Miami New Times Interview Part One

JFK Secret Service Agent Breaks Silence: Oswald Acted Alone

By Sebastian Del Marmol

Victor Hugo King

The President and First Lady minutes before the assassination in 1963.

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Those charged with protecting the President of the United States know that if it comes down to it they must take a bullet to save his life. But what if that bullet comes from the 6th floor of a book depository? And there's no chance to even make the ultimate sacrifice. What then?

The members of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 secret service detail have been answering the question of "what then" for close to half a century. But they've been doing it in solitude, with most of them refusing to talk about the event that signaled the end of innocence for a generation, and to a larger extend an entire nation. Some wouldn't even talk about it with their families. And none talking about what happened that day in public, even to debunk the flood of conspiracy theories that have been spun for decades. But the time for silence ended.

JFK's former secret service agent, Gerald Blaine, wrote The Kennedy Detail, with journalist Lisa McCubbin, after reuniting with other former agents last year. He will be at Books and Books on January 24, but gave Cultist an exclusive. Read the first part after the jump, and the second tomorrow.

Gerald Blaine was part of JFK's secret service detail.

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Blaine finally gave voice to the elusive figures in black suits who have only been known through fleeting images on the grainy Zapruder film. Although he was not in Dallas at the time of the assassination--he went to scout a location for another Kennedy visit--he is familiar with all the details of JFK's detail. He also conducted extensive interviews with former agents as research for his book.

New Times: You have said that the Warren Commissions findings--including that there was a single gunman--are accurate. Why are you so sure?

Gerald Blaine: I am totally convinced that the Warren Commission was correct in its findings. It did fail to call two key witnesses who could have testified to correct the "Magic Bullet" theory. The two were the follow-up car driver, Special Agent Sam Kinney, and the shift leader ATSAIC Emory Roberts. Both of these men were approximately 12 feet from the President, in the front seat of the follow-up car when the three shots were fired. Each of these agents saw all three bullets hit their mark. The driver never takes his eye off the presidential limousine since the cars stayed approximately 5 to 6 feet apart. Even though these men did not testify, there is so much evidence in the Warren Report and the supporting volumes of evidence that there is no doubt there was one lone shooter who fired three bullets from a perfect vantage point and all three shots found their mark.


Why then is there so much interest in creating or concocting conspiracy theories?

Conspiracy theory has become a "Cottage Industry", yet after 47 years there is not one solid piece of evidence that a conspiracy existed. Any good investigator knows that a conspiracy seldom lasts more than 60 days. In reality, except for the attempt on President Harry S. Truman that failed when two political nationals from Puerto Rico attempted to storm the Blair House in 1950, every assassination or assassination attempt against the Office of the President, (as well that of) Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, was committed by lone disturbed assassins.

The major reason the "Kennedy Detail" was written is to save history from these bizarre theories being mistaken as fact, otherwise they would have been the only testimony of what could have occurred rather than what did occur. No one would ever trust recorded history again. That is why the agents who were there decided to speak out and fill in the gaps.

Why do those theories sill hold so much appeal even today?

The unfortunate aspect of these theories is that each individual picked his own enemy to blame, be it the right wing, left wing, Cuba, Russia, CIA, President (Lyndon) Johnson, FBI, Secret Service, organized crime, military defense contractors, etc. These were followed up by Hollywood with Oliver Stone's movie JFK that combined them all in one movie. This started theories to cascade. The result is that our youth of today do not trust government, yet this very (month) a lone individual killed six individuals and seriously wounded a congresswoman. The end result will be that this individual had the same deficiencies that Lee Harvey Oswald did.

Nobody wanted to believe that one individual assassinated their dear president. It was the end of the era of innocence and the start of rebellion and mistrust that has grown progressively since that time.

What is the most misrepresented aspect of the assassination?

Just about every theory I have heard totally misrepresented the facts and the available evidence. When they started accusing deceased agents of being part of a conspiracy or of shooting the president either accidentally or on purpose, it was time to break our silence and present the facts.

Read the second part of our exclusive interview, where Blaine discusses life after JFK, tomorrow.

Gerald Blaine will be at Books and Books (265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables) at 8 p.m. on January 24. The event is free. Call 305-442-4408 or visit booksandbooks.com.


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