Kennedy may have been handsome, rich, and devilishly charming, but plenty of people in the country despised him. Hard as it was to believe that the president needed protecting from the cheering masses in Niagara Square, Lawson and the detail had to assume at all times that an enemy lurked within the throng. Still, the agents knew that the longer the parade route and the more hand-shaking at rope lines, the greater the chances that something bad could happen. Secret Service agents privately disapproved of how close Kennedy wanted to get to his public, but they didn't have the power to override him. To help Democrats win congressional seats that November, the White House wanted as many voters as possible to see the president. Kennedy was winning hearts, and - his political aides hoped - votes. Kennedy smiled at how long he had to wait before he could say the next line. "And as the old song says, 'As long as you live, Poland lives,'" Kennedy continued. He had arrived three days earlier to assess the safety of every step the president would take on the visit, an elaborate choreography known as "the advance." He had chosen which streets to block off for the motorcade, how close crowds could stand, and what perimeter posts local cops and motorcycle escorts would man.īut Lawson's meticulous planning didn't change the laws of physics: He and his fellow agents were ultimately insignificant dots in the swirling mass of people pouring into the square.Ĭheers went up as Kennedy told the crowd they had kept Poland in their hearts and urged them to pray that her people might one day live free of Communist rule. Standing at the base of the wooden stage in front of City Hall, Lawson rotated his head from left to right, scanning the square, a human periscope rolling over endless heads, faces, and arms, alert to any sign of danger.įor this visit, Lawson had the added duty of serving as the Secret Service's chief of security planning. Their duty: to put their body between the president and a gun, knife, or any other threat. When Kennedy was shaking hands, as he loved to do, detail agents flanked him on either side, watching those outstretched hands for any sign of danger.
When "the Boss" - their informal name for the president - stepped on the platform stage, his detail trained their eyes and ears on the crowd for any odd duck, strange movement, or person with hands stuffed in their pockets.
That inner ring of detail agents kept a unique vigil that relied largely on sensory instinct and coiled muscles.
They shadowed him as he stepped off Air Force One, as he stood waving from his limo the last half mile of the parade, and now finally as he addressed the enormous crowd in the city's center - Niagara Square. Lawson and the seven other members of the president's detail had a job that required every ounce of their concentration: Safeguard Kennedy from start to finish of the trip.
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