The Passage of Power

by Robert A. Caro

  In New York, Life editors: Lambert, Sackett interviews.

  “Startled”; “report or explosion”: “Statement of the President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, concerning the events of Nov. 22, 1963,” attached to Johnson to Warren, July 10, 1964, p. 2 (hereafter referred to as “Johnson Statement.”) Connally knew: Connally interview.

  “Not normal”: Youngblood, Twenty Years in the Secret Service: My Life with Five Presidents,” p. 113. In his typed report to Chief of the Secret Service James J. Rowley, he describes the movements as “very abnormal.” Youngblood to Chief, Subject: “Statement of Rufus W. Youngblood, Vice Presidential Detail (office 1–22) concerning details of events occurring in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963.” Youngblood, “Secret Service Reports,” Box 3, SP-ASS (hereafter referred to as Youngblood to Chief). “Voice I had never”: “Notes taken during interview with Mrs. Johnson, June 15, 1964,” p. 2 (hereafter cited as “Mrs. Johnson’s Notes”).

  Grabbing Johnson’s shoulder: “I turned in my seat and with my left arm grasped and shoved the Vice President, at his right shoulder, down and toward Mrs. Johnson and Sen. Yarborough. At the same time I shouted, ‘Get down!’ I believe I said this more than once.… I quickly looked all around again and could see nothing to shoot at, so I stepped over into the back seat and sat on top of the Vice President.…” (Youngblood to Chief, p. 3). In his memoir, Youngblood wrote, “I turned instinctively in my seat and with my left hand I grasped Johnson’s right shoulder and … forced him downward. ‘Get down,’ I shouted, ‘get down.’ (p. 113). I swung across the back seat and sat on top of him” (Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 562). See also “Transcript from Mrs. Johnson’s tapes relating to November 22, 1963,” p. 1 (hereafter referred to as “Mrs. Johnson’s Transcript”). The day after the assassination, Johnson wrote Rowley: “Upon hearing the first shot, Mr. Youngblood instantly vaulted across the front seat of my car, pushed me to the floor and shielded my body with own body, ready to sacrifice his life for mine” (Johnson to Rowley, Diary Backup, Box 1, Nov. 23, “November 23”). “His knees”: Transcript, CBS News Special, “LBJ: Tragedy and Transition,” May 2, 1970, p. 5.

  “Close it up”: Testimony of Rufus Wayne Youngblood, Special Agent, Secret Service,” Hearings Before the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, Washington, 1964, Vol. II, p. 149 (hereafter referred to as Youngblood Testimony).

  He knew he would have: “Statement of Herschel Jacks, Texas Highway Patrolman, Made on Nov. 28, 1963,” Commission Exhibit 1024, “Hearings,” Vol. XVIII, p. 801.

  “Terrifically fast”: “Transcript from Mrs. Johnson’s tapes relating to November 22, 1963” (hereafter referred to as “Lady Bird Transcript”), p. 1. “Zoomed”: Johnson, “Reminiscences,” p. 11. “Stay with them—keep close”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 113; “To: Chief James J. Rowley, From: ATSAIC Emory Roberts, The White House Detail, SUBJECT: Schedule of events prior to and after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963,” p. 3, Report of the U.S. Secret Service (hereafter referred to as “Roberts Report”), “Secret Service Reports,” Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL.

  Shortwave radio: Youngblood to Chief, pp. 1, 2. See also “Statement by Jerry D. Kivett concerning the events of Nov. 22, 1963,” Report of the U.S. Secret Service on the Assassination of President Kennedy, U.S. Treasury Department, p. 2, Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL (“Kivett Statement”), and Kivett Testimony, Hearings before the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, Washington, 1964 (these hearings, commonly referred to as the Warren Commission, will hereafter be referred to as “Hearings”), p. 1. Now Johnson heard: Transcript, CBS News Special, “LBJ: Tragedy and Transition,” May 2, 1970, p. 4. “I am switching”: Manchester, Death of a President, p. 166. “He’s hit!” “Kivett Statement,” p. 1. “Let’s get out of here”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 1; Johnson, Transcript, CBS News Special, p. 4. “Hospital”: Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 41; Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 114. What Youngblood was seeing: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 113. Thumbs-down: Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 44.

  “Hospital”: “Johnson Statement,” p. 562; “To: Chief; From: SA Jerry D. Kivett—Vice Presidential Detail; Statement regarding events in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963,” Report of the U.S. Secret Service on the Assassination of President Kennedy, U.S. Treasury Department, p. 1, Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL (hereafter referred to as “Kivett Report”). “Tight-lipped and cool”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 114.

