by Lis Wiehl
They continued to read through the file. It provided a long history of atrocities committed by the Blackstone family and Red Wolf Plantation. Finally, they reached the last page, and Dad closed the document.
They stood from the table, and Dad returned to the drawer to be sure nothing else had been left inside. As he pushed it closed, Lisa stopped him.
“Do we need to bring the Blackstone file with us?” she asked, glancing back to the thick stack of top-secret documents.
Dad studied her face. “Do you mean, put it back in the drawer?”
“What’s the benefit of us taking it? Maybe it’s better kept right here.”
Dad considered this for a moment. “What do you think?” he asked Molly.
“If the crimes that the Blackstones committed were unsolved, I’d want us to bring it out and give those families or at least history some peace. But from what I read, everything is already historic and public knowledge, even if no one was prosecuted. It was included in the report to give background on who the Blackstones were, right?”
“Yes,” Lisa said.
“Then let’s put it back,” Molly said. “It’s about the Kennedys; why open this up after all this time?”
“We’ll bring the newspaper and Peter’s photos, but that’s all, then?” Dad asked as if to give them one last chance. “I have to give the key to Horace after we leave here today. It’ll be part of the archival system.”
“I think that’s how it should be,” Lisa said.
Dad put the top-secret document back into the drawer and pushed it closed. He turned the key and checked to be sure it was locked.
“I guess we’re done then,” Dad said as the three of them stood looking at the drawers of the cabinet.
“I wonder what’s inside all of the other drawers,” Molly said.
“They may be empty. But this one will save a man’s life.” Dad closed the doors and picked up the newspaper wrapped around Peter’s photographs.
“Uncle Peter wanted you to do this a long time ago,” Lisa said.
“I thought he betrayed us, but he was more of a friend than I ever knew,” Dad said.
“He trusted you. That’s why he tried sending you the key when he died.”
Dad nodded. “I couldn’t have found any of this out without you. Without either of you.”
They walked in silence along the lighted aisles until they reached the vault door leading to the elevator.
Lisa turned back. In a moment they’d leave the enormous vault and never return.
“If the Kennedy cabinet is full of secrets, just imagine all the other ones locked away down here,” Lisa said.
Her voice seemed to disappear across the vast room. The three of them stood in silence, as if the hundreds of artifacts and sealed boxes might reveal their mysteries if they listened hard enough.
Then the lights shut off section by section along the path they’d taken, hiding the secrets away.
They emerged from the basement archive into a morning bustling with the ordinary activity of a weekday on the Capitol Mall. Lisa walked with her father on one side and Molly on the other. She took out her phone from her purse and stopped a couple carrying a map.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Will you take our picture?”
READING GROUP GUIDE
1. The snapshot at the core of this book (and on the cover) is an actual photo of Lis Wiehl that her FBI agent father snapped at a civil rights rally in 1965. What stands out to you as you look at the photograph? How might your impression be different depending on where you live in the US and what decade you were born in?
2. Drew prods Lisa to help her father with his old case, reminding her of his own regrets when his father was dying. What are your thoughts about such parent and adult child relationships, especially when the parent seems to not fully realize the hurt he or she has caused in the past?
3. Though fictional, Snapshot is based on many true events and real people. Can you identify some of the historically true elements of the story?
4. When Lisa joins her father in investigating the killing of Benjamin Gray, she puts her skills as a federal prosecutor to work. However, her father follows his old-school FBI methods. How did the blending of old and new help uncover answers and clues? Do you think one method could have solved the mystery without the other?
5. As a single mother with a professional career, Lisa struggles with mom-guilt and the question of how she might have been a better mother to her son. James Waldren has his own regrets as a father. In what areas of your life do you struggle with guilt and regret?
6. Many of the relationships throughout the book are tainted with past pain, unanswered questions, questions never asked, as well as lies and good intentions that went bad. Can you identify some of these? What discoveries can be found through such mistakes that relate to your life?
7. What personal experiences have helped you understand your parents in a new way? Did you judge them more harshly as a child or young adult?
8. Though there are many conspiracy theories, what historical events do you believe are truly “covered up”?
9. The missing key to the Kennedy cabinet was finally recovered and revealed its secrets. Do you think there are similar mysterious historical objects that are hidden from the public?
10. Our nation has become quite divided. How might Americans from all walks of life find ways to understand one another better? How might our country improve through such understanding, or do you think it would improve?
11. Lisa Waldren is an intelligent, career-driven woman with a solid understanding of the world around her—she thinks. She is surprised when Drew reveals the racial prejudices he regularly encounters. Then as her friendship develops with Molly, Lisa’s discoveries of Molly’s and her family’s experiences bring new understanding to the issue of race, the civil rights movement, the struggle between races today, and the differences in what diverse Americans experience. How have you found surprising revelations about the perspective of people from other ethnic, racial, and/or economic levels? Did this discovery shape the way you view life and other Americans on the whole?
