Episode 202 The Secret Service Question Part 13 Bonus The Cellar Part 3 Bonus Episode on Pat Kirkwood

JFK The Enduring Secret

Episode 202 is the thirteenth in a mini- series wander covering the Secret Service and possible involvement in the coverup, or the actual plot itself to assassinate President Kennedy. Today's episode is a bonus episode that finishes out our coverage of the incident at the Cellar Coffee House and Fort Worth Press Club. Pat Kirkwood was the colorful owner of the Cellar and he was known to throw a great party. As he came to grips with his terminal cancer, he would have one more reunion of sorts with his old friends from the Cellar Club and beyond in 2000, shortly before his passing. Todays is the story recalled of that event and many of the reminiscent moments that came from it. The Cellar has an infamous juxtaposition in the assassination of president Kennedy. Agents arrived late at the Texas hotel and some of the agents were hungry. They had heard that there was a buffet at the Fort Worth Press Club. When they arrived there around 12:30AM, they found no buffet. And, some of them stayed and drank, and then a large number of them continued on to the Cellar. Most of them stayed at the Cellar until at least 3AM in the morning and one of them, agent Paul Landis, is believed to have been there as late as 5 or 5:30 in the morning based on his own statements and statements of others. The story broke just three days after the assassination from a tip given to nationally known reporter Drew Pearson by a Fort Worth reporter who had heard the tale, but was sure his editor would never run a story that would cast aspersions on the secret service in light of the tragedy that had just happened. The story ran in the Washington Post and it was explosive and detailed misconduct that included intoxication and staying out so late that there was no doubt that the secret service agents involved were sleep deprived the next day. This generated the obvious question....were any of the agents involved in this incident, a part of the detail actually guarding the president that day in Dealey Plaza. And indeed they were. There were nine men who went to the Fort Worth Press Club and ten who ended up at the Cellar. Four of those men were in the presidential follow up car that day. Did their behavior the night before (or actually the morning of) the assassination contribute to the death of the President. That was the question. Sleep deprived agents that had been drinking seemed like an obvious factor to consider, but would it have saved the president from his fateful end? Earl Warren, the Chairman of the Warren Commission was incensed about the incident, and in one of the few passionate displays of his during the whole Commission review, he chastised Secret Service head James Rawley and wondered why the men were not disciplined for clearly breaking secret service rules. Not one man was fired for his behavior that night, as secret service chief Rawley believed that the men had already suffered enough. Having lost a president. Delving deeper into the individuals involved into the President's protection is for the purpose of solving the perplexing question of how men generally so loyal to the President, might have motivations to act otherwise. It is the seminal question regarding the inner workings of the secret service and their true orientation to President Kennedy.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the