Interesting clipping..

[Nic Martin]

I recently purchased online a scrapbook made by a then-11-year-old-girl in Toronto, Canada of JFK's assassination, which arrived today via airmail. I was looking through and found some statements of Toronto citizens & visitors about the assassination. Thought they might be of some interest. I cant' scan it because this particular page is still glued into the book, and I'm afraid if I tried to remove it, I'd do more damage than it's worth. The paper is dated Saturday, November 23, 1963.

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He proved his presidential calibre by the way he organized his election campaign. He was a good president and fair. He would have been swept back into office in 1964 and be as popular as Roosevelt was. I have confidence Lyndon Johnson will make a good successor.

- Chris Kampf, farmer, Connecticut.

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Slaying the president is more than just killing a man, it is a crime against the free world. What will the consequences be? I'm alarmed to think. The killer would have to be a mental case to do what he did even as a hired assassin.

- Josephine Woodcock, retired.

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I'm shocked and grieved. I never expected this to happen to President Kennedy. Yet I have a press clipping of the time of his election and the writer said Kennedy was a likely candidate for assassination. How prophetic!

- Gertrude Morritt, Blyth, Ont., housewife.

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I'm shocked and sickened. Is there any human being so low in this civilized day and age to stoop to kill any one, political opponent or not? Such a fine president, and the true leader of the free world. A dastardly and inhuman act. His loss is as personal as it could be.

- Sheila Sone, housewife.

[James Richards]

Good stuff, Nic.

Interesting bit by Gertrude Morritt. I wonder who the prophetic writer was?

James

[Nic Martin]

Good stuff, Nic.

Interesting bit by Gertrude Morritt. I wonder who the prophetic writer was?

James

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was wondering that, too - part of the reason I posted this, the other being that I too found that so interesting.

[Nic Martin]

I don't want to clog up the forum with yet another post, but I also got a DVD from a source of mine that's the breakfast in Fort Worth on the morning of 11/22, and they mention the motorcade route as "down Main" to the Stemmons Freeway. Just thought that was interesting.

They also spent about 5 minutes talking about Secret Service security measures and the assassination of McKinley. Ironic.

Edited August 8, 2005 by Nic Martin

[Lee Forman]

I don't want to clog up the forum with yet another post, but I also got a DVD from a source of mine that's the breakfast in Fort Worth on the morning of 11/22, and they mention the motorcade route as "down Main" to the Stemmons Freeway. Just thought that was interesting.

They also spent about 5 minutes talking about Secret Service security measures and the assassination of McKinley. Ironic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Nic.

I have also bought a box of clippings before - it was very interesting stuff. I found quite a few gems.

The magazine [which I have posted photos from in the past] Confidential Detective has an entire section devoted to some of the past assassinations, and a large feature on the Secret Service - their history, rigorous training, professionalism, etc. Some of the past assassinations and attempts. Interesting - they got their start at the close of the Civil War to combat counterfeiting. They were the only investigative agency that the Federal government had at that time [FBI hadn't been formed]. Protecting the President was apparently always a primary function, which was ammended to later include the President elect [1913], and then further, the President's family [1917]. It wasn't until 1951 that it was extended to the VP, but only at his request.

Here's a bit I thought you might appreciate:

No, the men who have set out to assassinate the President of the US - whether successful or otherwise - have invariably been small men with ideas too big for them to handle.  Call what they had a compulsion, a vision, a self-created cause, or what you will.  Whatever it is, they've had it.  There have been stupid individuals; some have been surprisingly intelligent.  But they all have one thing in common:  They are invariably insane.  No man working a Secret Service detail involving a would-be or real assassin will tell you otherwise.

The bold type was used as indicated.

No mention of the SS having left the President in the care of firemen, or that they had been drinking in the Cellar until the wee hours, or that fact that none of the men were suspended or disciplined in any way following their failure on 11/22.

Here's something else I just learned - apparently in 1960, Richard Pavlick travelled to Palm Beach, Florida, with a car loaded with nitroglycerine. His plan was to ram [the President Elect] Kennedy's car when he emerged from Church. As Kennedy was accompanied by his wife and daughter, Pavlick aborted. He made a second attempt at the Supermarket, but was again thwarted by his own scruples - there were too many women and children in the area. He was somehow arrested on a Postal Inspector's tip. He admitted to the two attempts.

"He believed that John F. Kennedy had bought the election and it was his, Pavlick's, mission to destroy him as a corrupt individual and a disgrace to the Presidency."

[Nic Martin]

I don't want to clog up the forum with yet another post, but I also got a DVD from a source of mine that's the breakfast in Fort Worth on the morning of 11/22, and they mention the motorcade route as "down Main" to the Stemmons Freeway. Just thought that was interesting.

