Oswald archetype(s): incredible November 1963 threats By Vince Palamara
Threats On Kennedy Made Here ©Tampa Tribune, November 23, 1963 Tampa police and Secret Service agents scanned crowds for a man who had vowed to assassinate the President here last Monday, Chief of Police J. P. Mullins said yesterday. In issuing notice to all participating security police prior to the President's motorcade tour in Tampa, Mullins had said: "I would like to advise all officers that threats against the President have been made from this area in the last few days." A memo from the White House Secret Service dated Nov. 8 reported: "Subject made statement of a plan to assassinate the President in October 1963: Subject stated he will use a gun, and if he couldn't get closer he would find another way. Subject is described as: White, male, 20. slender in build,"etc. Mullins said the Secret Service had been advised of three persons in the area who reportedly had made threats on the President's life. One of the three was--and still is--in jail here under heavy bond. Mullins said he did not know if the other two men have followed the Presidential caravan to Dallas. Sarasota County Sheriff Ross E. Boyer also said yesterday that officers who protected Kennedy in Tampa Monday were warned about "a young man" who had threatened to kill the President during that trip. -------------------------------------------- New York Times 12/20/63 Pg 19 Kennedy Threat is Laid to Texan Dallas Machinist Held -- Remarks Made Nov. 21 By Donald Janson Special to the New York Times Dallas Dec 19 -- A 21-year-old Dallas Machinist was arrested by the Secret Service today on charges of threating to kill Presidnet Kennedy. The machinist, Russell W. McLarry, said the threat had been made in jest Nov. 21, the day before Mr.Kennedy was assassinated here. Two women to whom Mr. McLarry allegedly made the statement reported it to the police in Arlington,about 15 miles west of here, soon after they heard of the assassination. At a preliminary hearing in Fort Worth today, the Secret Service agent who apprehended Mr. McLarry testified that the machinist had said he was "proud -- no glad" that the President had been killed. Mr. McLarry attends night classes at the Arlington State College in Arlington as a freshman. The alleged threat was made on the campus to two women student. Mr. McLarry was alleged to have told the women that he would be working near the Trade Mart the next day and would be waiting with a gun to "get" the President. Works Near Trade Mart Charles E. Kunkel, of the Dallas office of the Secret Service testified that he had confronted Mr. McLarry with this report and that, in substance, the student had admitted it. Mr. McLarry works at the Dahlgren Manufacturing Company, which makes lithographic printing equipment in a plant three blocks north of the Trade Mart. President Kennedy was driving to the mart to make a luncheon speech when he was killed, apparently by rifle shots from a sixth-floor window of a downtown Dallas building in the other direction from the mart. United States Attorney Barefoot Sanders said here today that he had no evidence of any connection between Mr. McLarry and Lee H. Oswald, the alleged assassin. In Fort Worth, United States Commissioner Bill Atkins set bond at $2,500. Mr. McLarry could not raise it and was remanded to the Tarrant County jail. Jury Meets in January He was arraigned earlier today in Fort Worth rather than Dallas because the alleged threat was made in Tarrant County, of which Fort Worth is the seat. Mr. Sanders said the case would be presented to the next Federal grand jury to be convened in the Northern District of Texas. This jury will convene in Amarillo the week of Jan. 6. Mr. McLarry, who is single lives in an apartment house in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, a sprawling area where Oswald lived. Former fellow employees at another plant here described Mr. McLarry as unusually argumentative. If Mr. McLarry had a gun it has not been found. At Arlington, it was said that Mr. McLarry was taking courses in American History and algebra. The authorities said they had found no connection between Mr. McLarry and anti-Kennedy leaflets that appeared on the Arlington campus the day before the assassination. The leaflets bore the heading: "Wanted for Treason." Mr. McLarry was interviewed by the Secret Service Tuesday night and was arrested this morning. The agency indicated that the case had not been pursued immediately after the assassination because there had been more pressing things to do. Could Get Five Years Mr. McLarry was charged under a Federal statue that prohibits threats of bodily harm or death to a President, Vice President or President-elect. Conviction could carry a fine of up to $8,000 or five years in prison. AND >From "The (Washington) Evening Star", 12/19/63 [this newspaper article photocopy was found in DNC advance man Jerry Bruno's JFK Library Texas trip files] "TEXAS STUDENT CHARGED IN THREAT ON KENNEDY" FORT WORTH, Tex., Dec. 19 (AP)---Russell Wence McLarry, 21, a night student at Arlington State College, was arrested today and charged with threatening the life of the late President Kennedy. Mr. McLarry worked in the daytime in a building across from the Trade Mart in Dallas where Mr. Kennedy was scheduled to speak November 22. Mr. Kennedy was assaassinated in a motorcade in Dallas en route to the Trade Mart. Mr. McLarry was arraigned before United States Commissioner Bill Atkins today. He was to be given a preliminary hearing later. Secret Service agents and Assistant United States Attorney William Hughes interrogated Mr. McLarry before he was charged. When the complaint was issue Deputy United States Marshal Joe Parker took McLarry into custody. The Complaint was signed by Charles E. Kunkel, special agent for the Secret Service. The complaint alleged that "on November 21 he (Mr. McLarry) made certain threats to take the life of and to inflict bodliy harm upon John F. Kennedy, then the President of the United States, by stating in substance that he would be working near the Trade Mart in Dallas, Tex., where the President was suppposed to speak, and that he would be waiting with a gun to get the President." These remarks, the complaint alleged, were made in the presence of witnesses. Mr. McLarry gave his occupation as a machinist. He was sullen during the arraignment and said little. When asked if he wanted a preliminary hearing, he nodded his head affirmatively. Mr. Atkins advised him that he could have witnesses and an attorney at the hearing. "I want to call my sister and get my business straightened up," Mr. McLarry said. Mr. Atkins asked him if anyone knew he was being charged. "There is a probability of it," Mr. McLarry replied. ------------- HSCA document180- 10074-10394, an interview with Miami agent Robert J. Jamison states that "the threat of November 18, 1963 was posed by a mobile, unidentified rifleman with a high- powered rifle fitted with a scope." In addition, HSCA document 180-10083-10419, an interview with White House Detail and Miami advance agent Lubert F. deFreese, states that "a threat did surface in connection with the Miami trip...there was an active threat against the President of which the Secret Service was aware in November 1963 in the period immediately prior to JFK's trip to Miami made by a "group of people" In addition to this threat information, and separate from the Joseph Milteer threat of 11/9/63, a CO2 PRS file, released to the HSCA on 5/3/78 and available to all of us only now is the specific name of another individual who made a threat against JFK on 11/18/63: John Warrington (Sam Kinney ALSO told the author of an unspecified "organized crime" threat pertaining to this same trip). And, as we know, Agent Lawson confirmed that a big, fat ZERO came out of the Dallas check of potential threats to President Kennedy. This is simply impossible, as the rabid right-wing environment, the "Wanted for Treason" mug shots, and the October 24, 1963 attack on U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson make abundantly clear by themselves. When we also couple the 11/2/63 Chicago threats and the 1/9-11/18/63 Miami threats known to the Secret Service before Dallas, we have to ask ourselves: was PRS SA Glen Bennett riding in the follow-up car on 11/22/63 actively searching for these known threats?*** *** ANATOMY OF A THREAT http://www.mindcushion.com/jfk/anatomythreat.html see also http://www1.madbbs.com/~tracy/lho/vpal5.txt ----------------------- -RIF#154-10002-10423: Tampa, FL 11/18/63 WHD agents on trip: Blaine (advance agent), Yeager, Boring, Greer, Rybka, Kinney, Stout, Roberts, Sulliman, Ready, Berger, Zboril, Morey, Lawton, Kollar, Jones, McIntyre Tampa office: Peppers 1964 White Lincoln Continental used for McDill Air Force Base SS-100-X (JFK’s limo) and SS-678-X (1956 “Queen Mary” Cadillac follow-up car) used for downtown/ suburban motorcade Salinger, underpasses controlled by police and military units, Sheriff’s office secured the roofs of major buildings in the downtown and suburban areas, agents on limo, Salinger with Kilduff, close press/ photographers (inc. Stoughton in follow-up car), McHugh in between SS agents in front seat of limo it is noted that “the follw-up car will carry a considerable burden on this trip”; SA Cecil Taylor of PRS: 2 subjects found -RIF#154-10002-10422: Miami, FL 11/18/63 Inter-American Press Association WHD agents on trip: DeFreese (advance agent), Boring, Greer, Coughlin, Blaine, McIntyre, Bennett (PRS), Kollar, Roberts, Lawton, Jones, Zboril, Rybka, Sulliman, Berger, Morey, O’Leary; Miami office agents: Marshall, Aragon, Bailey, Curry, Jamison, Howell CIA’s Ted Shackley and William Finch helped Secret Service on this trip [see upcoming article in the next KAC] PRS: six pages worth! Subjects inc. Orlando Bosch, Pedro Diaz Lanz,Enrique Llaca, Jr., Rohinski, and Derber; lead car inc. Dr. Burkley (!); Salinger with Kilduff (a motorcade from the Heliport to the Hotel Please see: http://home.earthlink.net/~gwinslow/doc066.htm and http://home.earthlink.net/~gwinslow/doc065.htm --------------- 17 H 566: THE SOURCE FOR FBI MAN WILLIAM WALTHER'S TELETYPE? 