Post by John Duncan on Apr 24, 2020 20:29:32 GMT -5
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Dallas Motorcade Security
By Gil Jesus 3/2003
The fact remains that the Secret Service (Winston Lawson) changed the arrangements that the Dallas Police wanted for the motorcade on the night before the President's visit. Below is the testimony of the principles who were THERE and should have known what happened. It is reposted by request:
THE REMOVAL OF THE MOTORCYCLES FROM THE SIDE OF JFK'S LIMO, THE REPOSITIONING OF THEM AND THE REDUCTION OF THEIR NUMBER FOR THE DALLAS MOTORCADE
Secret Service Agent Sam Kinney contradicted Gerald Posner's contention that the President and his staff had requested the bubbletop removed, the agents off the running boards, and the motorcycles moved to the back of the limousine. (Posner p. 223)
According to researcher Vince Palamara, who has done enormous amounts of research on the Secret Service role in the assassination of the President, no less than nine agents told him that Kennedy NEVER restricted the agents or interfered with them doing anything. There were NEVER any orders from him to have the men removed from the running boards of the limo or do anything with regards to security. Kinney also told Palamara that Presidential Assistant Kenny O'Donnell did not interfere with these matters either. Kinney was quite adamant that Kennedy did not make any requests to move the motorcycles to the rear of his limo.
Kinney should know. He was there. Anthony Marsh was not. He was the agent driving the Secret Service back-up car.
The moving of the motorcycles, he said, was a Secret Service decision. It certainly is backed up by the Dallas Police, who said after the assassination that the motorcycles were moved to the rear of the car at the request of the Secret Service. In addition, the Secret Service reduced the number of motorcycles that the Dallas Police had planned to ride beside the President's limo from four on each side to two on each side.
DPD motorcycle officer Marrion L. Baker---To the Warren Commission. (From 3H 244)
Mr. Baker: At this particular day in the office up there before we went out, I was, my partner and I, we received instructions to ride right beside the President's car.
Mr. Belin: About when was this that you received these instructions?
Mr. Baker: Let's see, I believe we went to work early that day, somewhere around 8 o'clock.
Mr. Belin: And from whom did you receive your original instructions to ride by the side of the President's car?
Mr. Baker: Our sergeant is the one who gave us the instructions. This is all made up in the captain's office, I believe.
Mr. Belin: All right.
Mr. Dulles: Captain Curry?
Mr. Baker: Chief Curry; our captain is Captain Lawrence.
Mr. Belin: Were these instructions ever changed?
Mr. Baker: Yes, sir. When we got to the airport, our sergeant instructed me that there wouldn't be anybody riding beside the President's car.
Mr. Belin: Did he tell you why or why not?
Mr. Baker: No, sir.
DPD motorcycle officer Billy Joe Martin----To the Warren Commission. (6H 293)
Mr. Ball: Did you at any time come abreast of the President's car in the motorcade?
Mr. Martin: No, sir.
Mr. Ball: Were you under certain instructions as to how far behind the car you were to keep?
Mr. Martin: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball: What were those instructions?
Mr. Martin: They [Secret Service] instructed us that they didn't want anyone riding past the President's car and that we were to ride to the rear, to the rear of his car, about the rear bumper.
Mr. Ball: I think that's all, Officer.
In "Murder From Within" by Fred Newcomb & Perry Adams (1974), p.33:
Martin is quoted as saying that "at morning muster the four [Presidential motorcycle officers] were ordered that under no circumstances were they to leave their positions regardless of what happened.”
And Jean Hill: ["JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness" (1992), pp. 112-114] quoting Martin: "...they told us out at Love Field right after Kennedy's plane landed...Well, while Kennedy was busy shaking hands with all the well-wishers at the airport, Johnson's Secret Service people came over to the motorcycle cops and gave us a bunch of instructions...They also ordered us into the damdest escort formation I've ever seen.