They also spent about 5 minutes talking about Secret Service security measures and the assassination of McKinley. Ironic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Nic.

I have also bought a box of clippings before - it was very interesting stuff. I found quite a few gems.

The magazine [which I have posted photos from in the past] Confidential Detective has an entire section devoted to some of the past assassinations, and a large feature on the Secret Service - their history, rigorous training, professionalism, etc. Some of the past assassinations and attempts. Interesting - they got their start at the close of the Civil War to combat counterfeiting. They were the only investigative agency that the Federal government had at that time [FBI hadn't been formed]. Protecting the President was apparently always a primary function, which was ammended to later include the President elect [1913], and then further, the President's family [1917]. It wasn't until 1951 that it was extended to the VP, but only at his request.

Here's a bit I thought you might appreciate:

No, the men who have set out to assassinate the President of the US - whether successful or otherwise - have invariably been small men with ideas too big for them to handle.  Call what they had a compulsion, a vision, a self-created cause, or what you will.  Whatever it is, they've had it.  There have been stupid individuals; some have been surprisingly intelligent.  But they all have one thing in common:  They are invariably insane.  No man working a Secret Service detail involving a would-be or real assassin will tell you otherwise.

The bold type was used as indicated.

No mention of the SS having left the President in the care of firemen, or that they had been drinking in the Cellar until the wee hours, or that fact that none of the men were suspended or disciplined in any way following their failure on 11/22.

Here's something else I just learned - apparently in 1960, Richard Pavlick travelled to Palm Beach, Florida, with a car loaded with nitroglycerine. His plan was to ram [the President Elect] Kennedy's car when he emerged from Church. As Kennedy was accompanied by his wife and daughter, Pavlick aborted. He made a second attempt at the Supermarket, but was again thwarted by his own scruples - there were too many women and children in the area. He was somehow arrested on a Postal Inspector's tip. He admitted to the two attempts.

"He believed that John F. Kennedy had bought the election and it was his, Pavlick's, mission to destroy him as a corrupt individual and a disgrace to the Presidency."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is interesting, I'd heard about Richard Pavlick before but didn't know how they'd caught him. Thanks.

[John Dolva]

"They were the only investigative agency that the Federal government had at that time [FBI hadn't been formed]. "

There seems to be a huge blank with regards to the possible role of the, as it was then known, 'the USPO' or United States Post Office, a branch of the federal government.

The oldest by far investigative branch in the Federal Government is the Postal Inspection Service.

1772--Under the colonial postal system, Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin created the position of "surveyor" because he could no longer single-handedly regulate and audit postal functions.

1801--Title of surveyor changed to Special Agent.

1830--Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations was established as the investigative branch of the Post Office Department.

1853--The number of Special Agents had grown to 18, assigned to specific territories. Their duties included reporting on the condition of stagecoaches, steamboats, railroads, and horses used to transport mail, visiting mail distributing offices and examining postal accounts.

During the civil war the confederate states ran their own postal service, it was in fact the most successful department within the rebel government.

The privacy of mail was enshrined in the constitution, however that did not stop these inspectors from participating in ILLEGAL mail opening operations with the CIA under the direction of Helms and Dulles. This operation was carried out across the USA for something like 20 years.

"He was somehow arrested on a Postal Inspector's tip."

Well, well the postal inspectors did know a thing or three.

Perhaps because of the legendary status and intimate connection between the post office and the expansion of the states, perhaps because of their intimidating persona as alluded to by Mark in another thread, there is a great reluctance to question this august body?? "Move along folks, nothing of interest here, look over there, the GK."

Edited August 9, 2005 by John Dolva

[Pat Speer]

As to the article about Kennedy being a good candidate for assassination, Arthut Krock of the New York Times wrote an article in October 63 stating that if Kennedy was overthrown in a coup, it would be by the CIA.

As to the theory that U.S. assassins are all lone-nuts, this was popularized by a mid-50's book entitled the Assassins, by Robert J. Donovan. John F. Kennedy liked the book well enough--Robert J. Donovan went on to write about Kennedy's war exploits in PT 109, which was made into a film starring Cliff Robertson. Allen Dulles liked the book well enough--he brought a number of copies into an early meeting of the Warren Commission and told everyone-counsel and commisioner alike--that he suspected they'd find much the same thing had happened in this instance. (Talk about poisoning the well!)

Donovan himself rushed out an update (at Hoover's suggestion?) including a chapter on the Kennedy assassination. This hit the streets in January, 1964, and painted Oswald as a lone nut. Problemito: it used the FBI's report on Kennedy's wounds and by doing so said that the bullet striking Kennedy in the back, fell out. There's no mention of a wound in the back of the neck, as there was no mention of an exit in the throat, and no need to sell the SBT. Oops!