12. What were your favorite parts of Snapshot?
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I found these old snapshots. Do you want them?”
My father handed me the two black-and-white photos with little ceremony. He’d been going through old family and FBI memorabilia.
The moment I saw the pictures, I was riveted. Transported back in time.
When I was a young child, my family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in late 1963 just after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. My father, a special agent with the FBI, helped in the investigation, mainly gathering information about the killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, and interviewing Oswald’s widow, Marina. His work became part of the famous Warren Commission that reported to the president and the world what had happened that tragic November day.
So now that Dad had begun consulting on the book Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, he started opening old boxes. He found notebooks full of his interviews, leads, and findings. He also found two photographs he’d taken at a 1965 civil rights rally in Fort Worth. The focus of the photos was a little African American girl and me sitting together, oblivious to skin color, the marchers going by, or the tumultuous world around us.
As I stared at these snapshots in the days and weeks to come, my mind began to weave stories from the images. What had happened at this rally? Who was the other little girl? What had become of the people at the parade, and what were their lives like in Fort Worth in 1965?
Ruminating on these questions, and drawing on my own history as a federal prosecutor and daughter of an FBI agent, this novel came to life. As I lived out the imaginary exploits of the characters, I found myself haunted by a past not as far removed from today as we’d like to believe.
THE MYSTERIES OF OUR NATION
We all love a good mystery. I especially enjoy historical intrigues wrapped aroun
d our nation’s past. In Snapshot, the key and the contents of the cabinet are entirely fictitious; however, these elements were inspired by many real unsolved mysteries in our nation’s history. For example, we know that Bobby Kennedy changed the locks on the cabinets in the White House immediately after hearing of his brother’s death. What was he hiding from the newly-sworn-in Lyndon B. Johnson? My father’s old boss, J. Edgar Hoover, was known to keep secret files on politicians, diplomats, the CIA, and even US presidents. There are missing files, innumerable rumors, and no doubt real places where the answers to our historical mysteries are locked away. These what-ifs were fun to explore in this novel, and even more intriguing to consider in real life. And that was just one aspect of this book.
THE STRUGGLES OF 1965
All through the writing of Snapshot, I continued to return to those photos. They became much more than family keepsakes and inspiration for a novel. Looking at those two little girls—one being myself—I couldn’t stop thinking about how innocent they were of the volatile world around them. It reminded me of just how tumultuous this time was. And how close it is to us today.
Our country may be fragmented in its politics, but rarely are Americans in danger of brutality and murder by other Americans for our beliefs. That wasn’t true in 1965, the year my father took those snapshots.
That year there were marches throughout the South to protest acts against voting rights and to push for basic civil freedoms for African Americans. Leaders were brutalized and peaceful demonstrations often turned tragic.
One such peaceful rally for voting rights was held at Zion’s Chapel Methodist Church. Four hundred participants prayed, sang, and shared stories. None were armed.
Twenty-six-year-old army veteran Jimmie Lee Jackson was in attendance. For years Jackson and his grandfather had tried to register to vote, but they were consistently turned away at the registrar’s office on one excuse after another. Though the rally had pledged nonviolence, the police arrived in full riot gear. Streetlights were knocked out, and the brutality began.
Marchers of all ages and even numerous photographers and newsmen were injured. Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot by a police officer as he tried protecting his mother and elderly grandfather as they were being clubbed. Jimmie Lee Jackson’s mother and eighty-two-year-old grandfather received head wounds and were taken to the hospital. But Jimmie Lee Jackson had been shot twice at point-blank range in the stomach. He died eight days later. The state trooper who shot him wasn’t prosecuted until forty-two years later.
The death of Jimmie Lee Jackson strengthened the resolve that change must occur in the South and inspired the famous Selma to Montgomery marches. The first march on March 7 brought six hundred people along the route between the town of Selma and the state capital of Montgomery. As they walked, once again unarmed men and women were attacked by state and local law enforcement wielding tear gas and weapons. This day became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Two days later 2,500 protesters set out again from Selma but were forced to turn around when a federal district court judge issued a restraining order against the march.
The third attempt began on March 17 when the restraining order was lifted due to the First Amendment’s right to protest. With FBI and National Guard keeping a watchful eye, the marchers walked the fifty-four miles from Selma to Montgomery over a course of eight days.
On March 25, 1965, more than 25,000 people climbed the final steps to the state capital. Such sacrifice and dedication changed the course of American history. Later that same year President Johnson signed the Voting Acts Right of 1965, giving African Americans the right to vote by mandate of federal law.
Of course this was just one of many key turning points in 1965. It was the year Malcolm X was killed and of the American Football League’s boycott of New Orleans after numerous acts of discrimination against its black players. That football game was moved to Houston.
