Abraham Bolden

[Bernice Moore]

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Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden of Chicago served President John Kennedy as the first African-American on the White House security detail

Retiree saw race relations at their best -- and their worst -- in the 1960s

Dawn Turner Trice

January 18, 2010

Like many African-Americans of his generation, Abraham Bolden used to have a large portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy displayed prominently, reverently in his living room.

But unlike many blacks of his generation, Bolden, who is 74 and has lived in the same Auburn-Gresham bungalow for 47 years, had a special relationship with each of the men. How he met the Kennedy brothers and wound up writing a letter to King is a remarkable story that begins this way:

In April 1961, Bolden was working as a Secret Service agent based in Chicago when President Kennedy arrived for a political event at McCormick Place. Bolden was assigned to guard a restroom that had been cordoned off exclusively for the president.

"My colleagues kidded me about having bathroom detail," Bolden said. "Most agents liked to be shoulder to shoulder with the president. But as fate would have it, when the president arrived that morning, he had to use the washroom."

Bolden said the president stopped at the door of the restroom to ask Bolden if he was a Secret Service agent or a Chicago policeman. Bolden told him that he was an agent.

"The president said, 'Mr. Bolden has there ever been a Negro Secret Service agent on White House detail in Washington, D.C.?' " Bolden said. "I told him, 'Not to my knowledge, Mr. President.' And he asked me if I would like to be the first, and I told him, 'Yes, sir, Mr. President.' "

Two months later, Bolden, who was 26 at the time and married, was in Washington for the Secret Service's customary 30-day stint. It would become -- as the president alluded one day while Bolden was guarding the Oval Office -- his Jackie Robinson moment.

"Being the first at that time, I ran into some harsh racism," Bolden said. "The country was a hotbed of racism, and resentment against men like Kennedy and Dr. King had infiltrated itself among the agents."

Bolden said he was shocked by how lax Kennedy's security was in D.C. and the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., where he met Robert Kennedy. Bolden said many agents got drunk on duty, womanized and spoke openly of their disdain for the president. He said he complained to superiors, and that is when he became a target.

"I told the chief of the United States Secret Service that if an assassination attempt was ever made on Kennedy, it would be successful because either the agents wouldn't respond or would be slow to respond," Bolden said. "The chief told me he would look into it.

"But time passed and after the president was assassinated (on Nov. 22, 1963), I kept ringing the bell." His criticisms made headlines.

Bolden went to D.C. for a special training session in May 1964. While there, he said he'd planned to try to talk to someone on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination.

But the Secret Service suddenly escorted him back to Chicago, where he was charged with soliciting a $50,000 bribe from the boss of a ring of counterfeiters. Bolden said he believes he was set up by racist agents who wanted to silence his criticisms. His trial began July 6, 1964, before U.S. District Judge Joseph Sam Perry. According to court transcripts, when the jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction, Perry amazingly told the jury that in his opinion, Bolden was guilty. Still, the lone holdout didn't change her vote, and that trial ended in a mistrial.

Bolden was convicted after a second trial with the help of testimony from a counterfeiter who would later admit to having perjured himself. Bolden was sentenced to six years in a federal prison.

"Shortly after my conviction, I wrote a letter to Dr. King saying that if this miscarriage of justice could happen to me, it could happen to him or anyone else," said Bolden, who's unsure if his letter ever reached King.

Bolden was in prison when King was assassinated. The entire prison was on lockdown. A year later, he left prison, returning to his wife and three children. Two times he asked President Richard Nixon for a pardon, and both times he was denied. He worked as an automotive quality control supervisor before retiring in 2001.

These days Bolden travels the country, dressed in his trademark bow ties and fez hats, telling his story and promoting his memoir, "The Echo From Dealey Plaza" (where Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas).

"There were people who wanted to change the country through great force rather than the constitutional process," Bolden said. The Kennedys and King "were revered by many Americans, not just blacks, because they stood for a hope and justice that sometimes still feels hard to come by."

dtrice@tribune.com

Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

b

Edited January 20, 2010 by Bernice Moore

[Robert Howard]

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Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden of Chicago served President John Kennedy as the first African-American on the White House security detail

Retiree saw race relations at their best -- and their worst -- in the 1960s

Dawn Turner Trice

January 18, 2010

Like many African-Americans of his generation, Abraham Bolden used to have a large portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy displayed prominently, reverently in his living room.

