The turn on to Elm ...

[Rick McTague]

18 hours ago, John Butler said:

 

The turn on Elm Street by the presidential motorcade is obscured by bad photography which we are supposed to accept as natural.  We are not allowed to think that something unnatural may have occurred to almost all the photography on the day of the assassination in Dealey Plaza.

This is the type of imagery we should have coming out of Dealey Plaza on the day of the assassination.  This can be blown up and looked at in detail.  Why we don’t have this can generally be explained one way.

Instead we have distant, distorted  blurred, and altered imagery to contend with such as this from Hughes.

 

 

 

John,

I am firmly convinced that this is the reason the press bus, with the army of professional photographers in it, was placed so far back in the Dallas motorcade.  In other motorcades, it was placed in front of the presidential limo to get the best view and shots of the president.  In Dallas, it was placed significantly further back to prevent nice, clear, detailed imagery that could be studied.  All we are left with is amateur imagery, with few exceptions (such as Ike Altgens).

You do bring up a good point: any evidence in the assassination that contradicts the WC findings (such as altered photographs, testimony, what the Parkland medical staff saw compared to the x-rays and autopsy photos, etc.) is to be ridiculed and explained away by people being "mistaken" or just plain lying.  

Thanks

[Dan Rice]

1 hour ago, Rick McTague said:

John,

I am firmly convinced that this is the reason the press bus, with the army of professional photographers in it, was placed so far back in the Dallas motorcade.  In other motorcades, it was placed in front of the presidential limo to get the best view and shots of the president.  In Dallas, it was placed significantly further back to prevent nice, clear, detailed imagery that could be studied.  All we are left with is amateur imagery, with few exceptions (such as Ike Altgens).

You do bring up a good point: any evidence in the assassination that contradicts the WC findings (such as altered photographs, testimony, what the Parkland medical staff saw compared to the x-rays and autopsy photos, etc.) is to be ridiculed and explained away by people being "mistaken" or just plain lying.  

Thanks

The whole press bus repositioning is quite suspicious.  Is there any record of who set this particular parade line up?

Edited January 3, 2019 by Daniel Rice

[David Josephs]

7 minutes ago, Daniel Rice said:

The whole press bus repositioning is quite suspicious.  Is there any record of who set this particular parade line up?

By way of example...  Here's the motorcade in Milwaukee

I think the men in coats and hats 3 cars back are the press pool...

Guess there wasn't a plan to take him out during this one...

[David Josephs]

Thanks Vince!

BORING  IS  INTERESTING

 

Without question, Secret Service agent Floyd M. Boring, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the White House Detail during the Kennedy Administration (SAIC Behn's direct assistant),bears a heavy burden in any analysis of JFK's mortal trip to the Lone Star state of  Texas in November of 1963, whether we view the President's murder as the act of a lone nut (Oswald) or as the result of a deadly  conspiracy.  Boring, who was not physically present in Texas with the President(that 'honor' went to a third-stringer, ASAIC Roy H. Kellerman),had just recently been with the President in Florida(11/18/63), where JFK visited Tampa, Miami, and Palm Beach.  According to Agent Sam Kinney, SAIC Jerry Behn was finally able to take a vacation coinciding with the time period of JFK's Texas trip, which left ASAIC Boring able to oversee things from his home in Washington, D. C. (you don't always have to be physically present to be in charge of things, such as when the SAIC of the Protective Research Section, Robert Bouck, monitored  the 11/9/63 Joseph Milteer threats made in Miami from the Executive Office Building in Washington).  In other words, Floyd Boring was in charge of PLANNING the Texas trip (based off my two interviews with Mr. Boring, 9/22/93 and 3/4/94, as well as an important reference on page 558 of Jim Bishop's "The Day

Kennedy was Shot", not to mention several conversations with Sam Kinney)!

