JFK YEAR 35: FACTS & EVIDENCE
     New Evidence in JFK Assassination

FACT SHEET #2: Security and Secret Service inconsistencies

AUTHOR/EXPERT: Vince Palamara
TO CONTACT: e-mail: palamara@telerama.com



Summary: Recent interviews with many of the Secret Service agents that
protected JFK, several of whom where in Dallas that fateful day 35 years
ago, along with recently declassified documents, contradict history’s
official verdict that JFK was difficult to protect and was somehow
responsible for his own death by foregoing security measures that would
have aided in saving his life.


Fact #1: Contrary to recent testimony before Independent Counsel Kenneth
Starr by current Secret Service Director Lewis Merletti and Deputy
Assistant Attorney General Gary Grindler, President Kennedy did NOT
instruct agents to not ride on the rear bumper of his car several days
before Dallas. Former agents Gerald A. Behn (#1 man  on JFK’s detail),
Floyd M. Boring (the #2 man), Arthur L.Godfrey (another top man, one of
the three Shift Leaders on Kennedy’s Texas trip), Rufus W. Youngblood
(#2 man on LBJ’s detail on 11/22/63, riding in the V.P.’s car), Samuel
A. Kinney (the driver of the Secret Service follow-up car in Dallas),
Dave Powers (loyal Kennedy aide who rode with Kinney), Cecil Stoughton
(White House photographer in the Dallas motorcade), Donald J. Lawton
(also on the Texas trip), Martin E. Underwood (Democratic national
Committee advance man for JFK’s trip to Houston), Robert I. Bouck (head
of the Protective Research Section), Robert Lilley (a member of JFK’s
detail from election night until one month before Dallas), Maurice G.
Martineau (the agent in charge of the Chicago office), Abraham W. Bolden
(the first negro member of the White House Detail), and John Norris (a
member of the Uniformed Division), collectively and in no uncertain
terms, told me that President Kenedy never ordered the agents off the
rear of his car, was not difficult to protect, and , in fact, was very
cooperative with the Secret Service. Jerry D. Kivett (who rode in the
V.P. follow-up car in Dallas) and June Kellerman (widow of the #3 man on
Kennedy’s detail) also confirmed to me that JFK was not difficult to
protect for the Secret Service. More than anything else, this debunks
the “JFK as scapegoat” notion of history---and the buck stops with the
Secret Service.


Fact #2: Contrary to all prior accounts, including those attributed to
President Kennedy himself, former agent Samuel A. Kinney was adamant to
me, on three occasions, that he was SOLELY responsible for the
bubbletop’s removal on the fateful day in Dallas.

Fact #3: The Secret Service was knowledgable about prior recent threats
to President Kennedy but, not only was nothing done to relay this
information to the agents in Dallas, at least 3 separate checks of  the
Protective Research Section for any threats or harmful subjects in
Dallas yielded nothing, something two agents, Roy H. Kellerman (to the
Warren Commission) and Abraham Bolden (to myself), said was highly
unusual, to say the least. DNC advanceman Marty Underwood told me that
he was getting all sorts of rumors, merely 18 hours before the
assassination, that JFK was to be assassinated in Dallas, even conveying
this information to President Kennedy himself, who told Marty not to
worry (indeed, JFK had told San antonio Congressman Henry Gonzalez that
the Secret Service had taken care of everything and, thus, there wqas no
need for worry)!Agent Kinney told me that there was a scare four days
before Dallas when Kennedy was in Florida, separate from the  accurate
assasssination prediction of one Joseph Milteer, an ardent right-wing
supporter, in Miami on Novemeber 9, 1963. Agent Bouck told me he was
aaware of this threat knowledge before Dallas (and documents confirm
that the Secret Service did indeed have this knowledge in their files).
Five years before the revelations of the four agents who spoke to
Seymour Hersh, Bouck told me he also was aware of Kennedy’s
philandering, crucial compromising information for a top man in
Kennedy’s detail to have.