In the surrounding years, the nation endured the assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. The Vietnam War was taking lives and dividing a nation, the Cold War had people digging out bomb shelters and schoolchildren doing drills in the event of nuclear war, and the hippie generation created a counterculture movement in this post–World War II era.
This was the age in which two little girls, one black and one white, sat together with all the promise of friendship.
THEN AND NOW
We live in a different America today. Yet 1965 was not so long ago, and it should not be forgotten. We have not eradicated hatred over skin color, over birthplace, or over differences in beliefs, race, and culture. Some Americans will never know such prejudice, while other Americans live with it on a constant basis, even today.
These snapshots remind me of that.
Today my life revolves around my family, friends, the law, the news, and writing. Perhaps it’s because this novel involves all those aspects from my present but is also built on our shared and complicated past that Snapshot is my most personal novel to date. My hope is that it will entertain and inspire you, dear reader.
Lis Wiehl
New York, 2014
CHILDHOOD PHOTOS OF LIS WIEHL
LIS WIEHL INTERVIEWS HER FATHER, RICHARD L. WIEHL
Richard L. Wiehl served as an FBI agent, federal prosecutor, and lawyer from 1960 to 2003. He’s also father to Lis Wiehl and her brother, Christopher Wiehl. The following is an interview Lis did with Mr. Wiehl in the spring of 2013.
LIS WIEHL: Dad, you took your four-year-old daughter to a civil rights march in the 1960s. As a parent myself, I have to wonder, what were you thinking?
RICHARD WIEHL: It was a pleasant spring Sunday as I recall. There had been a series of speeches by civil rights leaders in Fort Worth—all very peaceful. I knew it was history in the making, so without any further concern, we jumped in our little red car and went to the square in downtown. All of us enjoyed the occasion. The speaker that day was one of the top national leaders.
LW: And why did you take those snapshots?
RW: I took a few photos, as did others, and have long since thrown the rest out. I thought these were unusual—and really what the rally was all about—played out by you two little girls. I would note that there were several children at the rally.
LW: And what did Mom think?
RW: Your mother was quite interested in the whole scene. As I recall, she found people to talk with.
LW: I’m a third-generation federal prosecutor, after you and Granddad. What brought you to and kept you in law enforcement?
RW: I always wanted to be an FBI agent. But in those days you had to be a lawyer first, so I went off to law school at the University of Washington in Seattle. At the Bureau I worked with federal attorneys. Later I had an offer to be a federal attorney in my hometown. For me that was a no-brainer.
LW: As an FBI agent, you were assigned to debrief Marina Oswald in Texas after the assassination of JFK. How did that come about? What were your impressions of her?
RW: The decision was made by my Special Agent in Charge, probably at the recommendation of my former Special Agent in Charge. I considered it quite a promotion as it brought me into the security field. Marina was at first afraid. Over time and after hundreds of interviews, that changed. She was intelligent, a good mother to her two children. And she wanted to stay in the USA.
LW: Dad, as you uncovered information about the life of Marina and Lee Harvey, and ultimately of JFK, what did you think about the racial and political climate at the time? Were there any black agents in the FBI working with you?
RW: There were no black agents involved in the investigation. I think one of the first black agents was the younger brother of a close companion of mine on the track team at the University of Washington. That took place several years later. Times were changing rapidly—and if the law could help, within the law, so much the better.
LW: You worked on the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, also known as t
he Warren Report. Do you think there was a conspiracy to kill JFK?
RW: Conspiracy? No. We were looking for that from the beginning. There were hundreds of theories. None held water upon investigation. The simple truth? Only one man was involved. If more had been involved, I believe we would have known about it. A conspiracy would have made our job much easier in that information might have been had from several people. In this case the only man who had the information was Lee Harvey Oswald.
LW: Dad, you’ve taken a lot of snapshots of me. Why did you give me this particular snapshot?
RW: Last year I was going through old albums—throwing things out, mainly—and I spotted several photos of you that I thought were “keepers.” Frankly, these were special, but my real favorite is you as Superwoman.
ESSAY FROM JUAN WILLIAMS
JUAN WILLIAMS IS AN AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST, NEWS ANALYST, AND BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF EYES ON THE PRIZE: AMERICA’S CIVIL RIGHTS YEARS, 1954–1965
The best description of what it was like to be a black child in the 1960s, the time of Lis Wiehl’s new novel Snapshot, comes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1963 King led a march of hundreds of children in Birmingham, Alabama, to confront city officials about segregation at stores and restaurants. The young people, with a clear sense of right and wrong and no adult worries about losing their jobs or being arrested, defied a ban on protests and followed Dr. King into the streets.
When he was jailed for leading the march, King wrote a letter explaining why he urged young people to march despite calls for him to wait for a political settlement. In his April 16, 1963, letter, Dr. King wrote it was important that people understand why he could “wait” no longer for racial justice.
“This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never,’ ” he wrote.
King then offered an example of how racial segregation was impacting his own children, specifically his daughter.