 

It was during the President's last trip before the Texas tour, in Tampa, Florida, where Boring took it upon himself to order the agents who were riding in protective positions on the rear of  JFK's limo to dismount and return to the follow-up car (despite 5 April 1964 reports to the contrary¹, Sam Kinney, Dave Powers, Rufus Youngblood, Gerald Behn [author of  a report], Robert Bouck, John Norris, Abraham Bolden, Bob Lilly, Maurice Martineau, Marty Underwood, and, surprisingly, FLOYD BORING himself [author of a report and the primary sources for the other 4 reports; Clint Hill named him as the source  during his Warren Commission testimony]² told me that JFK did not restrict the agents from doing anything!).  By blaming JFK for this action, Boring was able to keep the attention away from himself.  In addition, by his absence from the Texas trip, Boring was kept out of the swirling controversies involving what should-and should not- have happened in regard to security matters (Behn was interviewed in Executive session of the HSCA , while Roy Kellerman, Chief James Rowley, and Inspector Kelley testified to both the Warren Commission and the HSCA) .WHY did Boring (and the others after him) blame JFK for this order? I was unable to get a definitive answer, but one thing is for certain: if John Ready and Clint Hill had ALREADY been stationed on the rear of the limo in Dallas during the shooting on Elm Street, these men would have been able to protect JFK from, at the very least, the fatal head shot that ultimately killed him(Greer and

Roberts inactions notwithstanding).

 

So, is that it?  Is that all Boring is responsible for (although quite important, nonetheless)?  Far from it:

 

1.  Gave Advance Agent Winston Lawson the Dallas assignment on 11/4/63³, coinciding with Behn's---or SOMEONE's---call to Sorrels.

2. Several days later,Lawson phoned Behn's office about the critical Trade Mart decision-Lawson wasn't sure he actually spoke to Behn.⁴  In light of the fact that Behn was dead set against going to the Trade Mart after seeing pictures of the catwalks, an excellent perch for snipers("We'll NEVER go there", he said⁵; along with Jerry Bruno and Ken O'Donnell, he wanted the Women's Building, which the Secret Service conceded was the better choice from a security standpoint⁶), and the fact that Kellerman did not become involved with any planning until four days later (11/8/63),it appears quite likely that Lawson spoke to Boring and received information which was conducive to some kind of approval for this site as a selected spot for JFK's speech (which, in turn, had a direct bearing on the potential route choices , the speed of the limousine, and the security of the building !

3. Of the 3 known PRS checks of potential threats to the President in Texas, with the particular focus on Dallas, Boring was involved in at least 2, all three of which yielded NO information at all, which Roy Kellerman (to the WC⁷) and Abe Bolden (to me) both said was very unusual [Lawson inquired into the first check on 11/8/63-Boring told him there wouldn't be any information of any consequence until this date; Kellerman inquired into the second check on 11/10/63-he even said Boring was probably involved with this particular inquiry; Youngblood inquired into the third known check on the morning of 11/22/63 thru an UNNAMED agent⁸].  What makes this even more unbelievable is the following-

4. As the agent in charge of Kennedy's trip to Florida, Boring had to have been much aware of the Joseph Milteer threats, as well as the anti-Castro Cuban Community's threats AND the organized crime threat, which, according to Sam Kinney, gave the agents a scare down there⁹.  A motorcade in Miami was deemed unwise (it was not canceled, it was nipped in the bud), as the Secret Service (including Bouck in Washington and the agents from the Miami field office)  believed via heir knowledge of the aforementioned threats.
   However, although Advance Agent David Grant came from Florida to assist in motorcade security in Dallas on the evening of 11/18/63 (along with Donald Lawton, Sam Kinney, Emory Roberts, and Bert deFreese later on¹⁰), and Boring was in charge of planning the Texas trip, the threat knowledge was NOT relayed to the advance team in Dallas!!!  Perhaps this is why Jerry Behn told me he was asked about the Florida trip in Executive Session of the HSCA-Behn wasn't on this trip either, and none of his testimony was published...

