Agent Bill Greer, the original blame-the-victim (JFK) stooge

Page 146 of FBI Agent James Sibert's Deposition to AARB




To give you an idea of what went on during

the night of the autopsy, I was with Bill Greer

quite a bit.And he kept saying, "If I'd only been

moving faster."

He said, 'But I'd try to speed it up."

And 'The President, he'd say. 'Slow down.You're

going too fast."



http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/arrb/medical_testimony/pdf/Sibert_9-11-97.pdf     ----
Sixty witnesses (ten police officers, seven Secret Service agents, thirty-eight spectators, two Presidential aides, one Senator, Governor Connally, and Jackie Kennedy) and the Zapruder film document Secret Service agent William R. Greer’s deceleration of the presidential limousine, as well as his two separate looks back at JFK during the assassination (Greer denied all of this to the War-ren Commission).¹⁶
By decelerating from an already slow 11.2 mph, Greer greatly endangered the President’s life, and, as even Gerald Posner admitted, Greer contributed greatly to the success of the assassination. When we consider that Greer disobeyed a direct order from his superior, Roy Kellerman, to get out of line before the fatal shot struck the President’s head, it is hard to give Agent Greer the benefit of the doubt. As ASAIC Roy H. Kellerman said: "Greer then looked in the back of the car. Maybe he didn’t believe me."¹⁷ Clearly, Greer was responsible, at fault, and felt remorse. In short, Greer had survivor’s guilt.
Presidential Aide Ken O’Donnell (rode in the follow-up car): “… If the Secret Service men in the front had reacted quicker to the first two shots at the Presi-dent’s car, if the driver had stepped on the gas before instead of after the fatal third shot was fired, would President Kennedy be alive today?” The aide also re-ported: “Greer had been remorseful all day, feeling that he could have saved President Kennedy’s life by swerving the car or speeding suddenly after the first shots.” Indeed, William E. Sale, an airman first class aircraft mechanic assigned to Carswell Air Force Base and who was stationed at Love Field before, during, and after the assassination, stated: “When the agent who was driving JFK’s car came back to Air Force One he was as white as a ghost and had to be helped back to the plane.”32

Presidential aide Dave Powers (rode in the follow-up car): “… At that time we were traveling very slowly … At about the time of the third shot, the President’s car accelerated sharply.” On November 22, 1988, Powers was interviewed by CBS reporter Charles Kuralt. Powers remarked about the remorse Greer felt about not speeding up in time to save JFK’s life and agreed with Kuralt that, if Greer had sped up before the fatal head shot instead of afterwards, JFK might still be alive today. This is a very dramatic and compelling short interview. If that weren’t enough, as previously noted, the ARRB’s Tom Samoluk told the au-thor that, during the course of an interview he conducted in 1996 in which the Board was in the process of obtaining Powers’ film, Powers said that he agreed with the author’s take on the Secret Service!33
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (rode in the Presidential limousine): "We could see a tunnel in front of us. Everything was really slow then … [immediately after shooting]. And just being down in the car with his head in my lap. And it just seemed an eternity … And finally I remember a voice behind me, or something, and then I remember the people in the front seat, or somebody, finally knew something was wrong, and a voice yelling, which must have been Mr. Hill, "Get to the hospital," or maybe it was Mr. Kellerman, in the front seat … We were really slowing turning the corner [Houston and Elm] … I remember a sensation of enormous speed, which must have been when we took off … those poor men in the front …."³⁵
Mary Gallagher reported in her book: "She mentioned one Secret Service man who had not acted during the crucial moment, and said bit-terly to me, ‘He might just as well have been Miss Shaw!’ ”36 Jackie also told Gallagher: “You should get yourself a good driver so that nothing ever happens to you.”37 Secret Service agent Marty Venker confirmed that the agent Jackie was referring to was Agent Greer: “If the agent had hit the gas before the third shot, she griped, Jack might still be alive.”38 Later, authors C. David Heymann and Edward Klein further corroborated that the agent Mrs. Kennedy was referring to was indeed Greer.39

Manchester wrote: “[Mrs. Kennedy] had heard Kellerman on the radio and had wondered why it had taken the car so long to leave.”40 (For his part, former agent Walt Coughlin wrote the author on April 27, 2005: “Easy to criticize—Greer reacted his way—maybe someone else would have been worse [?].”)

