From Jim Marrs' book Crossfire:
In several interviews, Yarborough voiced suspicions of a JFK conspiracy.
Yarborough's Suspicion of the Military-Industrial
Complex
"As we approached the city and then finally turned down Main Street
toward the Trinity River, the crowd increased as we got to the heart of Dallas
... and one of the most enthusiastic crowds we saw in any city we ran into in
Texas on that tour ... that's on the sidewalks. Now if you looked up, in the upper stories, I
never saw a single smile in any window I looked at. Some looked down ...
it looked like ... with dislike on their faces."
--former Senator Ralph Yarborough, interviewed in the documentary, The
Men Who Killed Kennedy: Part 1: The Coup D'etat
"Had Kennedy lived, I think
we would have had no Vietnam War, with all of its traumatic and divisive
influences in America. I think we would have escaped that. I think
the world would have escaped the 50,000 odd Americans dead and 300,000 more
wounded and over half a million more hooked on dangerous drugs ... tropical
diseases ... the divisiveness of that war that so many of the people thought
unjustified and unnecessary ... and that we shouldn't
have been there ... that split this country. Many of those things have
lingered on since."
--former senator Ralph Yarborough, interviewed in the documentary, The
Men Who Killed Kennedy: Part 5: The Witnesses
Yarborough's Suspicion of Lyndon Johnson
"There is the well-publicized story of Agent Rufus Youngblood, who
reportedly threw himself on top of Vice President Johnson after the shooting
began in Dealey Plaza.... Johnson, in a statement to the Warren
Commission, mentioned the incident:
|
I
was startled by a sharp report or explosion, but I had no time to speculate
as to its origin because Agent Youngblood turned in a flash, immediately
after the first explosion, hitting me on the shoulder, and shouted to all of
us in the back seat to get down. I was pushed down by Agent
Youngblood. Almost in the same moment in which he hit or pushed me, he
vaulted over the back seat and sat on me. I was bent over under the
weight of Agent Youngblood's body, toward Mrs. Johnson and Senator
Yarborough.... |
However, former Texas senator
Ralph Yarborough, who was sitting beside Johnson that day, told this
author: 'It just didn't happen.... It was a small car, Johnson was
a big man, tall. His knees were up against his chin as it was. There
was no room for that to happen.' Yarborough recalled that both Johnson
and Youngblood ducked down as the shooting began and that Youngblood never left
the front seat. Yarborough said Youngblood held a small walkie-talkie
over the back of the car's seat and that he and Johnson both put their ears to
the device. He added: 'They had it turned down real low. I
couldn't hear what they were listening to.'"
--Jim Marrs, Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy
Yarborough's Suspicion of the Warren Commission
Investigators
"A couple of fellows [from the Warren Commission] came to see
me. They walked in
like they were a couple of deputy sheriffs and I was a bank robber. I
didn't like their attitude. As a senator I felt insulted.
They went off and wrote up something and brought it back for me to sign. But I refused. I threw it
in a drawer and let it lay there for weeks. And they had on there the
last sentence which stated: 'This is all I know about the assassination.'
They wanted me to sign this thing, then say this is all I know. Of
course, I would never have signed it. Finally, after some weeks, they
began to bug me. 'You're holding this up, you're holding this up' they
said, demanding that I sign the report. So I typed one up myself and put basically
what I told you about how the cars all stopped. I put in there, 'I don't
want to hurt anyone's feelings but for the protection of future presidents,
they should be trained to take off when a shot is fired.' I sent that
over. That's
dated July 10, 1964, after the assassination. To my surprise, when the
volumes were finally printed and came out, I was surprised at how many people
down at the White House didn't file their affidavits until after the date,
after mine the 10th of July, waiting to see what I was going to say before they
filed theirs. I began to lose confidence then in their investigation and
that's further eroded with time."
--Jim Marrs, Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy
Lady Bird Johnson’s Big Fat Lie that Secret Service Agent Rufus
Youngblood “vaulted over the top of the front seat on top of Lyndon”
Lady Bird Johnson’s diary notes about this day in Dallas 1963
Michael Beschloss Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/536200742538059776/photo/1
Also, here: https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=14
Sen. Ralph Yarborough believed that had JFK not been
murdered the USA would not have gotten into the Vietnam War
LBJ on
December 4, 1963 commending Rufus Youngblood, “Without hesitation, he
volunteered his life to save mine.” -Award ceremony
2) 20
years in Secret Service by Rufus W. Youngblood (rufusyoungblood.com)
The citation read:
This Award is made in
recognition of Agent Youngblood’s outstanding courage and voluntary risk of
personal safety in protecting the Vice President of the United States at the
time of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November
22, 1963.
