End of Days
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• Major General Chester V. (“Ted”) Clifton (Code name “Watchman”), U.S. Army Presidential Aide (driver)
• Major General Godfrey T. (“God”) (Code Name “Wing”) McHugh, U.S. Air Force Presidential Aide (front passenger seat)
Two motorcycles (Harley Davidsons) (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 24 and Mary Ferrell’s Chronologies, Volume 4, November 22, 1963, Narrative p. 372)
• Dallas Police Officer James W. (“J.W.”) Courson (left)
• Dallas Police Officer Clyde. A. Haygood (right) (Testimony—WC, Vol. VI, pp. 296–301)
The Staff and Dignitary Bus (a Continental Trailways Bus) (Curry, JFK Assassination File, p. 16 and WC, Vol. XVII, CE 768, p. 616—Secret Service Memorandum, list this as the first bus. But WC, Vol. XVII, CE 767, p. 596—Secret Service Memorandum, list this as the third bus)
• Driver
• Evelyn Lincoln (Code Name “Willow”), personal secretary to the President (Manchester, Death, p. 132)
• Rear Admiral George G. Burkley, MD, (Code Name “Market”) the President’s physician (Manchester, Death, p. 132)
• Mary Barelli Gallagher, personal secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy (Manchester, Death, p. 174)
• Pamela Turnure, press secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy (Manchester, Death, p. 174)
• Marie Fehmer, secretary to Vice President Lyndon Johnson (Manchester, Death, p. 132)
• Elizabeth (“Liz”) Carpenter, Executive Assistant to the Vice President Manchester, Death, p. 132)
• Jack Valenti, political consultant (Manchester, Death, p. 132)
• Sergeant Paul Glynn, U.S. Air Force, personal aid to the Vice President (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 34)
• Love Field—Airport Reception Committee (WC, Vol. XX, CE 767, p. 599) (though on the Secret Service list, some of these individuals did not participate in the motorcade)
Robert B. (“Bob”) Cullum, President, Chamber of Commerce
Rev. Luther Holcomb, Head of Council of Churches (In an oral history interview Holcomb’s believed that he was traveling in one of the cars—www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/voices/oral_history-luther_holcomb-dana_whitaker.wpd.html) (About 1:14 p.m. (C.S.T.) Holcomb, who was supposed to give the invocation at the Trade Mart, offered a prayer for the president from the podium, after having learned that JFK and Governor Connally had been shot)
Clifton (“Cliff”) Cassidy, Vice President, Democratic Committee
John Grey, Committeeman
Eugene M. Locks, State Chairman (Not in motorcade—Flew to Austin to be Master of Ceremonies for the planned Austin Dinner)
Mr. J. Erik Jonsson, Head, Citizen’s Council (met party at Love Field, but went to Trade Mart and announced to the audience that the President had been shot)
Mrs. Erik Jonsson (met party at Love Field, but probably went to Trade Mart with her husband)
W. Dawson Sterling, Head, Dallas Assembly
Charlie King, President AFL-CIO
Allen Maley, Executive Secretary, AFL-CIO
James E. Smith, President, Negro Chamber of Commerce
Dave Moss, Head, Democratic Clubs
Lew Sterrett, County Judge
Harold Barefoot Sanders, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas (appointed by JFK) (Manchester, Death, p. 174)
Dallas Women’s Club Council President
George Miner, Vice-President, State AFL-CIO
David Keeler, Vice-President, State AFL-CIO
Press—Bus No. 1 (a Continental Trailways Bus) (Three buses were filled and as the motorcade briefly stopped after the assassination a few reporters, such as Robert MacNeil, chose to leave the first bus and cover the story from Dealey Plaza. The first press bus stopped; the second, did not). Some of the individuals included:
• Joe Savage, Continental Trailways bus driver (Oral Interview, Sixth Floor Museum—stated he drove the first press bus)
• Bo Byers, Houston Chronicle, reporter (C-Span broadcast, “Journalists Remember the JFK Assassination,” November 20, 1993. But the Houston Chronicle puts him in the second bus (“Houston, Nation Shaken by the Kennedy Assassination,” Houston Chronicle, September 23, 2001: www.chron.com/life/article/Houston-nation-shaken-by-Kennedy-assassination-2032469.php)
• Harry Cabluck, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter (Trask, Pictures of the Pain, p. 331)
• Richard Beebe Dudman, St. Louis Post Dispatch (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 25)
• Douglas Kiker, New York Herald Tribune (obituary, New York Times, August 15, 1991)
• Robert MacNeil, NBC White House correspondent (MacNeil, Right Place, p. 207)
