CONFLICTS IN THE RECORD: "OFFICIAL" HISTORY AND THE SECRET SERVICE

CONFLICTS IN THE RECORD: "OFFICIAL" HISTORY AND THE SECRET SERVICE




This particular chapter details all the anomolies regarding  Secret
Service action and words related to 11/22/63 in comparison to "official"
history (by that, I mean the Warren Commission, The House Select
Committee on Assassinations, and even William Manchester's "The Death of
a President" and Jim Bishop's "The Day Kennedy Was Shot"). It is my
belief that, through an examination of this often-neglected agency of
the federal government and their role in President Kennedy's November
1963 Texas trip, many things we have all taken for granted will now be
shown to have greater significance than we first thought. In addition,
through author interviews and correspondence with twenty-plus former
Secret Service agents and White House aides, much new evidence will be
revealed (some of which has been presented in my manuscript entitled
"The Third Alternative-Survivor's Guilt: the Secret Service and the JFK
Murder", as well as recent Fourth Decade and Investigator articles). The
author spoke to and/or corresponded with: Winston Lawson, Forrest
Sorrels, Sam Kinney, Dave Powers, Rufus Youngblood, Richard Johnsen,
Robert Steuart, Gerald Behn (plus his wife and daughter), Floyd Boring,
Robert Bouck, James Rowley, Abraham Bolden, Marty Underwood, Maurice
Martineau, Hamilton Brown, Stu Knight, Bill Livingood, John Norris, Bob
Lilly, Jerry Parr, Don Lawton, Chuck Zboril, Cecil Stoughton, Art
Godfrey, Richard Greer (son of the late Bill Greer), June Kellerman
(wife of the late Roy Kellerman), Gerry Patrick Hemming, and Mark Crouch
(about his association with the late James K. "Jack" Fox). Needless to
say, this was a great body of information; many of these former agents
have never spoken to any private researchers at all (or even, in some
instances, government investigators)!  In the final analysis, by
examining the actions and words of the Secret Service in regard to
11/22/63, a much better understanding of the Secret Service-and the
assassination-will occur. The following topics will be covered:




1) The Presidential Limousine- the driver, the supervisor, the agents
who were to ride on the rear bumper, the bubbletop,etc.;
2) The President's  Wounds- a brand new perspective from a former agent;

3) "The Record and the Reality"- comparing "official" statements
(written and oral) with what REALLY happened (and with what is being
said NOW by the agents);
4) Examples of Security Stripping/Compromised Protection;
5) Conclusion





THE PRESIDENTIAL LIMOUSINE:

a) the driver- Over 47 witnesses (8 police officers, 6 Secret Service
agents, 29 spectators, 2 Presidential aides, 1 Senator and Governor
Connally) and the Zapruder film document Secret Service agent William R.
Greer's deceleration of the presidential limousine, as well as his two
seperate looks back at JFK during the assassination (Greer denied all of
this to the Warren Commission-2HGREER[see his entire testimony]). By
decelerating from an already slow 11.2 mph, Greer not only violated
Secret Service regulations, he 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"("The
Death of a President" by William Manchester, p.160). In addition, Jackie
Kennedy, Ken O'Donnell, and Dave Powers  were bitter at Greer for his
inaction on Elm Street ("My Life With Jacqueline Kennedy", by Mary
Gallagher, pp. 342 and 351; "Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent"
by George Rush, p. 25; "A Woman Called Jackie", by C. David  Heymann, p.
401; "Crossfire" by Jim Marrs, p. 248). William Manchester, who
interviewed Greer, tells us what the driver told Jackie on 11/22/63 at
Parkland Hospital: "Oh, Mrs. Kennedy, oh my God, oh my God. I didn't
mean to do it[?!?!], I didn't hear[who, Kellerman?], I should have
swerved the car[how about hitting the gas!], I couldn't help it[!]. Oh,
Mrs. Kennedy, as soon as I saw it[?] I swerved. If only I'd seen it in
time! Oh!" (Manchester, p.290). Yet, Greer's son Richard told me, quote,
"My father certainly didn't blame himself...My father had absolutely no
survivor's guilt". Not only does Manchester contradict this account, so
do O'Donnell and Powers: "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" ("Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye",
by O'Donnell and Powers, p. 40). However, perhaps Greer hid his remorse
from the night of 11/22/63 onward, for he told the FBI on the night of
the murder: "Greer stated that they (the Secret Service) have always
been instructed to keep the motorcade moving at a considerable speed
inasmuch as a moving car offers a much more difficult target than a
vehicle traveling at a very slow speed. he pointed out that on numerous
occasions he has attempted to keep the car moving at a rather fast rate,
but IN VIEW OF THE PRESIDENT'S POPULARITY AND DESIRE to maintain close
liaison with the people, he has, on occasion, BEEN INSTRUCTED BY THE
PRESIDENT TO "SLOW DOWN". Greer stated that he has been asking himself
if there was any thing HE COULD HAVE DONE TO HAVE AVOIDED THIS INCIDENT,
but stated that things happened so fast that HE COULD NOT ACCOUNT FOR
FULL DEVELOPMENTS IN THIS MATTER[!]." (Sibert & O'Neil interview with
Greer, 11/22/63-emphasis added).
This "JFK-as-scapegoat" theme is a popular one developed by several
Secret Service agents-and sympathetic writers- after the assassination,
as we shall see.



