Many are skeptical about Blaine's accuracy

3.0 out of 5 stars Kennedy Detail, June 15, 2011
By VMI man (Richmond, Virginia) - This review is from: The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence (Hardcover)

Did the author have a tape recorder to record verbatim all conversations? Not historical fiction, but not entirely historical either. Interesting, but could have been shorter. He says that they preserved the car as evidence, but isn't there a photo showing the agents washing the interior of the car in front of the Parkland ER?

'a guide on how to cover your a** after a tragedy'

'a guide on how to cover your a** after a tragedy'
I am mixed on my review for this one... On one hand its an interesting read with some great inside info on the behind the scenes goings of the secret service; on the other hand I detested the third person narrative it was written in. It really could have been written without all of the whining about lack of sleep, etc.... I also didn't like how the book seemingly blamed Kennedy for his own murder or the ignorant stance that The Warren Report was correct.... Please! These men were enlisted to protect the president and failed. That is a terrible tragedy in its self but don't take the stance that Kennedy had a death wish when the agents rolled over and didn't stand up and realistically relay the risks.
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My review is strictly focused on the literary work and it is abominable. Were it possible to give less than one star, I would have done so.
The narrative jumps all over the place. One cannot keep track of which date is being referred to ergo place goes completely out the window.
There is an annoying repetition of information, which quite often contradicts the one preceding it.
It is mystifying how conversations are quoted fifty years after having supposedly taken place.
Some of the minutiae is mind numbing.
As I have the audio version, the reading cannot go without comment. The feeble attempts to speak in JFK's accent are worse than those of a third rate Vegas lounge celebrity imitator. The Southern accents can be described as nothing more than degrading, demeaning and thoroughly insulting to even the lowest form of "Bubbaism" known to the spoken word. There is no consistency in the pronunciation of words such as Caroline - Carolyn. Come on pick one and stick with it!
I am about half way through this, the combination of the sloppy writing and awful narration have slaughtered my interest in finishing. So many books, so little time = why waste another moment on something as disappointing as this? Read Jim Douglass, Vince Palamara, and Mark Lane instead.
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The book bears little evidence of having been written by someone with Blaine's background in security and technology. It gushes, it emotes, and it burdens readers with overabundance of trivial detail like travel writers. And, judging by her website, that is precisely what the "with author," Lisa McCubbin typically does for a living. It isn't hard to conclude that she was not the person who should have written this book.
That's unfortunate, because it could have been an important resource for historians for generations to come. Numerous interviews were conducted with the agents involved, but what we learn from them is the clothes they wore, the food they ate, and their feelings at particular moments. That's the stuff of travelogues but not of serious history.
Even worse, at critical points in the narrative the author seems unaware of the historical significance of what is taking place. One example is the clash that takes place between the local medical examiner and Secret Service agents over what is to be done with the President's body. Her focus isn't on what matters, the serious blunders that were being made by removing the President's body and limousine from the scene of the crime, it's on what Jacqueline Kennedy may have been feeling at that particular moment. McCubbin, whose adoration of the Kennedy's leaves her less than objective at times, seems unaware that in every other crime the victim's family simply have to cope with what criminal investigations require. Many of the conspiracies theories, which McCubbin clumsily dismisses near the end of the book, were born out of those blunders.
Finally, like others, I feel this book reads all too much like something that might have been written for Woman's Day magazine circa 1965. This book, in which "JFK's Secret Service Agents Break their Silience" contains almost nothing that those agents needed to be silent about. No one cares what they had for breakfast on that fateful day, and the details of the motorcade in which they participated have been known for decades. Others have described how the morale of JFK's Secret Service agents were destroyed by his pathological womanizing, which required unknown women to be smuggled into the White House or his hotel room at strange hours. But you will find not a word about that here. In this bit of romantic fiction, JFK was an ideal father in a storybook marriage. Lisa McCubbin didn't have to dwell on that sordid side of the Kennedy Presidency. But she should have at least shown us she was aware of it and discussed those aspects of it that were relevant to his Secret Service protection (Vince Palamara is a far better source).
In short, this book fails to deliver on its promises.
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"The Kennedy Detail" takes poetic license regarding some crucial matters. For one, there was NO morning-of-JFK's-funeral meeting with Chief Rowley OTHER than to discuss the security for Jackie's walk to St. Matthews Cathedral. Everyone from this 47-year-old meeting---other than Blaine--- is conveniently dead and there is no documentation for this meeting to discuss JFK's alleged comments ("order") to remove the agents in Tampa on 11/18/63, used as a very lame excuse for why the agents weren't there on 11/22/63 (as agent Win Lawson said, there were no standing orders for the agents to stay off the back of the car and the matter never came to his attention---so much for the advance agents getting wind of these "orders"). Many agents and NON AGENTS (a crucial distinction Blaine doesn't get) have denied that JFK ever interfered with the Secret Service (what "code" would the NON SECRET SERVICE AGENTS have been following, Mr. Blaine?). In addition, Blaine makes a big deal about CE1025, the 5 reports submitted to Chief Rowley in April 1964 (only because the