5. David Grant was a key player in the planning of the motorcade route (which was CHANGED shortly after his arrival on 11/18/63¹¹-prior to this date, only Main Street was mentioned, although, as Sam Kinney and Win Lawson told me, there were ALTERNATIVE routes¹² Behn told me the route was indeed changed, yet another matter the HSCA brought up in its 'private' forum¹³), the "uniquely insecure" removal of  flanking  motorcycles(in direct contrast to the prior Texas motorcades in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth  on 11/21-11/22/63!¹⁴), the deletion of  the Dallas police squad car¹⁵ (Chief Curry Wanted this car there), the reshuffling of the motorcade order ( with Lawson¹⁶), and the placement of the press, Dr. Burkley,  Godfrey  McHugh and Ted Clifton  to the REAR of the motorcade procession(Burkley protested, McHugh told CFTR  radio this was "UNUSUAL", and photographer Tom Dillard said this effectively  and uniquely brought them out of the picture, as the press usually rode on aflatbed truck directly in front of JFK's limo, not to mention the press buses which usually follows the follow-up car...¹⁷).  Grant(who was involved in the drinking incident¹⁸)  worked hand-in-glove with Boring in Florida, too...

6. On 11/21/63, Dallas Sheriff Bill Decker agreed to offer Dallas Agent Forrest Sorrels his "full support" to motorcade security for 11/22/63 (as verified in Sorrel's report published in the WC volumes¹⁹). Yet, on the morning of 11/22/63, according to Roger Craig (and as verified in several films/photos), Decker had his men standing idle on the corner of Main and Houston as "spectators" and nothing more.²⁰ According to author/ researcher Gary Shaw²¹ and Dr. Grant Leitma ²² (a Maryland researcher) these unusual standdown orders came TO Decker via a call from a still unknown source in the nation’s capital (recall that Chief Curry stated in his book that the security arrangements were directed from Washington ²³)!  If true, it is quite possible that Mr. Boring, stationed in Washington and  in charge of planning the Texas trip, gave these orders...

 

Boring has a rich background- he was President Truman's temporary Chauffeur (Bill Greer drove Truman, as well) and, on 11/1/50, while Truman was Sleeping in Blair House during the renovation of the White House, two Puerto Rican Nationalists began their assassination attempt with guns ablaze while Boring was TEMPORARILY in charge of the White House Detail for that day (see Baughman's book and

McCullough's book on Truman)and guarding Blair House(with agents Vincent Mroz and several White House policeman).As it turned out, Boring fired the only official bullets ever fired by a Secret Service agent in their long history of protecting the nation's presidents²⁴-he killed one of them, Grisselia Torreselo, while the other, Oscar Collazo,was wounded but survived(Sam Kinney later guarded him in the hospital; Collazo, who was later inexplicably pardoned by Jimmy Carter, passed away in 1994²⁵)!

 

Interestingly, another agent, Stu Stout, was guarding Truman inside Blair House, fending off the many shouts of angry housekeepers with his Thompson submachine gun, refusing to budge from his assigned position in the chance that the assassins made their way passed Boring (Stout was later commended by Secret Service officials for his action, the housekeepers notwithstanding²⁶). Ironically, on 11/22/63,

while President Kennedy was the victim of a successful assassination, Stout assumed the very same position-safely away inside a building (the Trade Mart).Kinney and Boring told me that  Stout died not long after 11/22/63, the first agent to die after the assassination (cause unknown...they wouldn't say).I guess it is true that history does repeat itself from time to time...