Mr. Youngblood wa s riding in
the front seat of the Vice President’s limousine within close proximity to the
President’s limousine when the assassination occurred. Upon hearing the first shot, Mr. Youngblood
instantly vaulted across the front seat of the car, pushed the Vice President
to the floor, and shielded the Vice President’s body with his own. His
prompt response in the face of great danger and his readiness to sacrifice his
life to save the Vice President was in the highest traditions of the Secret Service.
His valor and example make him a worthy recipient of this Award.
1964: Lyndon Johnson was very hostile to Secret Service director
James Rowley – so much so that “Rowley could not make a decision… without Youngblood
signing off on it”
QUOTE
In
early 1964, President Johnson shocked Rowley by ordering him to cut the number
of agents on his detail. The president handed down his orders just as the
Secret Service chief was pressing Congress to agree to let him hire at least a
hundred more agents in the coming year. “I want less when I go into the
campaign than you had before the assassination,” Johnson told him.
Johnson’s
motivation was political showmanship. Days earlier, he had promised a budget
with the lowest federal spending in years. “I won’t even go to the bathroom if
I have to have more people,” he told Rowley. “I’ll just stay right behind these
black gates.” The
president grew even more hostile toward Rowley that year, accusing him of
everything from “running a dictatorship” to “trying to get me killed.”
Johnson’s erratic meddling played havoc with the Service’s orderly hierarchy.
He had installed Rufus Youngblood as his detail leader, and he soon began
swearing him to secrecy about upcoming trips. The president also gave
Youngblood final say on who served on the detail or got promoted.
Johnson later tried to kick Hill, a Service hero, off the detail because he
didn’t trust anyone who had been that close to the Kennedys. Youngblood
persuaded Johnson to give him a chance.
This
palace intrigue further demoralized the Service “when it was going through a
serious bout of cancer,” agent
Larry Newman said. “Rowley could not make a decision…without Youngblood signing
off. It was like we had two leaders.
“People
were talking about the FBI taking over,” Newman added. “The press was saying
the Service sucks. The field was in turmoil. Nobody knew what was going to
happen….And the Warren Commission report information was coming out.”
Rowley
took endless abuse from his new president. But to the agents of the Secret
Service, the chief was a hero. That feeling was only vindicated by how the
quiet man they knew handled a contentious interview before the Warren
Commission. On June 18, Rowley arrived at the commission offices in a Capitol
UNQUOTE
[Carol
Leonnig, Zero Fail: the Rise and Fall of the Secret Service, p. 64]
36th President of the United
States: 1963
‐ 1969
Remarks at the Presentation of
an Exceptional Service Award to Agent Rufus W. Youngblood of the Secret Service
December 04, 1963
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Youngblood,
Mrs. Youngblood, members of the Youngblood family, ladies and gentlemen:
There is no more heroic act than offering your life to save another,
and in that awful moment of confusion when all about him were losing their
heads, Rufus Youngblood never lost his. Without hesitation, he volunteered his
life to save mine. Nothing makes a man feel better than being an American and to
be witness to this kind of noble patriotism.
Rufus, there is no prouder person
here this morning than I. You are a brave soldier in the highest American
tradition of love for country and for duty. You are a proud son of Georgia. You
are an excellent example of all the honored and brave and dedicated and
diligent men and the women who work with them who make up what we proudly call
the United States Secret Service. A more dedicated group of men I have never
known from the Chief to the most humble employee.
I am glad to know that Chief
Rowley has made it possible for you to continue to serve the President as you
did the Vice President, and I know in so doing that I will have one of the most
noble and most able public servants I have ever known.
Thank
you.
Note: The ceremony was held at
10:30 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House. The President's opening words
"Mr. Secretary" referred to Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon.
Later he referred to James J. Rowley, Chief, United States Secret Service.
The citation accompanying the
award reads as follows:
"This Award is made in
recognition of Agent Youngblood's outstanding courage and voluntary risk of
personal safety in protecting the Vice President of the United States at the
time of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November
22, 1963.
"Mr. Youngblood was riding in the front seat of the Vice
President's limousine within close proximity to the President's limousine when
the assassination occurred. Upon hearing the first shot, Mr. Youngblood
instantly vaulted across the front seat of the car, pushed the Vice President
to the floor, and shielded the Vice President's body with his own. His
prompt response in the face of great danger and his readiness to sacrifice his
life to save the Vice President were in the highest traditions of the Secret
Service. His valor and example make him a worthy recipient of this Award."
The text
of the introductory remarks by Secretary Dillon, who read the citation, was
also released.
Lyndon B.
Johnson, Remarks at the Presentation of an Exceptional Service Award to Agent
Rufus W. Youngblood of the Secret Service Online by Gerhard Peters and John T.
Woolley, The American Presidency Project
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239673
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