by Jerry Parr
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I first met Del Wilber as he was writing Rawhide Down (Henry Holt & Co., 2011). When I shared with him the spiritual autobiographies Carolyn and I had written for our ordination in 1989, Del put them down and said, “You and Carolyn have to write your own book. Together.” He helped us find a literary agent and has been unfailingly generous with time and advice. We owe him.
Our agent Greg Johnson was a perfect fit. To represent first-time writers our age was a huge risk, but he believed in our story and our ability to get it right. We thank Tyndale’s Jon Farrar, Jonathan Schindler, and Kara Leonino, who always listened to our suggestions, even when they sometimes respectfully disagreed.
Ken Gire helped with the proposal and outline and got us off to a good start. Our talented writer friend Lauren Goodyear was our first line editor. She took our work into her heart, edited our drafts, changed the structure of certain chapters, suggested scenes, and taught us how to make the book come alive. Margot Starbuck, another talented writer and editor, suggested other changes that we adopted and appreciated.
Some treasures I had buried in the garage years ago served as an accuracy check despite the passage of time. I had saved all of my daily reports since my first day as an agent. I also found the transcript of three days of interviews with former Secret Service speech writer Darlene Simpson, conducted after I left the Service. Darlene later lost her battle to ALS, but her skill as an interviewer kept alive some of the best stories in the book. And Carolyn found the transcript of her own interviews in 1981 with nurses and female doctors who treated President Reagan at George Washington Hospital.
Mike Sampson of the Secret Service Office of Government and Public Affairs provided us with statistics and other hard-to-find information.
When they get together, Secret Service agents always tell stories, and they love a good laugh. Calls to old friends to confirm my recollections inevitably ended in hilarity. Tom Wells, Clint Hill, Ed Pollard, Hal Thomas, Don Bendickson, and Walt Coughlin shared their time and plumbed their memories; some of their favorite stories are included. Roger Warner, Mike Weinstein, Roger Manthe, Sam Sulliman, and Bill Barton contributed as well. Joe (“Jeff”) Parris generously allowed us to use his letter from President Reagan, reprinted in chapter 9.
By photos and word Carol Holt, Glennys Williams, Doug Horner, and Amparo Palacios Lopez (“Amparito,” our goddaughter) confirmed events of our trips to El Salvador described in chapter 11.
Finally, we are inexpressably grateful to Gordon Cosby and the salty saints in the Church of the Saviour who deepened and broadened our understanding of what it really means to follow Jesus.
TIMELINE
1930–1992
1930–1940: The Great Depression
1930 Sep 16: Jerry S. Parr is born in Birmingham, Alabama.
1930 Nov: Parr family moves back to Miami, where Jerry grows up.
1932 Nov: Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president.
1937 Apr 17: Carolyn Miller is born in Palatka, Florida.
1939 Jerry sees Code of the Secret Service starring Ronald Reagan.
Jerry’s parents separate and divorce. (Jerry’s mother marries twice more in three years.)
1941 Dec 7: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
1941 Dec 8: The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II.
1945 May 7: Germany surrenders to the Western Allies.
1945 Aug 14: V-J Day: Japan surrenders, ending World War II.
1949 Jan: Jerry graduates from Miami Senior High School.
1949: Jerry is hired as a groundman, on track to become a lineman at Florida Power & Light Company in Miami, Florida.
1949: Jerry enlists in the Florida National Guard—211th Infantry Regiment.
1950 Jun 25: The Korean War begins.
1950 Jul: Jerry joins the Air Force, military police.
1950: Jerry is stationed in Finland, Minnesota, guarding an early warning radar site.
1952 Jul 9: Jerry marries Mary Henry.
1952: Jerry is stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Jerry takes religious instruction and is baptized Catholic. He also takes some courses for college credit.
1953 Jul 27: The Korean War ends.
1954 Jul: Jerry leaves the Air Force in Alaska but initially stays in Alaska to work as a lineman. When Florida Power & Light notifies him that unless he returns to Miami, he’ll lose his ten years seniority, he leaves Alaska.
1954: Jerry begins work as a lineman at Florida Power & Light and attends University of Miami at night on the GI Bill.
1955: Jerry and Mary Henry divorce in Miami.