Ordinarily, you bracket the car with four motorcycles, one on each fender. But this time, they told the four of us [Martin, Hargis, Chaney, & Jackson] assigned to the President's car there'd be no forward escorts. We were to stay well to the back and not let ourselves get ahead of the car's rear wheels under any circumstances. I'd never heard of a formation like that, much less ridden in one, but they said they wanted to let the crowds have an unrestricted view of the president. Well, I guess somebody got an 'unrestricted view' of him, all right."
Asst. Chief of DPD Charles Batchelor, Deputy Chief George L. Lumpkin, Deputy Chief M.W. Stevenson--- 11/30/63 report to Chief Curry:(21 H 571)
"[DPD Captain Perdue] Lawrence then said there would be four (4) motorcycles on either side of the motorcade immediately to the rear of the President's vehicle [as borne out by his 11/21/63 report]. MR. LAWSON [OF THE SECRET SERVICE] STATED THAT THIS WAS TOO MANY, that HE [Lawson] thought two (2) motorcycles on either side would be sufficient, about even with the rear fender of the President's car." [emphasis added]
The Dallas Police had originally planned to put four motorcycles on each side of the President's car.
DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence Exhibit re: motorcycle distribution DATED NOVEMBER
21, 1963, the day before the assassination (20H 489; same as HSCA JFK Exhibit F-679):
In addition to DPD motorcycles officers B.W. Hargis and B.J. Martin, H.B. MCLAIN AND J.W. COURSON WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF JFK'S LIMOUSINE. Also, in addition to DPD motorcycle officers D.L.Jackson and J.M. Chaney, C.A. HAYGOOD AND M.L. BAKER WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OFJFK'S LIMOUSINE.
DPD Chief Jesse Curry discusses the DPD plan for four motorcycles on each side and how Winston Lawson reduced it to two and then moved them to the rear of the car---To the Warren Commission:(4H 171)
Mr. Curry: In the planning of this motorcade, we had had more motorcycles lined up to be with the President's car, but the Secret Service didn't want that many.
Mr. Rankin: Did they tell you why?
Mr. Curry: We actually had two on each side but we wanted four on each side and they asked us to drop out some of them and back down the motorcade, along the motorcade, which we did.
Mr. Rankin: How many motorcycles did you have?
Mr. Curry. I think we had four on each side of him.
Mr. Rankin. How many did you want to have?
Mr. Curry: We actually had two on each side side but we wanted four on each side and they asked us to drop out some of them and back down the motorcade along the motorcade, which we did.
Mr. Rankin: So that you in fact only had two on each side of his car?
Mr. Curry: Two on each side and they asked them to remain at the rear fender so if the crowd moved in on him they could move in to protect him from the crowd.
Mr. Rankin. Who asked him to stay at the rear fender?
Mr. Curry: I believe Mr. Lawson.
Mr. Rankin. The Secret Service man?
Mr. Curry: Yes, sir.
DPD Captain Perdue W. Lawrence testifies that the night before the Dallas motorcade, the number of motorcycles were reduced and they were moved back by a Secret Service man. (most likely Lawson, since he indicates that he knew who Sorrels was)--- To the Warren Commission. (7 H 580-581)
Mr. Griffin: At the time of your first meeting with Chief Batchelor werd you given any special instructions about the protection of the President?
Captain Lawrence: None.
Mr. Griffin: When was the next time you received some instructions from one of your superiors?
Captain Lawrence: The next time was, to the best of my knowledge, the motorcade assignments--possibly 2 days before the President arrived---I asked how we would escort this motorcade.
Mr. Griffin: And with whom did you discuss that?
Captain Lawrence:Chief Lunday and Chief Batchelor.
Mr. Griffin: Was anybody from the Secret Service present at that time?
Captain Lawrence: Not at that time no.
Mr. Griffin: What were you told about the purpose of the officers that were being provided, if anything?
