinder wrote, ticking off a list of public-record assassination attempts.
“I don’t know any details about any non-public attempts, if there were any,” he wrote.
BEFORE: FIRST PHOTOS OF ESCORT AT CENTER OF SECRET SERVICE SCANDAL
Whether someone attempted to kill him as a presidential hopeful or not, Romney -- apparently known as “Javelin” by the Secret Service -- will return to post-candidate life without the massive security detail that followed his every move on the trail.
Obama, whose detail will, of course, continue, is known by the Service as “Renegade.”
How the Secret Service Said Goodbye to Mitt Romney
By Marc Ambinder
At some point, early Wednesday morning, when Gov. Mitt Romney and family were tucked into bed, a quiet call went out on the radio channel used by his Secret Service agents: "Javelin, Jockey details, all posts, discontinue."
Of all the indignities involved in losing a presidential race, none is more stark than the sudden emptiness of your entourage. The Secret Service detail guarding Governor Romney since Feb 1. stood down quickly. He had ridden in a 15-car motorcade to the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston for his concession speech. He rode in a single-car motorcade back across the Charles River to Belmont. His son, Tagg, did the driving.
There is no formal guideline for the Secret Service agents in this situation; it's up to the discretion of the detail leader, who usually consults with the local police to make sure that his protectee's home won't be overrun by protestors and supporters all of a sudden.
But the Service leaves quickly. No more motorcades. No more rope lines. No more bubbles. Familiar faces disappear, never to be seen again.
In 2008, agents offered to see John McCain back to his ranch in Sedona, but McCain insisted on saying his good byes in his suite at the Biltmore Hotel. The next morning, McCain was seen driving his own car to get groceries.
Had Romney won, everything would have been different. A full counter-assault team, "Hawkeye Javelin," was on stand-by in Boston, ready to supplement his detail. A team from the White House Communications Agency, which had been consulting with his informal transition team on secure space for intelligence briefings, was on hand too.
Romney has his family. When the race was close, agents would joke about the number of "j" words they'd need to come up with in order to give every one of his children, their wives, and all of their children code names. That's 29 people who would have received, if not protection, at least a protective survey and recommendations from the Service. Quietly, plans had already been put in place to assign protective details to all of them, just in case.
The Secret Service has had a hellish year. Not only has it been the busiest ever for the small agency, but it has been their most embarrassing since the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981. April's prostitution in scandal in Cartegana, Colombia threatened to demoralize the entity in charge of safeguarding the democratic process right on the eve of their active phase; two conventions, major foreign trips for the president, the presidential debates, the United Nations General Assembly, the campaign season itself (with sometimes more than a thousand agents and officers changing locations daily). An Inspector General's report has concluded that agents did not jeopardize the president's safety, but having spent time with agents over these past few months, their morale has been flagging. The public mockery takes it toll, even on silent soldiers.
And yet, for everything they were confronted with, the Service did its job. Protectees were protected 100 percent of the time. Several assassination plots were nipped in the bud. Thousands of events were secured, perfectly. Results matter, as we learned Tuesday night.
Though no one in the Service was rooting one way or the other for any particular candidate, at least not to colleagues or publicly, not having to secure the Romney family means that agents who have been working 12 hours shifts for eight weeks straight can take some time off before the inauguration. Families of many more agents will get them home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Secret Service said to have foiled several assassination attempts on President Obama and Mitt Romney during the campaign, but report is under scrutiny
GQ author Marc Ambinder defended his reporting with a list of public-record assassination attempts but had few other details to offer. A Secret Service spokesperson said he was unfamiliar with Ambinder’s sources.
BY CHARLIE WELLS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
President Obama and Mitt Romney may have had something much more serious to lose on this year’s campaign trail than the presidency: life itself.
A number of assassination plots were thwarted by Secret Service agents over the course of this campaign, according to one reporter, whose findings have come under scrutiny from the media in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
In an article about Romney’s intensive security detail written by GQ’s Marc Ambinder, the journalist said that in the Secret Service’s busiest year yet, “Several assassination plots were nipped in the bud.”
