Interview on INTO THE NIGHTMARE with Chris Gallop of The Continuing Inquiry

[Joseph McBride]

http://jfk-thecontinuinginquiry.com/our-newsletter.html

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Nightmare-Kil...1939795257

[Scott Kaiser]

http://jfk-thecontinuinginquiry.com/our-newsletter.html

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Nightmare-Kil...1939795257

Wow! This is awesome! I love it when I read of folks who were really connected to JFK in their own and unique way. Joseph McBride, a volunteer in JFK's 1960 Wisconsin presidential primary campaign.

It's incredible to see the number of folks who have lived through that experience and still express their loss, I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

[Joseph McBride]

Yes, working as a volunteer for JFK and meeting him twice
in that 1960 Wisconsin presidential campaign (in which my
mother, Marian McBride, vice chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party,
also worked) was a great experience for a kid and played a major role in establishing
my lifelong interest in politics (and in his assassination). I had a chance to talk with him briefly
on both occasions, once to answer a question he asked
about PROFILES IN COURAGE. My small part in that campaign
was to go door-to-door passing out reprints of John Hersey's glowing
New Yorker article about the PT-109 incident; I was helping build the
Kennedy legend with that article, which I later found out had
been commissioned by Joe Kennedy Sr. and was (as we know) rather romanticized.

I met Kennedy again in May 1962 when he
came to Milwaukee as president for a Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. My father, Raymond E. McBride of the Milwaukee Journal, had a chance
to ask him a one-on-one question at the smaller reception beforehand. He
asked, "Do you ever worry about being assassinated?" Kennedy
did not seem fazed by the question. He replied that he couldn't
think about being assassinated, because it would be hard for him
to do his job if he did. The last time I saw JFK, I pulled back
a curtain behind the podium after the dinner was over and found myself
looking right at him as he passed. He smiled as I said
hello and turned to walk down a ramp and enter the limousine in
which he later was killed.

[Scott Kaiser]

Yes, working as a volunteer for JFK and meeting him twice
in that 1960 Wisconsin presidential campaign (in which my
mother, Marian McBride, vice chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party,
also worked) was a great experience for a kid and played a major role in establishing
my lifelong interest in politics (and in his assassination). I had a chance to talk with him briefly
on both occasions, once to answer a question he asked
about PROFILES IN COURAGE. My small part in that campaign
was to go door-to-door passing out reprints of John Hersey's glowing
New Yorker article about the PT-109 incident; I was helping build the
Kennedy legend with that article, which I later found out had
been commissioned by Joe Kennedy Sr. and was (as we know) rather romanticized.

I met Kennedy again in May 1962 when he
came to Milwaukee as president for a Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. My father, Raymond E. McBride of the Milwaukee Journal, had a chance
to ask him a one-on-one question at the smaller reception beforehand. He
asked, "Do you ever worry about being assassinated?" Kennedy
did not seem fazed by the question. He replied that he couldn't
think about being assassinated, because it would be hard for him
to do his job if he did. The last time I saw JFK, I pulled back
a curtain behind the podium after the dinner was over and found myself
looking right at him as he passed. He smiled as I said
hello and turned to walk down a ramp and enter the limousine in
which he later was killed.

The last time I saw JFK, I pulled back a curtain behind the podium after the dinner was over and found myself looking right at him as he passed. He smiled as I said hello and turned to walk down a ramp and enter the limousine in which he later was killed.

Now that's a story, thanks for sharing.

[Joseph McBride]

Although security was tight for that afternoon's
motorcade (witnessed by a huge crowd, 400,000 people),
security was a bit lax after that evening's Milwaukee dinner. I went up to
the podium to look at the lectern with the presidential
seal attached. Kennedy had left his speech notes on the lectern with
doodles on them, including drawings of sailboats. I wanted
to take the notes with me but didn't think I should. As I pondered
that question, a Secret Service agent came to remove the presidential seal. I asked
if I could have the notes, and he said no, because
"The President might have been making notes about
Berlin." I was disappointed, but shortly after the
agent left, I heard noise from behind the curtain. It
was then that I pulled it back and came face-to-face
with the President, five feet away. He seemed
relaxed and was cordial. He was trailed
quickly by his retinue.

