Minggu, 07 November 2010
Jumat, 05 November 2010
Hartford Books Examiner Reviews The Kennedy Detail
The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin (A book review)
Today, Hartford Books Examiner reviews The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin (Gallery Books, $28).
Subtitled JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence, the book, available tomorrow, is the first to be written by a member of JFK’s security detail—and to have the involvement /endorsement of other agents, including Clint Hill (who contributes an introduction).
Blaine, along with award-winning journalist McCubbin, takes readers inside the Kennedy White House, and offers a new perspective on the days leading up to, and following, the tragic events of November 22, 1963. While many might be tempted to read the book out of prurient interest, they will not find a sensationalized account of Kennedy, in life or death. Rather, they will come to know the personalities that made up these larger-than-life public figures. They will also come away with a portrait of an agency that suffered an all too common plight: workers that were overworked, underpaid, and poorly equipped.
While the after-effects of the assassination have been chronicled endlessly, seldom have the accounts come from individuals who were so close to the people involved, and to the events themselves. At its core, The Kennedy Detail is a portrayal of profound grief recalled by those who were in the line of fire—and who have had to live with the knowledge that they failed in their mission to protect the President. Particularly powerful is the story of Clint Hill, Special Agent in Charge of Mrs. Kennedy’s security detail, who was officially recognized for his act of heroism but spent the next few decades drowning his “What if?” questions in alcohol.
Blaine & Co. also address an oft debated topic of contention: Kennedy’s role in his own protection. While many have taken the Secret Service to task for providing inadequate, sluggish, or even neglectful care of Kennedy on the day in question, the author maintains that JFK, though aware of the risks, was insistent upon remaining accessible to voters—and that he often ordered his agents to stand down. Further obscuring the record was an order from Secret Service Chief James Rowley barring agents from discussing Kennedy’s preferences for fear that the public might place some accountability for the assassination on the President himself.
Though students of the assassination tend to be either pro or anti-conspiracy, this book should be of interest to both camps. While Blaine strongly supports the Oswald-as-lone-assassin conclusion (a contention that HBE strongly disagrees with), that is not the central focus of the book. Rather, its aim is to lift the shroud of secrecy that has plagued the agency for nearly five decades. While some readers will take issue with certain of the author’s opinions, they should also appreciate the unique point of view that separates this account from the thousands of others that have come before it.
Kamis, 04 November 2010
The Florida Times-Union Book Review: 'The Kennedy Detail'
"It was one of those rare moments in history when time stood still and people the world over remember where they were and what they were doing."
I was at Ernie's gas station, hanging out with the guys. Ernie always kept the TV on, so we were all aware of the events in Dallas. It was surreal. The usual banter was gone. We were West Virginians - our state had put him in over the top. Our president was dead.
One of the younger neighborhood boys wandered in. He stood there, as we silently watched the TV. Then he said he was glad the Catholic ***** was dead, obviously mouthing words he had heard a prejudiced parent say.
All eyes turned his way. Then one, then another, started hitting him. Surrounded, he crumpled on the floor, a bloody mess. The group backed away. He got up crying and ran home. We turned back to the television. Not another word was said.
"The Kennedy Detail," which comes out Tuesday, is a book by and about the Secret Service agents whose job it was to protect the president that day. It will bring the memories and emotions flooding back.
Written by former agent Gerald Blaine and journalist Lisa McCubbin, it gives an intimate, behind- the-scenes account of the Kennedy presidency, those fateful minutes in Dallas and the mournful aftermath.
It has been 50 years since John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected and most of the Secret Service agents, especially those closest to the Kennedys, have not uttered a word about this period outside of their official statements about the assassination.
Although Blaine is listed as the author, he gives credit to the other agents, both living and deceased, who contributed saved memoranda, reports, personal memoirs, oral histories and other correspondence to the effort. Clint Hill, who was on Mrs. Kennedy's detail, was particularly forthcoming, sharing with Blaine information that he had never before made public.
The shared guilt literally oozes from pages - their sole mission was to protect the president and they failed - as Blaine takes us back to the beginning when the agents were sent to Palm Beach to cover then President-elect Kennedy.
The stressed-out agents would soon realize their job would change radically covering the highly charged "Boss," his lovely, and extremely popular, young wife and their budding family.
We follow the Kennedys through the Camelot years with detail and insight presented in an almost reverential fashion. The Kennedys liked the agents, and the agents liked them.