But unlike many blacks of his generation, Bolden, who is 74 and has lived in the same Auburn-Gresham bungalow for 47 years, had a special relationship with each of the men. How he met the Kennedy brothers and wound up writing a letter to King is a remarkable story that begins this way:

In April 1961, Bolden was working as a Secret Service agent based in Chicago when President Kennedy arrived for a political event at McCormick Place. Bolden was assigned to guard a restroom that had been cordoned off exclusively for the president.

"My colleagues kidded me about having bathroom detail," Bolden said. "Most agents liked to be shoulder to shoulder with the president. But as fate would have it, when the president arrived that morning, he had to use the washroom."

Bolden said the president stopped at the door of the restroom to ask Bolden if he was a Secret Service agent or a Chicago policeman. Bolden told him that he was an agent.

"The president said, 'Mr. Bolden has there ever been a Negro Secret Service agent on White House detail in Washington, D.C.?' " Bolden said. "I told him, 'Not to my knowledge, Mr. President.' And he asked me if I would like to be the first, and I told him, 'Yes, sir, Mr. President.' "

Two months later, Bolden, who was 26 at the time and married, was in Washington for the Secret Service's customary 30-day stint. It would become -- as the president alluded one day while Bolden was guarding the Oval Office -- his Jackie Robinson moment.

"Being the first at that time, I ran into some harsh racism," Bolden said. "The country was a hotbed of racism, and resentment against men like Kennedy and Dr. King had infiltrated itself among the agents."

Bolden said he was shocked by how lax Kennedy's security was in D.C. and the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., where he met Robert Kennedy. Bolden said many agents got drunk on duty, womanized and spoke openly of their disdain for the president. He said he complained to superiors, and that is when he became a target.

"I told the chief of the United States Secret Service that if an assassination attempt was ever made on Kennedy, it would be successful because either the agents wouldn't respond or would be slow to respond," Bolden said. "The chief told me he would look into it.

"But time passed and after the president was assassinated (on Nov. 22, 1963), I kept ringing the bell." His criticisms made headlines.

Bolden went to D.C. for a special training session in May 1964. While there, he said he'd planned to try to talk to someone on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination.

But the Secret Service suddenly escorted him back to Chicago, where he was charged with soliciting a $50,000 bribe from the boss of a ring of counterfeiters. Bolden said he believes he was set up by racist agents who wanted to silence his criticisms. His trial began July 6, 1964, before U.S. District Judge Joseph Sam Perry. According to court transcripts, when the jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction, Perry amazingly told the jury that in his opinion, Bolden was guilty. Still, the lone holdout didn't change her vote, and that trial ended in a mistrial.

Bolden was convicted after a second trial with the help of testimony from a counterfeiter who would later admit to having perjured himself. Bolden was sentenced to six years in a federal prison.

"Shortly after my conviction, I wrote a letter to Dr. King saying that if this miscarriage of justice could happen to me, it could happen to him or anyone else," said Bolden, who's unsure if his letter ever reached King.

Bolden was in prison when King was assassinated. The entire prison was on lockdown. A year later, he left prison, returning to his wife and three children. Two times he asked President Richard Nixon for a pardon, and both times he was denied. He worked as an automotive quality control supervisor before retiring in 2001.

These days Bolden travels the country, dressed in his trademark bow ties and fez hats, telling his story and promoting his memoir, "The Echo From Dealey Plaza" (where Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas).

"There were people who wanted to change the country through great force rather than the constitutional process," Bolden said. The Kennedys and King "were revered by many Americans, not just blacks, because they stood for a hope and justice that sometimes still feels hard to come by."

dtrice@tribune.com

Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

b

Since Bolden is a good guy, I thought this might be an appropriate thread to post the following.

The identities of the Cuban's who were at Willow Run Airport, in Michigan is a considerable topic of interest.

After the meeting Sierra and Hernandez went to Chicago and Cardoso departed Willow Run by auto.

Larry Hancock mentions the Willow Run incident in his last book.

According to a HSCA document See below

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=10032

There are three names to keep in mind they are:

Jose Cardoso resident of Chicago

FNU Sierra

FNU Hernandez

Suffice to say that Paulino Martinez Sierra was doing some interesting things within JURE in late 1963

Victor Espinosa Hernandez would be a logical speculation if the above information is as reliable as it seems.