• James (“Jim”) Mathis, The Advance Syndicate (Newhouse) reporter (“The Assassination; The Reporter’s Story; How Journalists broke the news of JFK’s Death,” Columbia Journalism Review, Winter 1964)
• Marianne Means, Hearst Newspapers (her appearance on the C-Span broadcast, “Covering the Kennedy Assassination,” sponsored by Close Up Foundation, October 30, 2003: www.c-spanvideo.org/program/KennedyAss)
• Robert Charles Pierpoint, CBS, White House correspondent (Roberts, Truth, p. 13)
• Charles (“Chuck”) Roberts, Newsweek (Roberts, Charles. The Truth about the Assassination, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1967, p. 11)
• Hugh Sidey, Time Magazine, White House correspondent (“That Infamous Day in Dallas” by Hugh Sidey, Time Magazine, March 31, 2003)
• Tom Wicker, New York Times, White House correspondent Columbia Journalism Review article)
Local Press Pool Car (Dallas Morning News) (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 26, citing several Dallas Morning News articles and “The Reporter’s Notes on JFK Assassination are Opened” by Will Pry, Dallas Morning News, June 5, 2013, which includes notes by Harris and Quinn) (though not on any manifest, this car found a place between the first and second press buses) www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/explore/20130605-the-reporters-notes-on-jfk-assassination-are-opened.ece
• Lewis Harris (driver)
• Mike Quinn (right passenger seat)
• Kent Biffle (left rear seat)
• Larry Groves (right rear seat) (Mary Ferrell’s Chronologies, Vol. 4, November 22, 1963, Narrative, p. 397)
Press—Bus No. 2 (a Continental Trailways bus)
• Driver
• David Broder, Washington Star. (Donovan, Boxing, p. 114)
• Sidney (“Sid”) Davis, Westinghouse Broadcasting (“We Heard the Shots . . .” by Sid Davis American Heritage Magazine, November–December 2003, Vol. 54, Issue 7)
• Robert J. Donovan, Washington bureau chief, Los Angeles Times (Donovan, Robert J. Boxing the Kangaroo; A Reporter’s Memoir. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2000, p. 113)
• Ronnie Dugger, Texas Observer (Columbia Journalism Review article)
• Seth Kantor, Scripps Howard (Testimony—WC, Vol. XV, pp. 71–96)
• Jerry terHorst, Detroit News (“The Assassination; The Reporter’s Story; How Journalists broke the news of JFK’s Death,” Columbia Journalism Review article)
• Robert (“Bob”)Young, Chicago Tribune (his obituary, Chicago Tribune, June 11, 2000 (probably in this bus)
Some of the others on one of the two press buses
• Julian Read, press secretary to Governor Connally (Oral history interview Sixth Floor Museum) (Vaughan identifies him as possibly traveling in White House Staff Car based on the one of the Willis photographs, Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 23)
From the Washington Press Corps
• Oscar Henry (“Henry”) Brandon, Washington correspondent, London Sunday Times (Zelizer, Covering the Body, p. 78 and Manchester, Death, p. 661)
• Frank Cormier, White House correspondent for the Associated Press (obituary, New York Times, February 11, 1994) (www.nytimes.com/1994/02/11/obituaries/frank-cormier-66-covered-5-presidents-for-associated-press.html)
• Allan (“Al”) Cromley, Washington bureau chief, Daily Oklahoman (obituary in the Daily Oklahoman, Augus
t 9, 2011: http://newsok.com/al-cromley-former-washington-bureau-chief-for-the-oklahoman-dies/article/3593006)
• Thomas H. Flaherty, Jr., Life Magazine (www.zoominfo.com/p/Thomas-Flaherty/1197548983)
• Edward T. Folliard, staff writer for the Washington Post (“President Kennedy Shot Dead; Lyndon B. Johnson is Sworn In,” by Edward T. Folliard, Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070102229.html)
• Jack Gertz, AT&T (Columbia Journalism Review article)
• Robert Hollingsworth, Washington bureau chief, Dallas Times Herald (Oral history interview, Sixth Floor Museum)
• Carlton Kent, reporter Chicago Sun-Times (his coverage of the assassination in articles published in his newspaper)
• Peter Lisagor, Washington bureau chief, Chicago Daily News (numerous sources, including Columbia Journalism Review article)
• William R. MacKaye, Washington bureau chief, Houston Chronicle (his coverage of the assassination in articles published in his newspaper)
• William May, reporter for the Newark News (Sachsman, David B. and Sloat, Warren. The Press and the Suburbs; the Daily Newspapers of New Jersey. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Center for Urban Policy Research, 1985, p. 29)
• Alan L. Otten, White House reporter, Wall Street Journal (Obituary, Boston Globe, August 22, 2009) www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/08/22/alan_l_otten_political_reporter_for_wall_street_journal_at_88/)