Warren Commission asked) regarding any statements JFK may have made regarding agents being on the rear of his car. Besides the fact that two of the agents---SAIC Behn & ASAIC Boring---denied the substance of their reports to the self-described "Secret Service expert" Blaine seeks to denigrate in "The Kennedy Detail", these reports were NOT just released in 1992, as Blaine alleges, but have been available since 1964, when the Warren Commission released their 26 volumes of hearings and exhibits for sale and library holdings. If that weren't enough, many major newspapers (such as The New York Times) and massive best-selling books (such as Jim Bishop's "The Day Kennedy Was Shot") made a great issue out of these after-the-fact reports; nothing whatsoever hidden there (and the aforementioned "Secret Service expert" [unnamed: Vince Palamara] has discussed these reports many times, as have others). As for the supposed Rybka misidentification, Rybka's family and a couple former agents were fooled, as well (especially considering the fact that both Emory Roberts and Win Lawson 'mistakenly' placed Rybka IN the follow-up car in their reports, only to 'correct' the record later). This also does not address the fact that Emory Roberts can clearly be seen rising in his seat and, using hand gestures, tells the agents (whether Rybka or, as Blaine states, Don Lawton) to fall back from the car, the agent raises his hands several times in response, Paul Landis makes room for the agent in the follow-up car, and the agents and aides in the follow-up car, without smiling, follow the agents' seeming perplexed reaction as the cars move on without him. Finally, with regard to the figurative "back stabbing" (not intended) Blaine states the "Secret Service expert" made with regard to documenting what the former agents said, keep in mind: if there was NO record, WHO would choose to believe what was said to a total stranger (especially over the word of former agents)? In the vernacular of today, "it is what it is": the former agents---AND NON AGENTS---said what they said and wrote what they wrote.
With that in mind, "The Kennedy Detail" is a book I recommend everyone buy and read---some very good information and photos, written by a good and honorable man who is obviously a very good and caring friend of his former comrades in arms, who, with a few noteable exceptions, are equally good and honorable men who were just doing their jobs and following orders when JFK was killed.
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As the leading civilian authority on the Secret Service, especially regarding the JFK/ LBJ era, and as someone who interviewed and/ or corresponded with close to 80 former agents between 1990-2006 (roughly double the number of former agents interviewed for this book), I was, needless to say, very much interested in what former agent and author Gerald Blaine (a nice gentleman I spoke to twice and corresponded with several times via e-mail), along with co-author Lisa McCubbin and fellow former agent Clint Hill (a very close friend of Blaine's to whom I had sent a 22-page letter to and spoke to very briefly and who also wrote the Foreword), had to say about President Kennedy and the tragic events of November 22, 1963, when the Secret Service failed in the worst way, costing the nation the life of our President. As a total stranger and an outsider, my contacts with the former agents were very much in the "cross examination" mode (often eliciting begrudging, not-too-friendly responses), while, as a trusted insider, it is fair to say that Blaine's contacts would be of the "direct/ friendly examination" variety. This dichotomy will become important for a number of reasons.
I am as certain as a human being can be that it was my lengthy letter to Clint Hill that led to the genesis of this book----I sent it in June of 2005 and received a very cantankerous "non-reply" when I phoned the gentleman this same time period. Also, during this very same time period, as Blaine admitted to the Daily Sentinel's Bob Silbernagel for his 5/23/10 article, Blaine began contacting as many living former agents who served President Kennedy for his book as he could (it is important to note that I also made contacts with Mr. Blaine during this time period, as well). Why am I so certain that my letter was a catalyst? As an ardent critic of the Secret Service's performance in Dallas (going much further than the two government "investigations", the Warren Commission and the HSCA), I sent Mr. Hill, in effect, a "Cliff Notes" version of my research for my own book ("Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service & The Failure To Protect The President"), spelling out why I came to be certain that fellow former agents Floyd Boring (the number two agent on the Kennedy Detail and the Secret Service planner of the Texas trip), Shift Leader Emory Roberts (the commander of the agents in the follow-up car in Dallas), and William Greer (the driver of JFK's limousine on 11/22/63) were grossly negligent before, during, and after JFK was assassinated. Judging by Mr. Hill's "response" (or lack thereof), my attempt to address my concerns did not go over very well, to put it mildly.
As it bears directly on "The Kennedy Detail" , just what specifically are my concerns? Simply put: many of these former agents (and several White House aides), including several who passed away years before this book was even a thought, such as the number one agent on the Kennedy Detail, Gerald Behn; one of the three Shift Leaders, Arthur Godfrey; the number two agent on LBJ's detail (who ALSO had protected JFK), Rufus Youngblood; Sam Kinney, the driver of the follow-up car in Dallas; Robert Bouck, the Special-Agent-In-Charge of the Protective Research Section; Frank Stoner of the Protective Research Section; Maurice Martineau, the Acting-Special- Agent- In- Charge of the Chicago Office who protected JFK from '61-'63 whenever he came to the area; John Norris of the Uniformed Division; Dave Powers, the former curator of the JFK Library who rode in the follow-up car many times, including on 11/22/63; author Helen O'Donnell, daughter of the late Ken O'Donnell, JFK's Chief of Staff (based on her father's many audio tapes); and many others, told me, in no uncertain terms, that President Kennedy was a very nice man, NEVER interfered with the actions of the Secret Service, and, most importantly, DID NOT ORDER THE AGENTS OFF HIS CAR.
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Bj Biringer's review of "The Kennedy Detail"

