Ep 65: Secret Service (Part 4)
- Matt Crumpton
- Mar 26
- 15 min read
For the last few episodes, we’ve been talking about the Secret Service. We’ve already covered most of the disputed issues about the planning and protection of president Kennedy in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963.
In this episode on the Secret Service, we’ll try to wrap up the remaining issues surrounding the White House Security Detail in Dallas, including claims that the driver of the Presidential limo, Bill Greer, killed President Kennedy, and claims that an agent in the follow up car, George Hickey, killed President Kennedy. Then, we’ll summarize the information that was discussed in the last 3 episodes.
OTHER STUFF
We’ll get to the allegations against Secret Service agents Greer and Hickey shortly. But, first, I want to cover a list of assorted Secret Service facts that we have not yet addressed, just to get them on the record.[i]
· In the Fall of 1963, there were two primary Secret Service agents who regularly drove the presidential limo: Bill Greer (who drove in Dallas) and Thomas Shipman. But, Shipman was not available for the Dallas trip because he died of a heart attack at Camp David on October 14, 1963 – about 5 weeks before the assassination.[ii] Shipman was buried 2 days later, without any toxicology reports conducted on his body.[iii]
· A presidential ambulance was supposed to be on standby in the event of an injury to President Kennedy. But, just a few minutes before the president was shot, a man dressed in green fatigues named Jerry Belknap apparently had a seizure in Dealey Plaza. The presidential standby ambulance was used to take this man to the hospital. The result was that there was no ambulance available at the time when the president needed it most.[iv]
· After Secret Service Chief James Rowley saw the autopsy report, he sent two agents, to Parkland Hospital to obtain a revision of the doctors’ opinions about President Kennedy’s wounds. One of these agents was Elmer Moore, who himself admitted to intimidating Dr. Malcolm Perry into changing his testimony.[v]
· Agent Sam Kinney, the driver of the Secret Service follow up car in Dallas, told researcher Vince Palamara QUOTE “I believe there was a conspiracy…This thing was so well set up – whoever did the shooting – he picked that area where he knew there wouldn’t be any men by the car.”[vi]
· Finally, Dallas Secret Service Agent Robert A. Steuart, who believed he was speaking anonymously at the time, told author Bill Sloan the following about the JFK Assassination in 1993 QUOTE “I can’t talk about it…There are so many things I could tell you, but I just can’t…I can’t tell you anything…I’d like to, but I can’t….It was a very heavy deal, and they would know. Someone would know. It’s…to dangerous, even now.”[vii]
DESTRUCTION OF FILES
As we all know by now, the JFK Records Act (signed in 1992) created the Assassination Records Review Board, which collected assassination related records from government agencies to be disclosed according to the Act.[viii] But, when it comes to the Secret Service, the ARRB had some trouble getting the documents it requested.
The Final Report of the ARRB says QUOTE:
Congress passed the JFK Act of 1992. One month later, the Secret Service began its compliance efforts. However, in January 1995, the Secret Service destroyed presidential protection survey reports for some of President Kennedy’s trips in the fall of 1963. The Review Board learned of the destruction approximately one week after the Secret Service destroyed them, when the Board was drafting its request for additional information. The Board believed that the Secret Service files on the President’s travel in the weeks preceding his murder would be relevant.[ix]
You heard that right. The Secret Service destroyed documents covering presidential motorcades in the Fall of 1963 after they knew that they had to comply with the JFK Records Act. So, what did the Secret Service have to say for themselves?
In a July 31, 1995 letter to ARRB Chair, John Tunheim, the Secret Service defended itself by explaining that it merely destroyed two boxes of documents on accident.[x] The Secret Service provided a detailed technical explanation. But, their defense pretty much boils down to administrative error or accident.[xi]
But 1995 wasn’t the only time the Secret Service destroyed JFK Assassination-related files. The House Select Committee on Assassinations found that the agency had destroyed the original 1963 Protective Research Section files. Instead of turning over the original documents to the HSCA, the Secret Service created a computerized summary of what the original documents said.[xii]
One has to ask why the original documents would be destroyed after they had been summarized. Sure, the fact of the summary may capture most of the information. But, it is not the same as the original document. If there is nothing to hide, the originals should not have been destroyed.
On top of the destruction of original PRS files, Agent James Mastrovito, told ARRB investigator Joan Zimmerman that he had received a piece of President Kennedy’s brain in a vial, but he destroyed it in a machine that destroys food.[xiii] After Mastrovito left the Secret Service in 1979, he went on to work for 25 years as a contractor for the CIA.[xiv]
Driver Did It Theory
One of the most common questions I get about the JFK Assassination is whether or not the Secret Service was involved. But, these people aren’t asking about whether there was nefarious planning or stripping of security. Instead, the most well known allegations against the Secret Service are two different theories that Secret Service agents, Bill Greer and George Hickey, actually fired shots at President Kennedy that day. Given the proliferation of these theories, especially on social media, we can’t cover the Secret Service’s role in the JFK assassination without addressing them.