[the following is based off the author's Jan. 1992 Third Decade article
entitled "47 Witnesses: Delay on Elm Street"]

The sequence is crucial:
1) First shot (or shots) ring out-the car slows (with brake lights on);
2) Greer turns around once to see JFK(which he denied ever doing):
3) Kellerman orders Greer to "get out of line; we've been hit";
4) Greer disobeys his superior's direct order from a foot away and turns
around to stare at JFK for a SECOND time, until after the fatal head
shot finds its mark!

b) the supervisor- ASAIC Roy H. Kellerman, substituting for SAIC Gerald
A. Behn on the Texas trip (as ASAIC Floyd Boring had done for Behn on
the Florida trip, as Behn finally took his first vacation- interview
with Sam Kinney, 3/5/94), sat in the customary seat for a supervisory
agent: in the front seat, right by the driver ( who was usually Bill
Greer). During the shooting, and right after the first shot, Kellerman
made a very unique claim: he stated that the President said "Get me to a
hospital" upon being shot-this was said to the FBI interviewers on the
night of 11/22/63 (S & 0 interview with Kellerman, 11/22/63).
Unfortunately, Roy told the WC that JFK had actually said "My God, I've
been hit." In any event, this was medically impossible: the president
was shot thru the neck! If that weren't enough, Kellerman told the same
FBI agents that, during the shooting, "he observed President Kennedy
with his left hand in back of him appearing to be reaching to a point on
his right shoulder," an action not shown on any films or photographs,
nor described by any witnesses to the assassination (same as above). In
my opinion, there can be only two reasons for this strange testimony:
1) Kellerman wanted to give an overt reason for having gone to Parkland
Hospital unassisted- a "Presidential directive" and
2) the agent was attempting to show that JFK was ONLY wounded, thus his
"reason" for not coming to the President's aid by vaulting into the back
of the limousine, a matter the agent was harshly criticized for by the
media and the public ( i.e. Detroit Free Press, 12/27/63; interview with
June Kellerman, 3/2/92)

c) the agents who were to ride on the rear bumper- it is common folklore
that JFK did not want agents riding on the rear of his limousine, and
that he had told the agents this himself up to and including the trip
before the Texas trip in Florida on 11/18/63, a situation that obviously
caused peril in Dallas, as JFK had no protection on his side of the
limousine (Manchester, pp. 37-38; "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" by Jim
Bishop, pp. 40-41; etc.) In fact, in a letter dated 4/3/64, WC general
counsel J. Lee Rankin had written to Secret Service Chief James J.
Rowley "requesting further information concerning expressions by
President Kennedy regarding the placement of Secret Service agents on or
near the car during the motorcade", obviously meaning THE motorcade of
11/22/63 (18H803-809). Since JFK was conveniently dead and there was
nothing in the record to indicate that Kennedy had said anything that
morning, Rowley mailed back five reports on 4/22/64 to try to "satisfy"
the WC, who obviously were not satisfied by the testimonies of Greer,
Kellerman, Hill, or Youngblood in early March of 1964(WC Vol. 2).


These five reports- by agents Boring[dated 4/8/64], Roberts [dated
4/10/64], Ready [dated 4/11/64], Behn [dated 4/16/64] and Hill
[undated]- make much of JFK's alleged comments to agent Boring on
11/18/63 about getting the agents who were riding on the rear of the
limo the hell off of there, as well as "general common knowledge" that
this had happened before. However, as I uncovered during the interviews
for my manuscript, this was totally fabricated:

1) ASAIC Floyd M. Boring- on 9/22/93 and 3/4/94 respectively, Boring
told me that this was absolutely false: JFK never ordered the agents to
do anything or interfered with their actions at all, and Boring took
full responsibility for ordering the agents off the back of the
limousine on 11/18/63. Furthermore, he denounced the Manchester book
where he is quoted as allegedly hearing JFK tell him, quote, " keep
those Ivy League  charlatans off the back of the car"-not only did this
never happen, but Boring NEVER spoke to Manchester, and when I
confronted the famous author on 8/23/93 about this dramatic
contradiction, he was unable to defend his writing. What we are left
with is this: BORING REFUTED HIS OWN REPORT!
2) ATSAIC Emory P. Roberts- now deceased, Roberts was the commander of
the 7 other agents who rode in the follow-up car with him. Roberts  had,
according to the driver of the follow-up car, Samuel A. Kinney, ORDERED
THE AGENTS NOT TO MOVE AFTER THE FIRST SHOT SOUNDED (author's interviews
with Sam Kinney, 3/5/94 and 4/15/94)! Roberts had recognized the first
shot as a RIFLE blast (18H734-735), yet recalled agent John D. "Jack"
Ready who had begun to move in JFK's direction. Ready was the agent who
was ASSIGNED to JFK's side of the limousine (as Clint Hill was assigned
to Jackie's side[18H749-750]). As for Roberts' report, it is merely a
confirmation of hearing BORING over the radio telling the agents to get
off the rear of the limousine-it says nothing of JFK's alleged
"desires";
3) John Ready- mentions the 11/18/63 Florida trip but HE WASN'T EVEN
THERE!;
4) SAIC Gerald A. Behn- during the author's interview of 9/27/92, Behn
categorically denied what his report said: "I don't remember Kennedy
ever saying that he didn't want anybody on the back of the car!" In
other words, BEHN TOTALLY REFUTED HIS OWN REPORT!;
5) Clint Hill- in his report, Hill states that he had never been told by
JFK not to ride on the rear of the limo, but he HAD been told by the
"administrative offices of the White House Detail" of these alleged
presidential "requests": "I do not know from whom I received this
information", Hill stated. " I received this information after the
President's return to Washington, D.C.[from the Florida trip]. THIS
WOULD HAVE BEEN BETWEEN NOVEMBER 19, 1963 and NOVEMBER 21, 1963. I do
not know specifically who advised me of this request by the President"
(emphasis added-18H809). What is most disturbing is that Hill had no
trouble revealing the name to the WC's Arlen Specter on 3/9/64: FLOYD
BORING, the man in charge of the entire Texas trip (2H136-137;
interviews with Sam Kinney and Floyd Boring; Bishop, p. 558)!;