The kicker: Burkman was told the group needed these weapons for a guerilla action which was to precede a real attempt at revolution in Cuba.

Other names of interest in this incident are

Dr Orlando Bosch and Martin Morua.....

BTW The HSCA Administrative Files are a real treasure trove of information.

Cheers

Edited January 29, 2010 by Robert Howard

[Guest James H. Fetzer]

Coincidentally, I have published a blog about Abraham Bolden yesterday at http://jamesfetzer.blogspot.com, including two recent radio interviews with him. Everyone should read the "Short Interview" that I posted there. It is extremely chilling. His experience was harrowing.

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Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden of Chicago served President John Kennedy as the first African-American on the White House security detail

Retiree saw race relations at their best -- and their worst -- in the 1960s

Dawn Turner Trice

January 18, 2010

Like many African-Americans of his generation, Abraham Bolden used to have a large portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy displayed prominently, reverently in his living room.

But unlike many blacks of his generation, Bolden, who is 74 and has lived in the same Auburn-Gresham bungalow for 47 years, had a special relationship with each of the men. How he met the Kennedy brothers and wound up writing a letter to King is a remarkable story that begins this way:

In April 1961, Bolden was working as a Secret Service agent based in Chicago when President Kennedy arrived for a political event at McCormick Place. Bolden was assigned to guard a restroom that had been cordoned off exclusively for the president.

"My colleagues kidded me about having bathroom detail," Bolden said. "Most agents liked to be shoulder to shoulder with the president. But as fate would have it, when the president arrived that morning, he had to use the washroom."

Bolden said the president stopped at the door of the restroom to ask Bolden if he was a Secret Service agent or a Chicago policeman. Bolden told him that he was an agent.

"The president said, 'Mr. Bolden has there ever been a Negro Secret Service agent on White House detail in Washington, D.C.?' " Bolden said. "I told him, 'Not to my knowledge, Mr. President.' And he asked me if I would like to be the first, and I told him, 'Yes, sir, Mr. President.' "

Two months later, Bolden, who was 26 at the time and married, was in Washington for the Secret Service's customary 30-day stint. It would become -- as the president alluded one day while Bolden was guarding the Oval Office -- his Jackie Robinson moment.

"Being the first at that time, I ran into some harsh racism," Bolden said. "The country was a hotbed of racism, and resentment against men like Kennedy and Dr. King had infiltrated itself among the agents."

Bolden said he was shocked by how lax Kennedy's security was in D.C. and the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., where he met Robert Kennedy. Bolden said many agents got drunk on duty, womanized and spoke openly of their disdain for the president. He said he complained to superiors, and that is when he became a target.

"I told the chief of the United States Secret Service that if an assassination attempt was ever made on Kennedy, it would be successful because either the agents wouldn't respond or would be slow to respond," Bolden said. "The chief told me he would look into it.

"But time passed and after the president was assassinated (on Nov. 22, 1963), I kept ringing the bell." His criticisms made headlines.

Bolden went to D.C. for a special training session in May 1964. While there, he said he'd planned to try to talk to someone on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination.

But the Secret Service suddenly escorted him back to Chicago, where he was charged with soliciting a $50,000 bribe from the boss of a ring of counterfeiters. Bolden said he believes he was set up by racist agents who wanted to silence his criticisms. His trial began July 6, 1964, before U.S. District Judge Joseph Sam Perry. According to court transcripts, when the jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction, Perry amazingly told the jury that in his opinion, Bolden was guilty. Still, the lone holdout didn't change her vote, and that trial ended in a mistrial.

Bolden was convicted after a second trial with the help of testimony from a counterfeiter who would later admit to having perjured himself. Bolden was sentenced to six years in a federal prison.

"Shortly after my conviction, I wrote a letter to Dr. King saying that if this miscarriage of justice could happen to me, it could happen to him or anyone else," said Bolden, who's unsure if his letter ever reached King.

Bolden was in prison when King was assassinated. The entire prison was on lockdown. A year later, he left prison, returning to his wife and three children. Two times he asked President Richard Nixon for a pardon, and both times he was denied. He worked as an automotive quality control supervisor before retiring in 2001.

These days Bolden travels the country, dressed in his trademark bow ties and fez hats, telling his story and promoting his memoir, "The Echo From Dealey Plaza" (where Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas).