Although anecdotes abound, conspiracy theorists will find little support in this straight-forward rendition. Blaine does try to refute some of the "tabloid fodder," especially that surrounding Marilyn Monroe.
Hill's account of the actual assassination - he was the agent who jumped on the back of the car - and the confusion at the hospital is tough to read, but one that has needed to be told.
And what most don't realize, once the president was declared dead, the exhausted, confused, emotionally overwrought agents' job was not over - they had a new president to protect.
This extraordinary work will not be the last account of what went on in Dallas, but it will be one referred to by all future writers.
Blaine's revelation that he almost shot new President Lyndon Johnson the night after the assassination is the sound bite that will be overused when referring to this book, but the poignant passages describing the interaction between the agents and Mrs. Kennedy and her children are what will ensure that it will be read and cried over.
Lee Scott lives in Avondale.
Rabu, 03 November 2010
Former Kennedy Detail Agent Paul S. Rundle's Open Letter Tribute
THE KENNEDY DETAIL
The words “Worthy of Trust and Confidence” appear on the Commission Book given to every agent in the United States Secret Service when he or she is first appointed. They are also the motto of the entire organization. It is taught in the Training Schools and a part of most briefings before assignments. These words are of particular importance to those agents assigned to the protective details for the President and Vice President of the United States of America, and their families.
By nature of this assignment, agents are required to be in close proximity to the President, Vice President and their families at all times. Thus, they are in the unique position of being close observers of history as it is being made, and in some instances the sensitive discussions, in the situation room during times of national crisis, at the door to permit or deny access to the hotel rooms, in the oval office during the victories, in the limo after the defeats, and finally in the limo or the helicopter that transports them from the White House on their last day in office.
They are present during family outings, vacations, school affairs, sports events, weddings, funerals, and both the loud and quiet events all families share. Many of these were in the helicopter and the aircraft taking a former President to his home after he was forced to resign his office. They were in the limo that delivered a Vice President to federal prison.
But, these agent observers are NOT to be reporters of events, not there as invited participants, and certainly not because of their wonderful personalities, but there only because of their duty. They have been recruited, trained and selected to protect these dignitaries from physical harm. Period!
All agents who served on the Kenned Detail have been approached by the media, TV, radio, reporters and various authors many times. They unanimously wanted the Agents to comment upon events both personal and private that they observed while on duty, or to comment about the performance of other people. I and many others have never granted interviews. They violated their commission as “Worthy of Trust and Confidence.”
I have known the author, Jerry Blaine since High School in Englewood, Colorado. I continued as his friend during his years in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, when he was an agent, and in his various subsequent employments. I know that during all this time, he has served his country well. His book is not an expose of the Kennedy Family, it is a book written about the agents who protected them.
I recommend this book to the reader because I know Jerry Blaine is “Worthy of Trust and Confidence.”
This from Simon Barrett
S&S have been keeping this book very close to their chests. Although it is slated for release today, it was only yesterday that I received a Galley for it!
I have only read about 70 pages, but I know a quality book when I see one, this will be on the must have list for anyone interested in the JFK story.
My review of the book will be coming soon!
Selasa, 02 November 2010
LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW
Blaine, Gerald with Lisa McCubbin. The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence.Gallery: S. & S. Nov. 2010. c.464p. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781439192962. $28. HIST
Almost a half-century after the JFK assassination, Blaine, a member of Kennedy's Secret Service detail, describes how he and his colleagues tried to protect Kennedy that day under impossible circumstances. Blaine describes how JFK did not want agents near his car in the Dallas motorcade so he could be close to the crowd, which made him an easy target for lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. With journalist McCubbin, Blaine, who resigned from the Secret Service in 1964, has written this compelling book in the third person because it is the story of the 34-member detail; however, much of the book focuses on the author and Clint Hill, the agent assigned to protect First Lady Jackie Kennedy. This book is Blaine's rebuttal to what he says is the outrageous maligning of the Secret Service, especially in Abraham Bolden's The Echo from Dealey Plaza, which charges the agents with drinking and carousing.
Verdict This account will create controversy as it denies all conspiracy theories about who shot President Kennedy. It is an important contribution to Kennedy assassination literature for its presentation in riveting detail from the agents' perspective and descriptions of the lifelong emotional burden the agents endured when their best efforts were not enough.—Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/887516-264/xpress_reviewsthe_first_look_at.html.csp