OPENING STATEMENT BY ABRAHAM BOLDEN TO JFK TASK FORCE ON DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE ASSSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

Tuesday, May 20, 2025
[BOLDEN TO BE SWORN IN BEFORE THE SUB-COMMITTEE:]

BOLDEN: Madame Chairperson and distinguished members of this committee — I want to thank you for your invitation for me to appear before you here today and tell my story after all these years. I’m so sorry that I cannot be there with you, in person, but the conditions of my health make it impossible for me to travel. I hope that you will bear with me on this Zoom connection.

[A] On October 30, 1960, I became a member of the U.S. Secret Service in the Chicago office. Then on April 28, 1961, I had the honor of meeting President John F. Kennedy when he returned to the city to thank his supporters at the McCormick Place arena. They assigned me to a position at the washroom door instead of the area of the president’s speech one floor above the street entrance. I must admit that I was a little bit disappointed with the assignment as you can probably understand.

[B] At 8:30 PM, the motorcade stopped in front of McCormick Place. I was standing at my post when the President and his team of Mayor Daley and every major Democratic politician in Chicago entered walking behind the President. I remember that I could only see the patent leather shoes that he was wearing on the stairway above. However, as the cosmic laws of God would happen, the first thing that the President wanted to do was use the washroom. And there I stood. The President came down the steps and stopped right in front of me. He smiled and asked my name. Then he said, “Mr. Bolden, has there had ever been a Negro Secret Service Agent in the White House Detail?” I told him, “Not to my knowledge, Mr. President.” And I felt the electricity of brotherhood between the President and myself. The President asked me, “Would you like to be the first?” I said, “Yes, sir, Mr. President.”  I knew the responsibility of the Secret Service. If I went to the White House Detail, it meant that I was willing to give my life for the safety and security of the president of the United States.

[C]  So, on June 6, 1961, I walked into history. I was assigned to the White House Detail in Washington, DC. to assist in protecting the life of the President. And I never met a more human and fair-minded person than President Kennedy.

[D]  One day, I could tell that President Kennedy saw me standing out in front of the Oval Office and he looked up and he said, “Mister Bolden, I see you made it.” All during my tenure in guard there, he was very kind to me. We had many conversations, often about the issues he was dealing with. We talked about the struggles of The Civil Rights Movement, and I could see the pain in the president’s face whenever he discussed what was going on with the racism in America. I was impressed at how respectfully he treated me and that he would be interested in my thoughts on how to solve this historic problem. As a matter of fact, when I first traveled with the President to Massachusetts, he called all the Kennedy children together at his home and said, “This is Mr. Bolden. He is a Secret Service Agent. He’s guarding me. And if you have to address him for any reason, address him as Mr. Bolden.” That almost brought tears to my eyes because here we were in the midst of an historic civil rights era — a war amongst the Black and White people of our beloved country.

[E]  The President introduced me to all the members of his family, including Mr. Joseph Kennedy and Mrs. Rose Kennedy. Mr. Joe Kennedy was in a wheelchair. He had had a stroke. But they were all very kind. The President was a watchful person. He was so watchful that when we went on his yacht one afternoon on Nantucket Sound, the President looked out for me and he made sure that I was assigned on that day. While I was sitting near the galley, a Navy officer came out of the cabin door, walked over to me, and he was carrying a tray of food, and he said, “The President wants you to have lunch.” Me, specifically. I thought this was marvelous. What was this thing? What cosmic connection has placed me in this position? All my life, I wanted to be in a position to learn, to develop a moral core, to help my people progress as citizens of the United States of America.

[F]  The President was most of the time in agony because of severe back problem that he had. However, as time went on there were some in the White House detail who didn’t accept that I was there.  The President noticed that I was not being treated well by some members of the detail. I said nothing because I was no stranger to this kind of treatment, and I was very grateful to the President for appointing me to such a position.

[G] He would make sure that I was on Air Force One and Marine One, the helicopter, on the way back to Washington, DC. and the White House. The President introduced me to his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Press Secretary Pierre Salinger. “Mr. Bolden here is the Jackie Robinson of the White House Secret Service Detail,” he joked.

One day into my service there, the President asked me, “Mr. Bolden, do you plan to make the Secret Service a career?” I said, “No, sir, Mr. President,” I told him, “… one day I would like to be a diplomat to one of the African countries.”

Then the President said, “Well, if you learn to speak in African language, which you should have some time to learn, I’ll make you a promise that once you are qualified, I will make you a diplomat to one of the countries in Africa.” That was a promise that he made, and I know he was a man of his word.

