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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Monday, April 29, 2013

"In the Secret Service: The True Story of the Man Who Saved President Reagan's Life" by Jerry Parr- ESSENTIAL PURCHASE

"In the Secret Service: The True Story of the Man Who Saved President Reagan's Life" by Jerry Parr- ESSENTIAL PURCHASE

 

In the Secret Service: The True Story of the Man Who Saved President Reagan's Life [Hardcover]

Jerry Parr and
Carolyn Parr

"October 1, 2013

Meet Jerry Parr. In 1981, he was the agent standing next to Ronald Reagan when John Hinckley, Jr., stepped out of the crowd, intent on killing the president. In the Secret Service is an adrenaline-filled ride through the life of the agent who saved Ronald Reagan’s life. Jerry spent much of his life as a silent eyewitness to history, with a gun at his fingertips. What motivates a man who is ready at a moment’s notice to step into the path of a bullet? In In the Secret Service, you’ll also follow Jerry’s inner journey. That journey led him from the halls of the powerful to the streets of the poor in Washington, D.C., to the mountain passes of war-torn El Salvador to help orphans.

You won’t want to miss this insider’s perspective on the Secret Service and a look into the heart of a man who was—and is—ready to sacrifice himself for another. At times heart-pounding, at times heartrending, this richly textured memoir of a Secret Service Agent will first move you to the edge of your seat, then to the depths of your soul."

http://www.amazon.com/In-Secret-Service-President-Reagans/dp/1414387482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367276099&sr=8-1&keywords=jerry+parr

EMORY ROBERTS

I went looking for the transcripts to Agent Emory Roberts interview with author William Manchester and this is the response I received from Wesleyan University: "The transcripts relating to Emory Roberts are restricted until 2067"


2067?


Friday, April 26, 2013

interesting

Digital Commons @ Georgia Law


Popular Media Faculty Scholarship

9-5-2012

Intriguing Mystery - The Secret Service and the JFK

Assassination

Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

University of Georgia School of Law, wilkes@uga.edu

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Digital Commons @ Georgia Law. It has been accepted for

inclusion in Popular Media by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Georgia Law. For more information, please contact

tstriepe@uga.edu.

Repository Citation

Wilkes, Donald E. Jr., "Intriguing Mystery - The Secret Service and the JFK Assassination" (2012). Popular Media. Paper 170.

http://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_pm/170

Intriguing Mystery

The Secret Service and the JFK Assassination

The conclusion seems inescapable that the Secret Service bungled its responsibilities prior to and

during the assassination of JFK.

By Donald E. Wilkes, Jr.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

“Kennedy was killed by a breakdown in a protective system that should have made the

assassination impossible.”—Robert Groden and Harrison Livingston, High Treason (2d ed.

1989).

“The extremely poor performance of the president’s bodyguards has led some people to suspect

the Secret Service was somehow involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy, although there has

never been any proof that this was so.”—James P. Duffy and Vincent L. Ricci, The

Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1992).

“The reason for their [the Secret Service’s] neglect remains one of the intriguing mysteries of the

[Kennedy] assassination.”—Michael L. Kurtz, Crime of the Century (1982).

A Major Malfunction

On Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, in broad daylight, at half past noon, and despite his Secret Service

protection, President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot in the head while sitting in his midnightblue

1961 Lincoln Continental open limousine as it slowly motorcaded through Dealey Plaza in

downtown Dallas, TX. (President Kennedy also received several nonfatal bullet wounds. Texas

Gov. John Connally, seated on a jump seat in front of JFK, suffered multiple nonfatal bullet

wounds.)

Based on the information now available nearly 50 years after the assassination, there is a

consensus among those who have investigated President Kennedy’s Secret Service protection.

The consensus: JFK’s protection was inadequate. Indeed, the protection was so defective that it

dangerously increased the likelihood that an assassination plan involving one or more concealed

snipers firing into the presidential limousine would succeed. By making the murder of JFK easier

and the undetected escape of the assassins more likely, this Secret Service bungling contributed

to the assassination.

Typically, the Warren Commission whitewashed the Secret Service, finding that on the whole

there had been no fundamental lapse in Kennedy’s protective security, although it did fault the

Secret Service for not conducting a prior inspection of the buildings along the motorcade route.

The master rule of physical protection of heads of state by security officials is that meticulous

preparation of protective measures will preclude any successful assassination attempt. But there

was no meticulous protection on Nov. 22, 1963. The Secret Service made the killing of a

president, which could have been prevented, possible. The awful truth, kept from the public for

years, is that but for the Secret Service’s blunders President Kennedy would not have been slain.

This is not to deny that most Secret Service agents in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 did their best. Nor

is it a criticism of the Secret Service of today.

The consensus that JFK’s protection was seriously flawed began emerging in 1979 when, after a

two-year reinvestigation of the assassination, the U.S. House of Representatives Select

Committee on Assassinations issued a Final Report, which concluded devastatingly that “the

Secret Service was deficient in the performance of its duties.”

Specifically, the Assassinations Committee found that:

• “The Secret Service possessed information that was not properly analyzed, investigated, or

used by the Secret Service in connection with the President’s trip to Dallas.”

• “Secret Service agents in the motorcade were inadequately prepared to protect the President

from a sniper.”

• “[In] the physical protection of the President… [there was a] failure to arrange for prior

inspection of buildings along the motorcade route… and a lack of discipline and bad judgment

by some members of the Secret Service protective detail in Dallas, who were drinking on the

night before the assassination.”

• Due to Secret Service directives, escort security for the presidential limousine during the Dallas

motorcade “may have been uniquely insecure.” The day before the Dallas visit, at a meeting with

local police officials to finalize the arrangements for the motorcade, the Secret Service oddly

ordered “a reduction of security of protection in terms of [the] number and placement of [Dallas

police] officers” who would escort the limousine during the motorcade through the city. For

example, the number of police motorcycles accompanying the limousine itself was reduced from

eight to four, and unusually these four motorcyclists were directed not to flank the limousine but

instead to stay behind the limousine’s rear fender. By contrast, when the president motorcaded

through Houston on Nov. 21, his limousine was flanked by six motorcycles.

• “Besides limiting the motorcycle protection, [the Secret Service] prevented the Dallas Police

Department from inserting into the motorcade, behind the Vice-Presidential car, a Dallas Police

Department squad car containing homicide detectives.”

The current consensus that the Secret Service was derelict in its duties is supported by an

abundance of information that necessarily also confirms the verdict reached by the House

Assassinations Committee 30 years ago. That information includes:

• In the months preceding the assassination the Secret Service became aware of several reported

plots to shoot JFK, although this startling fact was unknown to the public until years after the

Warren Commission’s official investigation.

• In March 1963, more than six months before the assassination, the Secret Service

received a postcard warning that JFK would be assassinated while riding in a motorcade.

This warning resulted in additional protection being furnished the president when he

visited Chicago that month.

• In October 1963 the Secret Service received reports of one or more plots to shoot JFK

with high-power rifles when he motorcaded through Chicago on a visit scheduled for

Nov. 2. The visit was cancelled at the last minute.

• In the words of the House Assassinations Committee, in planning for the Dallas trip “the

Secret Service failed to make appropriate use of the information supplied it by the

Chicago threat in early November 1963.”

• On Nov. 9, 1963, a violence-prone racist agitator from Quitman, GA named Joseph

Adams Milteer had a lengthy conversation in a Miami, FL hotel room with a man named

Willie Somersett, in the course of which Milteer told Somersett about a plot that was

afoot to assassinate JFK. Unknown to Milteer, Somersett was a police informer

surreptitiously tape-recording the conversation. The transcript of that taped conversation

reveals that Milteer told Somersett that the killing of Kennedy “was in the working,” that

the president could be killed “[f]rom an office building with a high-powered rifle,” that

the rifle could be “disassembled” to get it into the building, and that “[t]hey will pick up

somebody within hours afterward, if anything like that would happen just to throw the

public off.” (Scholars have duly noted the resemblance of the facts that Milteer related

about this plot against JFK and the facts forming the basis of the Warren Commission’s

official account of the assassination.) Somersett promptly gave the tape recording to local

Miami police, who immediately forwarded it to both the Secret Service and the FBI.

After a hurried investigation that apparently did not include interviewing Milteer, the

Miami field office of the Secret Service prepared a file on Milteer titled “Alleged

Possible Threat Against the President.” (A photograph of the first page of the file is in F.