6) Sam Kinney;
7) Dave Powers;
8) Rufus Youngblood:
9) Robert Bouck;
10) John Norris;
11) Abraham Bolden;
12) Bob Lilly;
13) Maurice Martineau;
14) Don Lawton;
15) Chuck Zboril;
16) Cecil Stoughton;
17) Art Godfrey;
18) Marty Underwood- all but one of these gentlemen, Chuck Zboril, told
me that JFK never ordered the agents to do anything and never interfered
with their protective duties at all (Zboril would not comment- he would
only say “DO YOU WANT ME COMMENTING OFFICIALLY?” He did concede that he
rode on the rear of JFK’s limo on 11/18/63)! Even Chief James Rowley
told the WC that "No President will tell the Secret Service what they
can or cannot do"(5H570). Official" history has proclaimed JFK one of
the most difficult presidents to protect- Sam Kinney told me this was
untrue: "Just the opposite", he said. Sam also told me that Ken
O'Donnell was not a factor: "Noone ordered anyone around", he said to
me. The only thing Kennedy would do detrimental was wade into crowds to
shake hands, as he had done at Love Field on the morning of 11/22/63.
Interestingly, in viewing slow motion video footage of the Love Field
departure [WFAA/ABC TV video], one can see agent Henry J. Rybka
[25H787]attempt to get on the back of the limousine only to be recalled
by none other than Emory P. Roberts, who rises in his seat in the
follow-up car and hand-gestures Rybka to cease and desist. Giving
Roberts the benefit of the doubt, it appears that Borings' orders to not
have any agents ride on the back of the limousine were well taken. Since
the Secret Service lied about this in their submitted reports to the WC,
it is hard to give them the benefit of the doubt. All the "innocent"
scenarios and excuses we can conjure up cannot take away from the fact
that ASAIC Floyd Boring and his associates planted the seeds of
deception that took root in the WC Report, only to blossom in the
Manchester and Bishop books, succeeding in, for all intents and
purposes, shifting the blame for the Secret Service's lack of adequate
protection to the murdered President. Also, they succeeded in largely
hiding Boring's role in the planning of the Texas trip.

d) the bubbletop- although not bulletproof, this was a protective device
that came in seven different pieces, and could provide both an open car
and some semblance of protection (just the rear and front pieces were
often on the car). According to agents Thomas Kelley, Bob Lilly, and Sam
Kinney, the bubbletop would deflect a bullet and also shield the
President via the sun's glare off of it [Kelley-9/78 audiotapes;
interviews with Lilly and Kinney]. Just the fact that most people
THOUGHT it was bulletproof was protection enough-if someone draws a gun
on you, would you say, "How do I know those aren't blanks in that
thing?"  Most importantly, in regard to 11/22/63, it was Sam Kinney's
sole decision to remove the top that morning, as both his report
[18H730] and his three talks with me confirm. Kennedy, O'Donnell,
Lawson, Sorrels, Kellerman, Bill Moyers, and Betty Harris had nothing to
do with it, although they have all been blamed.
This was Sam's personal choice based on his much-debated belief that JFK
was on a "political move", nothing more; the weather was not to blame,
for Bob Lilly told me that many times the bubbletop was on the car
during the brightest and hottest days imaginable (an example of which is
the Bogota, Columbia trip which he was on, riding the back of the
limousine with Roy Kellerman [in author's collection in slow-motion]).
Both Sam Kinney and Bill Greer regretted Sam's decision for years after
the assassination, proof enough that JFK was not a factor in its removal
on 11/22/63. [author's interviews with Kinney and Richard Greer].

THE PRESIDENT'S WOUNDS:

Sam Kinney revealed to me that, having witnessed the assassination
while driving the follow-up car, he saw the back of JFK's head come off
when the fatal shot struck the President's head (Sam was watching the
back of Kennedy's head in order to maintain the required 5-foot distance
between his car and the limousine). Kinney's left arm and windshield
were immediately hit with blood and brain matter at this time, as well.
In addition, once at Parkland Hospital, Sam assisted Roy Kellerman and
Dave Powers  in removing JFK's body from the rear of the limousine. Sam
said, not only was the "right rear" of Kennedy's head completely gone,
but "he had no brains left...his brain was blown out...there was brain
matter all over the place." If this weren't enough, once the limousine
and the follow-up car were both aboard the C-130 transport plane heading
back to Washington, D.C., Kinney found the BACK of Kennedy's head lying
in the rear seat of the bloody limousine, exactly where Clint Hill
[2H141], Roy Kellerman [2H85], and SAIC Gerald Behn [S&O interview,
11/27/63] said it was! Kinney said it was "clean-as-a-pin" and resembled
a "flowerpot" piece. He put the piece in his suit pocket and then put in
a phone patch to Dr. Burkley, who Sam described as a "good friend" of
his. Importantly, this discovery was made several hours before the
"official" limousine inspection-instigated by ASAIC FLOYD BORING- would
allegedly turn up two or three more pieces of skull [CD80., p.3]. Sam
said "I don't know what else it could have been but the back of his
head...mine was a big piece...half his head was gone." Unfortunately,
Sam did not attend the autopsy, and he would NOT tell me exactly how
Burkley physically got a hold of the skull piece he found on the C-130.
Interestingly, Roy Kellerman told HSCA investigators in 1977 that he
only remembered ONE skull piece being examined at the autopsy, although
he was told of TWO pieces by Boring [Kelly and Purdy-interviews with
Kellerman, 8/24-8/25/77: memorandum recently released]! Since the small
piece found by Seymour Weitzman [7H107] and the piece found 11/23/63 by
Billy Harper could NOT be occipital bone (from the BACK of the head), it
is obvious that a) Sam's piece was the right rear piece and b) Boring
and Burkley, who were involved in the handling of the skull pieces, had
to have done some manipulation or actual "switching" of fragments, the
goal being to confuse the autopsy doctors and to cover-up a shot from
the front having killed JFK, the man the Secret Service was sworn to
protect at all costs.