Captain Lawrence: I was told that there would be these lead motorcycle officers, and that we would also have these other officers alongside the President's car and the Vice President's car, and some of the others that would be in the motorcade, and approximately how many officers would be needed for the escort, and at tha time I had prepared a list of 18 solo motorcycle officers, this.included three solo sergeants.
I was also instructed that about this motorcade--that when it reached Stemmons Expressway, Chief Batchelor told me that he wanted a solo motorcycle officer in each traffic lane, each of the five traffic lanes waiting for the motorcade, so that no vehicles, on Stemmons Expressway would pass the motorcade at all and he wanted these solo motorcycle officers to pull away from the escort and get up there on Stemmons Freeway and block the traffic, and some of these officers, he stated, would pull past the Presidential car.
Mr. Griffin: When did that conversation take place?
Captain Lawrence: That conversation took place about the 20th of November---2 days before.
Mr. Griffin: Now, did you receive another set of instructions or orders after that?
Captain LAWRENCE. Yes; on the evening of November 21, this was the first time that I had attended any security meeting at all in regards to this motorcade. At approximately 5 p.m. I was told to report to the conference room on the third floor, and when I arrived at the conference room the deputy chiefs were in there, there were members of the Secret Service--Mr. Sorrels, Captain Gannaway, Captain Souter of radio patrol, and Capt. Glen King, deputy chiefs, assistant chiefs, and Chief Curry, and one gentleman, who I assume was in charge of the security for the Secret Service. This was the first time I had attended any conferences in regard to the security of this escort, and I listened in on most of the discussion and I heard one of the Secret Service men say that President Kennedy did not desire any motorcycle officer directly on each side of him, between.him and the crowd, but he would want the officers to the rear. This conversation I overheard as Chief Batchelor was using a blackboard showing how he planned to handle this--how plans had been made to cover the escort.
Mr. Griffin: Was there ever any discussion that you heard about taking precautions designed to prevent some sort of assault on the President that would be more severe than simply placards, picketing, and people throwing rotten eggs and vegetables, and things like that?
Captain Lawrence: Not to my knowledge, other than the fact that the Secret Service man in there--when it was mentioned about these motorcycle officers alongside the Presidents car, he said, "No, these officers should be back and if any people started a rush toward the car, if there was any movement at all where the President was endangered in any way, these officers would be in a position to gun their motors and get between them and the Presidential car," and he mentioned, of course, the security and safety of the President and those words were mentioned.
Secret Service Agent Winston G. Lawson---To the Warren Commission: (4 H 338)
DULLES: Do you recall that any orders were given by or on behalf of the President with regard to the location of those motorcycles that were particularly attached to his car?'
LAWSON: NOT SPECIFICALLY AT THIS INSTANCE ORDERS FROM HIM. [emphasis added--- careful not to perjure himself, Lawson would go on to say "it was my UNDERSTANDING that he did not like a lot of motorcycles surrounding the car"]
For a member of the United States Secret Service, an advance man on whose expertise the life of the President of the United States depends on, to say that he removed the protection of the President not because of an order, but because of an UNDERSTANDING he had, in an excessively hostile city like Dallas, is either the work of the most bumbling, inept agent in the world, or the action of a conspirator. With all of the rumors that the SS was getting on 11/21 that an assassination would be attempted in Dallas the following day, either this agent was an idiot or he was part of a plot.
Chief Curry named Lawson by name as the Secret Service man who both cut the motorcycle escort from four on each side to two on each side and then deployed them to the rear of the President's limo. Capt. Lawrence said that the safety and security of the President "were mentioned", probably by one of the Dallas Police Brass. After the attack on Adlai Stevenson, they had reason to be worried. In addition, Capt. Lawrence's testimony was that Lawson said that the President did not want any motorcycle officer directly on his side. This is Lawson at his lying best. Kennedy said no such thing, and when faced with the possibility of perjuring himself before the Commission or telling the truth, Lawson tells the Commission the truth.