Peter Model and Robert J. Groden’s book JFK: The Case for Conspiracy (1977).)

Beginning late on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 18, 1963, the Monday before the Friday

Dallas visit, President Kennedy traveled to Miami, Florida. Extra precautions were taken

there to protect the president. JFK did most of his traveling through the Miami area in a

helicopter instead of in a motorcade, and during the motorcading that did occur his open

limousine drove the entire route at speeds of 40 to 50 mph. [In the early evening of that

Monday, at the age of 19, I myself stood on the western side of Collins Avenue in Miami

Beach and watched a vibrant JFK smiling and waving at the spectators who lined both

sides of the street as his open limousine sped by at a brisk pace from my left to my right.

It was the only time I ever saw JFK in the flesh. Four days later he was a corpse.]

• Information about the plot revealed by Milteer apparently was not passed on to the Secret

Service officials responsible for the trip to Dallas.

• On Monday, Nov. 18, 1963, before his visit later that same day to Miami, President

Kennedy motorcaded through Tampa, FL. Prior to the Tampa visit, the Secret Service

became concerned that an attempt might be made to assassinate JFK during that visit.

The Secret Service’s concerns arose because from unknown sources it became aware of a

threat that an unidentified rifleman shooting from a window in a tall building with a high

power rifle fitted with a scope might assassinate JFK while the president was being

driven through Tampa. (A short news article mentioning the reported plot, “Threats on

Kennedy Made Here,” appeared in the The Tampa Tribune newspaper the day after the

Dallas assassination. There is a photograph of the article in Lamar Waldron and Thom

Hartmann’s book Ultimate Sacrifice (2005).) The Tampa assassination attempt was

thwarted by beefing up escort security for the presidential motorcade; over 600 law

enforcement officers protected JFK. It is unclear whether the alleged Tampa plot was

separate from or related to the assassination plot Joseph Milteer spoke of.

• The Dallas assassination can never again be viewed in isolation. It must be viewed in the

context of the various Chicago, Miami, and Tampa plots against the president reported in the

months before the assassination. We now know that the Dallas assassination occurred against a

background of several recent plots to shoot JFK, plots the Secret Service was fully aware of. The

ghastly truth appears to be that, as David Talbot writes in his book Brothers: The Hidden History

of the Kennedy Years (2007), “Kennedy was, in fact, being methodically stalked in the final

weeks of his life… In the final month of his life, John Kennedy seemed a marked man, encircled

by a tightening knot of treachery.” Because the Secret Service must have realized that JFK was

in a dangerous situation, the inadequate protection furnished him on Nov. 22, 1963 is, scholars

agree, baffling. Why, for example, did the Secret Service authorize two highly unusual sharp

turns for the motorcade in Dealey Plaza, and why was the limousine proceeding along at the

extraordinarily low speed of only 11.2 mph when it came under fire?

• In 1963 Secret Service practices required that buildings along a presidential motorcade route be

inspected in advance if either the motorcade route was a standard one that had been used in the

past or there was a specific reason to suspect the occupants or activities in a certain building.

President Kennedy’s Dallas motorcade route had been the standard route for motorcades for

years; President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, had visited Dallas in 1936 and traversed the

same route in a motorcade (although in the opposite direction). For this reason alone, the

buildings along the motorcade should have been subjected to inspection before the motorcade

traveled past them. Furthermore, as we now know, the Secret Service for months had been aware

of possible plots in several cities to shoot the president from a building, and JFK was definitely

in danger of being murdered in Dallas. A month before the assassination the U. S. Ambassador

to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, had been assaulted and spat upon by right-wing

demonstrators in Dallas simply because he was a liberal Democrat. Dallas was a city with a

deserved reputation for right-wing anti-Kennedy extremism, and there were many tall buildings

along the motorcade route. Even though there was no reason to suspect any particular building,

inspecting those buildings should, under the circumstances, have been deemed mandatory.

However, as previously noted, when President Kennedy visited Dallas no prior inspection of the

buildings along the motorcade route was made.

• With a few exceptions, Secret Service agents in the motorcade performed poorly when the

shots rang out. The 54-year old agent driving the presidential limousine failed to accelerate the

moment the shooting began. Instead he hesitated, applying the limousine’s brakes and slowing it

down to such a degree that many Dealey Plaza eyewitnesses thought the vehicle had actually

stopped; he twice swivelled his head backwards to look at Kennedy; and he did not put his foot

on the gas and speed away until after JFK suffered the fatal headshot captured in blood red on

frame number Z313 of the most memorable color home movie in history, the Zapruder film. At

the time Secret Service guidelines provided: “The Driver of the President’s car should be alert

for dangers and be able to take instant action when instructed or otherwise made aware of an

emergency.” In violation of other Secret Service procedures, the 48-year old agent in the right

front seat made no attempt to move to the president and shield him. This, it is true, would have

been difficult, because a special handlebar for the president to hold on to while standing in the

limousine made it very hard for someone in the right front seat to get into the rear compartment.

Nonetheless, the agent should at least have made an effort to get to the president. He should not

have sat there. The agents standing on the running board of the followup car that trailed the

limousine by five feet also seemed drugged with an elixir of sluggishness. After the sound of

gunfire had been heard, and while JFK was visibly reacting to bullet wounds, they stood there

dully, some looking at him, and some turning to look to behind them in the direction of the initial

shot (which most likely was a diversionary shot to deflect attention away from shooters in other

locations). Only one of the agents, the courageous and alert Clint Hill (whose book is reviewed

below), possessed the initiative, the quickness, and the physical bravery to jump from the

followup car and race to and climb on the limousine before it sped off; but by the time Hill

actually got to President Kennedy the gunfire was over and JFK mortally wounded.

U. S. Senator Ralph Yarborough, who witnessed the assassination, told the Warren Commission:

“All of the Secret Service agents seemed to me to respond very slowly, with no more than a

puzzled look… I am amazed at the lack of instantaneous response by the Secret Service when the

rifle fire began.” “Somewhere along the line,” famously writes James Hepburn (pen name of a

French intelligence service official) in his book Farewell America (1968), ‘”[the agents guarding

JFK] had neglected the first rule of security: They had lost their reflexes.”

The slow response of the agents may have been attributable to a combination of alcohol

consumption, sleep deprivation, and fatigue. In blatant violation of Secret Service regulations,

the night before the assassination nine agents, including four in the followup car, had been out

late drinking. Secret Service regulations strictly prohibited the agents on the White House Detail

from any use of intoxicating liquor of any kind (including beer and wine) while traveling with

the president. “Violation or slight disregard” of this rule was cause for removal from the Secret

Service. Furthermore, six of the nine agents stayed out until around 3 a.m., while the seventh did

not return to his room until 5 a.m. It is nearly unbelievable that despite multiple recent reports of

sinister plans to shoot the president in his limousine, agents were drinking and partying late on

the night before a visit to a dangerous place like Dallas.

• Subsequent to the assassination, the Secret Service acted as though it had something to hide by

engaging in a suspicious pattern of secretly suppressing or destroying records relating to the

assassination, even when forbidden to do so by law.

• The Secret Service withheld from the public the information it possessed relating to

Joseph Milteer’s taped conversation with Willie Sommersett. Milteer is never mentioned

in the Warren Report or the 26 volumes of documents published by the Warren

Commission. The public found out about Milteer’s statements concerning plans to kill

JFK only because local Miami city police, recognizing the amazing similarity between

what Milteer said was going to happen and what (according to the Warren Commission)

did happen, gave a transcript of the conversation to a Miami newspaper reporter in 1967.

The reporter, Bill Barry, published an article about Milteer (without mentioning his

name), which included excerpts from the transcript, in The Miami News on Feb. 2, 1967.

Barry’s newspaper article was quoted at length (again without mentioning Milteer’s

name) in Harold Weisberg’s book Oswald in New Orleans (1967). Four years later, in his

book Frame-Up (1971) Weisberg published the entire transcript of the taped

conversation, together with various FBI documents relating to Milteer. This time

Milteer’s name was given. As a result the story of the Milteer plot became known to the

general public in the early 1970s. If it had been up to the Secret Service, however, the

public might still not know of the assassination plot Milteer talked about.

• When the Secret Service’s Protective Research Section files for 1963 were computerized,

the original files were destroyed instead of being preserved.

• As Douglas P. Horne explains in the fifth volume of his book Inside the Assassination

Records Board (2009), “in January 1995, the Secret Service destroyed Presidential

protection survey reports for some of President Kennedy’s trips in the fall of 1963.”