This claim was almost immediately questioned by members of the media, especially as Ambinder took to Twitter to suggest that more information might come out in a print edition of the article.
Politicker reached out to Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan for further details on the reported plots.
“We didn’t work with Marc Ambinder on that article, so I don’t know what his sourcing is,” Donovan told the publication.
When Politicker contacted the author, he eventually responded but without many juicy details.
“There was that guy who shot at the White House from across the ellipse, and then the soldiers arrested for plotting the assassination of the president and others,” Ambinder wrote, ticking off a list of public-record assassination attempts.
“I don’t know any details about any non-public attempts, if there were any,” he wrote.
BEFORE: FIRST PHOTOS OF ESCORT AT CENTER OF SECRET SERVICE SCANDAL
Whether someone attempted to kill him as a presidential hopeful or not, Romney -- apparently known as “Javelin” by the Secret Service -- will return to post-candidate life without the massive security detail that followed his every move on the trail.
Obama, whose detail will, of course, continue, is known by the Service as “Renegade.”
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Long-overdue JFK Tribute will be dedicated today in Fort Worth
Long-overdue JFK Tribute will be dedicated today in Fort Worth
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 07, 2012
By Sandra Baker
sabaker@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- Almost 50 years have passed since President John F. Kennedy spoke to a large cheering crowd outside the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth, yet former House Speaker Jim Wright still struggles to understand how within hours of that joyous visit events would so horribly change.
He describes Nov. 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, as the saddest day of his career.
"I was personally so stricken by it, I did not get on the airplane to go back to Washington," Wright said in a recent interview with the Star-Telegram. "I felt there was something here to be done."
This morning, Wright, 89, will offer a few remarks as Fort Worth business and civic leaders dedicate the JFK Tribute at Eighth and Main streets, outside what is now the Hilton hotel, where Kennedy made one of his last public appearances and spent his last night.
The tribute features an 8-foot bronze statue of Kennedy, placed near the spot where he stood on a makeshift platform to greet thousands who gathered that morning. The tribute also features a granite wall containing iconic photographs and quotes from Kennedy that morning, and some of Wright's recollection of the day.
Wright, then a young congressman representing Fort Worth, was asked by Vice President Lyndon Johnson to help arrange visits in Texas for two days that November. Fort Worth was one of those stops. The day was to end with a dinner in Austin.
"I wanted plain citizens to have a chance to see and hear their president," Wright once wrote. No sitting president had been in Fort Worth since 1936.
That morning, with Kennedy scheduled to speak at a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast, Wright says, he prevailed upon Kennedy to greet the crowd swelling outside the hotel to see him.
"I think some of the Secret Service people did not like the idea of having that open-area appearance," Wright said.
"The president didn't mind. He did not object to it. He was delighted to do it, he said."
The memorial has been planned for some time, but the project got a boost in 2009 when the City Council approved spending $250,000 to fund an assessment of General Worth Square.
In January 2011, Taylor and Shirlee Gandy, with the backing of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., started a $2 million public fundraising effort.
Construction began in February. Dozens of prominent residents, as well as foundations and trusts, contributed.
Among the largest donors are the Gandys, Downtown Fort Worth Inc., the city, the Jane and John Justin Foundation, the Martha Sue Parr Trust, Bob and Janice Simpson, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, and the Ann L. and Carol Greene Rhodes Charitable Trust.Wright said the tribute is a long time coming.
"I guess that there are dates that will be remembered by those of us old enough to be impressionable. As long as we live, we will remember where we were and what we were doing when we learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. Everyone pretty well remembers where he or she was when President Roosevelt died in 1945. Everyone remembers with some clarity where he or she was when 9-11 occurred," Wright said. "Most folks will remember where they were when they learned of John Kennedy's death."