But Capt. Lawrence is supported by a memo dated 11/30/63 sent to Chief Curry by Assistant Chief Charles Batchelor, Deputy Chief George L. Lumpkin and Deputy Chief M.W.Stevenson, all of whom were at the meeting and all of whom heard what Lawson had said.
But the Commission didn't push the issue, it did not ask Lawson WHY he told the Dallas Police that Kennedy did not want motorcycles on the side of his limo when, by his own admission, the President did not say that. They failed to ask Lawson why he lied to the Dallas Police and why he made so many changes to the motorcade, all of which did nothing to protect the President, but all of which served to compromise the President's safety and result in his murder.
As a former military-intelligence officer, the Commission needed to investigate Lawson's background : his associations while he was in the military and after he was discharged. They needed to look at his finances, his job performance reviews and any vices or addictions that he may have had.
They didn't do that. HSCA Volume 11, page 529:
"The Secret Service's alteration of the original Dallas Police Department motorcycle deployment plan prevented the use of maximum possible security precautions.."
RE-ARRANGING OF THE CARS IN THE MOTORCADE DMN reporter Tom Dillard---"We lost our position at the airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, NORMALLY A TRUCK PRECEDES THE PRESIDENT ON THESE THINGS [MOTORCADES] AND CERTAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESS RIDE WITH THE TRUCK. In this case, as you know, we didn't have any and this car That I was in was to take photographs which was of spot-news nature." [Emphasis added].
Dillard forcefully said the same thing on C-Span on 11/20/93, telling the TV audience that the flatbed truck was "canceled at the last minute" and they were put in Chevrolet convertibles "which totally put us out of the picture." (all previous trips, inc. Florida, has press/ photographers very close in front and behind JFK's limousine, inc. WH photographer Cecil Stoughton, who rode in the SS follow-up car from July 1963 until 11/21/63)
Henry Burroughs, AP photographer (rode in Camera Car #2)---"I was a member of the White House pool aboard Air Force One when we arrived with JFK in Dallas on that fateful day. We, the pool, were dismayed to find our pool car shoved back.to about #11 position in the motorcade. We protested, but it was too late.
From Jim Bishop's "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" (1992 edition): p. 133 "The ninth car was a Chevrolet convertible for White House motion picture photographers. It was impossible to take pictures in a position so remote from the President.
Behind it were two more automobiles with photographers." pp. 133-134 " The press was displeased with its place in the parade. Some felt they could have reported a better story watching the motorcade from any of the buildings downtown. Even their wire representatives- AP, UPI, and American Broadcasting- sitting forward in a special car, were six hundred feet behind the Kennedys and could see little except the Mayor of Dallas directly ahead."
Seth Kantor's notes----"Will Fritz's men called off nite before by SS. Had planned to ride closed car w/ machine guns in car behind Pres." (which could mean someplace behind JFK's car, as was the case in Chicago, IL, on 3/23/6310 & New York on 11/15/63)
Milton Wright, Texas Highway Patrolman (driver of Mayor Cabell's car)--- "As I recall, prior to the President arriving at the airport we were already staged on the tarmac. I do not recall what position I was in at that time but it was not #1 (the number taped to his car's windshield). At the last minute there was a lot of shuffling and I ended up in the 5th vehicle. My vehicle was the last to leave downtown after the shooting because the police set up a road block behind my car."
General Godfrey McHugh (rode in VIP car)--- was asked to sit in a car farther back in the motorcade, rather than "normally, what I would do between the driver and Secret Service agent in charge of trip"- he admitted this was "unusual". Ordinarily McHugh rode in the Presidential limousine in the front seat. This was the first time he was instructed not to ride in the car so that all attention would be focused on the President to accentuate full exposure."
In his previous stops in Texas on November 21-22, the President had EIGHTEEN FLANKING motorcycles as an escort.
In Dallas he had four and none of them were flanking--all moved to the rear. The HSCA labelled this "uniquely insecure".