Among the records destroyed were those for the cancelled Chicago trip in early

November 1963. At the same time the Secret Service destroyed a folder of vital records

for the period July-November 1963. This destruction of crucial documents of historical

importance occurred notwithstanding the John F. Kennedy Assassination Materials

Disclosure Act of 1992, which provides that “all records in the possession of the

Government relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy should be

released to the public at the earliest opportunity,” and even though the Secret Service had

been advised by the National Archives not to unilaterally destroy assassination records.

New Books

There are two new books by former Secret Service agents who were on the White House Detail

when the assassination occurred. The first is Mrs. Kennedy and Me, by Clint Hill (Gallery

Books, 2012). The second is The Kennedy Detail, by Gerald Blaine (Gallery Books, 2010).

These two books—the first written by members of JFK’s 1963 security team—provide hugely

interesting inside accounts of the tragic events in Dallas. To a limited extent they also throw

additional light on the performance of the Secret Service on Nov. 22, 1963. Clint Hill retired

from the Secret Service in 1975, Gerald Blaine in 1964.

A Brave Man

I turn first to Clint Hill’s Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Clint Hill, who was

born in 1932 and grew up in a small town in North Dakota, was the

Secret Service agent in charge of protecting Jacqueline Kennedy for

four years—from November 1960 until December 1964. He and

another agent usually accompanied her whenever she traveled or

appeared in public. His book gives a fascinating account of his trips

with Mrs. Kennedy to exotic locations in Europe and Asia, and it

includes wonderful photos of those trips, including one of Mrs.

Kennedy standing in front of the Taj Mahal. The book’s most

astonishing photo (on p. 107) is, however, a photo taken in Virginia of

Mrs. Kennedy, an accomplished equestrienne, being thrown from her

horse, which, while rapidly approaching a rail fence to jump over it, suddenly halted after it was

frightened by the paparazzo who took the picture. Mrs. Kennedy is flying headfirst through the

air over the fence with the startled horse behind the fence. As she falls face down, she is looking

at the ground while her straight left leg is pointing skyward at an angle, and her arms are

reaching down to cushion herself from the impending impact. (The First Lady was not seriously

injured and remounted her horse and continued her ride. The photo first appeared in Life

magazine.)

The text of Mrs. Kennedy and Me takes up 340 pages divided into 26 chapters. The first 21

chapters (265 pages) cover the period late 1960 until shortly before November 1963. What a

spectacular story they tell of Mrs. Kennedy’s exciting travels to such places as France, Italy,

Greece, India and Pakistan, and her memorable encounters with such exotic personages as Ayub

Khan, Gianni Agnelli, and Andre Malraux. The next four chapters (60 pages) cover the trip to

Dallas, the assassination, subsequent events in Dallas that day, the flight of Air Force One back

to Washington, D.C., the preparations for the state funeral, and the funeral itself. The new

president, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered the Secret Service to continue protecting Mrs. Kennedy

until the end of 1964, and the book’s short final chapter (13 pages) covers that 12-month period

of gloom and mourning in Mrs. Kennedy’s life, during which (at her request) Clint Hill

continued as her primary bodyguard.

Clint Hill is a man’s man. On Nov. 22, 1963, he risked his life to help JFK and the First Lady.

He had the unspeakable physical courage to run to and leap on a vehicle into which he knew

bullets were being fired, a vehicle in which two persons had just been shot. He boarded the back

of the limousine, pushed Mrs. Kennedy (who had climbed onto the trunk) back into her seat, and

then shielded her and the dying president with his arched body as the limousine sped to the

hospital.

Examining the individual frames of the Zapruder film permits a fuller appreciation of Clint Hill’s

quick-witted bravery. (Since the frames moved through the camera at a rate of 18.3 per second,

each frame captures approximately one-eighteenth of a second.) At Z332 we have our first

(albeit blurry) image of Hill, who is running toward and is just behind the limousine, and at Z333

we clearly recognize him. At Z382 Hill has boarded the limousine: both of his feet are off the

pavement and he is standing on a step specially installed in the left rear bumper area, while his

hands grip a handle specially installed on the left rear of the trunk. This was barely 10 seconds

after the first shot. Hill’s reaction time was astonishingly prompt. Meanwhile at Z371 Mrs.

Kennedy has risen out of her seat in the passenger compartment and is crawling on the trunk

towards Hill. At Z386 Hill begins reaching for Mrs. Kennedy, and at Z390 he touches or begins

pushing her in a effort to get her back into her seat. It worked. By Z393 the lower half of her

body is now back in the seat. Getting Mrs. Kennedy back into the passenger compartment was

important for her safety. Not only would she be less exposed to gunfire, but it prevented her from

being hurled from the limousine when it rapidly accelerated.

Z371 is the frame which perfectly captures for all time the essence of Clint Hill’s courageous

conduct. It is one of the iconic images not just of the Kennedy assassination but of the entire 20th

century. In the background four stunned spectators standing on green grass and looking at the

limousine can hardly believe what they are seeing. To the right of the frame the dying,

unconscious president, his face obscured by a white blob, is leaning or falling limply to his left in

his seat. In the center of the frame, Mrs. Kennedy, in her pink suit and pink pillbox hat, is on the

trunk clambering toward the rear of the limousine. On the left, Clint Hill is struggling to climb

aboard the limousine. His right foot is still on the pavement, his left foot is touching the step on

the bumper, and both his hands are grasping the trunk handlebar. We are viewing the image of a

brave man heedless of his own personal safety who is rushing headlong into grave bodily danger

in order to help a president and a first lady. Bravo, Clint Hill!

Clint Hill’s account of the assassination conflicts in several respects from the facts found by the

Warren Commission. For example, after mounting the limousine he “could see inside the back of

[JFK’s] head. I could see inside the back of the president’s head.” He told the Warren

Commission the same thing in 1964: “The right rear portion of [JFK’s] head was missing.” The

Warren Commission concluded that the president had only a small hole in the rear of his head.

Mrs. Kennedy and Me carefully omits mention of the subnormal performance of Hill’s fellow

agents, while at the same time avoiding factual inaccuracies about the JFK assassination.

Pay No Attention

The Kennedy Detail, the other book I want to discuss, whitewashes

the Secret Service. It attempts to continue the earlier coverup of the

major errors the Secret Service committed. It is defensive in tone

and pretends that the Secret Service did not let down President

Kennedy. It omits or misstates key facts in order to make the

performance of the Secret Service agents look better than it was.

Nastily, the book even suggests that JFK was partially responsible

for his own assassination because allegedly he forbade agents from

standing on the back of the limousine where they might have

shielded him from shooters. (The claim that JFK barred agents from

riding on the back of the limousine is almost certainly false.) The

Kennedy Detail could appropriately have been subtitled Pay No

Attention to the Secret Service’s Major Malfunction.

Perhaps unintentionally, however, The Kennedy Detail sets forth facts which are confirmatory of

the consensus critical of the Secret Service.

• Jerry Behn, the Special Agent in Charge of the White House Detail (and the most senior agent

on the Detail) was on vacation and did not accompany JFK on the trips to Florida or Texas. “He

took his first vacation in four years the week JFK was assassinated.” Oddly, however, Jerry Behn

was in his office in Washington, D.C. when the assassination occurred. “He was supposed to be

on vacation, but he’d come into the office for just a couple of hours.” As the most senior Secret

Service agent on the Detail, Behn usually was at the president’s side whenever Kennedy was

away from the White House, and on trips he occupied the right front seat of the presidential

limousine. (This means, of course, that despite the known threats to JFK’s safety posed by

gunmen, and despite the fact that he was traveling to a dangerous place, JFK was, on his visit to

Dallas, not accompanied by the experienced, supervisory agent who ordinarily was in close

personal attendance when the president appeared in public or traveled. With President Kennedy

in such apparent danger on his trip, Jerry Behn had chosen a most inopportune time to take a

vacation.)

• When the Special Agent in Charge was unavailable, an Assistant Special Agent in Charge

would closely accompany the president on trips and sit in the right front seat of the limousine.

Contrary to usual practice, however, Jerry Behn’s deputy, Floyd Boring, an Assistant Special

Agent in Charge of the White House Detail, was at home on an unusual day off on Nov. 22,

1963. “Agent Floyd Boring was relaxing at home on a rare day off when he got the call [telling

him of the assassination].” (This means that Boring had picked a peculiar time to take the day

off, since he knew about the dangers of the Dallas visit and also knew that Jerry Behn was not

traveling to Dallas. It also means that while on his hazardous visit to Dallas JFK unusually was

not accompanied by either of the experienced agents who usually were in close proximity to him

while traveling.)