But there are always
gaps in security, some much worse than others, as we
saw in Dallas. Seeing how vulnerable
Kennedy was up close during the 1960 campaign,
even in a large crowd, probably helped inspire me to
write my October 1961 short story about his
assassination, "The Plot Against a Country."

My late mother, Marian McBride, was in that May 1962 Milwaukee motorcade and helped in some of the planning for it in her capacity as vice chairman of the Wisconsin
Democratic Party. I found a letter in which she said she
was in the seventh car, with Evelyn Lincoln and the
president's traveling doctor, dignitaries who in Dallas were relegated
to the "VIP bus" at the end of the line of vehicles. My mother
said one of her tasks had been arranging for Boy Scouts and school
bands to turn out for the parade, stationed at
different corners ("it made for color and excitement"). She
complained that the Secret Service had been
difficult to work with. As I write in INTO THE NIGHTMARE,
she wrote a letter shortly after the event describing
the preparations for the visit as "the most hectic [time] I've ever known . . . it wouldn't
have been bad, but working with the Secret Service men
is something I hope not to face again." I don't know if that
is a compliment or a criticism! From the
news stories, it seems they and the
police were extra-vigiliant in Milwaukee. I wonder why,
unless it was standard for such a very
big crowd. It seems unusual that the
papers printed such detailed reports
about police presence and security
planning ahead of the event, including
plans to station police on tops of buildings
and on all bridges and viaducts along the route.
Officers were ordered to face the crowds at all times. The Milwaukee
Sentinel mentioned that ex-president Theodore
Roosevelt had been shot in 1912 near the Milwaukee
Auditorium, to which the Arena was added in 1950; Kennedy
spoke at the Arena in 1960 and 1962.


I found a May 21, 1962, letter in JFK's files thanking
Milwaukee Police Chief Howard O. Johnson:

"Mr. Gerald A. Behn, Special Agent in Charge of the
White House Detail, has informed me of the splendid
cooperation rendered by you and your organization
during my recent visit to Milwaukee.

"I am extremely grateful to you and I wish you would
extend my thanks to the other members
of your organization for their able assistance."

Too bad he didn't live to write such a letter to
Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry.

[Scott Kaiser]

The security was a bit lax after that 1962 Milwaukee dinner. I went up to
the podium to look at the lectern with the presidential
seal attached. Kennedy had left his speech notes on the lectern with
doodles on them, including drawings of sailboats. I wanted
to take the notes with me but didn't think I should. As I pondered
that question, a Secret Service agent came to remove the presidential seal. I asked
if I could have the notes, and he said no, because
"The President might have been making notes about
Berlin." I was disappointed, but shortly after the
agent left, I heard noise from behind the curtain. It
was then that I pulled it back and came face-to-face
with the President, five feet away. He seemed
relaxed and was cordial. He was trailed
quickly by his retinue.

But there are always
gaps in security, some much worse than others, as we
saw in Dallas. Seeing how vulnerable
Kennedy was up close during the 1960 campaign,
even in a large crowd, probably helped inspire me to
write my October 1961 short story about his
assassination, "The Plot Against a Country."

I found a May 21, 1964, letter in JFK's files thanking
Milwaukee Police Chief Howard O. Johnson:

"Mr. Gerald A. Behn, Special Agent in Charge of the
White House Detail, has informed me of the splendid
cooperation rendered by you and your organization
during my recent visit to Milwaukee.

"I am extremely grateful to you and I wish you would
extend my thanks to the other members
of your organization for their able assistance."

Wow! Now that' an experience I bet you'll never forget what a story to share with your grandchildren and family members of this new generation. I could sit and listen to people for hours. I just love this stuff.

[Joseph McBride]

http://jfk-thecontinuinginquiry.com/our-newsletter.html

The website now has included a missing question and
made a few other fixes in the presentation of the interview.
I appreciate Chris Gallop doing the interview with me and
wish him well on his evolving website.