"THE RECORD AND THE REALITY":

Volume 18 of the WC Report contains almost all the
assassination-related Secret Service reports submitted, many of which
contain anomalies in regard to "official" or "revised" [Posner] history.
Some examples of which are the following:

a) Emory Roberts- "I could not determine from what direction the shots
came, but felt they had come from the right side...I immediately asked
everyone on (the) car to look to see if they could determine where the
shots came from- no one seemed to know."; People like David Belin have a
field day pointing to the Altgen's photo and alleging that all the
agents knew immediately that the shots came from the rear  (never mind
the fact that only John Ready, George Hickey, and Paul Landis appear to
be looking in that direction, and that Landis thought the shots came
from the FRONT [18H755,759]!);
b) John Ready- "There appeared to be no spectators on the right side of
the road (Elm Street"-?! Gee, I guess all those people lining the street
on Ready's side of Elm must have been photographic anomalies, for they
appear in the Zapruder film [slow motion video in author's collection]!
Also, both Roberts and Ready claimed that the limousine was traveling at
a rate of speed between 20-25 mph, and that there was approximately
20-25 feet separating their follow-up car from the presidential
limousine. However, films, photos, Clint Hill's WC testimony, and Paul
Landis' report confirms that there was actually only a  five-foot
distance between the cars, and that the limousine was slowing down from
a starting speed of only around 11.2 mph; in fact, in Ready's first
report, he stated that the follow-up car slowed..in his next report, he
corrected the record to read that the LIMOUSINE slowed. I believe all of
this was done to try to cover up both Roberts' and Ready's inaction on
11/22/63;
c) Bill "Tim" McIntyre- "First shot was fired, followed in quick
succession by two more. I would estimate that all three shots were fired
within 5 seconds"-so much for Posner's extended shooting time;
d) Clint Hill- "right rear" of JFK's head missing, lying in rear of
limousine;
e) Paul Landis- "The time lapse between the first and second report[what
Landis means as the HEAD SHOT] must have been about 4 or 5 seconds"..."I
do not recall hearing a third shot";
f) George Hickey- "It appeared to come from the right and rear and
seemed to me to be at GROUND LEVEL...Possibly 4 or 5 seconds elapsed
from the time of the first shot and the last shot";
g) Rufus Youngblood- the first to last shot "happened within a few
seconds";
h) Thomas "Lem" Johns- heard only two shots "approx. 2 or 3 seconds
apart";

Finally, although "official" history has deemed the damage to the
windshield of the presidential limousine only a mere crack resulting
from a ricocheting rearward bullet, 8 people observed, and one was
aware, of an actual HOLE from an obviously penetrating, frontal bullet:

a)-b) Secret Service agents Charles E. Taylor, Jr. and Harry Geglein [CD
80];
c)-d) Dallas Police Officers Stavis Ellis and H.R. Freeman [CFTR Radio
interview 1976];
e)-f) Newsman Richard Dudman and Frank Cormier [St. Louis Post Dispatch
12/1/63];
g)-h) Spectators Evalea Glanges and Carl Renas ["JFK Conspiracy of
Silence", pp. 105-106];
i) Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden [interview with Bolden, 9/16/93]

EXAMPLES OF SECURITY STRIPPING/COMPROMISED PROTECTION:

1) Greer/ slow, non-evacuating limousine   blamed on JFK
2) Kellerman/ non-reaction     blamed on JFK
3) Boring, etc./no agents on or near limousine  blamed on JFK
4) Roberts/ no shout of alarm or alert,
ORDER NOT TO MOVE, recall of Ready,    blamed on JFK-beyond help
Hill's late arrival on back of limousine
5) Dillon, etc./No bubbletop     blamed on JFK, etc.
(interestingly, in Mid-November 1963, the Secret Service were working
with an Army consultant on trying to devise a bulletproof bubbletop
[CD3, p.23]
6) Boring, etc./at least 3 checks of the PRS revealed NO threats to JFK
in the state of Texas, including the entire city of Dallas, an
impossibility (this, despite the Secret Service having knowledge of both
the 11/2/63 Chicago and 11/9/63 Miami threats in their files!) [4H342;
2H107-108; HSCA11523; Manchester, p. 109]- both Roy Kellerman and
Abraham Bolden admitted that this was unusual;
7) Sheriff Bill Decker told his men to stand down on the morning of
11/22/63 after allegedly telling SAIC Forrest Sorrels of the Dallas
office that he offered his "full support" by providing ADDITIONAL
personnel ["Two Men in Dallas" video; 21H547; "JFK Conspiracy of
Silence", pp. 53-54];
8) SAIC of the WHD Jerry Behn, SAIC of VP Detail Stu Knight, and Press
Secretary Pierre Salinger were all absent from the Texas tour (in
addition to most of the Cabinet-including Treasury Secretary Douglas
Dillon-being out of the country on a plane with Salinger). ASAIC
Kellerman, a "third-stringer", was making his FIRST major trip on his
own in place of the vacationing Behn; former Chief Baughman said that
the SAIC[Behn] or his immediate, number two assistant[Boring] always
accompany the president when he leaves the White House- why the change
in protocol? Also, ASAIC Rufus Youngblood was substituting for Knight:
Rufus was to become the SAIC of this detail on 11/25/63, but, because of
what happened, he rose much higher, while Behn and Knight went
backwards. Finally, Asst. Press Secretary Mac Kilduff was making his
first official trip on his own in place of Salinger; Bob Lilly told me
that Salinger "would be extremely knowledgeable" about trip planning and
motorcade security, because they had worked with him on many trips. Who
knows what, if anything, they could have gotten away with had
Salinger-or Behn and Knight- been on the Texas trip (in addition, Sam
Kinney told me that Glenn Bennett of the PRS was making HIS first trip,
riding in the follow-up car [corroborated by new ly-released HSCA
documents, but confounded by newly-released Shift Reports via the ARRB:
Bennett joined the WHD on 11/10/63 in time for the second NY trip and
the Florida trip. In any event, this still adds to the mystery of why
Bennett was needed in the first place- to monitor threats covertly,
perhaps?);
9) a) As Jerry Behn told me on 9/27/92, the motorcade route was indeed
changed for Dallas (as the HSCA had inquired of him in Executive
Session)-Behn should know: besides being the SAIC, Win Lawson told the
HSCA that the selection of the motorcade route involved Behn[HSCA11516].
Both Sam Kinney and Winston Lawson told me about ALTERNATE routes,
including Main to Industrial[also:4H326]. Advance man Jack Puterbaugh
had also told the HSCA investigators about driving over alternate routes
with Sorrels, as a new document dated 4/14/78 reveals. I strongly
believe that the route was changed after advance agent David Grant's
arrival on 11/18/63 from the Florida trip, where he worked with Boring
on the planning of this trip before doing the same in
Texas[18H789;17H601]. Lawson told the WC  that the route could be
changed on 11/19/63 if need be [4H341]. Although Chief Rowley knew
releasing motorcade routes to the press was against Secret Service
rules, he stated that this breach of regulations in Dallas was not done
by the Secret Service; even Lawson had told the WC that he didn't know
who had announced the route in the papers[4H340]. However, Bill Moyers,
who, along with his assistant, Betty Harris, was working with the Secret
Service, told the HSCA that the authority to print the motorcade route
in Dallas was done with the cooperation of an unnamed agent he
characterized as "in charge of the Dallas trip"-if true, this was Floyd
Boring. Houston and Austin advance man Marty Underwood and Uniformed
Officer John Norris both harshly criticized the choice of route to me,
as this was a route which violated Secret Service regulations by
involving a 120 degree turn in a warehouse district (the TSBD), which
would slow the limousine to a dangerous speed. Evidently, some real
subterfuge was involved in the release of the actual route to be used on
11/22/63, for not only did many newspapers contradict each other with
the details of the exact outline of the route, but, as revealed in a WC
Document[Griffin to Rankin re: Dallas Police]recently found amongst some
HSCA files, it was written that "from an administrative standpoint,
(DPD's Charles) Batchelor believed that the failure of the Secret
Service to inform the police adequately in advance of the exact route to
be taken by the President prevented them (DPD) from adequately
organizing their men and taking the necessary security precautions". In
addition, Governor Connolly stated that he also was never informed about
the exact route to be taken on 11/22/63[New York Herald Tribune,
11/29/63]! If both Greer and Kellerman can be believed when they told
the WC that they had no knowledge of the route either[2H111,121], it
appears then that the lead car they were following-containing Chief
Curry, Sheriff Decker, and, most importantly, Forrest Sorrels and
Winston Lawson-dictated the actual route to be used on 11/22/63.
Incredibly, even the route was blamed on JFK- it was supposedly
"entirely appropriate in view of the known desires of the
President"[WR]!;