Fact #4: Although Kennedy jnormally had much motorcycle coverage in his
motorcades, including 4 to 6 motorcycles riding on each side of the car
on all prior Texas stops, as well as many other foreign and domestic
trips in 1963, the plans were altered by the Secret Service for Dallas,
giving JFK a measely 4 non-flanking outriders, the reason being that, as
with the  allegations that JFK did not want the men on the car
(debunked) or the bubbletop (debunked ), the president did not want a
lot of motorcycles, especially ones right by his side, which effectively
opened him p to crossfire and/ or eliminated more key
professionally-trained eye and ear witnesses from the scene (and out of
harm’s way). My interviews with Sam Kinney and Arthur Godfrey debunk the
notion that JFK ever said that he did not want motorcycles by the car,
as films, photos, and the prior Texas stops make clear in and of
themselves.

Fact #5: Although Secret Service Chief James J. Rowley adamantly denied
to the Warren Commission that his agency was responsible for the
printing of  the motorcade route in Dallas, the author has traced the
critical decision back from LBJ aide Bill Moyer to what Moyers described
as “the agent in charge of the Dallas trip”!
Fact #6: In a related matter, the motorcade route itself went against
both common sense and Secret Service protocal by involving turns of 90
and 120 degrees, which slowed the limousine down to a dangerous speed by
both the Texas School Book Depository (Oswald’s alleged lair) and the
infamous grassy knoll area---DNC advanceman Underwood and uniformed
agent Norris were two men who strongly criticized the route  in
interviews with the author. Going even further, the #1 agent in
Kennedy’s detail, Jerry Behn, told me that the Dallas route was changed
from some (unknown) other choice, as the House Select Committee on
Assassiantions asked him in Executive Session in still unpublished
testimony in the late 1970’s. Furthermore, agents Kinney and Winston G.
Lawson confirmed for the author that there were indeed alternate routes
(two, according to Kinney), and the author discovered much newspaper
confusion and perhaps unwitting obfuscation in the strangely conflicting
accounts of the route Kennedy was to take in Dallas.

Fact #7: The press photographers who normally rode in a flatbed truck
directly in front of JFK’s limousine, as they had done countless times
before, were relegated to a position “out of the picture” behind the
president’s limousine. According to reporter Tom Dillard, this change
occurred at “the last minute” at Love Field, where two Secret Service
agents, Winston G. Lawson (who the author interviewed) and Roger Warner,
were responmsible for lining up the cars for the motorcade, including
the use of numbers for the automobiles. In addition, JFK aides Godfrey
McHugh and Ted Clifton, one of whom usually rode in the front seat of
the limousine taking notes between the two agents, were also relegated
to a position behind JFK and out of sight. McHugh said that this was
unusual and this was achieved thru a first-time ever request by JFK aide
Ken O’Donnell and the Secret Service. Furthermore, White House
photographer Cecil stoughton, who normally rode in the Secret Service
follow-up car taking films and photos, including even riding on the rear
of JFK’s car from time to time, was also moved to a posiition far out of
view of the presidential limousine (Stoughton had rode in the back-up
car from July 1963 until 11/21/63, the day before the
assassination)---Stoughton would not give the author a reason for this
change in seating arrangements in Dallas. Finally, the White House and
pool Press Busses, which also normally rode close to JFK, were
positioned far to the rear and out of harm’s way.

Fact #8: Dallas Sheriff Bill Decker, who rode in the lead car in front
of JFK’s limousine in Dallas, ordered his men not to participate in the
security of the motorcade, according to Dallas Deputy Sheriff Roger
Craig. Surprisingly, as the author found, Decker had offered his “full
support” to the agent in charge of the Dallas office, Forrest V. Sorrels
(a fellow passenger in the lead car), a mere day before the
assassination. In addition, the car that Decker, Sorrels, Lawson, and
Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry were riding in was a CLOSED SEDAN, which
was an ineffective choice for monitoring windows and other security
concerns.