As stated before, Greer was responsible, at fault, and felt remorse. In short, Greer had survivor’s guilt.
¹⁶ 2 H 112–132 (Greer): see his entire testimony. Based on the author’s original 1991 article, "47 Witnesses: Delay on Elm Street" that appeared in The Third Decade
, Jan-uary/March 1992, and which has since been cited in The Third Decade (Novem-ber 1992), The Fourth Decade (November 1993 and September 1997); Proceedings of the Second Research Conference of the Third Decade, June 18–20, 1993, pp. 128, 162; The Proceedings of the Research Conference of the Fourth Decade, July 19–21, 1996, p. 277; several websites, including "The Puzzle Palace"; James H. Fetzer, ed., Assas-sination Science (Chicago: Catfeet Press, 1998), p. 274; Bloody Treason (1997), Zapruder frame 313 photo section; November Patriots (1998), p. 465; the 1998 revised edition of High Treason, p. 551; The Dealey Plaza Echo, U.K. research journal, July 1999; James H. Fetzer, ed., Murder in Dealey Plaza (Chicago: Catfeet Press, 2000), pp. 119–128; Michael Benson, Encyclopedia of the JFK Assassination (New York: Checkmark Books, 2002), pp. 233, 327; James H. Fetzer, ed., The Great Zapruder Film Hoax” (Chicago: Catfeet Press, 2003), pp. xv, 27, 336; Melanson, The Secret Ser-vice … (2003), p. 74.

17 Manchester, p. 160. ----
    32 As quoted in Marrs’ Crossfire, p. 248, based on a passage from Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 31. See also 7 H 450; Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 44; undated Sale letter provided to the author by Martin Shackelford.

33 7 H 473–5. -- 35 5 H 179–181.

36 Mary Barelli Gallagher, My Life With Jacqueline Kennedy (New York: David McKay, 1969), p. 342: Secret Service Agent Marty Venker (Rush, p. 25) and Jackie biographer C. David Heymann [A Woman Called Jackie (New York: Lyle Stuart, 1989), p. 401] confirm that this unnamed agent was indeed Greer. See also Edward Klein, Just Jackie: Her Private Years (Ballantine Books, 1999), pp. 58, 374.

37 Gallagher, p. 351.

38 Rush, p. 25.
³⁹ A Woman Called Jackie
(New York: Lyle Stuart, 1989), p. 401; Edward Klein, Just Jackie: Her Private Years (Ballantine Books, 1999), pp. 58, 374.

"Top Secrets: Presidential Assassinations" Airing: FRI FEB 15 11PM National Geographic Channel

"Top Secrets: Presidential Assassinations" Airing: FRI FEB 15 11PM National Geographic Channel


This program looks fantastic and features former Secret Service Agent Dan Emmett, author of the outstanding "Within Arm's Length", as well as former Secret Service Agent Carlton "Danny" Spriggs, author Del Wilber, and a host of others. Must-see tv! In addition, I am sure the program will eventually make its way to DVD and subsequent reruns...but DO NOT MISS THIS PROGRAM! Anything with Dan Emmett involved is highly recommended.

Vince Palamara

ABRAHAM BOLDEN DESTROYS THE KENNEDY DETAIL BOOK

I just finished reading former Secret Service Agent Blaine's 448-page cover-your-ass memoir, The Kennedy Detail. As a former agent myself and the first African-American to be appointed to the White House detail personally by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, I have been dismayed by the continual attempts by certain former agents of the United States Secret Service to deny culpability in the assassination of the President on November 22, 1963. The attack upon my credibility in Blaine's CYA account of that event was expected. Still, I was hoping that these former presidential bodyguards would show at least the barest measure of contrition instead of trying to blame the assassination on Kennedy himself.




Unlike the vast majority of Americans, I was an agent during that critical period in 1963. My own book, The Echo from Dealey Plaza, is an autobiography which is supported by documented facts, unlike Blaine's book. In Echo I relate the questionable habits and attitudes of a number of my fellow agents while I served with them carrying out our sworn duties to protect the president: for examples their heavy drinking, their wild partying while on duty, their cavalierness and even contemptuousness toward their life-and-death responsibilities, their disrespect of Kennedy and his progressive policies. One agent even declared with chilling seriousness within my earshot that, were an attempt made on the life of President Kennedy, he would take no action. I also talk about the overt and persistent racism ingrained in the Secret Service of that era.