1958 Aug: Jerry and Carolyn Miller meet in Miami.
1959 Jan 1: Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba.
1959 May: Carolyn graduates from Stetson University magna cum laude and receives fellowship offers from six universities, including Yale. She accepts a three-year National Defense Fellowship at Vanderbilt leading to a PhD in comparative literature.
1959 Oct 12: Jerry and Carolyn marry in Nashville.
1960 Jan: Jerry starts a joint program, Peabody College (education) and Vanderbilt University (philosophy and English).
1960 Aug: Carolyn receives her MA in English from Vanderbilt University and discontinues PhD program.
1960 Sep: Carolyn teaches English and Spanish at Hillsboro High School in Nashville.
1960 Nov 8: John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in the presidential race. Lyndon B. Johnson is vice president.
1961 Apr 17: The United States’ attempted invasion of Cuba at Bay of Pigs fails.
1961 Aug 13: Barbed wire goes up around East Berlin.
1962 Winter: Jerry interviews with and receives job offers from the CIA and Secret Service. He accepts the Secret Service offer.
1962 Mar 25: Jerry and Carolyn’s first child, Kimberly Susan, is born in Nashville.
1962 May: Jerry graduates from Peabody College with a BA in English and philosophy.
1962 Summer: Jerry works for Middle Tennessee Electric as a lineman and has a near-death experience.
1962 Sep: Family moves to New York and lives in Glen Oaks garden apartment in Queens.
1962 Oct 1: Jerry begins at the US Secret Service, New York field office.
1962 Oct 22: JFK orders a naval blockade of Cuba and announces the missile crisis to the public.
1962 Oct 28: Soviet ships carrying missiles turn back. The United States agrees not to invade Cuba; the USSR agrees to dismantle and remove missile sites.
1962 Nov 7: Eleanor Roosevelt dies. When both JFK and LBJ attend the funeral, Jerry gets his first presidential-protection assignment.
1963 Jun 11: JFK federalizes the Alabama National Guard to enforce federal court order to integrate the University of Alabama. After a speech, Governor George Wallace yields and permits two African American students, James Hood and Vivian Malone, to enter.
1963 Sep 17: Jerry and Carolyn’s second child, Jennifer Lynn, is born in New York.
1963 Nov 12: Jerry is transferred to Nashville field office.
1963 Nov 22: JFK is assassinated. Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as president.
1963 Nov 25: Jerry is sent to Dallas, Texas, to protect Marguerite and Marina Oswald.
1964: Jerry is assigned to Nashville but is frequently called away to various temporary protective assignments.
1964 Jan 28: Jerry is stationed at LBJ Ranch, Texas.
1964 Feb 9–19: From the ranch to the White House (PPD), Jerry has his first encounter with LBJ and protects the British prime minister.
1964 Feb 26–28: Jerry works the presidential visit in Miami.
1964 May 8–Jun 19: Jerry attends Secret Service school in DC.
1964 Aug 7: Congress passes the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, enabling the president to employ military force against the Vietnamese Communists.
1964 Nov 3: LBJ and Hubert Humphrey defeat Barry Goldwater and William Miller.
1964 Dec 2: Jerry and his family move to Arlington, Viriginia, a s
uburb of Washington, DC.
1964 Dec 6: Jerry is transferred to VP-elect detail (Humphrey).
1965 Apr 7: LBJ’s speech at Johns Hopkins announces that the United States will take a stand in Vietnam.
1965 Aug 11: Watts riots in Los Angeles damage white/black civil rights alliance.
1965 Dec 24–Jan 1, 1966: Jerry does first foreign advance in Manila, Philippines.
1965 Dec 31: Carolyn moves the family to Wheaton, Maryland, by herself.
1966 Jan 11–13: VP detail makes unplanned visit to New Delhi to attend funeral of Prime Minister Shastri of India.
1966 Feb 9–23: Jerry accompanies VP Humphrey on southeast Asia trip. Humphrey sees wounded at Clark AFB Hospital in Manila and also visits Seoul, Korea.
