The Kennedy Detail

[Guest Robert Morrow]

The book tour of Gerald Blaine:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/columns/ci_16904486?nclick_check=1

Barnidge: Secret Service agent dispels JFK conspiracy theories

By Tom Barnidge

Contra Costa Times columnist

Posted: 12/20/2010 02:09:35 PM PST

ONE OF THE recurring questions that Gerald Blaine hears as he talks about President John F. Kennedy's assassination is why he now, 47 years later, chose to write a book about the tragedy.

The former Secret Service agent, who served throughout Kennedy's presidency, said someone needed to set the record straight.

"Unfortunately, since the assassination, history has been dominated by a cottage industry called conspiracy theory," he said. "When it finally reached the point where people started accusing the agents of being part of it, well "..."

No event in American history has been more thoroughly debated or dissected than the death of our 35th president. Conspiracy theorists have linked the assassination to organized crime, Fidel Castro and every alphabet organization from the KGB to the FBI to the CIA.

If you Google "JFK assassination," you will get 882,000 hits and dozens of far-flung theories.

Judging by the crowd at the Pleasanton Library on Sunday, when Blaine talked about his book, "Kennedy Detail," interest has not waned. About 250 people crammed into a room where a sign read: "Maximum Occupancy: 139." Dozens more were turned away.

Blaine, 84, said he went years without talking about JFK's death -- not even to his family.

"I didn't want to bother the family," he said, "and I didn't know how to deal with it. I found out that was consistent with every agent who worked for President

Kennedy. Not one of them talked about it."

Blaine is certain that Lee Harvey Oswald worked alone. His marksmanship skills were more than adequate, and he perfectly fit an assassin's profile.

"He had psychiatric problems when he was a young man," Blaine said. "He had problems in military service and problems holding down a job. He even had a problem when he tried to defect, and he had a marriage that failed.

"Also, about a month or two before taking a shot at the president, he took a shot at a general in Texas. The bullet just missed, but it was traced back to Oswald's rifle."

Kennedy was shot while riding in an open-top car -- a president rides only in bulletproof vehicles today, Blaine said -- but that was in keeping with his personality. He wanted to see and be seen by the people.

The fateful Dallas appearance marked the last of several southern stops, including Tampa, Fla., San Antonio and Houston. Earlier in the trip, Secret Service agents rode on the back of the presidential limousine, which likely would have obstructed Oswald's aim. Kennedy stopped that.

"The president told us, 'I've got to use my political style, and my political style is to be among the people, to greet them and have them be able to see me,' " Blaine said.

The assassination still torments the former agent, but what makes matters worse is what he regards as misrepresentation of what he knows to be true.

"How many of you saw the movie 'JFK'?" he asked, referencing a film that reinforced conspiracy theories. "Unfortunately for our youth, that seems to be their history book.

"An article last month in USA Today said 82 percent of young people between 18 and 29 believe that President Kennedy's assassination was a conspiracy. "

He said he has no illusions of transforming the doubters, but he hopes his book, which includes input from fellow agents, will at least put facts on the table.

"If we make history out of the wild stories," he said, "you'll never trust history again." Blaine said he knows the truth about what happened in Dallas. He's had to live with it for 47 years.

Contact Tom Barnidge at tbarnidge@bayareanewsgroup.com.

[John Dolva]

Does he have anything to say about Ewald Peters?

[Chris Davidson]

Clint Hill(11-20-10 interview of Hill and Gerald Blaine by Gary Mack at the Sixth Floor Museum, broadcast on CSPAN2, 12-12-10) (When Mack offers "You heard three shots.") "The three shots all came from the same location." (When Mack asks if the three shots were evenly spaced) "I didn't hear the second shot, so I only heard two shots. The first shot came from my right rear. And I was looking to the left of the grassy area on the left hand side of Elm Street when I heard the shot. My vision took me to the right toward that shot. In so doing my eyes went across the back of the President's car. I saw him grab at his throat and he started to lurch to his left. He didn't move too far but he was trying to go to his left. I knew something was wrong. So I jumped off the car and started running to the President's car, trying to get there in time to get on top and cover--what we try to do is cover and evacuate. I was trying to get there to cover up so nobody would depart further damage to the President or Mrs. Kennedy. About the time I got to the car, just before I got there, the third shot--that I heard, and I felt--hit the President in the head just above the right ear, right up in here (he places his hand just above his right ear, with some of his fingers to the back of the his ear), and blood and brain matter were spewing all over the place, including on me. About that time Mrs. Kennedy came out of her seat out onto the trunk of the car. She was trying to retrieve something that had come off the President's head and went to the right rear. I slipped at first while trying to get onto the car 'cause Bill Greer the driver accelerated the car. I gained my footing again, got up on the car, and helped her get back in the seat. When I did that the President fell over to his left onto her lap and I could see the upper right portion of his head (he again places his hand above his right ear with the first few fingers to the back of the ear) had a large hole about the size of my palm. It looked like somebody had taken a scoop and removed brain matter and just thrown it around the car--blood and brain matter and bone particles all around the car. His eyes were fixed. I was quite sure it was a fatal wound." (When Mack points out to him that the scenario Hill has been pushing in his recent interviews entails three shots and three hits) "That is correct." (When Mack points out that this puts Hill at odds with the conclusions of the Warren Commission) "I recognize that. But the two of us believe that the second shot hit Governor Connally. The other person who said that, Nellie Connally, was sitting right beside him when he was hit. So I think I'm in pretty good company in believing that the second shot hit the Governor and that the third shot was the fatal wound to the President."