Blaine dismisses my claims of discriminatory practices and racial baiting during my time with the agency as being unfounded. However, on page 25 in Echo I document by Secret Service file memo 3-11-602-111 the starkly racist policy that would have grossly hampered an agent of my color in carrying out his government-appointed duty to protect the president. Blaine also asserts that Agent Robert Faison, the first black Secret Service agent who was permanently assigned to the White House detail in 1963, took issue with what Blaine terms my unbelievable charges of racism. Curiously, in his book Blaine fails to mention him by name. If there was NO racism in the Secret Service even in the comparatively unenlightened year of 1963, how is it then that, a mere few years ago in 2000, 2002, and as recently as 2005, no fewer than 68 African-American agents filed a series of class-action civil lawsuits charging the United States Secret Service with "a decades-long pervasive atmosphere of racial harassment and retaliation against those who challenged the status quo"?



Further in the book Blaine makes a minor but telling error. He states that I reported the conduct of my fellow agents to the head of White House Secret Service, James Rowley. I never did go to Rowley, as it was common knowledge that he was already aware of the shenanigans of his subordinates but did nothing to stop them. On page 45 of Echo, I specifically state that I went directly to Rowley's superior, the well-respected, no-nonsense Chief U.E. Baughman, who happened to be leaving his job in a few weeks. Baughman was appalled by what I had to say and promised to leave my report with his successor—who, as it turned out, was Rowley.



After Kennedy's assassination, Baughman was publicly critical of the actions or inactions of the Secret Service as he witnessed them from outside the agency. I myself was aware of coverups and obfuscations during my last months in the Secret Service. For example, as far it being a policy to forbid agents to ride on the running boards of the presidential vehicle (they were attached solely for the purpose of protecting the president), this ridiculous piece of disinformation wasn't circulated until AFTER the assassination. There was NO official memorandum or other notification of any such change in policy.



Lastly, there is an even more serious accusation leveled at me by Blaine.



In early November 1963 I was back in the Chicago office when the Secret Service was in the middle of investigating a shady character named Echevarria, who had been overhead to say that he was about to "take care of Kennedy". My own desk was near that of the investigating agent. I paid special attention as he dictated his reports and noted that he finished them before November 22. Clearly, the investigation took place prior to the events in Dallas. However, on the afternoon of November 26, four days after the assassination, a special meeting between Secret Service Inspector Thomas Kelly, Special Agent in Charge James Burke—the two lead investigators of the shooting in Dallas—and representatives of the FBI held a meeting in our office. After this meeting, these same reports were restructured and the dates of the investigation were changed to indicate that the Echevarria investigation was conducted AFTER Kennedy's assassination.



In order to better understand the timing of the events surrounding the assassination, I have attempted in subsequent years to bring this cover-up to light. Blaine, however, has accused me of concocting this story. As he puts it, "Bolden's using the JFK assassination to save his own skin."



But I was there. Blaine has stated in defense of his whitewash memoir, "I was there." Well, he wasn't there, he was in Austin at the time of the shooting. I was present during all the events I have recorded in my book.



A final note: Blaine has repeatedly, in print and in person, referred to me as "the convicted felon" in an attempt to discredit me and my autobiography. I may well be a convicted felon but I sleep well at night knowing I did everything I could to save the life of President Kennedy. Can the agents in Dallas who trotted behind the president's car and saw his head blown to pieces say the same thing?



From COPA, 8 November 2010

ANOTHER reader is not fooled by The Kennedy Detail

1.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Abe, February 4, 2013


By melfarmer - See all my reviewsThis review is from: The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence (Paperback)

Thank you Secret Service Officer Abe.

I have been reading lots of stuff on the assissanation of our very finest President, Kennedy. I was not alive when he was murdered, but I have never believed that he was killed by Oswald....thank you for your review on this book, I will not waste my money on people trying to cover this up for one more minute...nor do I believe for one minute that President Kennedy told those men to step down in Dallas when he knew he was not popular here in Texas....I'm from Texas and I am ashamed that something like that happened here...but smart enough to know that people in high places that are from here (LBJ), they can get away with just about anything...thanks for all that you tried to do to save a President, and just know that even if they don't have to answer to us...one day they will have to answer for it to God..and it won't be well for their souls..for what does it profit a man to lose his life and his soul?