9) b) In addition, although the WC claimed that the route was "selected
by Agent Lawson"[WR195(Assoc. Press)], the HSCA learned from Lawson that
he could NOT identify the person who selected the hazardous, 120-degree
Elm Street turn[HSCA11522]. Incredibly, the WC had taken testimony from
Agent Sorrels who claimed that HE was the actual person who selected the
dog-leg turn! I believe the HSCA was correct when they stated that
Lawson "did not have control over the final determination of the
route"[HSCA11521]-the arrival of advance agent David Grant from the
Florida trip was a profound influence at work here;
10) Even though the use of 18 motorcycles for JFK's motorcade in Dallas
had been approved on 11/20/63, there were no Secret Service agents
present at this security meeting. At the 11/21/63 meeting, 3 agents were
in attendance, including agent David Grant, who made the claim that JFK
did not "desire" that many motorcycles, or even ANY motorcycles on each
side of him, but only to the rear[HSCA11527,529]. Strangely, the
original plan was used in all of the prior Texas stops-San Antonio,
Houston, and even Fort Worth on the very morning of 11/22/63[NBC video]!
According to some in the DPD, they had received this "change of plans"
at Love Field[HSCA11528]. The HSCA appropriately termed this appalling
situation "uniquely insecure";
11) David Grant also cancelled the DPD squad car over the protests of
Chief Curry[HSCA11529-530];
12) Not only were the Secret Service responsible for the motorcade's
vehicle order, the placement of several vehicles-including the
Presidential limousine- were changed from their original order[25H786;
17H618; 4H322; "Murder From Within", pp.37-39];
13) Although the Secret Service was responsible for the overpasses being
totally free of any spectators, this was not adhered to in Dealey
Plaza[4H351];
14) The media, White House Photographer Cecil Stoughton, Pres. aide
Godfrey McHugh, and Dr. Burkley were placed further back in the
motorcade from where they normally were positioned: near the front, near
JFK[CFTR radio 1976; Manchester, p.169; Bishop, pp. 109-110, 133-134].
McHugh said that this was "unusual"; even Greer admitted that many times
an aide rode in the front seat of the limo with the driver and the
supervisor[2H129]. Press photographer Tom Dillard told C-SPAN on
11/22/93 that the press photographers' flatbed truck that traditionally
rode in front of the Presidential limousine was "cancelled at the last
minute", adding that "we were put in Chevrolet convertibles six cars
back" that "put us totally out of the picture". Even the press bus,
which usually followed the Secret Service follow-up car, was placed
further back in the motorcade. Stoughton rode in the follow-up car
taking pictures 11/18-11/21/63 but was “replaced” by Dave Powers for the
Dallas trip. Stoughton admitted to me that many times he rode here AND
on the rear of the limo taking film. In fact, on page 160 of his book,
he stated that Jackie Kennedy wanted him to ride in the follow-up car
from July 1963 onward!;
15) The ambulance that would have been on standby in case of injury to
JFK was gone from the scene a few minutes before the shooting, carrying
an alleged Dealey Plaza "seizure victim"[WFAA TV, interview with Aubrey
Rike and Dennis McGuire, 11/22/63; Curry, pp. 27-28];
16) JFK/LBJ: same city, same motorcade, in slow-moving open vehicles in
close proximity to each other-this was unique[interview with Bolden,
9/16/93; 4H336]. This is the exact reason why the president and the VP
to this day fly on different planes-you are never to have them travel so
close together in such a compromising position!;
17) Lawson told both the WC and the HSCA that he could not recall giving
instructions to watch building windows, "although it was his usual
practice to do so". DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence confirmed that NO
instructions were given[WR197(Assoc. Press version); HSCA11526].
Although Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon tried to claim
after-the-fact that it was "not the practice of the Secret Service to
make surveys or checks of buildings along the route of a Presidential
motorcade"[CD3], Chief Inspector Michael W. Torina told author William
Manchester in 1961 that wherever a Presidential motorcade must slow down
for a turn, the entire intersection must be checked in
advance[Manchester, p.32]-hmmm, sounds a lot like Elm Street...;
18) Lawson handled the Secret Service identification pins, clips,
badges, and documents for the Dallas trip[17H618,625; 4H322]. As we
know, elicit Secret Service I.D. made its way into Dealey Plaza, as 4
police officers-Joe M. Smith, D.V. Harkness, Seymour Weitzman, and Roger
Craig[7H535; 6H312; 7H107; "Crossfire", p. 330]-and at least 3
spectators-Malcolm Summers, Gordon Arnold, and Ronald
Fischer["Nova",11/88; DMN, 8/27/78; 6H196]-AND LEE HARVEY OSWALD[24H479]
stated. Abraham Bolden told me that all the Secret Service I.D. were
changed in Jan. 1964 due to this incident-specifically, the common
knowledge that a LOST or STOLEN I.D. had been used;
19) 9 agents were involved in the infamous drinking incident of
11/21-11/22/63, including FOUR who had critical duties on the Secret
Service follow-up car directly behind JFK: Hill, Ready, Bennett, and
Landis[18H665-702]. Although drinking while in travel status was grounds
for REMOVAL from the Secret Service, none of the men were punished in
any way whatsoever to my knowledge (in fact, some were promoted). To add
insult to injury, Inspector Kelley had the audacity to tell the HSCA
that "no agent violated any Secret Service rule"[HSCA REPORT, p.235];
even Chief Rowley had covered up this incident during his WC
testimony[5HRowley];
20) Umbrella man- no action was not taken against this man, nor was any
mention made of him, either written or oral. Ironically, at the James
Rowley Belstsville Maryland SS Training Facility, people with umbrellas
pop up in mock motorcades, and the SS manual even states that the agents
are to watch out for unusual situations and use of objects (such as an
umbrella being used in bright, no-rain conditions)!;
21) Agents Greer, Kellerman, Lawson, and Sorrels stated that the
Presidential limousine stayed AHEAD of the lead car driven by Chief
Curry the entire time during the race to Parkland Hospital, allegedly
the "closest" hospital from Dealey Plaza (Curry even agreed with
them!)[4H350; 2H121; 4H354; "Crossfire", p.361; The Washington Post,
2/28/85; The Continuing Inquiry, 4/22/80]. This, despite the Daniel film
and several still photos that totally contradict these accounts: the
limousine WAS ahead of the lead car! If that wasn't enough, agents
Greer, Kellerman, Hill, Roberts, and Kinney have all taken credit-or
been named- as being THE agent that provided the SOLE radio call to
agent Lawson in the lead car[Sibert & O'Neil Report, 11/22/63; 2H131;