 

Boring, whose code name was Deacon (later used by Jimmy Carter!²⁷), served in the Secret Service from FDR's administration until 1967, when he retired as an Inspector during the Johnson administration (although Youngblood's book [ghost-written] states that both Boring and Behn became Inspectors -a highly coveted position of power-after the assassination, Behn told me emphatically that he did NOT become an Inspector, although Floyd Boring did(Behn considered his January 1965 transfer out of the

White House Detail a "demotion", as he went with another former SAIC, Stu Knight [from LBJ's detail],to a division known as "Special Investigations", which was a non-protective function, whose goal was to investigate violations of the Gold Act, among others²⁸).In fact, it is ironic that Boring appears to have been the only agent in a supervisory capacity in JFK's DETAIL to have benefited after the murder(Rowley took much heat, before, during, and after both his Warren Commission and HSCA testimony, and was later replaced as Chief in 1972 during the Watergate crisis by none other than Stu Knight;  Behn retired in 1967 and went to the Post Office Department [his boss was JFK Aide  Bill Hartigan, the same man who would later interview Behn for an extremely tight-lipped JFK Library Oral History in 1976]; Roy Kellerman's power  was usurped at Parkland Hospital by his deputy, Emory Roberts, and he would later become an Assistant Administrator in charge of payroll and the like-a desk job[he retired in 1968])!

 

Although ASAIC of  V.P. Detail Rufus Youngblood , who  was to become the SAIC of this particular detail on 11/25/63, advancing ahead of the equally-absent  Stu Knight,  went on to become one of the ASAIC's of LBJ"s  Presidential Detail (due to LBJ's call to Rowley), he was, of course, already an "LBJ man", so to speak (Youngblood  became one of the ASAIC's of the White House Detail immediately after the murder[Behn, Boring, and Kellerman temporarily kept there nominal positions] until January 1965, when Youngblood became THE SAIC of the White House Detail[we already know what happened to Behn and Knight] with Kellerman now HIS deputy along with a new deputy ASAIC, Thomas "Lem" Johns, another Dealey Plaza veteran²⁹).According to Sam Kinney, Emory Roberts became the Appointment Secretary to LBJ, and Sam assisted Emory(Emory died of an alleged heart attack in the late 1960's, the same time an unknown agent took his own life with a handgun, according to Agent Marty Venker³⁰.  Interestingly, Mrs. Juanita Roberts, LBJ's Chief private secretary, MAY have been Emory's wife, due to the circumstances of his later position-I'll try to find out...).  Nevertheless, it was Boring who immediately advanced the highest and the fastest after the tragedy (Knight became the Chief 9 years later, while Agent Clint Hill was SAIC of the White House Detail during the Ford administration, some 10-12 years later).

 

Boring, now 80 years old and a partial stroke victim, still has an agile mind; it is a crime that he was not interviewed by either the Warren Commission or the HSCA-of the book's he was interviewed in (former Chief Baughman's "Secret Service Chief" and McCullough's "Truman"), there is Nothing but fodder for Truman historians.  The only Kennedy book he is quoted in, Manchester's "The Death of a President"³¹, is a true enigma-Boring was NOT interviewed for this book(see the book's endnotes; also, Boring confirmed this to me on two occasions)!Alas, the story is not over just yet:  in regard to ANOTHER author we have come across who is known for his errors and ALLEGED interviews, Gerald Posner, during the course of my research, I attempted to find out if what Posner claims at the end of his book was true-that, via Hamilton Brown, the Executive Secretary of the Former Agents of the Secret Service(formerly on Joseph Kennedy's Detail on 11/22/63, first name actually "Percy"), Posner was able to locate and speak with several former agents³². Since none were credited in the text or his endnotes, I began to get suspicious;

this was heightened when Ann Eisele of the Washington Post called me in November 1993 and wanted to get in touch with Brown(along with  some Italian and English journalists, I was contacted a lot that fall in regards to the Secret Service).  I gave her the number after I received confirmation that a) she was who

she said she was and b) that she would NOT let Brown know I gave her the number (as readers may be aware, Brown told me angrily to "cease and desist from contacting anymore of my associates", and I did not want to incur his wrath again!³³).Even under these circumstances, with her impeccable credentials and no causes for alarm, Brown would not communicate with her or give her ANY information on how to

get in touch with former agents (although that was his job, and she was working with Newsweek and CBS for an Oswald-did-it piece for TV and print)!So, I thought-why the hell would Brown help this relative nobody named Gerald Posner out unless... hmmm....unless, just as Posner received exclusive access to Nosenko from the CIA in exchange for a book to their "liking", Brown was somehow assured by Posner

-and Random House- of the same thing.