"There were people who wanted to change the country through great force rather than the constitutional process," Bolden said. The Kennedys and King "were revered by many Americans, not just blacks, because they stood for a hope and justice that sometimes still feels hard to come by."

dtrice@tribune.com

Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

b

Edited January 29, 2010 by James H. Fetzer

[Paul Rigby]

Bolden said he was shocked by how lax Kennedy's security was in D.C. and the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., where he met Robert Kennedy. Bolden said many agents got drunk on duty, womanized and spoke openly of their disdain for the president. He said he complained to superiors, and that is when he became a target.

And these were the men we are solemnly invited to believe were not complicit in his murder...

[Robert Morrow]

As of May 31, 2023, Abraham Bolden has given four videotaped interviews since March of 2020 in which he describes a VOLCANIC ARGUMENT that occurred on June 29, 1961 between Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedys (JFK and RFK) in the Oval Office

 Abraham Bolden, over the past 3 years, has given 4 videotaped interviews in which he describes a VOLCANIC ARGUMENT in the Oval Office that occurred on June 29, 1961 between Lyndon Johnson and JFK and RFK. LBJ's behavior was so explosive and so threatening that Agent Bolden at the time reported Lyndon Johnson as a security threat to the life of President Kennedy to Secret Service director Urbanus Baughman.

 1) The first videotaped interview on this topic of Bolden was by Phil Singer on March 7, 2020. It was supposed to be released after Bolden's death, but Bolden chose to come public with 3 videotaped interviews on this topic in the years 2022 and 2023. Singer's interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_XTAJOtAlI Weblink works as of 3/7/2024

 2) The second interview and first public one of Bolden telling this anecdote was by former Secret Service agent John Carman, who is a friend of Bolden, on June 2, 2022. It is on Rumble at the One hour 41 minute mark: https://rumble.com/v1715j7-dark-outpost-live-06.02.2022-the-echo-from-dealey-plaza.html Weblink works as of 3/7/2024 

 3) The third interview was by Gil Jesus and it was posted on YouTube on Jan. 2, 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtSjkbWt_XE Weblink works as of 3/7/2024

 4) The fourth video interview of Bolden was by Andrew Kreig and it occurred on April 7, 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz6KsqPhEEI (Go to 22 minute mark) Weblink works as of 3/7/2024

 I should emphasize that other JFK researchers who are friends with Abraham Bolden have heard this story privately from him for years. I do not know why Bolden did not choose to include this blockbuster anecdote in his 2008 book the Echo From Dealey Plaza. I think one big reason is he did not want to endanger his chances of a pardon by revealing an anecdote that is so damaging to Lyndon Johnson. Before he died Hubert Clark told me Abraham Bolden had told him this anecdote about LBJ having a violent, threatening argument with the Kennedys.

 Furthermore, this anecdote is NEWS and it is not found in any book on the Kennedys, Lyndon Johnson, the Secret Service or the JFK assassination. Bolden literally did not publicly tell this anecdote until June, 2022 - which is 61 years after the event happened. Privately, Bolden had told this story to his friends for years.

[Robert Morrow]

Robert Morrow interview with Abraham Bolden on Feb. 25, 2024, Sunday morning 11:15AM to 11:53AM

Abraham Bolden was born January 19, 1935 and is now 89 years old in 2024.

[Google says that the sun will set in Washington, D.C. on June 29, 2024 at 8:38PM, but in 2024 we are on Daylight Savings Time. I do not think Washington, D.C. was on Daylight Savings Time in 1961 so the sun would have gone down at 7:38PM on June 29, 1961. 

Abraham Bolden -says it was about 6:30 – 7PM, the sun had just gone down on June 29, 1961 (so it may have been later then 7PM if the sun was setting at 7:38PM) when LBJ came storming into the White House. It was “kind of dark outside” said Bolden and it was after working hours at the White House.

LBJ Passed Secret Service station – goes all the way end then takes a left and that will take you directly to the Oval Office. Lyndon Johnson opened the door to the Oval Office. Bolden thinks the Kennedys were expecting him.

Abraham Bolden thinks that Obama personally intervened with the Obama Administration behind the scenes to get him a pardon after columnist Mary Mitchell

Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun Times, wrote an article about Abraham Bolden striving for a pardon. Phil Singer contacted Mary Mitchell with information about Abraham Bolden. Abraham Bolden is convinced that behind the scenes, in response to the Mary Mitchell article that Barack Obama contacted the Biden Administration and got a presidential pardon moving for Bolden.