• Because of the absence of Behn and Boring, another Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the

White House Detail, Roy H. Kellerman, sat in the right front seat of the limousine as it

motorcaded through Dallas. Kellerman was an experienced agent. (The Dallas visit appears to

have been Kellerman’s first major trip as the supervisory agent.) It was Kellerman who

scandalously remained in his seat and made no effort to get to or shield the president when the

shooting began.

• At the time of the assassination, the White House Detail was in a weakened condition due to

recent resignations and transfers. Nearly one-third of the 34 agents on the White House Detail

assigned to protect JFK, including a number of experienced agents, had recently resigned or been

transferred. “In the past two months alone, eleven of the most experienced agents on the

Kennedy Detail had been replaced. It had been a purely personal choice by the agents–they’d

requested, and had been granted, transfers to field offices… [N]early a third of the agents had

decided they just couldn’t do it any more. Too many missed birthdays and anniversaries, too

many holidays away from home.” (This means that despite several known plots to assassinate the

president, the Secret Service nonetheless was permitting numbers of its experienced agents to

leave the Detail. Shouldn’t it have been obvious under the circumstances that allowing so many

experienced agents to depart was unwise?)

• Perhaps because of the recent departures from the Detail, some of the agents in Dallas were

working their first motorcade.

Ironically, therefore, despite The Kennedy Detail’s efforts to divert blame away from the security

men who dismally failed to prevent the assassination, some of the information in the book tends

to support the consensus that the Secret Service did not do its job on Nov. 22, 1963.

Donald E. Wilkes, Jr., is Professor of Law Emeritus in the UGA School of Law.

A couple old news articles re: Youngblood, Behn, Boring, and Kellerman

A couple old news articles re: Youngblood, Behn, Boring, and Kellerman



Merry-Go-Round


OCT 1 9 191I

Secret Service Hero

/ Hounded Out of Job

Jack Anderson
"The new crowd


considered Youngblood too close to the

former President. Nixon aides suggested

quietly to the Secret Service that he be

moved out of the White House.

He was given a desk across the street

at Secret Service headquarters. Thereafter,

he was subjected to petty harassments

until he quietly resigned Iast June after

reaching eligibility for his 20-year pension.

At 48, he was at the peak of his career.

Youngblood doesn't believe President

Nixon personally had anything to do with

his treatment. President Nixon is a gentleman,"

Youngblood told us. He refused to

comment on whether Mr. Nixon's aides,

on their own authority, had put the

squeeze on him. Nor was he critical of the

Secret Service. "The Secret Service is a

good outfit," he said. "I don't want to say

anything that would hurt it." --------------- NYT Times 9 Jan. 1965

2 Agents Removed

FromWhite House

By Secret Service,

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI)

--The two top men assigned. to

the White House to protect

President Johnson were re-,

placed today by the Secret

Service.

Rufus W. Youngblood, who is

- Mr. Johnson's long-time personal

agent, was appointed spe-

"" cial agent in charge of the

_ White House detail, succeeding

- Gerald A. Behn.

Roy H. Kellerman, who was

in the same limousine in Dallas.

with President Kennedy when

- Mr. Kennedy was assassinated,

Nov. 22, 1963, was named dep-

- uty special agent in charge,

succeeding Floyd M. Boring.

Mr. Behn and Mr. Boring are

being assigned to Secret Service

headquarters as inspectors [note: Behn was adamant with me on 9/27/92 that he did NOT become an Inspector, as his 1976 JFK Library oral history also confirms: he instead became SAIC of Special Investigations, which he considered a demotion]. The

changes will take place Monday.

James J. Rowley, chief of the

Secret Service, said the shifts

were In line with the service's

policy of rotating key personnel

.in order to provide senior supervisors

with the broadest possible

experience."

The changes, he said, were

.part of his current plan to

"streamline and improve" the

Secret Service.

Was in Charge in Dallas

Mr. Kellerman was responsible

for all security arrange-.

snents during Mr. Kennedy's

trip to Texas.

- The role of the Secret Service

and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

came under scrutiny

during the Warren Commission's

investigation of the

assassination. In its report,

the commission recommended.

: greater liaison between the two

agencies.

Treasury Secretary Douglas

Dillon, whose department has

jurisdiction over the Secret

k Service, has announced

strengthening of its personnel

and modernized  its equipment

and facilities in line with

the Warren Commission's suggest

ons.

Mr. Youngblood joined the

service in 1951. He served in

- the Atlanta office and then

joined the White House detail.

He was moved to the Vice-

: Presidential detail shortly after

Mr. Johnson assumed that

office. In November, 1963, Mr.

- Youngblood became an assist-

: ant special agent in charge of,

the White House detail. .

Joined Service in '41

Mr. Kellerman was appointed

to the service in 1941. He served

in Detroit, Toledo, Cincinnati,

Washington and Indianapolis

before he returned to Washing-

' ton in 1955.

He first served on the White,

House detail from 1942 to 1951,

and returned to it in 1955. Re

cently he has been an assistant

special agent in charge of the

detail.

Mr. Behn joined the service

in 1939 and was assigned to the

White House 10 years later. He

was put in charge of the detail

in 1961.

• Mr. Boring was appointed to

the Secret Service in 1943 and.

served in New York and Philadelphia

before being assigned to

the White House in 1944. ------------------------------

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The grassy knoll assassin...or an unauthorized "spectator"?


I usually HATE---hate--subjective photo and film interpretations of objects, often because they ARE subjective, open to fierce debate, and inconclusive (can you say Rorschach test?), but there are exceptions to every rule: since first seeing the huge copy of this Mary Moorman photo in the 1964 book "Four Days" AND in the 1976 Italian documentary "The Two Kennedys", I have been adamant that the object over the fence (seperate from the so-called "badge man" location that everyone lusts on about LOL) is a man's fedora hat, similar to the one Jack Ruby- and millions of other men of the era-wore; thus, a man's head

Thursday, April 18, 2013

A READER'S ASTUTE COMMENTS


A READER'S ASTUTE COMMENTS



"Vince, I noticed how Blaine and Hill made a big deal about the identity of the Secret Service man shrugging his shoulders and focused excess attention to the misidentification of the man instead of the greater issue at hand. It is a demonstration of how liars make a big deal of one irrelevant item and want the audience to focus on that so they don't see the bigger picture. As if that discredits everything else you have on them (you did a good job of stressing that it really didn't make any difference to the larger issue whether it was Lawton or Rybka). I have engineered an ingenius way of dealing with guys like Blaine and Hill. To me they are clearly liars. If you think they hate you and Bolden wait until I get my manuscript published!

Monday, April 15, 2013

JFK Secret Service bubbletop: NY 1/19/62 and Mexico

 

JFK Secret Service bubbletop: NY 1/19/62 and Mexico


Vince Palamara major radio show 4/12/13

Vince Palamara major radio show 4/12/13

LISTEN TO IT HERE:



http://unboundradio.com/down-the-rabbit-hole-1524/



On this edition of DTRH Popeye talks to JFK Assassination expert Vince Palamara. Known as the Secret Service expert Vince has appeared on DTRH numerous times in past, he has a book coming out on the subject, and he has been featured in part seven (7) of a nine (9) part series from the History Channel called “The Men Who Killed Kennedy,” his episode was titled “The Smoking Guns.” They go over the Secret Service’s roll in President Kennedy’s murder. Make sure to tune in.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Interesting photos






Paul Landis: believe what he espoused in 1963 and 1979, NOT what he says in 2011

[VMP: Landis propaganda article with commentary---sometimes lengthy--- from myself, in brackets "[...]", in bold and italics]

 

Cleveland museum security guard was JFK secret service agent who witnessed Kennedy assassination [technically, he was a Jackie Kennedy/ First Lady Detail Agent]

JFK was killed by one gunman contends former agent [ Paul Landis is on record as stating one shot appeared to come from the FRONT in TWO reports in the Warren Commission volumes that were later endorsed BY Landis to the HSCA!: "My reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front." [Landis' report dated 11/27/63: 18 H 758-759] ""I still was not certain from which direction the second shot came, but my reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front, right-hand side of the road." [Landis' detailed report dated 11/30/63: 18 H 751-757] ; "Landis confirmed to the committee the accuracy of his statement to the Warren Commission" HSCA Report, pp. 89, 606 (referencing Landis’s interview, February 17, 1979 outside contact report, JFK Document 014571); Gerald Blaine now attempts to massage Landis' memory in his 2010 propaganda book, which obviously influenced this puff piece- pretty lame and disingenous. ]