1967 Feb 10: The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified.
1967 Oct 28–29: VP Humphrey visits Saigon, Vietnam.
1967 Oct 30–Nov 6: VP Humphrey visits Jakarta, Indonesia, and Semarang, Central Java.
1968 Jan 31: Vietcong launches TET Offensive; the United States loses hundreds of men.
1968 Mar 4: In New Hampshire, peace candidate Eugene McCarthy comes within 230 votes of defeating LBJ in the Democratic primary.
1968 Mar 16: Robert Kennedy announces he’ll run for president.
1968 Mar 31: LBJ announces he will not seek reelection.
1968 Apr 4: Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated; riots break out in one hundred cities.
1968 Apr 23–29: Students shut down Columbia University.
1968 Apr 27: VP Humphrey announces he will run for president.
1968 Jun 5: Robert Kennedy is shot immediately after winning the presidential primary in California and dies the next day.
1968 Jun 6: President Johnson orders US Secret Service protection for all presidential candidates.
1968 Aug 26–29: The Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominates Hubert H. Humphrey as Democratic candidate for president amid riots.
1968 Nov 5: Richard Nixon defeats Humphrey in presidential race.
1968 Nov 17: Jerry transfers to VP-elect Spiro T. Agnew.
1969 Jul 13: Jerry is promoted to Shift Leader (ATSAIC) of Agnew detail.
1970 Apr 30: Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia. Demonstrations flare up again and increase in intensity.
1970 Oct 3: Jerry and Carolyn’s third child, Patricia Audrey, is born.
1970 Nov 30: Jerry is temporarily assigned to the Foreign Dignitary Protective Division (FDPD) to protect Jordan’s King Hussein.
1970 Dec 13: Jerry is transferred to the FDPD.
1971 Feb 12: Jerry is promoted to ASAIC of Foreign Digs.
1971: First five female Secret Service Agents are appointed.
1972 Aug 1: Jerry returns to Agnew detail as a temp, alternating with FDPD as needed.
1972 Nov 7: Nixon and Agnew crush George McGovern and Sargent Shriver with 96.7 percent of the electoral vote.
1972 Dec 10: Jerry’s transfer becomes official. Jerry is now ASAIC of VPPD.
1973 Jan 23: Cease-fire in Vietnam begins between North Vietnam and United States.
1973 May 17–Aug 7: Watergate hearings are televised.
1973 Jul 22: Jerry is promoted to Deputy Special Agent in Charge (DSAIC) of the VPPD.
1973 Oct 10: VP Agnew pleads nolo contendere to tax evasion charges and resigns.
1973 Oct 12: Nixon nominates Gerald Ford for vice president.
1973 Oct 13: Jerry is assigned to Ford as DSAIC of VPPD.
1973 Dec 6: Gerald Ford is confirmed by Congress and becomes vice president.
1974 Mar 17: Jerry is transferred back to Foreign Dignitary Protective Division as DSAIC (second tour).
1974 Jul 27: The House Judiciary Committee recommends President Nixon be impeached on grounds of abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and contempt of Congress.
1974 Aug 8: Nixon resigns; VP Ford becomes president.
1974 Sep: Carolyn enters Georgetown University Law School.
1974 Sep 8: President Ford pardons former president Richard M. Nixon.
1974 Nov 13: Yasser Arafat addresses the United Nations on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Jerry in charge of his security in NYC, where Arafat is hated by pro-Israel citizens.
1974 Dec 19: Nelson Rockefeller is confirmed and sworn in as vice president.
1975 Apr 17: North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam.
1975 Apr 30: Vietnam conflict officially ends.
1975 Dec 7: Jerry becomes an inspector. (He is in Inspection through Jun 17, 1978.)
1976 Nov 2: Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale defeat Gerald Ford and Robert Dole in presidential election.
1977 May: Carolyn graduates from Georgetown University Law School.
1977 Sep 7: Carter signs treaty giving Panama Canal back to Panama, effective December 31, 1999.
1977 Sep: Carolyn begins her legal career with the IRS as a trial attorney.
1978 Sep 6: Carter meets with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at Camp David.
1978 Sep 17: Camp David Accords reached, ending thirty years of conflict between Egypt and Israel.
1978 Sep 18: Jerry promoted to SAIC of VPPD for VP Mondale.
1979 Jan 1: The United States establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China, the first since 1949.
1979 Jun 18: President Carter and USSR’s Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT II.
1979 Aug 26: Jerry is named SAIC of the PPD for President Carter.
1979 Oct 1: Iranian students storm US embassy in Tehran and take employees hostage.
1979 Dec 25: Parr family spends Christmas at Camp David with President Carter, Mrs. Carter, and daughter Amy.
1979 Dec 27: Soviets invade Afghanistan.
1980 Jan: President Carter announces US athletes will not attend summer Olympics in Moscow unless the Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan.