In 1991, author and radio broadcaster Bill Cooper wrote a book called Behold a Pale Horse.[xv] In that book, Cooper argued that President Kennedy was shot in the head by his own driver, Bill Greer.[xvi] This theory has gained momentum in recent years due to the Netflix documentary series, American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders. In Episode 3 of that series, a woman named Cheri Seymour claims to have seen a special version of the Zapruder film that is different from the publicly available one.[xvii]
Here’s how she describes it:
It was the Zapruder tape of the Kennedy assassination. But then he slowed it way down. It was so slow that you could almost see the air moving. Then, you saw a driver take a gun and go like this and shoot Kennedy, and the bullet comes out of the gun this slow, very slow. And it hits Kennedy in the head, and you see everything flying out of his head. And I’m thinking, this isn’t the tape I ever saw before.[xviii]
I was familiar with the driver did it theory before the Octopus Murders series. But, as I prepared to cover this topic, I went back and looked at the Zapruder film again with a specific focus on Bill Greer to see if there was anything to this theory. Looking at the pubic version of the film (not some special Zapruder film), I’ll be honest, it does appear that the driver, Bill Greer, turned once to look back at the president, and then turned again, this time with some sort of a gun in his left hand. The presence of what looks like a gun is on the film just moments before the infamous frame 313 of the Zapruder film where Kennedy’s head is violently hit.
But, when you really study the film, it becomes clear that this object that definitely does look like a gun at first glance, is the top of agent Roy Kellerman’s head. It’s easy to tell that this is the case because you can see the same reflection on Kellerman’s head before the shot. The reason it looks like a gun is because the glare of the sun on the top of Kellerman’s head hits at the same time Greer is looking back. Also, there is no visible blast from a gun coming from Greer.[xix]
Putting the Zapruder film evidence aside for a moment, the other known evidence in the case does not supportthe possibility that Greer fired a weapon. First, no one is on the record saying Greer fired a shot. We would have to believe that everyone who was in the presidential limo is in on the coverup. That would be Agent Kellerman, Governor Connally, Nellie Connally, the First Lady, and agent Clint Hill who had just climbed in from the back of the vehicle. We would have to also believe that no one else saw it in the crowd, but that it was somehow captured on film. So, other than a mistaken interpretation of the Zapruder Film, there is just no evidence that demonstrates that Greer fired a shot.
Now, Bill Greer certainly has blame for the outcome of November 22nd. If he would have hit the gas immediately when Agent Kellerman ordered him to get out of the motorcade and go to the hospital, the head shot may have been avoided. But, instead, Greer slowed down - almost to a complete stop - and looked back an extra time. We have no evidence that this was done on purpose to harm the president. But, it was certainly gross negligence. That extra time between Greer’s first and second look to the backseat proved to be fatal for President Kennedy.
So, while Greer is certainly not without blame, the idea that he fired a shot at the president while driving the limo is conclusively proven to be not true in the view of this podcast.
Hickey Did It Theory
What about the other Secret Service agent who allegedly fired a shot at the president – George Hickey? The claim that Hickey fired the head shot that killed JFK is part of a theory put forth by ballistics expert, Howard Donahue. Donahue was one of the volunteer marksman that CBS used in its re-enactment of the shots that Oswald supposedly took from the 6th floor window. Donahue’s work on this project caused him to doubt that three shots were fired by Oswald.
So, around 1968, Donahue dove in to the details of the case. He learned that a panel of doctors assembled by then-attorney general, Ramsey Clark, had revised the location of the entrance wound on President Kennedy’s head. The Clark Panel doctors concluded that the rear entrance wound was actually four and a half inches higher than where the autopsy doctors and the Warren Commission said it was. In other words, the Clark panel found, without ever seeing Kennedy’s body, that all of the autopsy doctors were mistaken about the entrance location of the head wound.[xx]
Relying on the new Clark Panel wound location, Howard Donahue drew a line from the president’s head to the trajectory of where he thought the bullet came from. That line went straight back to Secret Service agent George Hickey in the follow up car. And, sure enough, Hickey was witnessed by several people holding an AR-15 rifle in his hands right after the president was shot. In addition, there are 10 witnesses who reported smelling gun powder near the street level, which proponents of this theory point to as support.
In 1992, Bonar Menninger wrote a book called Mortal Error: The Shot that Killed JFK, in which he advanced the argument first put forth by Donahue - that George Hickey fired the fatal shot. More recently, in 2013, Australian investigator, Colin McLaren was featured in a documentary called JFK: The Smoking Gun, which argues the George Hickey theory.