Then, on July the third,1961 when we were with the President and his family in Massachusetts, my superior agent, the Special Agent in Charge of the shift, called my name.  We were sitting there watching the news and I heard my supervisor yell, “Bolden!” and motioned to me over to the couch where he was sitting.
“I want to tell you one thing,” he said, “…and don’t you ever forget this. You are a nigger now, you will always be a nigger and you’ll never be anything else but a nigger.”  I got up and left.

[H] I remember one incident in particular that I wanted to tell you about. On or about June 29, 1963 – I had hurried to my post outside the Oval Office when I learned that the other agents had gone on a break. I saw vice president Johnson coming in for an unscheduled meeting with President Kennedy. I could tell by his demeanor that he was upset. Johnson went into to talk to the President. The door to the Oval Office was open and I could hear vice president Johnson’s loud voice. The first thing that he said to President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy who was in the office at the time shocked me. The Vice President said, “You, sons of a bitches are not going to “eff” me this time. They are trying to send me to prison about some goddamn crap.” I could hear the Vice President clearly as he continued shouting. President Kennedy said very little. Attorney Gen. Robert Kennedy spoke up immediately and told the Vice President to stop talking to his brother, the President, and to him in such a loud and rude tone. Johnson continued to yell and swear at the President. The Attorney General told the Vice President that he was under investigation and it enraged him even more. I remember hearing the names Billy Sol Estes and Bobby Baker. Mr. Johnson said, “You’re just trying to make up an excuse to drop me from the ticket in the ‘64 election. Mr. Johnson said that he was the reason President Kennedy was elected in the first place. President Kennedy said, “Lyndon, that’s not true, Lyndon, and you know it.” It went on for a few more minutes. Then, vice president Johnson turned and started to walk out of the room. He was redder than a sack of beets. As he was leaving the Oval Office he pointed his finger angrily at the President and said in a threatening tone, “You son of a bitch, you better stop effing with me. Then, as he kept walking out of the room he saw me there. I heard Mr. Johnson say to his aide, “Who is that boy standing in front of the office door?” His chauffeur told him, “Well, he has to be from the Secret Service, or he couldn’t be standing there.”

[J] And then all if my fears came true. The President was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 pm on the afternoon, November 22, 1963. I was not in Dallas but what I witnessed, that is I saw for myself after that day and thereafter, was that various aspects of the investigation were being covered up by the Secret Service. Not only did they not do their duty but some of them carried out negative activities that I had warned the chief of the Secret Service about. Well – now — I was the person that was marked for exile from the Secret Service. However, I knew it then. And I thought that somebody had to stand up and let the American people know what happened to our President. From what I had seen there, in Chicago was the fact that my own government was concealing facts about his assassination. I discussed it with my wife, Barbara. I said, “I can’t live with this. I have to speak out. I owe that to the American people. I owe that to the Kennedy family. I owe it to myself. I owe it to God.” She looked up at me and said, “Well, you know they’re going to come after you.” I said, “I know. I just can’t help it. Just can’t help it.” So now they began to watch me because I had complained about the protection of President Kennedy when he came to Chicago on a couple of occasions. As a matter of fact, the first assassination attempt was supposed to take place here in Chicago, Illinois. Information that I had revealed was that some Cuban exiles we were trying to assassinate the President when he came to Chicago on November the 2nd to view an Army-Air Force football game. I was the person who raised so many complaints about his protection and brought out the fact in a meeting with the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office that it was our duty and obligation as government employees, responsible for the safety of the President — to notify Washington DC of a plan to assassinate President when he came into Chicago.  As I knew then and as we know now, that plot was real. The White House found out about it – and the White House cancelled the President’s trip to Chicago before that November 2^nd football game.

[K] As far as my constant complaints about what I had observed, they didn’t like it. My superior called me in and specifically told me that I was “talking above my pay grade.”  Well, I didn’t like it.

I had made the decision to tell the truth so I could do my job. If not, I couldn’t live with myself. But in January of 1964, the Secret Service made a move that was wrong, in that there had been reports of people in the group of the assassins in Dallas who had Secret Service identification. The Secret Service Chief recalled all of the Secret Service agents’ identification, and they made new identification books. I had heard that that there was some truth to the fact that some people had obtained credentials and were part of the assassination team.  So, I decided to take time off and pay my way to Washington, D.C., where the Warren Commission was meeting and tell them the truth.

[L] When I went to Washington, DC on May the 17^th, I tried to telephone the investigation’s lead attorney, J. Lee Rankin. I actually called the White House switchboard and asked to be put through to Mr. Rankin. I was concerned because reports out of Washington, DC, were that we weren’t getting any mention of the information and suspects that I knew had been investigated. As a matter of fact, one of the secret service agents who was one of the main investigators of the activities to assassinate the President in Chicago, told me that personally because he used to confide in me.

