William Greer was born
in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1910.
His family emigrated to the United States. Greer
worked as a farm labourer before moving to Boston
where he became a chauffeur. After the bombing of Pearl
Harbor Greer joined the US Navy. He
was assigned to the presidential yacht in May 1944.
At the end of the Second
World War Greer joined the U.S. Secret Service. He joined the
staff of the White House in November, 1950. Over the next thirteen
years he worked as a chauffeur for Harry
S. Truman, Dwight
Eisenhower, and
John
F. Kennedy.
On the 22nd November, 1963,
Greer was assigned to drive the presidential car in the motorcade
through Dallas. Several witnesses said that Greer stopped the car
after the first shot was fired. This included Jean
Hill,
who was the closest witness to the car when Kennedy was hot: According
to Hill "the motorcade came to almost a halt at the time the
shots rang out". James Chaney (one of the four Presidential motorcyclists)
- stated that the limousine "after the shooting, from the time
the first shot rang out, the car stopped completely, pulled to the
left and stopped." Mary Woodward, a journalist with the Dallas
Morning News wrote: "Instead of speeding up the car,
the car came to a halt... after the first shot".
Kenneth
O'Donnell (special assistant to Kennedy), who was riding in the
motorcade, later wrote: "If the Secret Service men in the front
had reacted quicker to the first two shots at the President's car,
if the driver had stepped on the gas before instead of after the fatal
third shot was fired, would President Kennedy be alive today? He added
"Greer had been remorseful all day, feeling that he could have
saved President Kennedy's life by swerving the car or speeding suddenly
after the first shots."
William
Manchester claims that Greer told Jackie
Kennedy
at Parkland Hospital: "Oh,
Mrs. Kennedy, oh my God, oh my God. I didn't mean to do it, I didn't
hear, I should have swerved the car, I couldn't help it. Oh, Mrs.
Kennedy, as soon as I saw it I swerved. If only I'd seen it in time!"
Senator Ralph
Yarborough,
who was riding with Lyndon
B. Johnson,
was highly critical of the actions of Greer: "When the noise
of the shot was heard, the motorcade slowed to what seemed to me a
complete stop... After the third shot was fired, but only after the
third shot was fired, the cavalcade speeded up, gained speed rapidly,
and roared away to the Parkland Hospital... The cars all stopped...
'I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but for the protection of
future Presidents, they (the Secret Service) should be trained to
take off when a shot is fired."
It has been estimated that
59 witnesses and the Zapruder
Film
indicated that Greer stopped
after the first shot was fired. However, when interviewed by the Warren
Commission,
Greer claimed: "I heard this noise. And I thought that is what
it was. And then I heard it again. And I glanced over my shoulder.
And I saw Governor Connally like he was starting to fall. Then I realized
there was something wrong. I tramped on the accelerator, and at the
same time Mr. Kellerman said to me, "Get out of here fast."
And I cannot remember even the other shots or noises that was. I cannot
quite remember any more. I did not see anything happen behind me any
more, because I was occupied with getting away."
Greer also testified that
he heard three shots and they all came from behind him. His testimony
on Kennedy's head wound did suggest that a conspiracy had taken place.
He claimed that when he got to Parkland Hospital he noticed Kennedy's
"head was all shot, this whole part was all a matter of blood...
it looked like that (his head) was all blown off." This contradicts
the pictures of Kennedy's head that were published sometime after
his death.
There is evidence that
Greer also believed that John
F. Kennedy
had been a victim of a conspiracy.
The daughter of Roy Kellerman, the
Secret Agent in Kennedy's car, told Harold
Weisberg in the 1970's that "I hope the day will come when
these men (Kellerman and Greer) will be able to say what they've told
their families".
William Greer died on 23rd
February, 1985. His son, Richard Greer, was interviewed in 1991. When
asked, "What did your father think of JFK," Richard did
not respond the first time. When asked a second time, he responded:
"Well, we're Methodists... and JFK was Catholic..."
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
William
Manchester, The Death of a President (1967)
There was
a sudden, sharp, shattering sound. Various individuals heard it differently.