 

However, there is one little wrinkle in this story-there was ONE agent who I was able to confirm who WAS contacted by Posner, and it was THIS agent that referred him to Brown for reason or reasons unclear:  Floyd M. Boring³⁴.

 

 

Boring is interesting.

 

 

3/22/95 by Vincent M. Palamara

 

1 18H803-809

 

2 2H136-137

 

3 4H336

 

4 4H337

 

5 " The Lone Star- the Life of John Connally" by James Reston, Jr. (New York: Harper and Row, 1989) p. 258; 11HSCA 516; HSCA Report 12/13/77-interview with Jerry Bruno

 

6 21H546; 11HSCA516

 

7 2H107-108; 11HSCA523

 

8 "The Third Alternative-Survivor's Guilt: the Secret Service and the JFK Murder" by Vince Palamara (self-published,1994) pp. 11,50

 

9 author's interview with Sam Kinney 4/15/94

 

10 WR421; 18H789; 17H601; author's interviews with Winston Lawson and Sam Kinney

 

11 author's interview with Gerald Behn 9/27/92

 

12 see also 4H326

 

13 author's interview with Gerald Behn 9/27/92

 

14 11HSCA527-529; NBC video of Houston motorcade 11/21/63

 

15 11HSCA530

 

16 25H786; author's interview with Winston Lawson 9/27/92; "The Third Alternative", pp18,49

 

17"The Third Alternative", p.49; Tom Dillard on C-SPAN 11/22/93

 

18 18H684

 

19 21H547

 

20 "Two Men in Dallas" video; Hughes film

 

21 author's phone conversation with Gary Shaw 8/23/93

 

22 letter to author 12/14/93

 

23 "JFK Assassination File" by Jesse Curry, p. 9

 

24author's interviews with Floyd Boring, 9/22/93 and 3/4/94

 

25 author's interview with Sam Kinney 3/5/94; "Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent" by George Rush (New York: Pocket Books, 1988), p. 133

 

26 "The Secret Service Story" by Michael Dorman (New York: Dell, 1967), P.69

 

27 "The Death of a President" by William Manchester (New York: Harper and Row, 1988 Edition), p. xxi; "Air Force One: The Planes and the Presidents-Flight II" video (1991)

 

28 author's interview with Rufus Youngblood 2/8/94; author's interview withStu Knight 10/22/92

 

29 author's interviews with Rufus Youngblood, 10/22/92 and 2/8/94

 

30 "Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent", pp. 216-217

 

31 "The Death of a President", p. 37; the author contacted Manchester about This dramatic contradiction in August of 1993, but he refused to show me his notes or any other means with which to back up his published claim

 

32 "Case Closed" by Gerald Posner (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 503

 

33 author's interview with Hamilton Brown 9/30/92 (former agents' Bob Lilly and Sam Kinney were offended at Brown's conduct, but the Secret Service HAS traditionally advised against ANY interviews other than those channeled through the "official" Public Affairs Department)

 

34 Boring told me that he did not tell Posner anything other than Brown's phone number, and he was unsure if Posner even followed through with the call (it is very interesting that Mr. Posner picked up on Boring's importance to the assassination).

 

[John Butler]

Thanks Rick,

The motorcade planning, organization, and conduct through Dallas on Main, Houston, and Elm has strange aspects.  One of the stranger things I have noted is the Advance Car, the first element of the motorcade.  On board was one person, Capt. Perdue W. Lawerence. 