  Lying quietly: Youngblood to Chief, p. 3; Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 114; “Johnson Statement,” p. 562. “An absolute physical coward”: Vernon Whiteside, quoted in Caro, The Path to Power, p. 156. World War II episode: Caro, Means of Ascent, Chapters 2 and 3. Heart attack episode: Caro, Master of the Senate, Chapter 27, “Go Ahead with the Blue.”

  “A good man”: Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary, p. 7.

  “All right, Rufus”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 114. A single word: Fletcher Knebel, “Lyndon Johnson, Trained for Power,” Look, Dec. 31, 1963. Told Johnson: “Johnson Statement,” p. 562; Johnson, “Reminiscences,” p. 12; Johnson, The Vantage Point, p. 9. “Okay, pardner”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 114.

  “I wondered if”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 2. Slammed back: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 115. Hands were grabbing: Johnson, “Reminiscences,” p. 12.

  His left shoulder hurt: Travell interview. Hustled: Johnson, “Reminiscences,” p. 12. “One last look”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 2.

  Small white room: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 116. Stationing men: G. D’Andelot Belin (General Counsel, U.S. Secret Service) to Rowley, “Secret Service Report on the Assassination of President Kennedy,” March 19, 1964, “Secret Service Reports,” Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL; “Youngblood Testimony,” pp. 149, 152.

  “Look here, I’m not leaving”: “Mrs. Johnson’s Notes.” Remembering: In her transcript Lady Bird says, “I even remember one little thing he said in that hospital room, ‘Tell the children to get a Secret Service man with them’ ” (“Lady Bird Transcript, p. 5). William Manchester interviewed Youngblood on November 17, 1964. In his book, The Death of a President, he says (p. 232) that Youngblood told him that Johnson “said to Bird, ‘I want you to give me the current whereabouts of Lynda and Lucy,’ ” and that it was after she gave Johnson that information that Youngblood told the agent, Jerry Kivett, to “put the girls under protection.”

  The notes of Manchester’s interview with Youngblood are among the papers at Wesleyan University that the university has refused to open to researchers, including this author, so Manchester’s notes have not been read. But Manchester’s account, and that of the many Johnson biographers who have accepted that account, does not square with statements Youngblood made, a week after the assassination, in a typed report to the chief of the White House Secret Service detail, Gerald A. Behn, or in his sworn testimony before the Warren Commission. In his typed report to Behn, dated November 29, 1963, Youngblood says of his time in the cubicle, “During this time, many things occurred and I don’t recall now the exact order. I talked to Mrs. Johnson and obtained information about Lynda and Lucy, and told SA [Special Agent] Kivett to make the necessary calls to have them placed under Secret Service protection” (Youngblood to Chief, p. 4). In his testimony before the Warren Commission, Youngblood did not mention Johnson’s daughters in his initial statement. Asked by Arlen Specter, the commission’s assistant counsel, to “describe briefly what security arrangements if any were instituted … for the Vice President’s daughters,” he said, “While we were in the hospital … I asked Mrs. Johnson—I knew generally where Luci and Lynda were, but I wanted get the very latest from her, since sometimes these girls might visit a friend or a relative.… So I confirmed the locations with Mrs. Johnson and then told Agent Kivett … to make the necessary calls to have Secret Service protection placed around Lynda and Luci.” �
��Youngblood Testimony.” In his memoir, Twenty Years in the Secret Service, Youngblood wrote (p. 117), “While their father was Vice President, the Johnson daughters did not receive Secret Service protection.… We needed to assign men to them as quickly as possible. I asked Mrs. Johnson for their precise whereabouts and then told Jerry Kivett to inform headquarters and arrange protection for them at once.” In none of his accounts about the time following the assassination does Youngblood mention Johnson asking about his daughters at all.

  In her notes (June 15, 1964), Mrs. Johnson says that at The Elms that night, “I think I remember Lyndon having Secret Service protection for Lynda and Lucy. I think I called Lynda when I got home. She had gone to stay with the Connally children. It may have been the next morning when I called” (“Mrs. Johnson’s Notes”).

  Asked Youngblood to have them found: “Kivett Statement,” p. 2.

  Cliff Carter: “Kivett Report,” p. 2. “We didn’t know”: Thornberry OH; Brooks interview.

