Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation (16 page)

Jackie turns away from Malraux to gaze at the figure in the painting hanging on the gallery wall. She is known as
La Gioconda
, or the
Mona Lisa
, a wife and mother of five children who sat for this portrait by Leonardo da Vinci in the early sixteenth century.

Bringing the world’s most famous painting to Washington, D.C., has been Jackie’s dream. About a year ago, she made a discreet request to Malraux, who then arranged the loan.

Now millions of Americans will line up to view the painting before its return to France in March—and all because of Jackie Kennedy.

John Walker, director of the National Gallery, was against the loan, fearful that his career would be ruined if he failed to protect the
Mona Lisa
from theft or the damage that might accompany moving a fragile, 460-year-old painting across an ocean in the dead of winter.

The
Mona Lisa
has just arrived from France. It will remain in a vault deep below the National Gallery until it goes on view.
[© Bettmann/Corbis]

Walker’s task of protecting the painting at the gallery was made much easier when JFK ordered the world’s most elite bodyguards to watch over the precious work of art—none other than the men who would willingly take a bullet to protect the president himself: the Secret Service.

John and Jackie stand before the
Mona Lisa
. With them are French Minister of Culture André Malraux; his wife, Marie-Madeleine; and Vice President Johnson.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

*   *   *

Of course the Secret Service’s primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the president, vice president, and other important government officials and dignitaries. Secret Service officers have a special language, including code names for people and places. The president’s Secret Service code name is Lancer. The first lady’s is Lace. Caroline and John are Lyric and Lark, respectively. Almost everything and everyone in the first family’s lives has a code name: LBJ is Volunteer; the presidential car, a Lincoln, is SS-100-X; and the White House itself is Castle. Most subsets of names and places begin with the same first letter:
L
for the first family,
W
for the White House staff, and
D
for Secret Service agents.

Jackie beams with pleasure at the opening of the exhibit, with Hervé Alphand, the French ambassador to the U.S., and his wife, Nicole.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

John Kennedy’s bodyguards carry .38 revolvers that bulge beneath their suit coats. The Secret Service’s motto is “Worthy of trust and confidence,” and the agents reinforce that message through their poise and professionalism. They are athletic men, many of them with college degrees and military backgrounds. There are eight agents on each of the three eight-hour shifts, and every agent is trained to handle a variety of deadly weapons. The Secret Service headquarters in the White House is a small windowless office at the north entrance to the West Wing, where an armory of riot guns and Thompson submachine guns provides additional firepower. There are several layers of security between JFK and a potential assassin, beginning at the White House gates and continuing right up to the black-and-white-tiled hallway outside the Oval Office, where an agent remains on duty whenever the president is working. Should Kennedy need to summon that agent at a moment’s notice, the president can push a special emergency button beneath his desk.

A Secret Service agent is only steps behind even when the first lady is shopping.
[© Bettmann/Corbis]

Sometimes Secret Service agents spend time on the playground. Robert Foster plays with John Jr.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

The easiest place to attack the president is outside the White House. Anytime he leaves, eight Secret Service agents travel ahead of the president to survey his upcoming location. They form a human shield around him as he moves.

Kennedy throws out the first ball of the 1962 baseball season on opening day at D.C. Stadium.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

For those protecting the president, JFK’s almost manic activity is the toughest part of the job. He likes to appear vigorous in public and often risks his life by wading deep into crowds to shake hands. These moments terrify his security detail. Any crazed lunatic with a gun and an agenda could easily take a shot during times like those. Should that happen, each agent is prepared to place his body between the bullet and the president, sacrificing his own life for the good of the country.

The first lady arrives for a luncheon in her honor. The head of her Secret Service detail, Clint Hill, is on the far right.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

It helps that the agents truly like JFK. He knows them by name and is fond of bantering with them. Despite this familiarity, the men of the Secret Service never forget that John Kennedy is the president of the United States. Their sense of decorum is evident in the respectful way they address Kennedy. Face-to-face, they call him Mr. President. When two agents talk about him, he is known as “the boss.” And when speaking to visitors or guests, they refer to him as President Kennedy.

These Secret Service agents are also very fond of Jackie. The agent in charge of her detail, six-foot-tall Clint Hill (code name Dazzle), has become her close friend and confidant.

Thus, it is almost natural that Secret Service protection be extended to the
Mona Lisa
. The passionate crowds who will surround da Vinci’s painting are similar to the throngs who scream for JFK and Jackie on their travels around the world.

That is why the Secret Service never lets down its guard.

Not yet, at least.

*   *   *

If the Secret Service is aware of Lee Harvey Oswald, that fact is nowhere in any record.

Their ignorance is not unusual. Why would the powerful Secret Service be watching a low-level former marine living in Dallas, Texas?

Oswald’s life continues to be defined by a balance of passion and rage. Marina has moved back in with him. On January 27, 1963, as crowds 10 abreast line the streets of Washington to view the
Mona Lisa
, Oswald orders a .38 Special revolver through the mail. It costs him $29.95. Oswald slides a $10 bill into the envelope, with the balance to be paid on delivery. He keeps the purchase a secret from Marina by having the gun sent to a post office box.

Oswald has no special plans for his new pistol. Nobody has been making threats on his life, and for now he has no intention of killing anyone. He merely likes the idea of owning a gun—just in case.

Lee Harvey Oswald is growing more isolated. He has turned a closet in his home into an office. There he writes angrily about the world around him. He becomes increasingly agitated, and people are beginning to fear him.

On March 12 in Dallas, Oswald decides to buy a second gun. This time it’s a rifle. He buys an Italian Mannlicher-Carcano gun that was made in 1940 and originally designed for Italian infantry use during World War II. This is not a gun designed for hunting animals, but for shooting men. As a former Marine Corps sharpshooter, Oswald knows how to clean, maintain, load, aim, and accurately fire such a weapon.