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The Echo From Dealey Plaza by Abraham Bolden
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About the Author: Abraham W Bolden
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Awards Recipient: Baker
Street Tankard Award, Hugo's Companions, May 2008 Recipient: Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature, African American Arts Alliance of Chicago, October 2008 Recipient: Men of Influence Award, Urban Influence Magazine BARACK OBAMA NEEDS TO HIRE THIS MAN 
Abraham Bolden is the first African-American Secret
Service agent assigned to the presidential detail.
With the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King�s assassination recently
passed, the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy�s murder coming up in June, and all the resultant hysteria swirling around
the issue of presidential candidate Barack Obama�s safety as of late, we would like to humbly remind Senator Obama
what a real Secret Service agent looks like. If Barack Obama
wants to surround himself with a security staff that can be fully trusted to keep him safe from harm, we would recommend
that he hire JFK�s former Secret Serviceman Abraham Bolden as the head of his personal security detail. And if elected
to the presidency, we would further implore President Obama to restore Mr. Bolden�s former status on the White
House detail of the United States Secret Service. At age 73,
we realize that Bolden would likely be unable to play a very active role in providing physical security for Obama, and that
the appointment would be honorary. But we also believe that this brave and loyal public servant should be rewarded
for his many years of courage in the face of intense persecution and suffering. Bolden�s career was destroyed, his reputation sullied, he was thrown in prison on trumped-up charges,
subjected to solitary confinement and drugged�all because he dared to protect the president of the United
States and tell the truth of what he knew about John F. Kennedy�s murder. Nearly 45 years later, Abraham Bolden (the first black man to serve on the presidential detail - at JFK�s
personal request - and who successfully thwarted a plot to assassinate Kennedy in Chicago on Nov. 2, 1963) has come
forward to tell his story in a new book �The Echo From Dealey Plaza�, which we hope that Senator Obama
already has a copy of. We hope that Senator Obama reads it carefully and takes Bolden�s words as a cautionary tale.
Lastly, we hope that Senator Obama will recognize the efforts of his fellow Chicagoan and do his part to give Mr. Bolden his
just due at long last for a job well done. Courage such as this should be honored, especially when it comes to protecting
the life of the President. It�s a task every Secret Service
agent is sworn to do, of course. But as we discovered that fateful day in Dallas, not every agent on President Kennedy�s
detail was as loyal to that sacred oath as Abraham Bolden - a fact that President Kennedy himself was apparently aware
of. �Keep those Ivy League charlatans off the back of
my car.� � President John F. Kennedy
to Secret Service Agent Floyd Boring in Tampa, November 18, 1963 (as reported in William Manchester�s Death of a President)
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Chicago Sun-times: March 23, 2008
"I've always had faith in justice"
Secret Service agent convicted after JFK's death finally tells his side
BY Jeff Johnson
. . . Bolden, the first African-American Secret Service agent assigned to the presidential detail, at the request of John
F. Kennedy, was tried twice for bribery and convicted. He has always maintained his innocence, and now he meticulously backs
up his claim with a blow-by-blow chronology of his legal ordeal.
The Chicago lawman forfeited a promising career, spending three years and nine months in prison. He felt the crushing weight
of a bureaucracy fighting to save itself after JFK's assassination.
Just 28 years old when Kennedy was killed in 1963, Bolden is now telling his story at age 73. Speaking by phone from his South
Side home, Bolden shows no bitterness or disillusionment. That's a testament to his unbending faith and indomitable spirit.
Full Story Continues Here
Bolden's book offers clues into JFK's death
April 16, 2008
. . . Bolden, who was the first African-American assigned to the presidential Secret Service detail, documents in his book,
the price paid for his commitment to truth and justice. It is a gripping and unforgettable true story of bravery and patriotism
in the face of bitter hatred and unthinkable corruption. Abraham Bolden was a young African-American Secret Service agent
in Chicago when he was asked by John F. Kennedy to join the White House Secret Service detail. Becoming, in JFK�s words,
the "Jackie Robinson of the Secret Service." For Bolden, it was a dream come true - and an encouraging sign of the charismatic
president�s vision for a new America . . .
Full Story Continues Here
Bolden shares his JFK, Secret Service experiences with FAMU
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| Photo by Glen Bell/Tallahassee Democrat |
By Angeline J. Taylor � DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER � April 25, 2008
He worked the Secret Service detail as a bodyguard for John F. Kennedy. He predicted Kennedy would be assassinated. Then,
he was sentenced to six years in prison "to quiet him."
Abraham Bolden, 73, outlines these and other details of his career in his book, "The Echo from Dealey Plaza". Bolden will
appear at a book signing today at 7 p.m. at Borders on Apalachee Parkway. Thursday, however, he spoke passionately for 90
minutes to a group at Florida A&M's School of Business and Industry about his devotion to Kennedy and his appreciation of
the law.
In the early 1960s, Bolden was working for the U.S. Secret Service in Chicago when he met Kennedy at a post no other agent
wanted � the entrance to the bathroom. Kennedy asked Bolden to work the presidential secret service detail.
"I'll be looking forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C.,'" Bolden said, recalling Kennedy's words. Then Bolden remembered
the man he still thinks highly of today.
"I could see in his eyes that this man was sincere about his hope for America. He exuded it," he said. "I couldn't wait to
get home to tell my wife."
As part of Kennedy's detail, he said he became aware that his fellow Secret Service agents didn't take their job seriously.
He said he saw them drunk or high. After working a detail in Hyannisport, at the Kennedy compound, he decided it was important
to reveal what he learned.
Full Story Continues Here
Illinois Times: MARCH 20, 2008
ECHOES OF INJUSTICE
An Illinois author discusses his experiences in JFK's White House as the first black Secret Service agent
By R. L. Nave
In April 1961, John F. Kennedy came to Chicago to pay tribute to Mayor Richard
Daley, who just a few months earlier had delivered Illinois to the Democrat in the presidential race.
Abraham
Bolden, then a rookie agent assigned to the Chicago field office of the Secret Service, remembers his chance encounter with
the new president.
�Has there ever been a Negro agent on the Secret Service White House detail?� Bolden
recalls the president asking.
�Not to my knowledge, Mr. President,� Bolden responded.
�Would you like to be the first?�
�Yes sir, Mr. President,� Bolden said, not bothering
to hide his enthusiasm.
Full Story Continues Here
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�Here I was, an idealistic young man, trying to advance as far as I could in government service. I would have liked
to have stayed in government service and been promoted to possibly some supervisory position or gone off into another government
field such as diplomatic services. It was very disappointing that these things did not occur . . .�
"I've always had faith in the American system of justice," he explains. "I spent a
great deal of time in police work, where I came to believe if a person sticks to the truth and continues to seek justice,
somewhere along the line that justice is going to prevail."
Abraham Bolden continues to fight to have the conviction overturned and his
name cleared. "I�m going to always stand up for truth and justice," Bolden said.
In the early 1960s, Bolden was working for the U.S. Secret Service in Chicago when he met Kennedy . . . Kennedy asked Bolden
to work the presidential secret service detail.
"I'll be looking forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C.,'" Bolden said, recalling Kennedy's words. Then Bolden remembered
the man he still thinks highly of today.
"I could see in his eyes that this man was sincere about his hope for America."
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