Mary Mitchell has a lot of pull in Chicago and is a well read and well-connected columnist for the Chicago Sun Times.

[Phil Singer, interviewed on 2/25/24 (12 noon to 12:50PM) says he is often in contact with Mary Mitchell. Abraham has lived in same house for over 60 years. Abraham is a native Chicagoan. Phil wants to honor Abraham in many ways.]

Abraham Bolden, first White House Black Secret Service agent, still trying at 86 to clear his name - Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com) Columnist Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times (who is plugged into the Chicago black power structure) wrote “First White House Black Secret Service agent still trying to clear his name” on April 23, 2021. One year later on April 26, 2022, President Joe Biden pardoned Abraham Bolden: https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=6250

Bolden was asked by Morrow why didn’t you tell this anecdote about Lyndon Johnson having a violent argument with the Kennedys in the Oval Office on June 29, 1961. Bolden’s reply:

“I was a young man and I was afraid of getting my head blown off and I had a family to take care of.” Bolden admitted in his later years he was still not publicly telling his LBJ-Kennedy blow up argument story because he did not want to do anything to jeopardize the presidential pardon he had been working decades to get.

Bolden told this LBJ-Kennedys story privately to people who he had confidence in. After LBJ stormed out of the Oval Office, he looked over at Bolden and said, “Who is this boy?”

When asked why didn’t you tell your LBJ-Kennedy violent argument in your 2008 book The Echo From Dealey Plaza, Bolden replied:

“My book was not written to be an expose. It was written about my life. How it [the JFK assassination, my going to jail] has affected me and his family.”

Abraham was in jail for 3 and ½ years in jail.

Abraham says he started about June 6^th, 1961 at the White House for the Secret Service.

Started June 6^th, 1961 at the Oval Office.

Abraham remembers LBJ yelling at the Kennedys “Are you trying to send me to prison over some goddamn cotton?”

[This is very likely related to the Billie Sol Estes scandal for LBJ and the June 3, 1961 murder of U.S. agricultural official Henry Marshall who was investigating LBJ’s top cash cow Billie Sol Estes over his abuse of the cotton allotments program.]

[Phil Singer – many conversations with Abraham Bolden. Singer thinks Bolden was scared, there would be very serious repercussions, even in 2008 he did not put it in his book because he still wanted to get a pardon. 20 years ago his wife Barbara died; his sister died and two of his children died around age 60 within one month of each other, very soon afterward Bolden had a stroke. Phil Singer has often tried to get PR in the media for Abraham.]

Abraham Bolden’s daughter Ahvia Maria Andricenia Bolden Reynolds passed away on October 2, 2020: https://memorials.cagememorial.com/ahvia-reynolds/4352523/obit.php?&printable=true

Abraham Bolden’s son Abraham Wendell Bolden, Jr. (1958-2020) passed away on August 22, 2020: https://www.thornridgefuneralhomes.com/obituary/abraham-bolden-jr#:~:text=Abraham%20Wendell%20Bolden%2C%20Jr.%2C,he%20excelled%20academically%20in%20school.

Abraham Bolden’s wife Barbara Louis Hardy Bolden (1935-2005) passed away on December 27, 2005: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13115928/barbara-louise-bolden

7632 South Sangamon St., Chicago, IL, 60620 – Abraham Bolden’s home address – Abraham moved in her about 1960. As of 2024 he has been there for 64 years. His home 7632 S Sangamon St, Chicago, IL 60620 | Zillow

After Abraham Bolden got his pardon from Biden, Bolden gave the actual pardon document to Phil Singer for Singer’s yeoman work in helping Bolden to get a pardon.

[Denise Hazelwood]

I had a question about Mr. Bolden's pardon, because I had always assumed that the acceptance of a pardon meant an acknowledgement of guilt. However, this is not the case for Mr. Bolden. It made no sense to me that he would seek a pardon, given that he has always maintained his innocence and would never, at this point, receive additional punishment for his alleged crime. So I contacted Mr. Bolden directly via email and learned that there is apparently such a thing as a "pardon for innocence," which is what Mr. Bolden received. You can read about my exchanges with Mr. Bolden on my website at https://www.a-benign-conspiracy.com/abraham-boldens-pardon.html .