Quote off
Dallas Motorcade Security
By Gil Jesus 3/2003
The fact remains that the Secret Service (Winston Lawson) changed the arrangements that the Dallas Police wanted for the motorcade on the night before the President's visit. Below is the testimony of the principles who were THERE and should have known what happened. It is reposted by request:
THE REMOVAL OF THE MOTORCYCLES FROM THE SIDE OF JFK'S LIMO, THE REPOSITIONING OF THEM AND THE REDUCTION OF THEIR NUMBER FOR THE DALLAS MOTORCADE
Secret Service Agent Sam Kinney contradicted Gerald Posner's contention that the President and his staff had requested the bubbletop removed, the agents off the running boards, and the motorcycles moved to the back of the limousine. (Posner p. 223)
According to researcher Vince Palamara, who has done enormous amounts of research on the Secret Service role in the assassination of the President, no less than nine agents told him that Kennedy NEVER restricted the agents or interfered with them doing anything. There were NEVER any orders from him to have the men removed from the running boards of the limo or do anything with regards to security. Kinney also told Palamara that Presidential Assistant Kenny O'Donnell did not interfere with these matters either. Kinney was quite adamant that Kennedy did not make any requests to move the motorcycles to the rear of his limo.
Kinney should know. He was there. Anthony Marsh was not. He was the agent driving the Secret Service back-up car.
The moving of the motorcycles, he said, was a Secret Service decision. It certainly is backed up by the Dallas Police, who said after the assassination that the motorcycles were moved to the rear of the car at the request of the Secret Service. In addition, the Secret Service reduced the number of motorcycles that the Dallas Police had planned to ride beside the President's limo from four on each side to two on each side.
DPD motorcycle officer Marrion L. Baker---To the Warren Commission. (From 3H 244)
Mr. Baker: At this particular day in the office up there before we went out, I was, my partner and I, we received instructions to ride right beside the President's car.
Mr. Belin: About when was this that you received these instructions?
Mr. Baker: Let's see, I believe we went to work early that day, somewhere around 8 o'clock.
Mr. Belin: And from whom did you receive your original instructions to ride by the side of the President's car?
Mr. Baker: Our sergeant is the one who gave us the instructions. This is all made up in the captain's office, I believe.
Mr. Belin: All right.
Mr. Dulles: Captain Curry?
Mr. Baker: Chief Curry; our captain is Captain Lawrence.
Mr. Belin: Were these instructions ever changed?
Mr. Baker: Yes, sir. When we got to the airport, our sergeant instructed me that there wouldn't be anybody riding beside the President's car.
Mr. Belin: Did he tell you why or why not?
Mr. Baker: No, sir.
DPD motorcycle officer Billy Joe Martin----To the Warren Commission. (6H 293)
Mr. Ball: Did you at any time come abreast of the President's car in the motorcade?
Mr. Martin: No, sir.
Mr. Ball: Were you under certain instructions as to how far behind the car you were to keep?
Mr. Martin: Yes, sir.
Mr. Ball: What were those instructions?
Mr. Martin: They [Secret Service] instructed us that they didn't want anyone riding past the President's car and that we were to ride to the rear, to the rear of his car, about the rear bumper.
Mr. Ball: I think that's all, Officer.
In "Murder From Within" by Fred Newcomb & Perry Adams (1974), p.33:
Martin is quoted as saying that "at morning muster the four [Presidential motorcycle officers] were ordered that under no circumstances were they to leave their positions regardless of what happened.”
And Jean Hill: ["JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness" (1992), pp. 112-114] quoting Martin: "...they told us out at Love Field right after Kennedy's plane landed...Well, while Kennedy was busy shaking hands with all the well-wishers at the airport, Johnson's Secret Service people came over to the motorcycle cops and gave us a bunch of instructions...They also ordered us into the damdest escort formation I've ever seen.