I do not know why these individuals have waited 48 years to talk about what happened that day. However, in a positive light it offers unique insight into what it was like to work with President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy on the Secret Service Detail. It is an oral testimony of history through the eyes of men that were that day and witnessed the assassination first hand. Interestingly, the book was written by one agent that was not in Dallas that day.
One of the problems I have with the book is that I get the sense that the authors are suggesting that President Kennedy invited himself to be assassinated. Much is made of an order that JFK gave during a motorcade in Tampa one week before the assassination in Dallas. It so happens that the advance agent that planned all the security detail for the Tampa visit was the author Gerry Blaine.
Secondly, I do not agree with teh treatment that former Special Agent Abraham Bolden is given in this book. The public should read Mr. Bolden´s story and hear what he has to say before rushing to judgement based on what is written in this book. I should note that Mr. Bolden was the first African-American Secret Service Agent ever chosen to protect the President, and he was chosen personally by President Kennedy.
Next, my biggest disagreement is that the authors discourage consipracy theories. I truly believe, as most of America does, that one man did not act alone on that day. To believe in the Warren Commission findings is a conspiracy of cover up over the eyes and minds of the American people. Although technology and research techniques have advanced, it does not mean that we cannot search for clues in helping understand what happened that day. It is quite the opposite, we are able to understand more.
Finally, just because a person is born after the assassination, does not mean they cannot have an opinion or not have the right to research it and try to help the community pursue the truth. I full heartedly disagree with the authors in their assumption that we young people have no constructive or well thought out opinion on this.