Posted: 05/19/2011
CLEVELAND - His eyes are quiet as is his voice as he speaks matter-of-factly of the bullets that whizzed by him, striking President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on the day an assassin's bullets killed the nation's chief executive [note the lone gunman bias, debunked by THREE contacts with Landis decades before this article was written!].
Paul Landis has replayed the story in his mind tens of thousands of times. He was with the president, as part of the Secret Service detail that trotted with the slow-moving limousine in which President Kennedy rode [uh, Landis did not "trot" with the limousine].
Landis, who now works as a security guard at the Western Reserve Historical Society, a museum dedicated to the history of Northeast Ohio, speaks without a hesitation in his voice as he tells the story of the assassination of an American president.
"I heard the gunshot," Landis said. "It came over my right shoulder." [lame, lame, lame: see above] He was trotting next to the right rear of the follow-up car behind the president's Lincoln Continental limousine [again, he was not- he was embedded to the follow-up car's running board, behind Agent Ready...well, he DID go inside the car to make room for Agent Lawton at Love Field. However, neither Agent Lawton or Rybka, who both jogged briefly beside JFK's limo, got into the follow-up car, although Shift Leader Roberts "mistakenly" placed Rybka IN the car, only to correct the record later:  In the shift report of 11/22/63 (separate from the one depicted in 18H739), Roberts placed Rybka in the "center rear seat" between Hickey and Bennett!]. Then quickly ["quickly"? hmmm; interesting], there came a second shot.
Landis said he and the several other secret service agents immediately looked toward the direction of the rifleshot as each man positioned himself to protect Kennedy, who was riding in the backseat of a convertible with the top down [awful job "protecting" Kennedy...and Sam Kinney told me the BACK of JFK's head blew off and he believed there was a conspiracy. To the HSCA: "SA Kinney immediately recognized the first sound as that of gunfire, realizing that it was a "shot from over our right shoulder" which hit the President in the throat. "While Jackie was setting him back up, Connally turns right, then left then pow, pow. The SECOND shot" (hit Connally and)"left Connally's back open." "The THIRD shot hit the President SA Kinney finds the idea of conspiracy plausible" (emphasis added; no mention of any missed shots, as well) [HSCA interview with Kinney, 2/26/78: RIF#180-10078-10493] "Agent Clint Hill: "As I lay over the top of the back seat I noticed a portion of the President's head on the right rear side was missing and he was bleeding profusely. Part of his brain was gone. I saw a part of his skull with hair on it lying in the seat I observed a wound about six inches down from the neckline on the back just to the right of the spinal column. I observed another wound on the right rear portion of the skull." [Hill's 11/30/63 report: 18 H 740-745] "The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head." [Hill's testimony before the Warren Commission on 3/9/64: 2 H 138-144]. And, as we all know, Powers and O'Donnell conveyed to Tip O'Neill that they both thought the shots came from the front (High Treason, p. 423 and Groden's The Killing of a President, p. 205 (refering to O'Neill's 1987 book Man of the House, p.211); "Larry King Live", 1/20/92 (interview with O'Neill); "Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy" video (1992-O'Neill); Powers even said as much in his affidavit: 7 H 472-474: Affidavit dated 5/18/64- "I also had a fleeting impression that the noise appeared to come from the front in the area of the triple overpass. This may have resulted from my feeling, when I looked forward toward the overpass, that we might have ridden into an ambush." Agent Johns, riding in the VP follow-up car, said: "The first two sounded [shots] sounded like they were on the side of me towards the grassy knoll" [HSCA interview with Johns, 8/8/78: RIF# 180-10074-10079] In the presidential limo itself, Agent Kellerman: "there have got to be more than three shots, gentleman." [among other provocative things said to the Warren Commission on 3/9/64: 2 H 78].  In addition: "She [Kellerman's daughter] hopes the day would come when these men [Kellerman & Greer] could say in public what they told their families." [3/92 letter to the author from Harold Weisberg, recounting a 1970's contact he had with one of Kellerman's two daughters; To myself: Roy accepted that there was a conspiracy: "I'll accept that." [June Kellerman, Roy's widow, interviewed by the author 3/2/92 & 9/27/92] For his part, Agent Greer said:
"He was puzzled about the single bullet (399) theory. He could not see how one bullet could have caused both Kennedy and Connally such extensive wounds." [HSCA interview with Greer, 2/28/78: RIF # 180-10099-10491]
.
"And when my eyes came back to the president again, it was a third shot and that was the one that hit him in the head," Landis said.
Nov. 22, 1963, had been cloudy earlier in the day, but by the time president and Mrs. Kennedy had seated themselves in their limousine, the sun had appeared. The president wanted the hardtop of the convertible removed so as to enable the crowds that had gathered along the Dallas parade route to better see him [See my forthcoming book 'Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service and the Failure to Protect President Kennedy": Agent Kinney was adamant with me that HE was solely responsible for the removal of the bubbletop. In addition, JFK had used the top before in good weather conditions and, in fact, seemed to prefer the configuration that afforded the MIDDLE section open with the front and back pieces of the top in place. While not ultra prevalent, JFK's use of the top was MUCH more than many think it was].
Kennedy was in Dallas to shore up Democrat support. In the motorcade with him were Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird. The Johnsons were Texans. Noting the crowd that had welcomed the president, Mrs. Johnson had mentioned its size, telling Kennedy how much he was admire[d] by her fellow Texans.
Also in the motorcade was Texas Gov. John Connally, who was also wounded by the gunman ["gunman": more bias], who fired from the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository building.
Landis said once the president was shot, there was bedlam. Those who lined the motorcade route dived ["dove"]to the ground, and Secret Service agents and police pulled their weapons [Agent Hickey, who manned the AR-15 rifle, was the only agent--- in the motorcade---- who drew a weopon], looking frantically for who was behind the gunshots.
The president grimaced, grabbing his neck, then slumped. Mrs. Kennedy, sitting next to her husband, climbed out her seat and crawled over the trunk of the car to retrieve a piece of his skull that had been shot away [exactly- as Sam Kinney stated, this was the piece of the REAR of JFK's head, thus indicating that the fatal headshot originated somewhere from the front!]. Moving pictures from that day in Dallas show Mrs. Kennedy moving toward the trunk while Secret Service agent Clint Hill ran toward the presidential car.
"We got off the running boards (of the trailing car) and moved up to take a position by his car," Landis said. Photographs and films show his movements as Landis described them [What?!?!? Unless the writer is refering to when the procession stopped blocks before the shooting, this is totally false].
For more than 30 years, Landis, whose full head of white hair is combed neatly, much as it was during his service for the president, has lived in a Cleveland suburb, electing to say very little about his position as a member of what has become known as the Kennedy Detail. He said over the years, once people realize where he was the day the President was killed, conversations immediately turn to the assassination. He service began began during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower [poor writing- high school diploma?].
Few people in Cleveland have known of Landis' former position in the Kennedy White House Secret Service detail. Few people knew the quiet man guarding the museum's objects and artifacts of history actually guarded the President of the United States on a fateful day in history.
On the day of the interview, he was comfortable with talking of all aspects of the assassination. Remembering the scene at Dallas' Dealey Plaza, where to make a tight turn, the presidential limousine driver had to slow the big car to about 11 miles an hour. It was at that time, the shots sliced through the air.
Landis said within seconds after the gunshots, the limousine driver floored the accelerator of the big car [AFTER---after---the shooting was all over; Greer was awful in his response to the assassination], speeding to the nearest medical facility, Parkland Hospital. During the drive, Kennedy's wounded head was cradled in his wife's lap. At the hospital, Mrs. Kennedy had to be coaxed from the vehicle as she sat almost silently, staring into space [lame writing; yuk].
Landis, who at the White House was usually assigned to guard Mrs. Kennedy and the two children, Caroline and John Jr., sat in a hospital hallway with the grieving First Lady, while doctors worked to keep the president alive.
"She just sat staring into space," Landis said, his eyes clear and focused as he remembered the scene. He told the story as if he were watching a film of that crime unroll in his brain [see my last comment].
He recalled the blood and tissue from her husband's wounds were evident over the First Lady's dress as trails of blood ran down her legs. It was the same dress she wore back to Washington hours later, electing to not change clothes.
"I want America to see," she would say, hours after the President's body was removed from Dallas for the flight back to Washington, D.C. It was the day America changed. It was the day the nation, itself, was wounded.
Landis said with the death of President Kennedy, while other authorities were in search of the gunman, Secret Service agents on the Kennedy Detail were immediately shifted to protecting the new president, Lyndon Johnson. He said there was no time to grieve because no one knew the identity of those responsible for shooting the president.
It could have been a conspiracy to kill Vice President Johnson, too. It could have been a foreign country behind the assassination [see last comment...]. In the early hours of the crime that shook America and much of the rest of the world, no one knew how deep was the crime or who might be involved.
When asked if there was psychological counseling for any of the Kennedy Detail, Landis answered in a soft voice. "No, that wasn't even thought of and heard of," he said, adding that he and other agents were in psychological pain.
The next year, 1964, Landis left the Secret Service, attributing his change to the assassination itself.
However, in 2010, fellow former agent Gerald Blaine penned a book on the Secret Service agents who were assigned to protect President Kennedy and his family. It was that book, "The Kennedy Detail," which prompted the White House agents to gather and share their stories with each other for the first time [NOT for the first time: many of them spoke to William Manchester, the HSCA, and myself, among others, most of whom were DEAD by the time Blaine began writing his book--- because of my 22-page letter to his best friend Clint Hill--- in the Summer of 2005]. They found their gathering therapeutic, where each man [Lawson, Landis, Grant, Hill, Blaine, Wells, and Chandler; that's all] recounted how the assassination had impacted his life.
"Up until then, I never said much about the Secret Service or of working on the presidential detail in 1963," said Landis, as he recounted that time in his life. However, it was also Blaine's book that provided a therapy for Landis and his former colleagues. "That's the best thing that happened to me since the assassination."
The book also spawned a documentary, "The Kennedy Detail," produced by the Discovery Channel. In the documentary, the Secret Service members who were with President Kennedy when an assassin's bullets took his life are shown speaking with each other, sharing their stories, and finding support from their own group [more lame writing].
Landis said he was no longer haunted by the events of that day, which many sociologists said robbed America of its innocence. Landis, dressed in a blue sweater and checkered blue and white shirt, sat easily in one of the rooms of the museum. With his legs crossed, he spoke easily of the Kennedy Detail and of what he saw and heard that November day in Dallas [Blaine and Hill are making a mint and smiling all the way to the bank- they seem just fine these days, thank you very much. Hill's SECOND book is coming out in the fall of 2013 and Blaine's Hollywood movie is coming out at the same time..."we're in the money, gotta love that money"...].
Strangely, in one of the corners of the museum, which also houses a collection of vintage automobiles, is a Lincoln Continental car eerily reminiscent of the one the President was riding in when bullets struck him and wounded Gov. Connally [uh, it's not that much of a resemblance; sorry].
In part of the interview with Landis, he stopped at the car and looked at it as he has no doubt done thousands of times in his security walk through the museum [PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING LANDIS AND THE OTHER AGENTS DID ON 11/22/63: stopped and looked at the car! What's more, Landis, Hill, Ready, and Bennett, all follow-up car agents, where among the nine agents involved in the drinking incident of 11/22/63. For his part, Landis stayed out until 5 am and had to report for duty 8 am. [18 H 687]Perhaps that is why some of the agents wore sunglasses that day...].
Of the man whom the U.S. government said killed Kennedy, Landis would say only that he believed Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman. He said he was aware of conspiracy theories, but dismisses them [although his two reports and contact with the HSCA only fueled the fire to them: thanks, Paul].
Oswald, arrested later by Dallas police on the day of the assassination, was, hours later, murdered by a Dallas bar owner, Jack Ruby. Ruby, armed with a pistol, had walked into the Dallas police station and fired a bullet into Oswald as police paraded Oswald from one area to another so that news photographers could get pictures [lame writing].
The murder of Oswald was broadcast on live television as the networks cameras were focused on the man who denied killing Kennedy, saying only he was "a patsy" for the assassination.
For Landis, memories of the assassination are never far away. Forty-eight years later, he said they surface at times. The day marked a turning point in his life and his career. The day marked a turning point in the life of the United States when the President of the United States was gunned down in front of a crowd of thousands of people as they applauded his visit to Dallas.
At the museum, Landis daily walks the quiet hallways where history is exhibited on its walls. However, Paul Landis is walking history, having been close to the President of the United States [not close enough] when bullets streaked through the sunlit air of Dallas, finding a gunman's mark .
It is a story which still rivets the attention of those old enough to remember that day in 1963 when a gunman killed President John F. Kennedy. It also holds the attention of millions more who have since followed the story, which still has the power to give birth to books, documentaries, movies, studies and conspiracy theories [and much money to line the pockets of Landis, Hill, Blaine, etc]. In many ways, the assassination of President Kennedy wounded the entire country, including Paul Landis and his fellow Secret Service agents whose job it was to protect the life of the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States. [and they failed miserably...now buy their book and see their movie! :O)]