Ordinarily, you bracket the car with four motorcycles, one on each fender. But this time, they told the four of us [Martin, Hargis, Chaney, & Jackson] assigned to the President's car there'd be no forward escorts. We were to stay well to the back and not let ourselves get ahead of the car's rear wheels under any circumstances. I'd never heard of a formation like that, much less ridden in one, but they said they wanted to let the crowds have an unrestricted view of the president. Well, I guess somebody got an 'unrestricted view' of him, all right."
Asst. Chief of DPD Charles Batchelor, Deputy Chief George L. Lumpkin, Deputy Chief M.W. Stevenson--- 11/30/63 report to Chief Curry:(21 H 571)
"[DPD Captain Perdue] Lawrence then said there would be four (4) motorcycles on either side of the motorcade immediately to the rear of the President's vehicle [as borne out by his 11/21/63 report]. MR. LAWSON [OF THE SECRET SERVICE] STATED THAT THIS WAS TOO MANY, that HE [Lawson] thought two (2) motorcycles on either side would be sufficient, about even with the rear fender of the President's car." [emphasis added]
The Dallas Police had originally planned to put four motorcycles on each side of the President's car.
DPD Captain Perdue Lawrence Exhibit re: motorcycle distribution DATED NOVEMBER
21, 1963, the day before the assassination (20H 489; same as HSCA JFK Exhibit F-679):
In addition to DPD motorcycles officers B.W. Hargis and B.J. Martin, H.B. MCLAIN AND J.W. COURSON WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF JFK'S LIMOUSINE. Also, in addition to DPD motorcycle officers D.L.Jackson and J.M. Chaney, C.A. HAYGOOD AND M.L. BAKER WERE SLATED TO RIDE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OFJFK'S LIMOUSINE.
DPD Chief Jesse Curry discusses the DPD plan for four motorcycles on each side and how Winston Lawson reduced it to two and then moved them to the rear of the car---To the Warren Commission:(4H 171)
Mr. Curry: In the planning of this motorcade, we had had more motorcycles lined up to be with the President's car, but the Secret Service didn't want that many.
Mr. Rankin: Did they tell you why?
Mr. Curry: We actually had two on each side but we wanted four on each side and they asked us to drop out some of them and back down the motorcade, along the motorcade, which we did.
Mr. Rankin: How many motorcycles did you have?
Mr. Curry. I think we had four on each side of him.
Mr. Rankin. How many did you want to have?
Mr. Curry: We actually had two on each side side but we wanted four on each side and they asked us to drop out some of them and back down the motorcade along the motorcade, which we did.
Mr. Rankin: So that you in fact only had two on each side of his car?
Mr. Curry: Two on each side and they asked them to remain at the rear fender so if the crowd moved in on him they could move in to protect him from the crowd.
Mr. Rankin. Who asked him to stay at the rear fender?
Mr. Curry: I believe Mr. Lawson.
Mr. Rankin. The Secret Service man?
Mr. Curry: Yes, sir.
DPD Captain Perdue W. Lawrence testifies that the night before the Dallas motorcade, the number of motorcycles were reduced and they were moved back by a Secret Service man. (most likely Lawson, since he indicates that he knew who Sorrels was)--- To the Warren Commission. (7 H 580-581)
Mr. Griffin: At the time of your first meeting with Chief Batchelor werd you given any special instructions about the protection of the President?
Captain Lawrence: None.
Mr. Griffin: When was the next time you received some instructions from one of your superiors?
Captain Lawrence: The next time was, to the best of my knowledge, the motorcade assignments--possibly 2 days before the President arrived---I asked how we would escort this motorcade.
Mr. Griffin: And with whom did you discuss that?
Captain Lawrence:Chief Lunday and Chief Batchelor.
Mr. Griffin: Was anybody from the Secret Service present at that time?
Captain Lawrence: Not at that time no.
Mr. Griffin: What were you told about the purpose of the officers that were being provided, if anything?