17 H 574: a bomb threat in El Paso, TX on 6/5/63---JFK, Connally, and LBJ were there (although LBJ was not in the motorcade) to start the planning of the upcoming Texas trip for NOVEMBER 21-23, 1963 ----------------------------- The “Nashville Banner” from 1/23/92 carried a report that a mortal threat to President Kennedy’s life was hushed up by the Secret Service when JFK visited Nashville, TN, on 5/18/63. The information came from Rep. Bob Clement, the son of former Governor Frank Clement, JFK’s host during his 1963 visit to the state (both Clements met JFK on this trip [inc. is a photo from the trip depicting both the elder Clement and his son]). At Overton High School, a man approached the president with a gun underneath a sack---he was grabbed by the Secret Service and the incident itself was kept quiet in order to keep from encouraging similar scares [think of all the copycat school shootings there are today because of media hype!]. Bob Clement said: “Back in those days, privacy was easier to accomplish”. The paper interviewed the widow of Paul Doster, the former SAIC of the Nashville office who died in 1987)---although Paul did not mention the incident to her, she said: “But, you’ve got to remember, he was pretty secretive, even to me.” For his part, Agent Doster told the “Nashville Banner” back on 5/18/63 that “a complete check of the entire motorcade route” was done (also, “other [police] officers were assigned atop the municipal terminal and other buildings along the route. These men took their posts at 8 a.m. and remained at their rooftop stations until the president and his party passed”. In addition, a helicopter was used, similar to its use on 11/21/63 in San Antonio, TX). -------------------------------- Houston SAIC Lane Betram: "We knew there was always the possibility that some mentally deranged person would make an attempt on the President's life. We were worried about the irrational [rather] than hired assassins. ["Houston Chronicle", 11/22/63] ASAIC Roy Kellerman, to FBI agents' Sibert & O'Neil on the night of the murder: "the advanced security arrangements made for this specific trip were the most stringent and thorough ever employed by the Secret Service for the visit of a President to an American city" [[FBI RIF#124-10012-10239; Kellerman would go on to deny ever saying such a thing: 18 H 707-708] JFK, to San Antonio Congressman Henry Gonzalez on 11/21/63: "The Secret Service told me that they had taken care of everything - there's nothing to worry about." ["High Treason", page 127] President Kennedy, to a concerned* advance man, Marty Underwood on 11/21/63: "Marty, You worry about me too much" [Evening Magazine" video 11/22/88; interview with Marty Underwood 10/9/92] DPD Chief Curry, "Dallas Morning News", 10/26/63 [22 H 626]: "LARGE POLICE GUARD PLANNED FOR KENNEDY-Signs Friday pointed to the greatest concentration of Dallas police ever for the protection of a high-ranking dignitary when President Kennedy visits Dallas next month…The deployment of the special force, he said, is yet to be worked out with the U.S. Secret Service." *Marty's concern: "we were getting all sorts of rumors [on 11/21/63] that the President was going to be assassinated in Dallas. There were no if's, and's, or but's about it." 10/24/97 JFK Plot Leads Neglected by Michael Dorman In his testimony before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978, James Rowley, Secret Service Chief in 1963, stated several leads to conspiracies to assassinate President Kennedy may not have been checked out. He stated the Secret Service had begun looking into several assassination plots, but stopped when President Johnson ordered the FBI to take over the investigation of the president's murder. The Secret Service was ordered to turn over all relevant information to the FBI. Rowley stated the FBI Never informed the Secret Service of any of the leads it turned over. One lead was the Miami Secret Service Report on Joseph Milteer. Milteer, a right wing activist, was taped by the Secret Service saying Kennedy would be assassinated with a rifle from a window in a downtown business district. Rowley was asked why Milteer was not put on constant surveillance. A reply to this was made by another Secret Service aid, Thomas Kelley. He replied that they didn't have enough manpower. Source: Newsday Vince Palamara