Friday, April 12, 2013

Tonight on Down The Rabbit Hole w/ Popeye 4/12/13

Tonight on Down The Rabbit Hole w/ Popeye my guest will be JFK Assassination expert Vince Palamara. Known as the Secret Service expert Vine has appeared on DTRH numerous times in past, he has a book coming out on the subject, and he has been featured in part seven (7) of a nine (9) part series from the History channel called "The Men Who Killed Kennedy," his episode was titled "The Smoking Guns." We will be going over the Secret Service's roll in President Kennedy's murder. Make sure to tune in.DTRH LISTEN LIVE AND CHAT PAGE: http://www.federaljack.com/?page_id=11598





Down the Rabbit Hole with Popeye is a journey deep into the matrix, complete with a detailed road map on not only how to survive, but how to escape as well. You’ll get an educated, informed and insightful look at a world that most don’t even know exists. You’ll hear top notch guests that know the story, with the facts to back it up. Find out why so many are tuning in to Down The Rabbit Hole.



LISTEN LIVE AND CHAT: http://www.federaljack.com/?page_id=11598




LISTEN LIVE AT UNBOUND RADIO: http://unboundradio.com/




LISTEN LIVE ON TUNE IN: http://tunein.com/radio/Unbound-Radio-s194037/#

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Breaking Tecumseh's Curse: The Real-life Adventures of the U.S. Secret Service Agent Who Tried to Change Tomorrow by Jan and Bob Ritter

Breaking Tecumseh's Curse: The Real-life Adventures of the U.S. Secret Service Agent Who Tried to Change Tomorrow by Jan and Bob Ritter (2013)



"Dear Mr. Palamara:






We wanted to let you know of our recently published nonfiction book: Breaking Tecumseh's Curse. It's now available on Amazon.com for purchase and as a preview. Written by Jan and Bob Ritter, it relates to their early years together when Bob was a Secret Service agent in Washington, D.C. It highlights a dangerous period for the Secret Service--from 1972-1982. During that time, five assassination attempts took place against persons protected by the USSS, more than any other era. Four of the five attempts were directed against presidents, the other against a presidential candidate. Two of the attempts were partially successful in that protectees were wounded.



During much of this dangerous epoch, Bob was directly involved in the protective mission of the Secret Service, especially protective intelligence. From 1840-1960, every U.S. president elected or reelected in a year ending in zero has died in office, four by assassination. Supposedly predestined by Tecumseh's Curse, the president elected in 1980, Ronald Reagan, would be the next to face Tecumseh's wrath. The work features the historic events of the time and an exciting, insider's look at the Secret Service. The little-known field of protective intelligence is spotlighted as well as the history of presidential assassination. Some never before published information regarding the Reagan assassination attempt is revealed as well as a provocative profile of accused JFK presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Told from a spouse's perspective, the book unfolds the heartfelt love story of a young couple who journeyed through some extraordinary times.



With hope for preventing future tragedies, some successful strategies for predicting dangerousness in individuals are also explored. Bob's mantra of "desperate people are dangerous people" and other techniques developed by him jump off the page at a time when mass murders are all too often in the news. We can change our tomorrows. We invite you to come along in our journey. As a member of the Secret Service family, we know you will enjoy it.

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Tecumsehs-Curse-Real-life-Adventures/dp/0988850206/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365276535&sr=8-1&keywords=breaking+tecumseh%27s+curse




http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.427921843940347.103664.117444524988082&type=3




http://www.facebook.com/pages/Breaking-Tecumsehs-Curse/117444524988082




Thanks for your time. Have a nice day.