1980 Apr 25: The US mission to rescue hostages in Iran is aborted after a helicopter and cargo plane collide.
1980 Apr 30: Carter secretly visits the hospital in San Antonio where a burned helicopter pilot is being treated.
1980 Jul 14–17: Republican Convention is held in Detroit, Michigan. Ronald Reagan of California is nominated for president and George H. W. Bush of Texas as vice president.
1980 Sep 16: Jerry celebrates his fiftieth birthday with a surprise cake on Air Force One.
1980 Nov 4: Ronald Reagan defeats Carter for president.
1981 Jan 20: Jerry attends the inauguration with President Carter and returns to the White House with President Reagan. US hostages in Iran are released when Carter is no longer president. Reagan sends Carter to greet them in Germany, where they are flown.
1981 March 30: Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley Jr.
1982 Feb 13: Jerry works his last day with Ronald Reagan.
1982 Feb 14: Jerry is promoted to Assistant Director for the Office of Protective Research.
1982 Oct: Carolyn is appointed Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, at the Department of Justice.
1983 Sep: Jerry begins a master’s program in pastoral counseling at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.
1985 Feb 16: Jerry retires from the Secret Service.
1985 Nov 25: Carolyn is sworn in as a judge for the United States Tax Court.
1987 May 9: Jerry is awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) from Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois.
1987 May 16: Jerry earns MS in pastoral counseling from Loyola College.
1987 Jun 3: The Parrs move from Potomac, Maryland, to Washington, DC.
1987 Dec 27: The Parrs first visit Church of the Saviour and hear Gordon Cosby.
1989 Sep 19: Jerry and Carolyn are ordained by the Church of the Saviour.
1989 Jerry becomes the manager of Potter’s House, a Christian coffeehouse, performance venue, art gallery, and bookstore in the Adams Morgan area of DC.
Jerry and Carolyn secretly volunteer at G
ift of Peace, a hospice for homeless men with AIDS.
1989 Nov 16: Six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her fifteen-year-old daughter are murdered by the military in El Salvador.
1990 Carolyn helps found Joseph’s House for homeless men with AIDS and serves as their first board chair.
The Parrs help found the Servant Leadership School, a people’s seminary focused on inner-city ministry.
The Parrs help found Festival Church, an ecumenical, multicultural, bilingual Christian faith community in Adams Morgan. At different times each will serve as pastor.
The Parrs form a friendship with Edgar Palacios, pastor of Shalom Baptist and executive director of the National Debate for Peace in El Salvador. They invite his wife, Amparo, to live with them while she represents the National Debate in the United States.
1991 Nov: The Parrs and five others from Festival Church make a dangerous trip to El Salvador to offer solidarity and support for Shalom Baptist. They meet twelve children whose parents perished in the civil war.
1992 Jan 16: Salvadoran peace accords, partly drafted by Edgar Palacios, are signed, ending a twelve-year war. But tensions continue to run high.
1992 Apr: Leading a group of six, Jerry drives a bus to El Salvador from DC to donate to Shalom Baptist Church for the orphans. A miracle occurs at the border between Guatemala and El Salvador.
Mama loved my three-year-old curls.
Ready for school with short hair
With my stepdad, Jack Cox. At twelve, I was small for my age.
Florida boy in a typical cold Minnesota winter
Private Jerry Parr, 20
Newlyweds Carolyn, 22, and Jerry, 29
I liked heights. Note the size of the transformer.
Working the lines with gloves
Building a family—Carolyn, Jennifer, Trish, Kim, and Jerry
Scanning parade bleachers with Vice President Humphrey; his wife, Muriel; and their granddaughters Vicky and Jill Solomonson, c. 1965. Agent Walt Coughlin is in the front seat.