Captain Lawrence: I was told that there would be these lead motorcycle officers, and that we would also have these other officers alongside the President's car and the Vice President's car, and some of the others that would be in the motorcade, and approximately how many officers would be needed for the escort, and at tha time I had prepared a list of 18 solo motorcycle officers, this.included three solo sergeants.
I was also instructed that about this motorcade--that when it reached Stemmons Expressway, Chief Batchelor told me that he wanted a solo motorcycle officer in each traffic lane, each of the five traffic lanes waiting for the motorcade, so that no vehicles, on Stemmons Expressway would pass the motorcade at all and he wanted these solo motorcycle officers to pull away from the escort and get up there on Stemmons Freeway and block the traffic, and some of these officers, he stated, would pull past the Presidential car.
Mr. Griffin: When did that conversation take place?
Captain Lawrence: That conversation took place about the 20th of November---2 days before.
Mr. Griffin: Now, did you receive another set of instructions or orders after that?
Captain LAWRENCE. Yes; on the evening of November 21, this was the first time that I had attended any security meeting at all in regards to this motorcade. At approximately 5 p.m. I was told to report to the conference room on the third floor, and when I arrived at the conference room the deputy chiefs were in there, there were members of the Secret Service--Mr. Sorrels, Captain Gannaway, Captain Souter of radio patrol, and Capt. Glen King, deputy chiefs, assistant chiefs, and Chief Curry, and one gentleman, who I assume was in charge of the security for the Secret Service. This was the first time I had attended any conferences in regard to the security of this escort, and I listened in on most of the discussion and I heard one of the Secret Service men say that President Kennedy did not desire any motorcycle officer directly on each side of him, between.him and the crowd, but he would want the officers to the rear. This conversation I overheard as Chief Batchelor was using a blackboard showing how he planned to handle this--how plans had been made to cover the escort.
Mr. Griffin: Was there ever any discussion that you heard about taking precautions designed to prevent some sort of assault on the President that would be more severe than simply placards, picketing, and people throwing rotten eggs and vegetables, and things like that?
Captain Lawrence: Not to my knowledge, other than the fact that the Secret Service man in there--when it was mentioned about these motorcycle officers alongside the Presidents car, he said, "No, these officers should be back and if any people started a rush toward the car, if there was any movement at all where the President was endangered in any way, these officers would be in a position to gun their motors and get between them and the Presidential car," and he mentioned, of course, the security and safety of the President and those words were mentioned.
Secret Service Agent Winston G. Lawson---To the Warren Commission: (4 H 338)
DULLES: Do you recall that any orders were given by or on behalf of the President with regard to the location of those motorcycles that were particularly attached to his car?'
LAWSON: NOT SPECIFICALLY AT THIS INSTANCE ORDERS FROM HIM. [emphasis added--- careful not to perjure himself, Lawson would go on to say "it was my UNDERSTANDING that he did not like a lot of motorcycles surrounding the car"]
For a member of the United States Secret Service, an advance man on whose expertise the life of the President of the United States depends on, to say that he removed the protection of the President not because of an order, but because of an UNDERSTANDING he had, in an excessively hostile city like Dallas, is either the work of the most bumbling, inept agent in the world, or the action of a conspirator. With all of the rumors that the SS was getting on 11/21 that an assassination would be attempted in Dallas the following day, either this agent was an idiot or he was part of a plot.
Chief Curry named Lawson by name as the Secret Service man who both cut the motorcycle escort from four on each side to two on each side and then deployed them to the rear of the President's limo. Capt. Lawrence said that the safety and security of the President "were mentioned", probably by one of the Dallas Police Brass. After the attack on Adlai Stevenson, they had reason to be worried. In addition, Capt. Lawrence's testimony was that Lawson said that the President did not want any motorcycle officer directly on his side. This is Lawson at his lying best. Kennedy said no such thing, and when faced with the possibility of perjuring himself before the Commission or telling the truth, Lawson tells the Commission the truth.