Lasting relationship
Wright met Kennedy in the mid-1950s, around the start of Wright's first term in Congress. He was doing a television broadcast to Fort Worth from Washington as a public service and asked Kennedy to be a guest to discuss his new book, Profiles in Courage. Kennedy agreed.
It was a coup for Wright that Kennedy would later come to Fort Worth.
"It meant a great, great deal because I had been active on the Kennedy-Johnson campaign," Wright said.
Wright was among several dignitaries who came outside the Hotel Texas that morning and stood by Kennedy on the platform. He recalls how Kennedy, without hesitation, plunged into the crowd to shake hands.
"The crowd was so joyous. They loved him," Wright said.
Many area residents remember the day in great detail.
Carol Clark Williams, 59, of Haltom City said her mother, Jere Clark, woke her and her sister, Carla, early that morning to head downtown [Fort Worth]. She remembers standing in the crowd, looking up and seeing the armed agents on rooftops.
"I thought, 'Wow, all this to protect the president,'" Williams said.
Later, Kennedy stopped to greet her mother, then leaned down to Williams, 10, and her sister, 7, and asked what grade they were in. He shook their hands.
"That is one of the things that has been such a part of me," Williams said.
Bob Allen, 63, owner of 1 Priority Environmental Services in Fort Worth, was 14 and a Kennedy fanatic. He skipped school and made it downtown on his motorcycle, stood in the crowd outside the hotel, but also worked his way in and shook Kennedy's hand.
"I just threaded my way through the crowd," Allen said. "I was a small kid. I'll never forget that day. He was my hero."
Likewise, Mary Catherine Monroe, 68, a U.S. history teacher in Arlington, was in the crowd with Texas Christian University classmates and her history professor.
"It was a defining moment for my generation," Monroe said. "It changed my politics. The assassination changed everything."
'I thought it
was a backfire'
Inside the ballroom, Kennedy spoke about events in Fort Worth's history and the important role the city played in the nation's defense, referring to the military work at General Dynamics and Bell Helicopter, among other things.
"He didn't ask for votes. He didn't ask for money, campaign contributions, nothing like that," Wright said.
"He boasted on Fort Worth. I was very happy he had been bragging on my hometown and he had said nice things about me. When the president of the United States comes to your home and says nice things about you ... that doesn't happen every day."
Wright would accompany Kennedy and the others to Dallas to be part of Kennedy's motorcade through downtown. Wright was in the sixth car in the procession behind Kennedy's car.
"When we got to Dallas, there was a joyous reception for him in the streets," Wright said.
But then panic set in, Wright said, when he heard shots and saw the horror on the faces in the crowd.
"I heard that first shot and thought, 'Oh, for Pete's sake.' I thought it was a backfire. Then the second one came. I thought someone was trying to fire a 21-gun salute with a rifle. I didn't realize what was happening."
Wright said he often thinks about that day and says it's not always easy to talk about.
"It was just a difficult experience to overcome," he said.
"I don't know that I did fully overcome it."
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 07, 2012
By Sandra Baker
sabaker@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- Almost 50 years have passed since President John F. Kennedy spoke to a large cheering crowd outside the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth, yet former House Speaker Jim Wright still struggles to understand how within hours of that joyous visit events would so horribly change.
He describes Nov. 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, as the saddest day of his career.
"I was personally so stricken by it, I did not get on the airplane to go back to Washington," Wright said in a recent interview with the Star-Telegram. "I felt there was something here to be done."
This morning, Wright, 89, will offer a few remarks as Fort Worth business and civic leaders dedicate the JFK Tribute at Eighth and Main streets, outside what is now the Hilton hotel, where Kennedy made one of his last public appearances and spent his last night.
The tribute features an 8-foot bronze statue of Kennedy, placed near the spot where he stood on a makeshift platform to greet thousands who gathered that morning. The tribute also features a granite wall containing iconic photographs and quotes from Kennedy that morning, and some of Wright's recollection of the day.