• Robert Roth, reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin (“The Bulletin Fondly Recalled in Philadelphia . . .” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 30, 2007, http://articles.philly.com/2007-01-30/news/25220399_1_bulletin building-audit-bureau-circulation)
• Robert L. Riggs, Washington Bureau Chief for the Louisville Courier-Journal his coverage of the assassination in articles published in his newspaper)
• Alvin Silverman, Washington Bureau Chief for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (“Kennedy Assassinated; Johnson Takes Oath; Reporter’s Account of the Horror,” by Alvin Silverman, Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 22, 2011: http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2011/11/kennedy_ assassinated_ johnson_t.html)
• Felton West, Washington bureau chief, Houston Post (his obituary, Houston Chronicle, June 25, 2005 and his coverage of the assassination in articles published in his newspaper)
In a list reporter Seth Kantor provided to Todd Wayne Vaughan (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade p. 28) additional White House Press Corp on the buses included:
• Robert Cahn, United States Information Agency
• William Costello, Mutual Broadcasting System
• Jack Doyle, AT&T
• Paul Healey, New York Daily News
• William Hercher, US News and World Report
• Robert Hilburn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Fred Lawrence, UPI-News
• Carrol S. Linkins, Western Union
• James M. Perry, political writer, National Observer
• Philip (“Phil”) Potter, reporter for the Baltimore Sun
• Jack Schultz, UPI-News
• Jack Williams, Kansas City Star
• Andrew Willoner, soundman, CBS-TV
From the local press
• Bruce Neal, Wendall Mays Radio Stations (Oral history interview with Sixth Floor Museum)
• Keith Shelton, Dallas Times Herald (“The Story through the Eyes of a Storyteller,” Denton Record-Chronicle, June 29, 2013: www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20130629-the-story-through-the-eyes-of-a-storyteller.ece )
In the same Seth Kantor listing, additional local reporters on the buses included:
• Mary Rice Brogan, Houston Chronicle
• Sam Kinch, Jr. Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Gene Kraft, (Gene Ashcraft) KFJZ- Radio, Fort Worth
• Ted Rozumalski, photographer, Houston Chronicle
• Johnny Tackett, Scripps-Howard
• Arthur Uhlmann, Houston Chronicle.
Two Motorcycles (Harley Davidsons) ( WC, Vol. XX, Lawrence Exhibit No. 2, p. 489)
• Dallas Police Officer R. Smart (left)
• Dallas Police Officer Bobby Joe (“B.J.”) Dale (right)
The Western Union car (a 1957 black Ford) (WC, Vol. XXI, Semingsen Exhibit No. 3001, Attachment No. 7, p. 420)
• R.C. Johnson, sales manager (driver)
• Mr. Yates, Sales Representative
The White House “Communications” Car carrying the nuclear code “football” car (a 1964 white Chevrolet Impala) (WC, Vol. XVII, CE 768, p. 616 and Manchester, Death, pp. 62–63 and 129)
• Chief Warrant Officer Arthur W. Bales, Jr., (Code Name “Sturdy”)U.S. Army, White House Signal Corps officer
• Chief Warrant Officer Ira Gearhart (Several different Code names associated with him “Bagman” “Shadow”) (the one who held the codes to launch a nuclear attack—”the football”)
A Dallas Police car (1963 black and white Ford) (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 35)
• Dallas Police Officer J.M. Phillips (driver)
• J.S. Davenport (Mary Ferrell’s Chronologies, Volume 4, November 22, 1963, Narrative, p. 373)
One three wheel police motorcycle (Vaughan, Presidential Motorcade, p. 36)
103 Secret Service waved away from standing on president’s car. Secret Service Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge Emory Roberts waved off Secret Service Agent Don Lawton. This was in some way a poor attempt at an inside joke, since Lawton knew that JFK did not want agents to block the view of the crowds, and he also knew that his assignment was actually to stay behind to keep Love Field and Air Force One secure. He was not assigned to the motorcade detail. Instead, Secret Service Agent Clint Hill was crouched on the running board behind the president’s car for much of the motorcade. See Blaine, Kennedy Detail, pp. 200–206. Also, see footage of presidential limousine departing from Love Field at www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7WrBVm9ALM.
103 JFK speech not delivered at the Dallas Trade Mart. See Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, John F. Kennedy: January 1, 1963 to November 22, 1963, pp. 890–94.
