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Secret Service Vet With Very Strange JFK Story

By Russ Baker on May 2, 2012

PODCAST: Abraham Bolden, the first African-American Secret Service agent on the White House detail, in a talk from 2008. Recalls his astonishing experience with JFK, with his fellow agents, and the ominous goings-on prior to and after Kennedy’s assassination. A must-listen. Chilling. Also see our recent piece on the Service.

Click HERE to download/listen.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Please keep your comments short, to the point, and respectful. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not comply.

Anonymous

Agent Bolden is an inspiration to me because I want to feel that there are honest, well intentioned people in Government. He may have been the first African American Secret Service agent, but someone had to go first, into that obviously hostile environment, before the agency ‘turned around’ and could become effective in its mission.

Yes, the story is chilling, but the whole sordid affair has become even more chilling as I grew up and absorb the related details. The assassination mystery is a story that accumulates details fairly often, and the more we know, the worse things look for our future.

I shall NOT become complacent, as ling as I live.
arw

Why do comments need to be “to the point & short” if you don’t want to read someone’s comment, just don’t read it.
- Russ Baker
  
  Because some people write about any old thing–often not related to the content of the article, and go on and on and on. That’s disrespectful of all of the rest of us, wastes our time, and turns off visitors. Also fills up too much visual space. (And thanks for keeping THAT short and to the point.
  - http://twitter.com/dakealo dakealo
    
    Russ, have you heard this interview with Peter Janney about his new book “Mary’s Mosiac”?
    
    I was not aware of the relationship between Mary Pinchot Meyer, JFK and Ben Bradlee.
    
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/
    - Colleen
      
      Thanks for the link to the interview link. I read Janney’s book and couldn’t put it down. Janney adds significant pieces to the puzzle.
http://twitter.com/SusieMadrak Susie Madrak

The thing about those three pivotal assassinations of the 60s is that many people did try to set the record straight – including Mr. Bolden. Too bad our democracy isn’t up for the challenge of the truth.
Bruce Nevin

Bolden’s book:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=abraham+bolden&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=The+Echo+From+Dealey+Plaza&x=0&y=0
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Anonymous

After listening to this, it puts the complaint that the current Secret Service were using prostitutes into question. If they’ve been doing similar (lap dances at the Playboy Club then) could the recent culling have to do with something else? Like trying to kill BHO?
- Dianagwinn
  
  why would his handlers want to kill BHO? He has been and continues to be a most exemplary employee. Why his kill rate of black, brown and yellow people is much better than GWB. and he has successfully looted the U.S. treasury, promising to empty the public coffer.
- onedavide
  
  ?????? i don’t follow…maybe u’r comment was an attempt @humor.
Robert Lewis

I looked up the Bolden on Wikipedia, and note he was accused of soliciting bribes from Joe Spagnoli, a Chicago mobster involved in counterfeiting. Spagnoli was the accuser, and almost certainly was associated with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancanna, thought to be involved in the Kennedy assassination. I grew up about 500 feet from Spagnoli’s west side Chicago neighborhood, and was a classmate of his son, and intolerable bully and hood in those days – early 60′s. I later moved to Sam Giancanna’s Oak Park neighborhood, aand lived about 1/4 mile away from that house. Seems logical Spagnoli was making the bribe allegations to discredit Bolden, perhaps at Giancanna’s direction. (Maybe this is already known.) Local DA Ed Hanrahan, who had Fred Hampton of the Panther’s murdered, was involved in his prosecution.
(Edit: I Looked at Bolden’s own bio after writting the above – apparently the connections are well known, but new to me. I was of course unaware at the time my close neighbors were involved in such stuff!)
- Anonymous
  
  Amazingly, Abraham has persevered. Indeed, all this adversity can be said to have “emBoldened” him, if I may.
A. Benway

Surely the Dallas Affair itself and the bad things that happened to Mr. Bolden help us to see the defined limits of options in the political arena. There are things that may be done, and things that may not be done. Successful pols know where the limits are.
- onedavide
  
  I hate to admit that i agree w/your statement! Just re-watched the doc Cointelpro today and was lamenting how much the hasty demise of the ‘occupy’ movement (passing various anti-terrorism laws) resembles the way the reactionary right dealt with attempted humanistic change in an earlier era.
  
  (Re: Cointelpro…likely the same characters@ the top responsible for jfk assassination)
BrianatMissionHill

BHO is clearly aware of this story Bolden tells, and wants to stay alive along with his family. My impression of BHO as an empty suit still stands, an empty suit with a lot of blood on his hands. Pushed into a corner by well heeled gay men and women not willing to fund his reelection bid, BHO did what every pol does – makes a necessary statement [on gay marriage] to get that money. I applaud those folks who did the pushing. Meanwhile we have the CIA and corporate America running the show making the U.S. the strong arm across the world to continue the corporate plunder of resources. Bolden’s story tells me that nothing will change until we, all of us, push to make it change. The corruption is too deep for any one man to do much.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Dennis-Bartholomew/100000245714586 Dennis Bartholomew
  
  Agreed. No one person, even Obama, will turn this around by himself. Hopefully you are doing your share to combat corporate abuses.
Colleen

Thank you so much for publicizing Mr. Bolden’s story which was new to me. He mentioned a book he wrote — what is the title?
- Russ Baker
  
  The Echo from Dealey Plaza:
  The true story of the first African American on the White House Secret
  Service detail and his quest for justice after the assassination of JFK
Cat

Abraham’s story totally resembles what they tried to do to Susan Lindauer because of what she knows about 9/11, among many other events.

She’s one of the first Americans they tried to lock up as mentally insane to shut her up. They used her to push the envelop of what they can “legally” do now with the Patriot Act.
http://danallen.com Dan Allen

Adding to that audio is difficult, but we have to pass it on, let people know about it.

We need a critical mass of truth-telling. It is not enough for Agent Bolden to pass on what he saw, and to share what he went through himself. We need millions, then billions telling what he saw, and not allowing the liars in the CIA and its associates to conduct their business in our name.

The truth has been losing to the CIA for the last 50 years. We can hope for the pendulum to swing toward the real story, and we can hope the Internet is a way for all people to communicate, cooperate, and unwind the lies.

Hope without acts is dead. What I have been doing is telling my kids about this stuff. Not sure what else I can do. I am open to suggestion.
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onedavide

thanx4the link.
onedavide

Thanx4thelink.
Diana

I can’t get the link to work, and I’ve tried on two different servers. Any other problems. I’d really like to hear this.
Diana

Persistance pays off, and I have the audio. So, please delete the post.
larry

bolden has been confirmed by history. the secret service agents on kennedy’s detail left their posts and went to a nightclub owned by pat kirkwood a friend of jack ruby -they got drunk the night before jfk was murdered. the head of the secret service james rowley did not even discipline anyone. bolden should’ve been running the agency instead he got framed by the good ole boys for speaking out.
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onedavide

Agent Bolden deserves a ‘Profile in Courage’ award, if ever anyone did … i wish he could have related his story to the President or RFK in real time instead of telling his racist boss. This man is a true american hero and should be an inspiration to us all. i’m recommending this to everyone i know.
http://twitter.com/tonybhoy610 last 16

CANT GET THE DOWNLOAD ONLY LISTEN