But, there are some serious problems with this theory.[xxi] First, the entire argument is based on the wound location created out of thin air by the Clark Panel, comprised of doctors who were not present at the autopsy, but made their revision based on the autopsy materials. If you listened to season 1 of this podcast, you know that there are questions about the credibility of the autopsy itself.
Second, it is true that witnesses saw George Hickey holding an AR-15. There is even a photo of him with it. But, not a single witness said that they saw Hickey fire a shot. We would expect at least one person to confirm the claim. Third, the fact that multiple witnesses smelled gun powder near street level is also consistent with there being a shot from another location closer to the street, like, perhaps, near the Grassy Knoll.
But, the ultimate reason why I find that the George Hickey theory is not valid is that the theory holds that Oswald acted alone – just like the Warren Report said - but that the head shot was not fired by Oswald from the 6th floor window. Instead, it came from George Hickey, a Secret Service agent who fired the shot on accident. To believe this claim, you would have to believe that 1) Oswald acted alone in firing the other two shots and that 2) the government would go to extreme lengths to cover up an accident by a Secret Service agent.
Secret Service Summary
We’ve been able to rule out two of the most popular theories when it comes to the Secret Service and the JFK Assassination. But, what about the idea that the Secret Service’s acts and omissions were more than just negligence. Is there any evidentiary support for that?
Warren Report critics, like Secret Service expert Vince Palamara, believe that there likely were some nefarious actors within the Agency because there were so many aspects of the President’s security that were handled differently in Dallas as compared to everywhere else.
To recap the major issues we already discussed:
First, the White House Detail had a late night drinking episode and stayed out until 3 am, when they had to report for duty five hours later. This may be why the Secret Service agents were so slow to react according to witnesses. I would label the drinking incident as gross negligence.
Second, the bubble top was specifically requested for Dallas because of the Adlai Stevenson incident. Nevertheless, even though the bubble top was initially on the limo at Love Field, it was removed. The failure to use the bubble top is not a smoking gun because the bubble top was not used all of the time. Still, the fact that it was requested specifically for Dallas, then put on the limo, and removed at the last minute, has never been clearly explained. I find the removal of the bubble top to be inconclusive, but suspicious.
Third, the Sheriff was ordered to stand down for motorcade security and the Dallas police were told to stop their security detail just short of Dealey Plaza. The police had also initially planned to ride in a car near the President’s limo with machine guns just in case. But, police involvement was changed by Agent Lawson the night before the motorcade according to the Dallas Police. However, Agent Lawson told the HSCA that he did not recall who removed the police cars from the motorcade. This reduction of security alone does not prove anything. But, it makes Agent Lawson a person of interest since he doesn’t remember.
Fourth, the number of motorcycles and the position of them within the motorcade was changed from the original plan. Based on all of the other motorcades in 1963, there were supposed to be motorcycles riding at the four corners of the vehicle. If not, there would be at least one motorcycle on each side of the vehicle with additional ones in front of and behind it. In Dallas, while there were other motorcylces in the motorcade, the only ones near President Kennedy were the four officers in a v formation directly behind the limo. But, in all of the other three cities on the Texas Trip there were motorcycles alongside the president’s limo.
According to #2 man in charge of the White House Detail, Floyd Boring, the motorcycle officers were instructed to stay back so that the president could speak to guests in his limo without motorcycle noise. We know that it was Agent Lawson who gave police Captain Perdue Lawrence the directive to make sure the motorcycle officers did not ride alongside the vehicle. Then, in Agent Lawson’s letter to Secret Service Chief Rowley 8 days after the assassination, Lawson says that there were motorcycle agents on the right and left flanks for the vehicles, which was not true. He should know because according to the Dallas police, Agent Lawson made sure that didn’t happen! I find Agent Lawson’s behavior to, once again, be suspicious and unexplained.
Fifth, the luncheon location was changed from one that was easy to secure – the Women’s Building, to the Trade Mart, which was harder to secure. It appears that pressure from Governor Connally is what ultimately led to the Trade Mart being the luncheon venue. The best parade route from Love Field to the Trade Mart through downtown would go through Dealey Plaza. But, the 120 degree turn from Houston to Elm was not in the original plans. The limo was going to go straight through Dealey Plaza down Main Street, until it was changed the night before. Now, while it is true that the motorcade route published in the paper did have the turn on to Elm, motorcycle police were not aware of that.
Once again, it was Agent Lawson who made this decision to make the turn on to Elm. I understand the argument that he didn’t want to go over the concrete barrier as the police had planned. But, what doesn’t make sense to me is that Lawson apparently changed the plan to include the Elm Street turn the night before. He never explained why he changed his mind.