Wright, then a young congressman representing Fort Worth, was asked by Vice President Lyndon Johnson to help arrange visits in Texas for two days that November. Fort Worth was one of those stops. The day was to end with a dinner in Austin.
"I wanted plain citizens to have a chance to see and hear their president," Wright once wrote. No sitting president had been in Fort Worth since 1936.
That morning, with Kennedy scheduled to speak at a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast, Wright says, he prevailed upon Kennedy to greet the crowd swelling outside the hotel to see him.
"I think some of the Secret Service people did not like the idea of having that open-area appearance," Wright said.
"The president didn't mind. He did not object to it. He was delighted to do it, he said."
The memorial has been planned for some time, but the project got a boost in 2009 when the City Council approved spending $250,000 to fund an assessment of General Worth Square.
In January 2011, Taylor and Shirlee Gandy, with the backing of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., started a $2 million public fundraising effort.
Construction began in February. Dozens of prominent residents, as well as foundations and trusts, contributed.
Among the largest donors are the Gandys, Downtown Fort Worth Inc., the city, the Jane and John Justin Foundation, the Martha Sue Parr Trust, Bob and Janice Simpson, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, and the Ann L. and Carol Greene Rhodes Charitable Trust.Wright said the tribute is a long time coming.
"I guess that there are dates that will be remembered by those of us old enough to be impressionable. As long as we live, we will remember where we were and what we were doing when we learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. Everyone pretty well remembers where he or she was when President Roosevelt died in 1945. Everyone remembers with some clarity where he or she was when 9-11 occurred," Wright said. "Most folks will remember where they were when they learned of John Kennedy's death."
Lasting relationship
Wright met Kennedy in the mid-1950s, around the start of Wright's first term in Congress. He was doing a television broadcast to Fort Worth from Washington as a public service and asked Kennedy to be a guest to discuss his new book, Profiles in Courage. Kennedy agreed.
It was a coup for Wright that Kennedy would later come to Fort Worth.
"It meant a great, great deal because I had been active on the Kennedy-Johnson campaign," Wright said.
Wright was among several dignitaries who came outside the Hotel Texas that morning and stood by Kennedy on the platform. He recalls how Kennedy, without hesitation, plunged into the crowd to shake hands.
"The crowd was so joyous. They loved him," Wright said.
Many area residents remember the day in great detail.
Carol Clark Williams, 59, of Haltom City said her mother, Jere Clark, woke her and her sister, Carla, early that morning to head downtown [Fort Worth]. She remembers standing in the crowd, looking up and seeing the armed agents on rooftops.
"I thought, 'Wow, all this to protect the president,'" Williams said.
Later, Kennedy stopped to greet her mother, then leaned down to Williams, 10, and her sister, 7, and asked what grade they were in. He shook their hands.
"That is one of the things that has been such a part of me," Williams said.
Bob Allen, 63, owner of 1 Priority Environmental Services in Fort Worth, was 14 and a Kennedy fanatic. He skipped school and made it downtown on his motorcycle, stood in the crowd outside the hotel, but also worked his way in and shook Kennedy's hand.
"I just threaded my way through the crowd," Allen said. "I was a small kid. I'll never forget that day. He was my hero."
Likewise, Mary Catherine Monroe, 68, a U.S. history teacher in Arlington, was in the crowd with Texas Christian University classmates and her history professor.
"It was a defining moment for my generation," Monroe said. "It changed my politics. The assassination changed everything."
'I thought it
was a backfire'
Inside the ballroom, Kennedy spoke about events in Fort Worth's history and the important role the city played in the nation's defense, referring to the military work at General Dynamics and Bell Helicopter, among other things.
"He didn't ask for votes. He didn't ask for money, campaign contributions, nothing like that," Wright said.
"He boasted on Fort Worth. I was very happy he had been bragging on my hometown and he had said nice things about me. When the president of the United States comes to your home and says nice things about you ... that doesn't happen every day."
Wright would accompany Kennedy and the others to Dallas to be part of Kennedy's motorcade through downtown. Wright was in the sixth car in the procession behind Kennedy's car.