4H353; 17H628-629; 18H735,739; Sam Kinney's report-18H732-originally had
it that HE notified the lead car, but someone, presumably Kinney
himself, scratched out his type and changed it in handwriting to read an
ambiguous "we"]. Obviously, there's a real problem here, but the
following compounds it:
a) Greer told the WC that there was no radio contact "between the
hospital and our car"[2H121];
b) Chief Rowley told the WC that "the Secret Service has not followed
the practice of having nearby hospitals on alert status"[18H711], a
practice instigated ever since because of Dallas;
c) as revealed in a recently uncovered document, Jack Puterbaugh told
HSCA investigators that the Pilot Car he rode in "pulled over and let
the motorcade pass", so they obviously did not aid the limousine on the
race to Parkland [HSCA memo 4/14/78];
d) Channel One was out of commission due to a STUCK OPEN MICROPHONE,
leaving only one channel left to be used;
e) Devastatingly, Chief Curry stated in his LBJ Library Oral History
that THERE WAS NO RADIO CONTACT BETWEEN THE LEAD CAR AND THE LIMOUSINE
AND THAT LAWSON'S PORTABLE RADIO WASN'T WORKING TOO WELL AT THE
TIME!!!...
I believe that the Secret Service had advance knowledge of how to get to
Parkland Hospital for some unofficial reason, perhaps as part of a
security-stripping test, where the shaken or wounded President, having
narrowly missed either an assassination attempt or the wrath of an angry
demonstration, would be taken in impressively fast order...or perhaps as
part of some other, more sinister reason...;
22) 11/18/63 Special Ordinance from the DPD (in cooperation with the
Secret Service): agent Lawson said that this new law, passed just in
time for the Dallas trip, would give local authorities the power to act
against unruly persons involved against peaceful picketing of JFK, which
I believe was a convenient loophole designed to give the DPD and the
Secret Service more room to do things they normally wouldn't be able to
do in similar situations involving Presidential visits/motorcades in the
recent past; perhaps a perfect part of a security-stripping
test...[4HLawson; see also Curry's book];
23) The Secret Service's involvement in the critical Trade Mart
decision-
a) 11/4/63: Lawson was notified by ASAIC Boring of the Dallas
assignment[4H342], the same day Sorrels was in touch with Behn's office
about deciding which speech site to approve for JFK's visit to Dallas,
the Trade Mart or the Women's Building (keeping in mind a crucial point:
Sorrels was speaking to "Behn" on the phone, and Behn's office was
shared by his immediate assistant, #2 man Floyd Boring, as well as his
other assistant, #3 man Roy Kellerman);
b) Sorrels told Behn that the Trade Mart posed security problems and was
not as good in this regard as the other choice, the Women's
Building[21H546]-Jerry Behn was dead set against the Trade Mart as of
11/5/63 onward after seeing pictures of the catwalks (an excellent perch
for a sniper); so was advance man Jerry Bruno, who told HSCA
investigators on 12/13/77 that himself, Behn, and Ken O'Donnell wanted
the Women's Building[HSCA memo 12/13/77 recently released;HSCA11516];
c) Not long after this, O'Donnell told Bruno that a local Dallas agent
told Behn that they felt they NOW could protect JFK at the Trade Mart
after all (this agent had to have been either Sorrels or Robert Steuart,
the two Dallas agents who checked out the Trade Mart; Steuart, who was
stationed at the Trade Mart on 11/22/63, told me that he knew Behn even
before 1962[HSCA11516,518; interview with Steaurt]) . In spite of this
"endorsement", Bruno said "to this day he can't imagine what caused Behn
to reverse himself on the Trade Mart", for, among other things, Behn's
opinion carried more authority than those agents in the Dallas office
did. Furthermore, the HSCA rightly stated that "if any local agent did
in fact make such recommendations despite Behn's prior decision on
November 6 favoring the Women's Building, this would have presented a
clear case of a subordinate agent contradicting the SAIC of the
WHD"[HSCA11517-518]. In my opinion, I don't believe that Behn ever did
reverse himself- he was put "out of the loop", as the saying goes, by
others working on the trip planning, like ASAIC BORING, in charge of
PLANNING the Texas trip. My reason for suspecting Boring is the
following:
d) Lawson told the WC that the Trade Mart decision was made BACK IN
WASHINGTON, after conveying the information he had on the two sites to
Behn's office. However, he wasn't sure if he actually SPOKE to Behn: "I
don't know if I gave it to him-I gave his office. Now there were at that
time two assistants": Kellerman and Boring[4H337]. Since Kellerman
didn't even become involved in any of the planing until around 11/8 to
11/10/63, some four to six days AFTER Boring, it appears that it was
most likely Boring Lawson was speaking to, and who most likely gave some
sort of "green light" in selecting the Trade Mart as THE speech site for
11/22/63. But there's more:
e) Chief Rowley told the WC that O'Donnell was to blame for the Trade
Mart decision[22H613], which, according to Bruno, is false: as
previously mentioned, the now-deceased O'Donnell wanted the Women's
Building (as did Rowley's immediate assistant on the WHD, Jerry
Behn)[see also "The Lone Star- the Life of John Connolly", p.255];
f) Rowley ALSO stated that advance man Jack Puterbaugh had told Lawson
about this decision, an allegation Puterbaugh has denied[18H715; Larry
Haapanen's interview w/Puterbaugh, 9/5/70];
g) For his part, Lawson claimed it was Bruno's decision for the Trade
Mart, which is flatly untrue: as we know, Bruno wanted the Women's
Building[WC memorandum, Stern and Ely, 3/31/64, interview with Lawson;
"The Advance Man" by Bruno, pp. 89-92];
h) DMN, 11/8/63: Governor Connally said that the luncheon site was
"uncertain" because the Secret Service "had not cleared the matter"!!!
Connally later made the same claim that Rowley had made-namely, that
O'Donnell wanted the Trade Mart["The Lone Star-the Life of John
Connally", p.255];
i) CD3 exhibits-tentative Secret Service schedule for 11/22/63-
"Arrive Trade Mart or Fair Grounds(Women's Building)", obviously posing
a 50/50 chance. However, the next line reads "Leave Fair Grounds". Also,
on 11/14/63, Sorrels states that both the route AND the luncheon site
have NOT been finalized;
j) From Jerry Bruno's JFK Library file-
Connally's itinerary called for the Statler Hilton Hotel, with no
mention at all of either of the two eventual choices, and Bruno's own
11/7/63 itinerary states unequivocally that the Women's Building was the
destination for 11/22/63;
k) Bruno told the HSCA that he believed that the Women's Building was
initially selected as the final choice[HSCA11517-518], suggesting
strongly that, like the motorcade route, the site was also changed
after-the-fact;