There is a thread on this in the forum:

I think they got this wrong in the first part of the thread.  I haven't read all of it.  So, people might not know this.  The Advance Car, not the Pilot Car, led the motorcade and  left the motorcade before it reached Dealey Plaza.  It turned right onto Market Street and proceeded north. 

Why it didn't stay with the motorcade I couldn't guess.  Did it have anything to do with the assassination?  Again, I don't know. 

 

I'll go back and read the William Kelly discussion and report if anything is of significance.

PS

I read through the Kelly discussion hurriedly.  I don't think they figured this out.

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by John Butler

[John Butler]

Not all has been said about the turn onto Elm Street.

The turn on Elm Street by the presidential limo happens during the Zapruder Gap and lasts at least 14-15 seconds or more.  We don’t get to see what happens there even though Zapruder said he filmed it or said he didn’t turn his camera off.

I am always astounded by the notion that no one sees the viewing perspective of the presidential limousine as I do.  It does not seem important to other people that we only get to see the right or passenger side of the vehicle in one film (Zapruder) for decades and two photographers (Weaver and Skaggs).  No one photographed the vehicle from the passenger side on Houston and Elm.  Truly amazing.  And, only one person on Main as the vehicle approached Dealey Plaza.  If you survey the available visual record you can find at least 35+ photographers who are unknown.  I wonder where their film vanished too. 

There is an additional right-side view of the limousine on Main in the AMIPA film.  This film wasn’t published until 2004.  That’s 41 years before it was seen by the public and nearly all of the theorizing about the Kennedy Assassination had already occurred.

There are ways to look into the Zapruder Gap and one of these is the Tina Towner film.  The Tina Towner film is the only assassination film to show the turn onto Elm Street and the passage of the presidential limo past the TSBD.  Others will show you brief vague, often distorted views of the presidential limousine in the intersection and front of the TSBD. 

We are told see nothing happened there and the Towner film proves that.  It is made to counter critics of the other films saying that they skip or don’t clearly show anything concerning the presidential limousine in front of the TSBD.  Little else does with the exception of Phil Willis and Robert Croft.  Croft shows only the presidential limousine past the TSBD doorway and not the turn onto Elm while Willis shows a close up of the limo and little else.  If you were Croft, Betzner, or Willis, wouldn’t you take a pic of the limousine turning into the intersection.  In other words wouldn’t you take a photo of the president at his first appearance and then later ones. 

The Towner film is a badly done animation.  The others make a mockery of films and photos in showing nothing for various reasons or another.  I don’t accept that. 

The presidential limo seems to float through the turn onto Elm with no problems.  We don’t see in that turn what many witnesses saw that contradict the film.  The imagery of the film is poorly done as I will attempt to show in the following frames.

First, we have a scene where the limo and crew sail past the Court Records Building in their turn onto Elm Street.  From the following frame or others, if you just showed the CRB alone, you would not be able to recognize the building shown as the CRB.  At the distance Towner filmed you should clearly see the CRB and all its details.  You can see windows on buildings way to the east on Elm Street but, no windows on the CRB.

And, then there is this scene which I have posted before.  The “hit X” frame:

Some will claim this is not writing but simply a film defect.  You never see this frame in a normal run.  You need to look at the film frame by frame to see this and other similar markings.  This says to me that the JFK assassination happened in the Zapruder Gap and selected scenes from the Gap were moved down to the Grassy Knoll area so that the Patsy could be framed.

The next frame has notes.  The frame also suggests alteration with material from another time and film added to the Towner film.  I will list them in case they are hard to read.

1. We can see in the doorway the white hats of Dallas Policemen.  This indicates that part of the scene occurred after the assassination.

2. Kennedy’s head shadow is a rectangular black patch hiding his head wound.

3. In the doorway, where is the group of people we see in other photos such as Altgens 6?  They should be seen clearly.  Tina was not standing directly across from the TSBD doorway.

There are more examples of alteration present in the film but, these should serve to make the point of the Towner films worthiness.

Edited January 5, 2019 by John Butler