Calvert Press



ABOUT THE AUTHORS





Jan and Bob Ritter live on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Southern Maryland. Both are graduates of the University of Maryland and longtime residents of the Washington Metropolitan Area.

Jan is retired from the teaching profession where she specialized in early childhood education and Reading Recovery. When not walking the boardwalk for exercise, she enjoys shopping, antiquing, reading, and working crossword puzzles.

Bob is a retired federal criminal investigator (GS-1811) with a wealth of law enforcement and protective experience. A born collector, Bob loves history and the music of the 1940s-60s. He takes pleasure in watching the wildlife and ships that pass by the couple’s bay-front condominium.

Jan and Bob relish spending time with family and friends, especially the couple’s five granddaughters. With over 40 years of marriage, Jan and Bob deeply love one another and cherish each day together.

Breaking Tecumseh’s Curse is the story of their early years together."

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

President Kennedy motorcades

THE ULTIMATE JFK/ SECRET SERVICE SECURITY-RELATED COMPILATION (1961-1963)!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Some assessments (by myself and others) of JFK writer Harry Lvingstone's work (still one of my favorites)


Some assessments (by myself and others) of JFK writer Harry Lvingstone's work (still one of my favorites)

“HIGH TREASON”



Amazon.com Review

Originally published in 1980, High Treason remains one of the touchstone texts for many who are unconvinced that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. "Too many people have too much at stake to allow the truth to come out," cautions Livingstone, "even though it has been squeezed out drop by drop over the years. The cover-up is kept in place to this day by those with interests that are threatened by the truth of a political assassination."

Among the provocative conclusions that Livingstone reached, and which he expands in this revised edition, is that "all of the evidence, including the famous Zapruder film, was fake," deliberately altered to conceal direct proof of multiple gunmen. He enlists several people, including eyewitnesses to the autopsy, to go on record in order to support this allegation, and also documents the "strange deaths" of numerous people who he believes are related one way or another to the cover-up. Although there are some occasional lurid turns of phrase, High Treason is for the most part one of the calmer, more levelheaded examinations of JFK's death.



VMP---warts and all, a classic. My main introduction to the case. I am in two later versions of this book, as I got to know and work with Harry.





“HIGH TREASON 2”

From Publishers Weekly

This is an oddity in the current spate of Kennedy assassination books, representing both the best and worst aspects of the genre. Livingstone, an assassination buff, self-published the first installment, and this is a follow-up. He concentrates intensively, for two-thirds of the book's nearly 600 pages, on the medical evidence, endlessly interviewing and cross-examining everyone involved in either of the two autopsies , in Dallas and at Bethesda. He concludes, as many before him have, that the photographs, drawings and X-rays that were released simply do not add up, and that much manipulation was involved to prove the President was shot only from the rear. Livingstone's amassing of this material is meticulous and exhaustive; in his more general comments, however--on the Kennedy presidency, his enemies, his lifestyle and sexuality--he is another writer entirely: overemotional, credulous, often ludicrous. The book needed severe editing--and it is not clear, despite the detail, what Livingstone adds to what many writers have said in a fraction of the length. Photos not seen by PW.



From Library Journal

This sequel to High Treason (Conservatory Pr., 1989), cowritten with Robert J. Groden, expands on its predecessor's thesis that JFK's autopsy pictures were faked. Three basic flaws mar Livingstone's argument. Like Philip H. Melanson's Spy Saga: Lee Harvey Oswald and U.S. Intelligence ( LJ 11/1/90), Livingstone here assumes the reader has a great deal of prior knowledge. In addition, frequent authorial asides impede the flow of the story. Thirdly, Livingstone's tendency to sprinkle the text with irrelevant insults provides more heat than light. Joining the ranks of conspiracy theorists Mark Lane ( Plausible Denial , LJ 11/1/91) and Mark North ( Act of Treason , LJ 11/1/91), the author does put together a strong body of evidence pointing toward a domestic coup d'etat (a la JFK ). More uniquely, he looks into the research cottage industry that has grown up around the assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Recommended for extensive collections on the JFK assassination and libraries that already hold High Treason .

- Randall L. Schroeder, Augustana Coll. Lib., Rock Island, Ill.



VMP---A masterpiece (on the medical evidence)! I am credited in the book.



“KILLING THE TRUTH”



From Library Journal

This work is Livingstone's third take on the Kennedy assassination squabbles; he wrote High Treason 2 ( LJ 5/15/92), which was an update of High Treason (Conservatory Pr., 1989). He revisits, yet again, his thesis that JFK's autopsy photos were faked. Sloppy scholarship and argumentative writing destroy whatever merit exits in Livingstone's case. He states that James Hepburn's Farewell America (Frontiers, 1968) "was almost completely suppressed in the United States." Yet a quick check of OCLC reveals that 46 libraries in 26 states own it. After Gerald Posner's Case Closed ( LJ 10/15/93), it is difficult to know what to believe about the JFK assassination. Livingstone states that the media is put off by the disinformation. "They are simply exhausted by thirty years of bullshit." He got that right. Not recommended. See also Gaeton Fonzi's The Last Investigation , reviewed above.--Ed.

- Randall L. Schroeder, Augustana Coll. Lib., Rock Island, Ill.



From Kirkus Reviews

Case reopened! Gutsy--if at times farfetched--overview of Livingstone's JFK conspiracy theses, first met in High Treason (1989--not reviewed) and High Treason 2 (1992). Livingstone may step off on the wrong foot when drawing himself as emotionally troubled by attacks on him by other researchers, allegedly conspiracy-sponsored, out to get him and to lead others into searches for red herrings--but he unveils plenty of new evidence on the Kennedy killing here. No one should miss his summary of the hard evidence for a conspiracy--which, if accepted, leaves the lone-gunman theory far behind. Livingstone has managed to interview Diana Bowran (uninterviewed in 27 years), a British nurse and the first medical worker at Parkland Hospital to touch JFK's body. Bowran got into the back seat with the President and Jackie; found that JFK had no pulse; stayed with the body the entire time it was in the Trauma Room (aside from three minutes spent getting a transfusion packet); washed the corpse; closed its eyes; packed JFK's nearly empty skull with cotton squares; saw the extra back wound; and wrapped the body and watched its removal in a bronze casket. Livingstone points out that Kennedy's brain could not possibly have weighed 1500 grams (the weight of an average brain), as the autopsy doctors said, because a third or more of it was missing. He asks why the steel-jacketed ``magic bullet'' remains fresh-looking while the head-wound bullet exploded into fine bits, and answers: two guns. Actually, Livingstone posits four. His heavies are Texan oil billionaires H.L. Hunt and Clint Murchison, Jr., with LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, and John J. McCloy all meeting at Murchison's house on the eve of the murder and focusing on raising the national debt and lining their pockets by beefing up the war machine JFK was out to reduce. Livingstone's list of conspirators may sound unlikely, but his examination of the forensic evidence is compelling--and makes this even more readable and exciting than his last. (Sixteen pages of photographs) (First printing of 50,000)





VMP---A mixed bag. Some great stuff, some not-so-great stuff. I am also credited in this book.



“KILLING KENNEDY”



From Publishers Weekly

Livingstone (High Treason; High Treason 2) is becoming the Grand Old Man of Kennedy assassination literature. Dogged and persistent, and with endless patience with niggling details, particularly involving the medical evidence, he has now turned his attention to the Zapruder film of the assassination that is the source of so much speculation by both lone-killer-Oswald and multi-shooter-conspiracy camps. Aided by what seems like impressive technical examination, frame by frame, of the surprisingly many versions of the macabre home movie available, Livingston is convinced, along with his experts, that parts of the film as publicly shown are faked. They find that frames have been eliminated and that certain visual effects involving the impact of the shots have been cleverly added to the film-presumably with the aim of eliminating the possibility of shots from elsewhere than Oswald's alleged window. The book also tellingly dwells on the conflicts between the various doctors' evidence of the Kennedy autopsy, and the X-rays and photographs that were released. A chapter is devoted-mostly by way of assaults from other assassination buffs-to attacking Gerald Posner's Case Closed. Like many assassination theorists, however, Livingstone weakens his presentation by maudlin appeals to the spirit of Camelot. Photos not seen by PW.





VMP---good but not a big fan. I am also credited in this book.