The 8 agents involved in "The Kennedy Detail" documentary

GERALD S. BLAINE

Jerry Blaine was born in Boise, Idaho and served in the Korean War. After the war, he graduated from University of Colorado and commissioned by the U.S. Secret Service to work on the protection detail for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. When John F. Kennedy was elected in November 1960, Special Agent Blaine was immediately transferred to the President-elect detail and, for the next three years, traveled with President Kennedy all over the world — through Europe and Central America, from Hyannis Port to Palm Beach — and the occasional weekend at Bing Crosby's home in California.

In 1964, Jerry Blaine resigned from the Secret Service.

TOBY CHANDLER

Toby Chandler was born in Groesbeck, Texas and worked on Texas oilfields as a teenager. Chandler was an expert marksman at Texas A&M and later served in U.S. Army Intelligence Corps. Chandler was commissioned by the Los Angeles field office of U.S. Secret Service in 1959 and transferred to Washington field office in January 1961. Special Agent Chandler worked the Inauguration and joined President Kennedy's Detail in March of 1961. On November 22, 1963, SA Toby Chandler was giving the commencement address at the Secret Service School — he had just finished training with a Special Forces/Secret Service task force. That afternoon, SA Chandler answered phones at the White House and handled security for the Speaker of the House, John McCormick.

In 1980, Toby Chandler retired from the Secret Service as Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Houston, Texas.

DAVID GRANT

David Grant was born in Chicago, Illinois, a Korean War Veteran and graduate of Iowa Wesleyan University. In 1957, the Secret Service commissioned Special Agent Grant to work the Chicago and Denver field offices, as well as the Children's Detail for President Eisenhower. Special Agent Grant joined the Kennedy Detail shortly after the election. SA Grant assisted SA Win Lawson with the Dallas advance and was stationed at the Trade Mart at the time of the assassination. During his career, SA Grant served Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Vice Presidents, Rockefeller, and Mondale.

In 1980, David Grant retired from the Secret Service as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Vice Presidential Division.

CLINTON J. HILL

Clint Hill was born in North Dakota, served in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps and graduated from Concordia College. Hill's first assignment with the U.S. Secret Service was in the Denver office, protecting President Eisenhower's mother-in-law. Special Agents Clint Hill and Jerry Blaine were transferred from the Eisenhower Detail to the President-Elect Detail in November 1960. Hill went immediately to work with Mrs. Kennedy and spent the Inauguration with Caroline and the infant John Jr. He also accompanied Mrs. Kennedy on trips abroad, including Italy, Morocco, Greece, France, India, and Pakistan. Hill was promoted to Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) of the First Lady's Detail during the Pakistan trip. On November 22, 1963, SAIC Hill dove onto the Presidential limo and to Mrs. Kennedy's aid moments after shots were fired in Dealey Plaza. SAIC Hill continued to lead Mrs. Kennedy's protective detail until November 1964.

In 1975, Clint Hill retired from the Secret Service as Assistant Director of Special Forces.

PAUL E. LANDIS, JR.

Paul Landis grew up in Worthington, Ohio, and earned a degree in geology from Ohio Wesleyan University. After college, Landis signed up with the Air National Guard and joined the Secret Service field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1959. Special Agent Landis' first protection assignment was with the Eisenhower grandchildren, then Landis was transferred to the Children's Detail early in President Kennedy's administration, followed by the First Lady's Detail with Special Agent in Charge Clint Hill. Along with Special Agent Tom Wells and Special Agent in Charge Clint Hill, Special Agent Landis often traveled with Mrs. Kennedy and her children to the family's homes in Rhode Island, Florida, Virginia and Massachusetts.

Paul Landis left the Secret Service shortly after President Kennedy's assassination.