But Capt. Lawrence is supported by a memo dated 11/30/63 sent to Chief Curry by Assistant Chief Charles Batchelor, Deputy Chief George L. Lumpkin and Deputy Chief M.W.Stevenson, all of whom were at the meeting and all of whom heard what Lawson had said.
But the Commission didn't push the issue, it did not ask Lawson WHY he told the Dallas Police that Kennedy did not want motorcycles on the side of his limo when, by his own admission, the President did not say that. They failed to ask Lawson why he lied to the Dallas Police and why he made so many changes to the motorcade, all of which did nothing to protect the President, but all of which served to compromise the President's safety and result in his murder.
As a former military-intelligence officer, the Commission needed to investigate Lawson's background : his associations while he was in the military and after he was discharged. They needed to look at his finances, his job performance reviews and any vices or addictions that he may have had.
They didn't do that. HSCA Volume 11, page 529:
"The Secret Service's alteration of the original Dallas Police Department motorcycle deployment plan prevented the use of maximum possible security precautions.."
RE-ARRANGING OF THE CARS IN THE MOTORCADE DMN reporter Tom Dillard---"We lost our position at the airport. I understood we were to have been quite a bit closer. We were assigned as the prime photographic car which, as you probably know, NORMALLY A TRUCK PRECEDES THE PRESIDENT ON THESE THINGS [MOTORCADES] AND CERTAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESS RIDE WITH THE TRUCK. In this case, as you know, we didn't have any and this car That I was in was to take photographs which was of spot-news nature." [Emphasis added].
Dillard forcefully said the same thing on C-Span on 11/20/93, telling the TV audience that the flatbed truck was "canceled at the last minute" and they were put in Chevrolet convertibles "which totally put us out of the picture." (all previous trips, inc. Florida, has press/ photographers very close in front and behind JFK's limousine, inc. WH photographer Cecil Stoughton, who rode in the SS follow-up car from July 1963 until 11/21/63)
Henry Burroughs, AP photographer (rode in Camera Car #2)---"I was a member of the White House pool aboard Air Force One when we arrived with JFK in Dallas on that fateful day. We, the pool, were dismayed to find our pool car shoved back.to about #11 position in the motorcade. We protested, but it was too late.
From Jim Bishop's "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" (1992 edition): p. 133 "The ninth car was a Chevrolet convertible for White House motion picture photographers. It was impossible to take pictures in a position so remote from the President.
Behind it were two more automobiles with photographers." pp. 133-134 " The press was displeased with its place in the parade. Some felt they could have reported a better story watching the motorcade from any of the buildings downtown. Even their wire representatives- AP, UPI, and American Broadcasting- sitting forward in a special car, were six hundred feet behind the Kennedys and could see little except the Mayor of Dallas directly ahead."
Seth Kantor's notes----"Will Fritz's men called off nite before by SS. Had planned to ride closed car w/ machine guns in car behind Pres." (which could mean someplace behind JFK's car, as was the case in Chicago, IL, on 3/23/6310 & New York on 11/15/63)
Milton Wright, Texas Highway Patrolman (driver of Mayor Cabell's car)--- "As I recall, prior to the President arriving at the airport we were already staged on the tarmac. I do not recall what position I was in at that time but it was not #1 (the number taped to his car's windshield). At the last minute there was a lot of shuffling and I ended up in the 5th vehicle. My vehicle was the last to leave downtown after the shooting because the police set up a road block behind my car."
General Godfrey McHugh (rode in VIP car)--- was asked to sit in a car farther back in the motorcade, rather than "normally, what I would do between the driver and Secret Service agent in charge of trip"- he admitted this was "unusual". Ordinarily McHugh rode in the Presidential limousine in the front seat. This was the first time he was instructed not to ride in the car so that all attention would be focused on the President to accentuate full exposure."
In his previous stops in Texas on November 21-22, the President had EIGHTEEN FLANKING motorcycles as an escort.
In Dallas he had four and none of them were flanking--all moved to the rear. The HSCA labelled this "uniquely insecure".
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