"When we got to Dallas, there was a joyous reception for him in the streets," Wright said.
But then panic set in, Wright said, when he heard shots and saw the horror on the faces in the crowd.
"I heard that first shot and thought, 'Oh, for Pete's sake.' I thought it was a backfire. Then the second one came. I thought someone was trying to fire a 21-gun salute with a rifle. I didn't realize what was happening."
Wright said he often thinks about that day and says it's not always easy to talk about.
"It was just a difficult experience to overcome," he said.
"I don't know that I did fully overcome it."
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
I am third cousin of James R Cox :O)
My mom told she was second cousin to James R Cox!
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42621889
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Renshaw_Cox
http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/strip/strip_n10.html
http://www.catholic.org/diocese/diocese_story.php?id=27165
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jobless-Party/126759170700844?sk=wall&rf=126834590693801
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12086/1219483-152-0.stm
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/images/pittsburgh/cox.html
http://evi.com/q/facts_about__father_james_cox
http://www.socialistappeal.org/analysis/us-history/1052-occupy-1932-the-bonus-army-
| Birth: | Mar. 7, 1886 Pittsburgh Allegheny County Pennsylvania, USA |
| Death: | Mar. 20, 1951 Pittsburgh Allegheny County Pennsylvania, USA |
 Religious Leader and Activist. Born James Renshaw Cox in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was a Roman Catholic priest, ordained July 1, 1911. He was assigned to Epiphany Church, served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army, later at Mercy Hospital and became pastor of Old St. Patrick in 1924. Known as the "Pastor of the Poor", he was known for being pro labor and led a march of 25,000 people on Washington, D.C. in 1932 which led to the formation of the Jobless Party. At the time it was the largest demonstration ever in the nations capital. Cox became the Jobless Party's candidate for President of the United States in 1932 before eventually withdrawing and supporting Franklin Roosevelt. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Commission for the Unemployed and was appointed to the state recovery board of the National Recovery Administration by Roosevelt in 1935. He died in Pittsburgh. | |
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42621889
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Renshaw_Cox
http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/strip/strip_n10.html
http://www.catholic.org/diocese/diocese_story.php?id=27165
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jobless-Party/126759170700844?sk=wall&rf=126834590693801
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12086/1219483-152-0.stm
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/images/pittsburgh/cox.html
http://evi.com/q/facts_about__father_james_cox
http://www.socialistappeal.org/analysis/us-history/1052-occupy-1932-the-bonus-army-
Friday, November 2, 2012
Secret Service agent kills self amid affair probe
Secret Service agent kills self amid affair probe
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press – 2 hrs 45 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — For nearly six years, a senior Secret Service agent kept his extramarital affair with a Mexican woman a secret from the agency responsible for protecting the president.
But in the wake of an embarrassing prostitution scandal involving 13 agents and officers, Rafael Prieto's secret was revealed by a fellow employee amid concerns that the Secret Service wasn't enforcing its rules consistently.
With an internal investigation ongoing, Prieto apparently committed suicide last week. That's according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Prieto's death or the investigation, which they say has focused on whether Prieto violated agency rules that require disclosing relationships with foreigners.
They say Prieto, a married father, admitted the years-long relationship when confronted by investigators.
Source: Secret Service agent dead of apparent suicide
By Carol Cratty, CNN
updated 11:04 PM EDT, Thu November 1, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
• Rafael Prieto was a 20-year veteran of the Secret Service
• He was assigned to President Obama's protective detail
• Authorities were looking into a suspected long-term relationship with a foreign national
• A law enforcement source says his death last Saturday was an apparent suicide
Washington (CNN) -- A Secret Service agent suspected of having a romantic relationship with a Mexican woman is dead of an apparent suicide, a law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.
The source said Rafael Prieto, 48, was assigned to President Obama's protective detail.
The Secret Service confirmed Thursday that Prieto's death last Saturday is currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, along with the medical examiner's office. No official determination of death has been made.