l) Although most people like to believe that Connally was a strong
advocate for the Trade Mart, in addition to the aforementioned
itinerary, he is also on record as blaming the White House
Staff(O'Donnell) for the decision[WR]!...

The conclusion from all of this confusion? I believe that it was the
Secret Service's premature approval of the Trade Mart by members of the
Dallas Office and Floyd Boring, over the reservations of O'Donnell,
Behn, and Bruno, that made this speech site an inevitability, and thus
narrowed down what routes could be used, the speed of the limousine, and
the security of the building. In a way, JFK has been made to take the
blame for this, as well; supposedly he was succumbing to Connally's iron
will to go to the Trade Mart. I believe the aforementioned evidence
gives one great pause to consider a "third alternative"- the Secret
Service factors.


CONCLUSION:

In regard to the planning and implementation of security for the Texas
trip of November 1963, there seems to be two running themes at work
here: JFK was to blame for much of the security deficiencies, and Secret
Service agent Floyd Boring's influence, directly or indirectly, on these
deficiencies . Until recently, both of these themes, especially Boring's
role, have been portrayed, for the most part, in a very subtle way by
sympathetic writers on both sides of the conspiracy question (such as
Manchester, Bishop, Melanson, Menninger, Lambert, McCarthy, and Rush).
Sort of, "it's a shame this wasn't done and that wasn't done, but
President Kennedy didn't want this and that done in the first place,
so..." However, once the folklore and mythology of JFK's alleged
"desires" have been washed away, it leaves the Boring/Secret Service
influence in a precarious-some may even say sinister-position to defend.
This is why I waffled under a blanket called the "third alternative"-the
notion of a security stripping test- for my manuscript, as well as much
of my writing: is it just an innocent-or-guilt prism...or is it-could it
be-something else altogether?

For it was the Secret Service who were responsible for the planning of
the Texas trip, the implementation of security, JFK's body after death,
all the major evidence in the case( CE399, the clothing, the x-rays, the
photographs, the assassination films, the limousine, even Marina
Oswald's captivity), LBJ taking over AF1[Manchester, pp.233-235;
Heymann, p.403; 18H736; 2H152], and part of the actual investigation of
the assassination itself, especially in the very early stages when it
mattered the most to either invent stories or cover up facts (such as
the Dec. 1963 visit to Parkland to help make the doctors more
"agreeable" to the conclusions of the autopsy report, or the
"interviews" of the TSBD employees).

Assuming for a moment that there was a security-stripping test to test
the President's security under the light of public and Presidential
scrutiny, and also assuming that this was not purposely compromised for
the intent to actually harm the President, the benefits would be these:
more money, more equipment, more manpower, a more cooperative
administration, proper evaluation of possible promotions (and
demotions); in other words, a real-life Beltsville, MD training
"situation" in Dallas (interestingly, Chief Rowley did tell the WC in a
written statement about unnamed "studies" being conducted in November
1963 due to the budget figures having to be submitted at this very same
time[WR207;18H821]). On the "sinister" side of the coin, the 11/2/63
Chicago plot(known to, among others, 2 agents I spoke to, Abe Bolden and
Maurice Martineau) ; the 11/9/63 Miami threat; the bitter departure of
former ASAIC Harvey Henderson in New York in early November 1963, the
agent Kellerman replaced (bitter from the standpoint of Henderson, Emory
Roberts, Jerry Behn, Floyd Boring, and others) Lawson's Military
Counter-Intelligence background; Deputy Chief Paul Paterni's OSS
background, working with James Angleton and Raymond Rocca; Marty
Underwood's strong conspiracy beliefs, along with Maurice Martineau, Sam
Kinney, John Norris, Abraham Bolden, and, to an extant known only to
himself, Roy Kellerman (according to his wife June); Landis' statements
about a frontal shot; and on and on...all of these points have to also
be weighed and considered, for they are obviously not only grist for the
conspiracy mill, they serve collectively as a potential "monkey wrench"
for giving the Secret Service the benefit of the doubt (a.k.a. my notion
of a "third alternative"-an 'innocent' security stripping test that
unknowingly backfired into a full-blown assassination).

Nevertheless, we have to weigh and consider everything in context. That
said, it is difficult for me to forget two alleged statements that, if
true, can make one who studies these things both sad and mad at the same
time: the first being Roy Kellerman's statement to the FBI on the night
of the murder, when he said, quote,
"the precautions employed in Dallas were the most stringent and
thorough ever employed...for the visit of a President to an American
city"[18H707-708]-not only did Kellerman later conveniently deny making
this absurd statement, but the WC rightly inquired that, if this is
true, what were the normal procedures used! The second is more poignant:
it is what JFK is alleged to have said to San Antonio Congressman Henry
Gonzalez on 11/21/63, which I am inclined to believe, for it is similar
to something JFK told Marty Underwood on the same day: "The Secret
Service told me that they had taken care of everything-there's nothing
to worry about"["High Treason", p.127]...

END

8/30-8/31;9/4/95; 9/9/95; 6/7/97  by Vincent Michael Palamara

[Note: this paper/presentation is a good synthesis of approx. 90 to 95
percent of my Secret Service-related research in regard to 11/22/63, and
serves as a good summary for the following:
1) my manuscript;
2) my three previous conference articles/presentations;
3) several Third Decade, Fourth Decade, Investigator, Back Channels,
JFK/DPQ, and Lobster article;
4) many unpublished/privately-distributed articles;
5) new updates and corroborative data]