Pat,

At approx 39 minutes into the interview, Blaine describes Clint's incredible feat. It goes like this:

The limo was going 11mph. There was 85 feet for Clint to catch up to.Clint ran about 15 mph to catch up, but got there after the 3rd shot.

The WC has the limo traveling 10.51 mph between frames 255-313.

That is 15.44 ft. per sec.

15 mph=22.05 ft. per sec.

So, in order for Clint to catch the limo at some 85 feet back, it will take him approx 13 seconds to do so.

Since Clint is still on the Queen Mary in Altgen's at 255, when does he start his incredible dash toward the limo?

chris

[Bernice Moore]

Clint Hill(11-20-10 interview of Hill and Gerald Blaine by Gary Mack at the Sixth Floor Museum, broadcast on CSPAN2, 12-12-10) (When Mack offers "You heard three shots.") "The three shots all came from the same location." (When Mack asks if the three shots were evenly spaced) "I didn't hear the second shot, so I only heard two shots. The first shot came from my right rear. And I was looking to the left of the grassy area on the left hand side of Elm Street when I heard the shot. My vision took me to the right toward that shot. In so doing my eyes went across the back of the President's car. I saw him grab at his throat and he started to lurch to his left. He didn't move too far but he was trying to go to his left. I knew something was wrong. So I jumped off the car and started running to the President's car, trying to get there in time to get on top and cover--what we try to do is cover and evacuate. I was trying to get there to cover up so nobody would depart further damage to the President or Mrs. Kennedy. About the time I got to the car, just before I got there, the third shot--that I heard, and I felt--hit the President in the head just above the right ear, right up in here (he places his hand just above his right ear, with some of his fingers to the back of the his ear), and blood and brain matter were spewing all over the place, including on me. About that time Mrs. Kennedy came out of her seat out onto the trunk of the car. She was trying to retrieve something that had come off the President's head and went to the right rear. I slipped at first while trying to get onto the car 'cause Bill Greer the driver accelerated the car. I gained my footing again, got up on the car, and helped her get back in the seat. When I did that the President fell over to his left onto her lap and I could see the upper right portion of his head (he again places his hand above his right ear with the first few fingers to the back of the ear) had a large hole about the size of my palm. It looked like somebody had taken a scoop and removed brain matter and just thrown it around the car--blood and brain matter and bone particles all around the car. His eyes were fixed. I was quite sure it was a fatal wound." (When Mack points out to him that the scenario Hill has been pushing in his recent interviews entails three shots and three hits) "That is correct." (When Mack points out that this puts Hill at odds with the conclusions of the Warren Commission) "I recognize that. But the two of us believe that the second shot hit Governor Connally. The other person who said that, Nellie Connally, was sitting right beside him when he was hit. So I think I'm in pretty good company in believing that the second shot hit the Governor and that the third shot was the fatal wound to the President."

Pat,

At approx 39 minutes into the interview, Blaine describes Clint's incredible feat. It goes like this:

The limo was going 11mph. There was 85 feet for Clint to catch up to.Clint ran about 15 mph to catch up, but got there after the 3rd shot.

The WC has the limo traveling 10.51 mph between frames 255-313.

That is 15.44 ft. per sec.

15 mph=22.05 ft. per sec.

So, in order for Clint to catch the limo at some 85 feet back, it will take him approx 13 seconds to do so.

Since Clint is still on the Queen Mary in Altgen's at 255, when does he start his incredible dash toward the limo?

chris

hi chris; he is so full of crap, as we know a HALF TRUTH IS A WHOLE LIE, AND AT HIS AGE 84 I WOULD THINK HE WOULD HAVE LEARNT BY NOW, BUT,as seen in the photos, there was at most 7 to 8 feet if that,? between the cars, and i might add neither of the drivers put into practice the diversionary driving actions at the first sign of trouble, that they had been trained to do,by the ss, that is mentioned i believe on page 27-28 in his book.....the cover-up and lies continue...they are full of dead thoughts at this stage..thanks,... :blink: take care best b

[Tony Frank]

...a "fist sized" hole in the back of JFK's head...

In most of the radio/TV interviews with Clint Hill that I've heard during his book tour, he was saying that the gaping hole was "above the right ear" (which, of course, IS exactly where the wound was actually located, as everybody can easily see in the Z-Film and the autopsy photographs and X-rays).

So, the autopsy photographs and X-rays show the gaping hole was "above the right ear"?

In 1972, Dr. John K. Lattimer examined the autopsy photographs and X-rays, and he testified to the Rockefeller Commission in 1975 that they show a “wound of entrance into the back of his skull” and a “large wound of exit on the front top of the President’s head” where the bullet “exited on the front of the head, just above the forehead.”

In February 1968, four years before Lattimer examined the autopsy material, Attorney General Ramsey Clark assembled a panel of four physicians to examine the autopsy photographs and X-rays, after which the “Clark Panel” issued a report stating that a bullet entered the skull in the “occipital region” and produced a small wound measuring .23 inches by .59 inches. The bullet then “passed forward” to “explosively fracture the right frontal and parietal bones as it emerged from the head.”

In March 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations wrote that after their Medical Panel viewed the autopsy photographs and listened to the pathologists’ testimony, the Medical Panel concluded, “The bullet exited in the top front area of the skull.”

[Tony Frank]

It is absolutely pathetic that Secret Service agents would claim that the Secret Service follow-up car was 85 feet away from the Presidential limousine. That would be an extremely serious violation, especially when the limo was traveling at such a slow speed, and it would seriously endanger the President.

But here they are making the claim and acting as if there's nothing wrong with the Presidential Detail being 85 feet away from the President while the crowds on the sides of Elm Street were much closer. With clowns like this making such outrageous statements in 2010, it makes one wonder how seriously they took their jobs back in November 1963.