JFK Archival Photography Exhibition to Include Never-Before-Seen Photos from World’s Largest Collection

Subject: JFK Archival Photography Exhibition to Include Never-Before-Seen Photos from World’s Largest Collection



Vince,




I thought you might be interested in including news of this upcoming archival photography exhibition on one of your JFK-related blogs.




In honor of the 50th anniversary of his death, Rogers Photo Archives and Argenta Images of North Little Rock, Ark., will present “JFK 50 Years Later,” an archival photography exhibition that captures the life and times of the 35th U.S. President, with never before or rarely seen photos.







The man who owns many of the photos, John Rogers, has pieced many historical facts together to provide context for these photos, many of which came from Kennedy Administration photographer Arthur Rickerby, as well as the archives of major newspapers around the country.






Although the exhibition does not focus on the assassination, there are several photographs that, in hindsight, chillingly foreshadow the tragic event. For example, a series of candid shots taken by a Miami Herald photographer document a relaxed JFK hanging out on the beach — just three days before Dallas.






Rogers also has the first documented photos of JFK Jr. saluting — taken nine days prior to his father’s death — at Arlington National Cemetery, where JFK was placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.







Rogers has partnered with the North Little Rock Argenta Arts District to make this exhibition possible. The Rogers Photo Archive is the largest privately owned collection of photographic images. The organization has partnered with many of the world’s greatest newspapers, magazines and photographers to restore, digitize and lease unique collections of historical photography. He has amassed a photo collection with historic images that touch upon every aspect of American culture. There are more than 140 million images in the Rogers Archive that include all photographic formats such as original vintage studio and cabinet photographs, wire and news service photos, glass plate negatives, and high quality digitals. As the Rogers Photo Archive has continued to grow, it has become Roger’s mission to help educate the public about the history and significance of photographic imagery by capturing the spirit of our nation in a visually unique way.







Argenta Images, the leasing arm of Rogers Photo Archive, is a leading visual image provider, representing a vast collection that includes the world’s most comprehensive historical photography archive. Clients include ESPN, HBO and the BBC. Through partnerships with publications, broadcast journalists and private photographers, its sister companies — Rogers Photo Archive and JR Partners — have amassed the world’s largest digital library of vintage and historic imagery — more than 180 million photographs and thousands of hours of film.







The exclusive photos will be on display March 25-30 in the Argenta Arts District galleries and exhibition space in downtown North Little Rock, Ark., home of Rogers Photo Archive and Argenta Images. Eight North Little Rock galleries and restaurants will serve as hosts of the approximately 120 images.









The exhibit will be free, while special ticketed events will raise money for the Argenta Arts District, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to provide arts and cultural experiences for the people of Arkansas, as well as the NLR Moonshot Project, a community initiative to increase college attainment levels through the arts, education and economic development.









I hope you will consider this for an upcoming blog post. We have created a Storify link for this event – http://bit.ly/Wyy7hv. We’ll be updating soon with photos and a video that you are welcome to use with your post.









April Fatula

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to retire after 30 years with agency

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to retire after 30 years with agency


Published February 01, 2013

Associated Press



The head of the Secret Service is stepping down after 30 years on the job.

A Secret Service spokesman says Mark Sullivan will retire effective Feb. 23. His replacement hasn't been announced.

Sullivan joined the Secret Service in 1983 after three years as a special agent in the inspector general's office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was appointed director in 2006.

Sullivan could have retired from government nearly 10 years ago but chose to stay on for what turned out to be a turbulent period for the service.

Last year, in testimony before Congress, Sullivan apologized for the conduct of Secret Service employees caught up on a prostitution scandal in Colombia.

Curtis LeMay on the Kennedys and the assassination-WOW!!

http://web2.millercenter.org/lbj/oralhistory/lemay_curtis_1971_0628.pdf








Frantz : Where were you at the time of the assassination?







LeMay : I was in Washington at the time--the Chief of Staff of the Air Force .







Frantz : You were at work on that particular day?







LeMay : No, I was off some place, at the actual time of the assassination, I was

called back .







Frantz: Yes, what was the situation that you found when you got back to Washington?

Was there a little bit of tenseness or was it pretty well decided that Lee

Harvey Oswald was just after one man?