  Asked Youngblood to send an agent: Johns to Rowley, “Statement regarding events in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963 (hereafter identified as “Johns Report”), p. 2, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL.

  “Mr. Johnson asked me”: Kellerman Statement, March 9, 1964, “Hearings,” Vol. II, Commission Exhibit 1024, pp. 725–27; “Kellerman Report,” pp. 2, 3.

  “Lyndon and I didn’t speak”: “Through it all, Lyndon was remarkably calm and quiet” “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 2.

  “All through”: Thornberry OH. “I did not think”: Emory Roberts to Rowley, Subject: Schedule of Events prior to and after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on Friday Nov. 22, 1963, p. 1, “Report of the U.S. Secret Service,” “Secret Service Reports,” Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL. The Secret Service wanted: Carter OH IV; “Youngblood Testimony,” p. 158; Youngblood, Twenty Years, pp. 116–17.

  Johnson did not agree: “Roberts Report,” p. 5; “Affidavit of Clifton G. Carter,” May 20, 1964, “Hearings,” Vol. III, p. 475. “Well, we want”: Brooks OH I. He wouldn’t leave: “Youngblood Testimony,” pp. 152, 153; Emory Roberts Testimony, “Hearings,” Vol. XVIII, pp. 4, 5.

  “Every face”; “Always there was Rufe”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 2. She was to recall that later, on the plane, he said that “The Service had never lost a President,” and “I felt so sorry for the way they felt” (“Mrs. Johnson’s Notes, p. 2).

  “Face of Kenny”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 2.

  Then, at 1:20; “He’s gone”: “Statement of President Lyndon B. Johnson,” July 10, 1964, Vol. V, p. 563, “Hearings.” “It was Ken O’Donnell, who, at about 1:20 p.m., told us that the President had died,” Johnson said. In transcript, CBS News Special, “LBJ: Tragedy and Transition,” May 2, 1970, p. 5; when Cronkite asks, “Who brought that word [‘He’s gone’] to you?,” Johnson replies, “Kenneth O’Donnell.” Secret Service Agent Johns says he heard O’Donnell “inform Vice President Johnson that President Kennedy had died” (TO: Chief FROM ASAIC Thomas L. Johns, Vice Presidential Detail, SUBJECT “Statement regarding events in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963,” p. 3, “Secret Service Reports, Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL). Emory Roberts says he informed Johnson of Kennedy’s death at 1:13, “Roberts Report,” p. 5. And Carter Affidavit, “Hearings,” Vol. III, p. 475.

  “That Kennedy had been shot”: Sackett interview. One decision: Lambert, Sackett interviews. “I told him”: Lambert, Graves interviews.

  No one thought to notify; secretary “burst into”; Reynolds said, “You won’t need these”: Mollenhoff, Despoilers of Democracy, p. 299; Rowe, Bobby Baker Story, p. 86. In 2003, Van Kirk said that he had been called out of the hearing room while Reynolds was testifying “to be told that Jack Kennedy had been killed.… I knew that if I went back in and told Don Reynolds that Lyndon Johnson was the new President, he’d clam up, so I just went back in and said nothing and we continued the questioning for another two or three hours and I tried to get every bit of information out of him I could.” But that was forty years after the event, and Mollenhoff, who was working closely with him and with Senator Williams in November 1963, said in a book published in 1965 that no one in the room knew about the assassination until “shortly after 2:30 P.M., Washington time, “a woman secretary burst into the room, sobbing almost hysterically. As Reynolds and the interrogators looked at her in surprise, she cried: ‘President Kennedy has been killed!’ At first they thought it was a joke—a bad joke.” Curtis said that that was his understanding of what had occurred. Sy Hersh, after his interviews with Van Kirk, wrote that Reynolds was still being questioned at 2:30 P.M. when a secretary burst into the hearing room with the news from Dallas.” (He also quotes Van Kirk as telling him in an interview with Hersh, “There’s no doubt in my mind that Reynolds’ testimony would have gotten Johnson out of the vice presidency” [Hersh, Dark Side, p. 446]).

  Baker releasing Fortas: Baker, Wheeling, p. 160.

  12. Taking Charge

  “And right then”; “very little passed”: Thornberry OH. “Quiet”: Rather interview.

  Change in demeanor: Brooks interview, OH; Thornberry OH; “Transcript from Mrs. Johnson’s tapes relating to November 22, 1963,” Special Files, Assassination, LBJL (hereafter referred to as “Lady Bird Transcript”). “Set”: Brooks interview. “Almost a graven”: “Notes taken during interview with Mrs. Johnson,” June 15, 1964, p. 4, LBJL (hereafter cited as “Mrs. Johnson’s Notes”).