[M] Before I got a chance to testify before the Warren Commission, another man called me at my hotel. He was the Department of Employee Employment Policy Service, and he said, “Abraham, they need you in Chicago. We have just cracked a counterfeiting plant, and we need a person to go under cover.” So, two SAIC’s went to my hotel room, packed my clothes, and whisked me to American Airlines. When they got me back to Chicago, they accused me of all things. They locked me up and didn’t let me eat for 24 hours. I couldn’t even make a telephone call. They held me incommunicado all day long.

[N] A deputy attorney general and a special agent in charge of the Secret Service, walked into the office where I was waiting and he said, “We’re going to charge you with soliciting a bribe.” And I said, “That’s what you take of me?” Then they named two people that I had investigated for counterfeiting money. One guy was Frank Jones. I had arrested Frank Jones twice. We found a counterfeiting plant in his house. I was the person who investigated Jones for soliciting money on a false pretense.

[O] On July 12, 1964, Judge J. Sam Perry, who was hearing the case, instructed the jury in the following words, “In my opinion, the defendant, Abraham Bolden, is guilty of counts one, two, and three in the indictment but the government’s case is so weak that [he declared a mistrial].” If we hadn’t had that black woman on the jury, they would have got a conviction. So, we asked for another judge for a second trial. The judge set a second trial for August the 3rd of the same year, that was just three weeks, for me to prepare for my life and whether or not I was going to spend the rest of it in prison.

[P] In the meantime, of course, I had just bought a house, and now my funds were almost all depleted. Here again, my wife and I were trying to figure out how best to confront the government and prove my innocence. We had to discuss the fact that – in case I was convicted — as an alternative to me, some of the avenues that she could take in order for the family, my wife and three children, to survive. Now, I had only until August the 3^rd to prepare for going to trial again or go to jail. We had $500 in the bank and lots of bills. So, we’re talking now about 1964. I’m preparing to go to the Penitentiary because we didn’t have the funds to fight anymore. The doorbell rang. I went there to answer it and brought in a big package. We opened the box. 

[Q] In the box there was a big typewriter. I still have that Olympic typewriter. And with the typewriter was a ream of paper. It was from Richard Wagner from Turner Falls, Massachusetts. I opened the box, and an envelope fell on the floor. My wife brought it to me and in it was a check for $2,500 which permitted me to file for a motion of appeal and to continue my fight for justice.

I knew how the government worked though. Once you’re convicted, they send you to prison, they put you in a place where they question your sanity. So, because I had been reading everything about the assassination of President Kennedy, I knew what I had to do and that was contact Mark Lane, the attorney. Once they sent me to the penitentiary, Mark Lane came all the way to Springfield, Missouri, after I asked to see him. I had contacted many others who would come to Springfield but they were stopped by government officials because in the record at the penitentiary, they were trying to declare me insane.

[R] The government came on July the fifth, 1967, 3:00 in the morning. I was in the camp. Two guards with five-cell flashlights tapped me on the bottom of my feet and said, “Let’s go.” So, as we began to walk, I knew what they were up to. They took me to the Psychiatry Division. I protested. But it did no good. I knew what they were going to try to do first. They tried to fill me with drugs. They gave me a 175 grams of what they call LV. Now, what happens is this. They start you out on a weak mental drug, and then they ease you into something else — one of the great, strong mental drugs. As a matter of fact, they had a reputation that there weren’t too many who ever came out again in their right mind. So that scheme to declare me insane was added by the person who had to sign the commitment papers on August 3^rd to change my status of count to “Psychiatric.”

[S] Praise be to God. So now they had nothing to do. That put me on parole for the rest of my time. So, at that point, I wrote the book. Books are powerful things. I want you to remember that I said that. As a matter of fact, I’ve read several books about the assassination of President Kennedy. Many of these books mentioned me at various times of my life, and they tend to solve the problems – even problems like mine because the truth is that my case is about racism. But you know that all racism is, is ignorance.  It’s only one race.  It’s the human race. So, today as I testify before you, I want you to remember what I’m saying. I’m telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Many people have helped fight for justice in my case. I’m so grateful to them. I know that people have fought for justice for me because I’m finally free. Very often, as you people know, justice takes a long time and I want to publicly give thanks, a special thanks to President Joe Biden, who gave me a full pardon on April 26, 2022. He gave me the renewed liberty of innocence. I’m grateful to President Biden and I’m so sorry for what he’s going through now. And I’m grateful for all of you, for finally looking at the files on the case of the assassination of President John Kennedy.

[T] So, carry on, my brothers and sisters. Carry on this investigation, carry on this research, carry on this search for justice for all of us. I truly thank you for giving me a chance to tell my story today — Because not too many years from now, the only thing in my pockets will be dirt. But the truth cannot die. Praise God.

Thank you all.