“The Radical Right and the Murder of John F. Kennedy: Stunning Evidence in the Assassination of the President”



Classic Harry: flawed, erratic, from the hip, warts & all :) January 22, 2005

By Vince Palamara

Format:Paperback

Harry Livingstone is a true enigma, a paradox of sorts---an old Beatnik with a sincere, dedicated passion for the truth in John Kennedy's murder and in JFK the man himself. Harry's books are fascinating and compelling...and quite unique: for every brilliantly written passage, there is another that makes you wince. Typos, run-on sentences, and grammar are potholes in the road from time to time. Alot of repetition, as well.

So, WHY am I giving this book 5 stars? Because it may be Livingstone's crowning achievement, with a close second being his best-selling "High Treason 2." There is so much great, important information contained herein that to give this book a 4 star (or less) rating would be heresy, even in spite of the spelling, grammar, and repetitive 'problems.' Harry shoots from the hip at times...and, warts and all, he often hits the target. Although I have every other book in Livingstone's impressive catalogue, I bought this one begrudgingly, thinking to myself "Why ANOTHER book, Harry? Haven't you said it all before?" I was WRONG...flawed, erratic, but indispensable. It is well worth it for the gems aplenty, the passionate writing, and the occasional brilliant passages. Buy this a.s.a.p.!!!:)



(I am on one page)



“The Hoax of the Century: Decoding the Forgery of the Zapruder Film”



And



“Kaleidoscope: A Review of Douglas Horne's Inside the Assassination Records Review Board”



No comment



-----





http://harrisonelivingstone.com/






Outstanding! Check it out

Thursday, April 4, 2013

"FIVE DAYS IN NOVEMBER" BY CLINT HILL AND LISA MCCUBBIN

"FIVE DAYS IN NOVEMBER" BY CLINT HILL AND LISA MCCUBBIN


COMING 11/19/13


I really enjoyed Clint's last book (I had a beef with a couple pages, but not enough to detract from a well-deserved 5-star review). THIS book, likewise, sounds great. Lisa and I have have some things in common: we're both 46-47 and neither of us look our age (much younger LOL) :) I have profound dislike for "The Kennedy Detail" but, as with any book, even that one had some things of value in it. Clint discussed my review on C-SPAN in May 2012 and, with Gerald Blaine, he spoke about me on C-SPAN in November 2010, but I digress...get this book! Vince Palamara (the unnamed Secret Service expert in Blaine's book, pages 359-360...those concerns--and so much more---are address in my forthcoming book "Survivor's Guilt"...Clint is one of the good guys)

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Days-November-Clint-Hill/dp/1476731497/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_1_DSQD


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17571543-five-days-in-november





Wednesday, April 3, 2013

THE best review (of my book) I have ever received...and the one I enjoyed the most:

THE best review (of my book) I have ever received...and the one I enjoyed the most:

"Tunisiatouriste" wrote-
"my one prevailing thought after reading an advanced "sneak preview" of this amazing book: Oh, my God...while we were wasting our times with the parlor game of "who killed Kennedy", the REAL question before us all this time was "why did the Secret Service let Kennedy get killed and blame him for his own death afterwards?" I am astonished. Can we send Gerald Blaine and his pals to Abu Ghraib prison- is it too late for some water boarding techniques? I threw my copy of Blaine's volume in the trash can where it belongs. i am truly ashamed I wasted money on that pack of lies that reads like Good Housekeeping. Bravo Mr Palamara for setting the record straight. Can the agents be tried as war criminals???"


PRELIMINARY PRAISE FOR "SURVIVOR'S GUILT"

"Having read an advanced copy of Vincent's book, let me just tell you that "Survivor's Guilt: The Service Service and the Failure to Protect the President" is THE best book ever written on the Secret Service (and the JFK assassination, as well). What's more, "SURVIVOR'S GUILT" TOTALLY DEBUNKS "THE KENNEDY DETAIL" BY GERALD BLAINE! President Kennedy did not order the agents off his limousine; there was no morning-of-JFK's-funeral meeting as Blaine alleged (made up); JFK was not responsible for the small number of motorcycles allotted to his limousine in Dallas; President Kennedy, contrary to mythology, was not responsible for the bubbletop's removal; and soooo much more! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED- Vince deserves a medal for how extremely well researched and documented this book is. Blaine has ALOT of explaining to do!"


----

"Obtained this one via a friend in an advance reading group. Although pretty technical, I was mightily astonished at the mounds of evidence Mr. Palamara has unearthed. The conclusion is an uncomfortable one: the Secret Service dropped the ball in Dallas when JFK was killed. In fact, one tends to think the dropping of the ball was intentional; one gets that impression reading this disturbing book. Recommended with some wine and a clear mind. Excellent."

----

"My mind has been blown by the revelations contained in this book. The depth of research is truly scholarly and stellar- the author interviewed and corresponded with a whopping 80+ former agents! As it turns out, JFK did not ever ask the Secret Service to stay away. Whether Oswald acted alone (which I do not think he did) is beside the point- these agents let him get killed. A recommended book for all ages"

----

"A bud of mine let me peruse this in galley form. I must say i was blown away! I honestly didn not think anyone could move me to think something was truly out of the ordinary when President Kennedy was killed. I had thought Oswald did it and that was all she wrote. This fine book shows me I was wrong. I give this work the highest rating possible"

-----


"My reading group was given an advance copy of this book and I was taken aback, as I do not normally go for this sort of thing, being more of a romance novel lady haha. This is very good. I think the Secret Service men of the 1960's should be held criminally liable for the death of J.F.K."

Monday, April 1, 2013

Radford Jones

Retired Secret Service member speaks about experiences


Published: Friday, March 29, 2013



By ROSS RAYBIN



Former Secret Service member Radford Jones, right, talks with an audience member following his presentation at the Mount Clemens Public Library on March 26.



A retired member of the United States Secret Service spoke to a packed room at the Mount Clemens Public Library on March 26.



Hillsdale native Radford Jones discussed the history of the Secret Service and also shared stories regarding his time in the service.



"President Kennedy was a lot of fun to work with," he said.



Jones said he always had a passion for the law enforcement field and pursued it at an early age. "I was interested in law enforcement when I was in high school," he said. "I focused on the Secret Service after writing them a letter and receiving information for a paper I was working on."



After graduating, he attended Michigan State University where he pursued a degree in criminal justice. He later continued his graduate studies at American University in Washington, D.C.



Jones went on to have a 21-year career in the Secret Service and headed several offices, including in Seattle, Alaska and Detroit. He retired in 1983 as the special agent in charge of the Detroit office.



"The Secret Service is a family," he said. "Even though I'm retired, I still feel like I'm a part it."



Jones began his presentation with a brief history of the service and talked about some presidential campaigns in which he was involved.



"The Secret Service was created in 1865 because one-third of the money in circulation was counterfeit," said Jones. "Before this time there was no standard for money."



In 1901, following the assassination of three presidents in 36 years (Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and James Garfield), Congress requested that the Secret Service protect the president full time. That protection included family members, and the vice president and his family as well. Continued...



"It wasn't until 1968, after Sen. Rob Kennedy was assassinated, that the Secret Service became responsible for protecting presidential candidates," said Jones.



Jones was one of the agents who worked during the John F. Kennedy administration. He was in charge of security during the 1963 election and was supposed to be on detail that fateful day when JFK was assassinated, however he stayed behind in Washington, D.C.



"My wife was expecting at the time and I had switched with another agent," he said. "I stayed behind and watched his (JFK's) kids."



Following the assassination of JFK, Jones was assigned to several presidential, vice presidential and foreign dignitary protective details. That included being part of the inauguration of the United States' 39th president, Jimmy Carter, and helping guard the Queen of England during a Head of State visit in 1976.



"You always had to be ready," said Jones. "You always wanted to concentrate on people's hands, not their eyes because the eyes lie."



Jones eventually got out of the protection side of the job and focused more on the investigative part.



He said one of his best memories in the Secret Service was when JFK was being interviewed by Walter Cronkite. "The president was doing an interview outside, and in between takes he turned to me and asked if I had a comb," said Jones. "Of course, I had a flattop at the time and he knew I didn't have one, but every time after that I made sure I had a comb on me."



He retired in 1983 and soon after took a position as the manager of security and fire protection at Ford Motor Company. He spent 14 years with the automaker before moving into the academic arena.



Jones is currently an academic specialist in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. He is the director of the school's Masters of Science Criminal Justice online degree program.