Sixth, the order of the motorcade was changed around for no clear reason. The president’s personal military aide and his doctor were made to sit far away from him. The White House photographer was moved. And the flatbed truck that carried photographers and rode in front of the president was cancelled at the last minute. Agent Lawson seems to once again be the point person for the changes to the motorcade protocol. However, Lawson told the HSCA that Democratic National Committee advance man, Jack Puterbaugh was responsible, which Puterbaugh denied. Score one more for Lawson.
Seventh, the rooftops were not guarded in Dallas the way that they were in other cities. Agents and police are supposed to be assigned to the top of any multi-story building along the parade route. Agent Lawson admitted to the Warren Commission and the HSCA that he could not remember giving police instructions to watch building windows, even though he usually would do that. Police officers confirmed that they were never given any instructions from Lawson. Once again, Agent Lawson seems to be at the center of the security failure.
Eighth, the two ridealong agents on the rear of the limo, Henry Rybka and Donald Lawton, were called off by Agent Emory Roberts as the motorcade was leaving Love Field. The official reason for the agents being called off is that President Kennedy did not want agents on the rear of the car because he wanted the public to be able to see him. But, when we zoom in to the details, it turns out that the only person who claims to have actually heard Kennedy say he wanted the rear agents gone was Agent Floyd Boring in Tampa. There are at least 30 people on the record who say that President Kennedy gave no such order, or if he did, they were not aware of it.
It’s true that the agents only rode on the back of the limo between fifty and seventy five percent of the time. So, the mere fact of the agents not being on the limo is not a smoking gun. Still, the rationale for the agents being called off – which does not hold up today - and the way they were called off at the last possible moment, makes this episode extremely suspicious. Emory Roberts, who by the way, also told the agents in the follow up car to not take any action when the shots were fired, is the one who called Rybka and Lawson off of the vehicle at Love Field.
Ninth, the Protective Research Section of Secret Service failed to identify reports of any threats in Dallas when asked about them by Agent Lawson. The Secret Service didn’t even mention the Adlai Stevenson incident or the threat raised by Joseph Milteer about shooting Kennedy from the window of a building with a high powered rifle. This intelligence failure is bad. But, I reserve the possibility that they just had a bad system that could not keep up with threats. Still, something should have come up as a threat for Dallas. The fact that there was nothing at all is surprising.
In conclusion, I find the actions of Agent Winston Lawson to be very suspicious. Emory Roberts, Floyd Boring, and possibly Bill Greer, also deserve further scrutiny. I can’t say with certainty that any of those men were involved in a conspiracy to kill the president. However, the likelihood that all of these lapses in security happened uniquely in Dallas, and many of them still don’t have a good reason, is enough to exceed my coincidence threshold.
So, did the Secret Service as an institution kill president Kennedy? No. Did a few specific agents take intentional actions to reduce the president’s security and put him in a position to be shot? Maybe. It is possible, but by no means conclusive. But, we will probably never know for sure.
NEXT TIME ON SOLVING JFK: We wrap up the Secret Service series by looking at the possible plot against President Kennedy in Chicago that was brought to light by a Chicago Agent known as the Jackie Robinson of the Secret Service, Abraham Bolden.
[i] LBJ wanted Jackie to ride with him in Texas motorcade per what Senator George Smathers says JFK told him on November 18th. However, in that same clip, Smathers says that LBJ wanted to ride with JFK. So, this is not the smoking gun that it seems like it is against LBJ upon further inspection. DeVinney, James (Director); Espar, David (Writer); Ward, Geoffrey (Writer); Keach, Stacy (Narrator) (September 21, 1992). "The Kennedys (Part II) The Sons, 1961-1980". American Experience (season 5). 58. 104 minutes in. PBS.
[ii] Vince Palamara, Survivor’s Guilt, at 286-287.
[iii] Id. at 287.
[iv] WFAA TV interview with Aubrey Rike & Dennis McGuire, 11/22/63; Jesse Curry, JFK Assassination File, at 27-28; 22 H 597; 22H 599-601.
[v] https://www.cascadepbs.org/2017/11/john-f-kennedy-assassination-files-seattle-trump-release-shooters
[vi] Palamara at 254.
[vii] Bill Sloan did not publish the name Robert Steuart. Steuart believed he was speaking anonymously. However, author Vince Palamara contacted Sloan with evidence that Steuart used some of the exact same phrases in speaking to Palamara, which led Sloan to disclose to Palamara that Steuart was the anonymous agent. See Palamara at 174.
[xvi] https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/netflixs-american-conspiracy-dangles-a-jfk-theory-even-oliver-stone-missed/
[xvii] Id.
[xviii] Zachary Treitz, American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, Episode 3.
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