Prieto's access to Secret Service facilities had been suspended while authorities were looking into his apparently unreported and long-term relationship with a foreign national, the law enforcement official said.
"There is nothing to indicate that any classified or sensitive information was compromised as a result of this relationship," according to the source.
The official said Prieto was involved in an "administrative process" about his connection with the woman but that he was not under investigation by the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Prieto could have been in violation of Secret Service protocols if he had not informed superiors about a personal relationship with a foreign national. Such relationships came under a spotlight after agents sent to Cartagena, Colombia, in advance of President Obama's trip earlier this year spent time partying with prostitutes.
"Rafael Prieto had a distinguished 20-year career with the Secret Service that was marked by accomplishment, dedication, and friendships," said Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan. "The Secret Service is mourning the loss of a valued colleague."
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press – 2 hrs 45 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — For nearly six years, a senior Secret Service agent kept his extramarital affair with a Mexican woman a secret from the agency responsible for protecting the president.
But in the wake of an embarrassing prostitution scandal involving 13 agents and officers, Rafael Prieto's secret was revealed by a fellow employee amid concerns that the Secret Service wasn't enforcing its rules consistently.
With an internal investigation ongoing, Prieto apparently committed suicide last week. That's according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Prieto's death or the investigation, which they say has focused on whether Prieto violated agency rules that require disclosing relationships with foreigners.
They say Prieto, a married father, admitted the years-long relationship when confronted by investigators.
Source: Secret Service agent dead of apparent suicide
By Carol Cratty, CNN
updated 11:04 PM EDT, Thu November 1, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
• Rafael Prieto was a 20-year veteran of the Secret Service
• He was assigned to President Obama's protective detail
• Authorities were looking into a suspected long-term relationship with a foreign national
• A law enforcement source says his death last Saturday was an apparent suicide
Washington (CNN) -- A Secret Service agent suspected of having a romantic relationship with a Mexican woman is dead of an apparent suicide, a law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.
The source said Rafael Prieto, 48, was assigned to President Obama's protective detail.
The Secret Service confirmed Thursday that Prieto's death last Saturday is currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, along with the medical examiner's office. No official determination of death has been made.
Prieto's access to Secret Service facilities had been suspended while authorities were looking into his apparently unreported and long-term relationship with a foreign national, the law enforcement official said.
"There is nothing to indicate that any classified or sensitive information was compromised as a result of this relationship," according to the source.
The official said Prieto was involved in an "administrative process" about his connection with the woman but that he was not under investigation by the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Prieto could have been in violation of Secret Service protocols if he had not informed superiors about a personal relationship with a foreign national. Such relationships came under a spotlight after agents sent to Cartagena, Colombia, in advance of President Obama's trip earlier this year spent time partying with prostitutes.
"Rafael Prieto had a distinguished 20-year career with the Secret Service that was marked by accomplishment, dedication, and friendships," said Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan. "The Secret Service is mourning the loss of a valued colleague."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
![VINCE PALAMARA [remember to scroll all the way down!]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZ-Z_puqnjl3UgdiJxBenMyIMaFhmBD-PYQUsxCtFS4UF7dJQB6n32rt9a0ZqFRPmuBoukhrMZxv6LOD9GoUGPiaShO3wj_8xL98obRAsUbIf0mXutzbq7jKDrCp8Y-Y0k9rnS5ARjQQ/s1600/11.jpg)
![CHAPTER 8 OF ARRB FINAL REPORT [I AM IN THIS REPORT, AS WELL]...HMMM---THE SECRET SERVICE DESTROYS](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGbOuG69gW-cgAbsfjd8p8PD-subznIjcsQXUSFq560o_kiXunf9TcH0fkOqmWuK73id6m5TyVMhWcfBrPUEee6JLbvqNZKdIVQa5Drcz568Ue6GZdf_PUtLuLwPDcucv3gOn5KGBZPw/s1600/DSCF0462.JPG)