WINSTON LAWSON

Win Lawson grew up in western New York and graduated from the University of Buffalo. In 1950, Lawson joined the Army Counter Intelligence Reserves and served two years as an investigator on active duty. In 1959, the Secret Service commissioned Lawson as Special Agent. Special Agent Lawson attended Treasury School and Secret Service School, and in 1961 was transferred to the White House Detail. SA Lawson served under Presidents Kennedy & Johnson, and Vice Presidents Humphrey & Agnew before being transferred to Secret Service Headquarters in various jobs.

Win Lawson retired in 1981 as Deputy Assistant Director of Inspection.

RONALD PONTIUS

Ron Pontius was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from Loyola University of Chicago. He served in the US Army during the Korean War and joined the US Secret Service in the Chicago field office in 1958. In late 1959 he was transferred to the White House Detail during the Eisenhower administration. Special Agent Pontius planned many advances for the President and Mrs Kennedy, including her trip in 1962 to Rome, India, and Pakistan, and the Houston advance during the first family's visit to Texas in 1963. He continued his career at the White House under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

In 1976 he was assigned as the Agent in Charge of the former President Nixon's Detail in San Clemente, California where he ended his career in 1980.

THOMAS WELLS

Tom Wells grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, served in the U.S. Coast Guard and graduated from Florida State University. In 1959, the U.S. Secret Service hired Tom Wells; he worked as a Special Agent in the Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, and Miami Field Offices before being assigned full time to the First Lady/Family Detail. SA Wells accompanied Mrs. Kennedy and her children on frequent trips to family homes in Florida, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. SA Wells spent November 22, 1963 at the White House with Caroline and John Jr. Along with SAIC Clint Hill, SA Wells remained on the protective duty for Mrs. Kennedy and her children through September 1964.

Tom Wells retired as the Special Agent in Charge of the Birmingham Field Office in 1981.

Agent Toby Chandler Sixth Floor Museum oral history highlight

Agent Toby Chandler Sixth Floor Museum oral history highlight (11/20/10):

"They [Presidents, including JFK] have all, in my experience, listened to us. Almost all of them, within reason, have made their point or, in the end, accepted our advice. I don't know of anybody who deliberately or blatantly over-ruled a Secret Service suggestion. Most of them observe our suggestions."

"Don't waste your money" on "The Kennedy Detail"

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, May 16, 2011
By
Glenn E. Patch "57Guy" (Branson, Mo, United States) - Amazon Verified Purchase(This review is from: The Kennedy Detail (Kindle Edition)

This book was very boring. If you are interested in Kennedy's personal life, you will not find one word about it here.
It was filled with self serving hero worship of the Kennedy's and too much detail about the agents personal life.

Notes from Sixth Floor Museum Oral History interviews of Blaine and Hill

Blaine 11/19/10: Blaine DENIES that either himself or Floyd Boring were interviewed by William Manchester! Blaine WAS indeed interviewed for Manchester's book "The Death of a President", on May 12, 1965, as Manchester's raw notes confirm (as does the book's endnotes), while Blaine confirms that Boring wasn't interviewed for that book, leaving agent Emory Roberts as, ostensibly, the only very questionable "source" for the Tampa tale of JFK having the agents remove themselves from the limo, which is patently false to begin with, based on the written and taped statements of many former agents (including FLOYD BORING) and non-agents (such as Congressman Sam Gibbons, who rode IN the limo with JFK in Tampa). Either Blaine is fibbing about being interviewed or he is telling the truth...either way, something stinks.
Hill 11/19/10: Clint Hill tells the truth about JFK: he did NOT order the agents to do anything; they did what they wished to do, security-wise. "He can tell you what he wants done and he can tell you certain things but that doesn't mean you have to do it. What we used to do was always agree with the President and then we'd do what we felt was best anyway."; identifies President Obama's SAIC of PPD as Joe Clancy


Blaine 11/18/10: claims to have spoken to Art Godfrey, a Shift Leader on the Kennedy Detail, during the writing of his book, which began in June 2005. The problem? Art Godfrey DIED ON 5/12/2002 !!!!; "We were violating our fellow agents who have passed on"-?!?!?; "I have alot of opponents as far as the book goes"