Vincent Palamara - The Not-So-Secret Service: Agency Tales from FDR to the Kennedy Assassination to the Reagan Era

The Not So Secret Service: Agency Tales from FDR to the Kennedy Assassination to the Reagan Era

Copyright 2017 Vincent Michael Palamara

Published by:

Trine Day LLC

PO Box 577

Walterville, OR 97489

1-800-556-2012

www.TrineDay.com

publisher@TrineDay.net

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936715

Palamara, Vincent Michael

1st ed.

p. cm.

Epud (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-121-2

Mobi (ISBN-13)978-1-63424-122-9

Print (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-120-5

1. United States. -- Secret Service -- Officials and employees. 2. Secret service -- United States. 3. Presidents -- Protection -- United States. 4. History/United States/State & Local/General 5. United States. -- Secret Service. 6. Presidents -- Protection. I. Palamara, Vincent Michael II. Title

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the USA

Distribution to the Trade by:

Independent Publishers Group (IPG)

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312.337.0747

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In the heart the loom of feeling,
In the head the light of thinking;
In the limbs the strength of willing.
Weaving enlightening,
Enlightened strengthening;
Strengthened weaving.
Lo! This is man.

Rudolf Steiner, 1923

Table of Contents

Introduction

P eople often ask me, Vince, what got you interested in the Secret Service, in general, and the JFK assassination, in particular? Well, it all goes back to when I was around the age of 12 in 1978. As a precocious pre-teen during the height of the second major investigation into President Kennedys murder, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), I was fascinated by all the news stories on the nightly news with their frequent updates about the progress of the committee, as well as the seeming pro-conspiracy nuggets of information they spoke of. At the same time, as both a stamp and coin collector, I came across many an image of JFK that prompted me to ask questions of my parents, who were and still are big admirers of President Kennedy (even owning a beautiful color photo of Kennedy that fascinated me as a youngster), recalling vividly the shocking news of his death, as well (that generations 9/11, also akin to the previous generations Pearl Harbor and the death of FDR).

At the same time this was all going on, I also became hooked on reruns of a classic fictional television program about the Secret Service of the 19 th century, The Wild, Wild West , complete with its fictional plots to kill President Grant and other intriguing espionage. The Secret Service seemed very heroic to an impressionable boy like myself. The show remains my favorite to this day, but I digress.

However, it wasnt until the 25 th anniversary of the assassination 10 years later in late 1988 that my interest really took off with regard to Kennedy, the assassination, and the Secret Service. By the time the turn of the decade happened in 1990, I knew I had to do original research on the subject. My choice? To study the Secret Service in the context of the Kennedy years, of course. The next year, in 1991, I gave my first conference presentation in front of 60 authors and researchers, many of whom could have been, age-wise, my father (or, in a few cases, my grandfather). The overwhelmingly positive response I received by these veteran sleuths made me realize I was onto something. Thus began my quest to do as much primary research as possible and interview as many former Secret Service agents as I could find, quite a challenge in those pre-internet times.

9/27/92 is a date which will live in infamy for myself: the day I contacted former #1 agent for JFK, Gerald Behn, who told me President Kennedy never ordered the agents off his limousine, among other interesting items. Coming from such an authority and sounding so definitive on the matter, this left quite an impression on me, a still impressionable 26 year old at the time. The fact that Behn passed away on 4/21/93 made my conversations with him that September day even more poignant.

Thus began an obsession to uncover the REAL story of President Kennedys security- or lack thereof- in Dallas and my first book Survivors Guilt in 2013. Along the way (starting in 1998, to be exact), I also began a peripheral interest in the medical evidence, corresponding and interviewing many former Parkland Hospital doctors and nurses, as well as many former Bethesda personnel, culminating in my second book JFK: From Parkland to Bethesda in 2015. A personal highlight for me in this arena was interviewing on video tape x-ray technician Jerrol Custer in 1991 and 1998, respectively (Custer passed away in 2000), but I again digress a bit.

Now to the current volume in your hands.

People sometimes ask me, in some form or fashion, Vince, I like your work, but why are you always picking on the Secret Service? In point of fact, I am not. Truth be told, I am an ardent admirer- a true fan- of the Secret Service, Americas oldest law enforcement agency. There is much to admire with these gallant men and women- they have helped prevent assassinations of President-Elect Franklin Roosevelt, President Truman, President Ford (twice) and President Reagan, among othersand that is just what we know of. There are countless under-reported or kept-confidential threats and assassination attempts that have been thwarted by the Secret Service. So, why do I get this comment? The answer is simple:

I am also a huge critic of their performance on November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated.

My first book Survivors Guilt: The Secret Service and the Failure to Protect President Kennedy addresses this issue in great detail, based on many interviews with former agents and years of dogged research. My second book JFK: From Parkland to Bethesda is a methodical compendium of the JFK assassination medical evidence, also drawing on many interviews and correspondence with principals in the case. I am very proud of those books.

So why a third volume? The answer, again, is a simple one:

There is more to me than just my interest in the JFK assassination.

That said, there are some important loose ends and corroborative details that did not make the first book that are presented here at length for the first time, while my research into most of the other important presidents of the modern era of the 20 th century- FDR, Truman, Ike, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan-needed to be brought to light here, again based on my many interviews and correspondence with former agents-and years of research- that perhaps ended up on the cutting room floor, so to speak, or were somewhat overshadowed by my previously necessary narrow focus on Kennedys murder.

For the McCubbin, a woman I have had some contentious correspondence with.

For enjoyable yet somewhat tabloid-style works on the Politics of Protection .

For good, straightforward agent memoirs, the following are quite useful: Secret Service perspective, only in a tangential way, at best. Since these works cover events of a much earlier time, I chose not to delve into them here.

For the rest (often dry and clinical books that, nevertheless, often contain valuable information), in no particular order: Shea (2015).

Finally, for definitive Discovery Channel, 2010).