LeMay: Well there wasn't much of a flap . Everybody was a little concerned that they

didn't know what made the attack, the assassination, so they wanted

everybody present for duty . That's the reason they were called back.







Frantz: Was there any great difference between working on the Joint Chiefs under

Johnson than it had been with Kennedy or did the fact that you had the same

Secretary of Defense insure the continuity?









LeMay : No, I didn't understand exactly what was going on . For several months

before the President was assassinated they were rumors, and then they

got to be a little more than rumors, Vice President Johnson was going to

be dropped for the coming election . And all the Kennedy team was finally

got to openly to giving to the Vice President to the back of their hands,

and it was rather embarrassing for the country around Washington because

it was so apparent . Then bang, all at once he is President .







Frantz : Yes.









LeMay : And I believe all of this hard feeling grew up around the flight from Fort

Worth back was brought on by these people who had really been vulgar in

my opinion and snubbing the Vice President who expected to be stepped on

like the cockroaches they were, and he didn't do it . As a matter of fact

quite the contrary . From all I got the President was extremely polite to

Mrs . Kennedy and the family and bent over backwards to do everything he

could to soften the blow if that is possible . It isn't, but he certainly

was a Southern gentleman in every respect during this period . And I think

this rather surprised these people because they expected the same kind of

treatment that they had given him and he didn't give it to him . Why, I don't

know : I really don't know because well I can understand in having to face

an election and I can understand him being a smart enough politician to

know if he threw out all of the Kennedy crowd and put his in, this might

split the Democratic party at the time in the next election and so forth .

So I can understand him keeping these people around until the election was

over, but then he won the election--he won it with the greatest majority

that any President has ever had, but he still kept these people around .

The same people that had treated him so miserably during this period just

before President Kennedy's assassination .



Frantz : This is curious .







LeMay : Yes . I could never understand, never could figure it out yet . The only

answer I could come up with is that knowing the vindictiveness of these

people, knowing the moral standards of these people, how ruthless that

they were, they must have had some threat over the President that he

knew that they would carry out .







Frantz: Did you get the feeling that he was satisfied with Secretary McNamara's

performance as Defense Secretary?







LeMay : I don't know that I can answer that question . It would seem that if he

wasn't satisfied, why he would have gotten a new one early in the period .

Afterwards I think he was actually dismissed finally . Things got so bad

that he had to get rid of him, but he did it in such a way to make it look

like it was a normal progression .









Frantz: Did you ever get any idea where he stood on this manned-bomber vs . missile

controversy?









LeMay: Well I don't know that there was a manned-bomber vs . missile controversy,

one being "either," "or ." We never believed that in the Air Force or any

place else . We thought we needed both . We needed both . As a matter of

fact, I get credit for being the big bomber General . Can't see anything

beyond the blinders . When I was in the research and development business

after the war started all in the big missile programs, the Atlas and the

Navaho and the basic facilities that gave us the missiles, we had to have

them, still like we have to have them and that we need both, we need both .









Frantz: There was it seemed to me at this time an outbreak of increased emphasis on

missiles and loss of flexibility of the manned equipment .









LeMay : It became apparent to me that McNamara's goal was to try to build a strategic

force that was equal to the Russian force . Sort of dragged his feet until

the Russians built up to what we were equal . These men believed that if

we were equal in strength then there wouldn't be any war . Well this is

an indication of how impractical these type of people are . To me this is

the best way of guaranteeing a war because you can only have peace if you

have a mutual respect between people, and if you don't have that and one

is plotting against the other, then eventually when he thinks he can get

away with it, he will come attack you . This has always been true in

history in the past . If they have got something you want and if he thinks

he can get it, he goes and gets it . This is just a human history . Even

if by some miracle you could design these two forces where they would be

equal, will everybody think they are equal? You can't control men's

minds . Then, if by some miracle you can design these tLwo forces, how long

are they going to stay equal? One is an opened society ; the other a closed

society . When is the closed society going to come up with a breakthrough

on some weapon system that will give them a tremendous advantage that you

don't know anything about? You're handicapping the open society by such

an arrangement . So I believe this is what Mr . McNamara was aiming at,

although he would never admit it any place along the line . He wouldn't

admit it now, I am sure, but that was what it was aimed at, and I honestly

believe that he thought about 1000 minuteman missiles would be enough for

this .