104 Austin dinner speech not delivered at the Austin Civic Auditorium. See Public Papers . . . January 1, 1963 to November 22, 1963 pp. 894–98.
Although there have been unconfirmed reports that most of the copies of the twenty-page dinner program for the Texas Democrats Welcome Dinner were picked up from the printer and then destroyed that afternoon, many of these programs continue to find their way into the collector marketplace. In his eerie introductory remarks in this program, Governor Connally mentioned: “This is a day long to be remembered in Texas.” See Texas Welcome: Texas Welcomes the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States (Austin: State Democratic Committee, November 22, 1963).
According to Stanley Marcus, one of the civic leaders in Dallas whose last name adorned the department store Nieman Marcus, Lyndon Johnson planned to deliver a closing line at this fund-raiser dinner to elicit laughter: “And thank God, Mr. President” then with a silent pause, “that you came out of Dallas alive.” Stanley Marcus, Minding the Story: A Memoir (Boston: Little, Brown, 1974), p. 255. However, as journalist Max Holland noted, this retelling may not be a true account. Max Holland, The Kennedy Assassination Tapes: The White House Conversations of Lyndon B. Johnson Regarding the Assassination, the Warren Commission, and the Aftermath (New York: Knopf, 2004), p. 6.
105 Frazier’s comment about viewing the motorcade. See testimony of Buell Wesley Frazier, WC 2, p. 232. The Warren Commission testimony of some of Oswald’s coworkers demonstrated that they all knew that the presidential motorcade was going to pass by their building, and that they planned to watch it.
105 Oswald asked if he planned to watch motorcade. See the testimony of Buell Wesley Frazier, WC 2, p. 232–33.
107 Speed of limousine throughout the motorcade. Secret Service Agent Rufus Youngblood stated that the motorcade began with a speed of 20 to 25 miles an hour, and Secret Service A
gent Gerald Blaine believed that the motorcade began at a speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour. But the presidential car slowed considerably as the crowds began to form and especially when the motorcade proceeded west on Main Street. As the crowds thinned, the motorcade was going about 10 miles per hour when it began to turn onto Houston Street. Manchester said that the president’s car was going 11.2 miles per hour. See the testimony of Rufus Youngblood, WC 2, pp. 47–48; Blaine, Kennedy Detail, p. 204; and Manchester, Death, p. 154.
108 How to look and wave at crowd. See O’Donnell, Johnny, p. 26.
108 Jackie, “The sun was so strong.” See Manchester, Death, and Theodore White Camelot interview.
108 “No sign of hostility.” See O’Donnell, Johnny, p. 26.
108 “[W]ild welcome.” Ibid., p. 27.
108 Home videos. See the 8mm film President Kennedy’s Final Hour, Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963 (Dallas Film Associates, 1964). Special Assistant to the President Dave Powers also was filming the motorcade while he was traveling in the Secret Service follow-up car directly behind JFK. He ran out of film at 12:17 (EST). For this account, go to the CNN website at www.cnn.com/US/9611/21/kennedy.lost.film.
108 Motorcade stops when JFK sees sign from children, and also for nuns. See the testimony of Governor John D. Connally Jr., WC 4, p. 132.
109 Nixon attacked by mob in Venezuela. His wife was in the car with him in 1958. See Richard M. Nixon, Six Crises (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962), pp. 197–233.
From Love Field to Dealey Plaza. For a firsthand account by Governor Connally’s wife, who traveled in the presidential limousine, from the time of the arrival at Love Field, see Nellie Connally and Mickey Herskowitz, From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy (New York: Rugged Land Books, 2003). For a DVD with rare video footage, see Lost JFK Tapes: Assassination (National Geographic, 2009), excerpted at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/jfks-assassination.
112 “You can’t say that Dallas doesn’t love you.” Through the years, Nellie Connally often quoted herself, and slightly varied these remarks. For instance, in her statement to the press at Parkland Hospital on November 24, 1963, she said, “I had just turned around and said to him, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you, Mr. President. That was it.” See www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5QkgDXzQ0M. In her Warren Commission testimony in the spring of 1964, she changed this slightly, and remarked that “after we got off Main Street . . . the receptions had been so good every place that I showed much restraint by not mentioning something about it before. I could resist no longer. When we got past this area I did turn to the President, and said ‘Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.’ ” See the testimony of Nellie Connally, WC 4, p. 147. Years later, in her book, she remembered, “Mr. President, you certainly cannot say that Dallas does not love you.” See Connally, From Love Field, p. 7. When she was promoting her book on ABC’s The View in 2003, she stated: “So, I turned to the President and said, ‘Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.’ ” See www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfR09lJ4H6U&NR=1&feature=endscreen.