  Still urging: “To: Chief; From: SAIC Youngblood—Vice Presidential Detail; Subject: Statement of SAIC Rufus W. Youngblood, Vice Presidential Detail (office 1–22), concerning details of events occurring in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963,” Nov. 29, 1963 (hereafter referred to as Youngblood to Chief); “Emory Roberts to Rowley, Subject: Schedule of Events prior to and after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963,” p. 1, U.S. Treasury Department (hereafter referred to as “Roberts Report”), “Secret Service Reports,” both Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL; Carter OH IV; “Testimony of Rufus Wayne Youngblood, Special Agent, Secret Service,” Hearings Before the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, Washington, 1964, Vol. II (hereafter referred to as “Youngblood Testimony”), p.158; Youngblood, Twenty Years, pp. 116–17. “We’ve got”: Manchester, The Death of a President, p. 233; Roberts Report, pp. 3, 4.

  Was “disturbed”: Holland, The Kennedy Assassination Tapes, p. 14.

  “Part of a far-ranging”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 123. “A fear that”: Charles Roberts OH I. “Sir, … we must”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 118. “That in my opinion”: “Testimony of Kenneth P. O’Donnell,” Hearings, Vol. VII, p. 451. “We’ve got”: Manchester, Death of a President, p. 233.

  Johnson reached: Johnson, The Vantage Point, p. 9; Carter, quoted in Miller, Lyndon, p. 314; Brooks OH, interview. Announced it as quickly: “Emory and I were in complete agreement on this point, but Lyndon Johnson was shaking his head even before I finished speaking,” Youngblood recalls (Youngblood, Twenty Years, pp. 116–20). Brooks recalls him saying, “Well, we want to get the official report on that [Kennedy’s condition] rather than some individual” (Brooks interview). When O’Donnell said: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 118. “Adamant”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 117.

  “mentioned … the attempt”: NYHT, Dec. 24, 1963; Kilduff, in his OH, JFKL, says “Johnson’s reaction was going back to Lincoln, too.”

  He and Youngblood agreed: Youngblood Report, p. 5.

  “Quick plans”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 3.

  “The most decisive”: “Mrs. Johnson’s Notes,” p. 4.

  To ask Johnson’s permission; “Mr. President”; “He reacted”; “No”: David Wise, “Revealed—Johnson’s Delay of Death News,” NYHT, Dec. 24, 1963; “Awful Interval,” Newsweek, Jan. 6, 1964; Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 119; “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 3; Manchester, Death of a President, p. 221. Youngblood�
��s Twenty Years (p. 119) has “He was the first to address him by the title.” Delay in announcement: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 119, and Kilduff account in Newsweek, Jan. 6, 1964. “By now”: After Johnson left Parkland, Kilduff went to the press room and made the official announcement of Kennedy’s death. But when asked about Johnson’s whereabouts, he told the reporters that “out of ‘considerations of security,’ he couldn’t say” (Newsweek, Jan. 6, 1964).

  Making his dispositions: Brooks OH I; Jesse Curry OH; Valenti OH II.

  “Homer, you go”: Brooks interview.

  In a rush: Stoughton interview; Richard B. Trask, “The Day Kennedy Was Shot,” American Heritage, Nov. 1988. “Getting out”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 3. Pierpoint caught: Newseum, with Trost and Bennett, President Kennedy Has Been Shot, p. 96. “We weren’t thinking”: Charles Roberts OH. Suspecting: Stoughton interview.

  Seating arrangements in car: Thornberry OH; Youngblood to Chief, p. 5; “Youngblood Testimony,” p. 153; Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 122. “Let’s don’t have”: Thornberry OH I. “The swiftest”: “Lady Bird Transcript,” p. 3. “Suddenly there before us”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 121. “Practically ran up”: Youngblood to Chief, p. 6.

  “I want this kept”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 123. Kivett says, “At first the Vice President was put in the bedroom; however he said this was in bad taste and he moved up to the sitting room.” “Statement by Jerry D. Kivett concerning the events of Nov. 22, 1963,” Report of the U.S. Secret Service on the Assassination of President Kennedy, U.S. Treasury Department, p. 3, Box 3, Special Files, Assassination, LBJL (hereafter referred to as “Kivett Statement”). “Very real indeed”: Youngblood, Twenty Years, p. 123.