Fact #9: An important discovery by the author is found in the video from
ABC’s Dallas/ Fort Worth affiliate WFAA depicting the start of the
fateful motorcade at Love Field: agent Henry J. Rybka is shown being
recalled by shift leader (and commander of the follow-up car detail)
Emory P. Roberts. Rybka’s dismay and confusion is made manifest by his
unambiguous body languahge of throwing his arms up several times before,
during, and after the folow-up car passes him by , depite agent Paul E.
Landis making room for Rybka on the running board of the car (after the
assassination, the author discovered three different reports, two of
which were written by Roberts on 11/22/63, which mistakenly place Rybka
IN the follow-up car!). Roberts would go on to make a mysterious radio
broadcast (depicted in the famous Altgen’s photo), separate from his
calls before and after the shooting, which is unaccounted for in the
record (the Secret Service’s radio transmissions, if transcribed, have
yet to surface); offer no assistance to the president himself---not even
a shout of alarm or an alert to his men; recalled agent John D. Ready,
which was erroneously blamed on the speed and distance of the two cars
(as borne out by the descriptions—and changes---in Roberts’ and Ready’s
reports); and, amazingly, according to the driver of the follow-up car
seated right beside Roberts, Sam Kinney, the shift leader ordered the
men not to move (although Roberts was one of a select few who recognized
the first shot as a rifle blast). As nine agents were involved in the
infamous drinking incident the night before, including four on the
follow-up car, the actions and inactions of Roberts were crucial to
JFK’s security (even the late arrival of agent Clinton J. Hill, an agent
assigned to Jackie).

Fact #10: Windows were not systematically watched in Dallas, as no order
was given (as confirmed by Dallas policeman Perdue Lawrence), although
it was agent Lawson’s “usual instructions” to do so. Also in regard to
Lawson’s responsibilities, the Dealey Plaza overpass was NOT cleared of
spectators (as Lawson himself testified that he wastrying to wave them
off shorthly before the shooting began). In addition, ambulances, such
as the one on standby for JFK that was caled to Dealey Plaza five
minutes before Kennedy arrived to pick up an alleged “epileptic seizure”
victim, were called to this same area on false alarms in the days and
weeks before  11/22/63, as ambulance driver Aubrey Rike told me (even
saying that the FBI believed there was something to this)!

Fact #11: The president and the vice president were permitted in the
same city in slow, open vehicles in close proximity to each
other---former agents Lawson and Bolden stressed how unusual this was;
in Bolden’s case, he stated that this was a security hazard, as common
sense would seem to dictate (keeping mind that the First Lady was ALSO
in this motorcade). Complicating and confounding matters, the driver of
JFK’s car, Secret Service agent William R. Greer, slowed the limousine
down during the shooting, looked back twice at the president, disobeyed
his superior, Roy H. Kellerman, who told him to get out of line before
the fatal shot was fired, and (at least part of the way) led the race to
Parkland Hospital, actions that agent Greer denied to the Warren
Commission, despite the testimony of others, the films, and the photos
(the author is the first person to put ALL of these elements together).


Fact #12: Surprisingly, several of these men told the author that they
believe there was indeed a conspiracy to murder President Kennedy in
Dallas on November 22, 1963---Sam Kinney, Abraham Bolden, Maurice
Martineau, Marty Underwood, and John Norris are the men that believe
this to be the case. In addition, June Kellerman, widow of the late Roy
Kellerman, as well as their daughter, stated that both Roy AND Bill
Greer knew there was more to the assassination than what was
“officially” pronounced. Finally, two key elemnts discovered by the
author may be the living answers to the security concerns and planning
for Kennedy’s Texas trip: Lawson’s forgotten partner, David B. Grant,
who joined Lawson in Dallas four days beforehand (and was working with
him since 11/13/63) and Floyd M. Boring, who, although back in
Washington, was in charge of all of the advance work during the JFK
years AND was in charge of planning the Texas trip from the Secret
Service’s point of view!


Author’s credentials and work: Vince Palamara ia a graduate of Duquesne
University, receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. Palamara has
interviewed and corrsponded with many of the Secret service agents that
protected President Kennedy. Palamara is the author of “The Third
Alternative-Survivor’s Guilt: The Secret Service and the JFK Murder”
(1997/ 1998, Lancer [ISBN 0-9656582-4-4]).