Jacqueline Kennedy believed it was a motorcycle noise. Curry was under
the impression that someone had fired a railroad torpedo. Ronald Fischer
and Bob Edwards, assuming that it was a backfire, chuckled. Most of
the hunters in the motorcade - Sorrels, Connally, Yarborough, Gonzalez,
Albert Thomas - instinctively identified it as rifle fire.
But the White
House Detail was confused. Their experience in outdoor shooting was
limited to two qualification courses a year on a range in Washington's
National Arboretum. There they heard only their own weapons, and they
were unaccustomed to the bizarre effects that are created when small-arms
fire echoes among unfamiliar structures - in this case, the buildings
of Dealey Plaza. Emory Roberts recognized Oswald's first shot as a
shot. So did Youngblood, whose alert response may have saved Lyndon
Johnson's life. They were exceptions. The men in Halfback were bewildered.
They glanced around uncertainly. Lawson, Kellerman, Greer, Ready,
and Hill all thought that a firecracker had been exploded. The fact
that this was a common reaction is no mitigation. It was the responsibility
of James J. Rowley, Chief of the Secret Service, and Jerry Behn, Head
of the White House Detail, to see that their agents were trained to
cope with precisely this sort of emergency. They were supposed to
be picked men, honed to a matchless edge. It was comprehensible that
Roy Truly should dismiss the first shot as a cherry bomb. It was even
fathomable that Patrolman James M. Chaney, mounted on a motorcycle
six feet from the Lincoln, should think that another machine had backfired.
Chaney was an ordinary policeman, not a Presidential bodyguard. The
protection of the Chief Executive, on the other hand, was the profession
of Secret Service agents. They existed for no other reason. Apart
from Clint Hill - and perhaps Jack Ready, who started to step off
the right running board and was ordered back by Roberts - the behaviour
of the men in the
follow-up car was unresponsive. Even more tragic was
the perplexity of Roy Kellerman, the ranking agent in Dallas, and
Bill Greer, who was under Kellerman's supervision. Kellerman and
Greer were in a position to take swift evasive action, and for five
terrible seconds
they were immobilized.
(2)
William Greer interviewed by Arlen
Specter on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen Specter: After turning off Main onto Houston, did you have any
opportunity to take a look at the building which you have since identified
as the Texas School Book Depository Building?
William Greer: No, sir.
I had not any chance to look much at that building at all. When I
made the turn into Elm Street, I was watching the overpass expressway
- the overpass, or what was ahead of me. I always look at any - where
I go underneath anything, I always watch above, so if there is anyone
up there that I can move so that I won't go over the top of anyone,
if they are unidentified to me, unless it is a policeman or something
like that. We try to avoid going under them...
Arlen
Specter: And as
you turned onto Elm Street, how far, to the best of your ability to
estimate, was your automobile from the overpass which you have just
described?
William Greer: I wouldn't
have a distance recollection at all on how far it was. It wasn't too
far. I just could not give you the distance.
Arlen
Specter: At that
time, did you make a conscious effort to observe what was present,
if anything, on that overpass?
William Greer: Yes, sir.
I was making sure that I could not see anyone that might be standing
there, and I didn't see anything that I was afraid of on the overpass.
Arlen
Specter: Did you
see anything at all on the overpass?
William Greer: Not that
I can now remember.
Arlen
Specter: What is
your best recollection of the speed at which you were traveling as
you turned left off of Houston onto Elm?
William Greer: My best
recollection would be between 12 and 15 miles per hour.
Arlen
Specter: And how
far were you at that time behind the police car which was in front
of you?
William Greer: Probably
50 feet maybe approximately. I will say approximately 50 feet.
Arlen
Specter: As you turned
onto Elm, did you have any opportunity to observe how far behind you
the President's follow-up car was?
William Greer: No, sir.
I was not looking in my mirror; I could not say how far it was behind
me at the time.
Arlen
Specter: And what
was the nature of the crowd as you made the turn onto Elm Street,
if you recall?
William Greer: To the best
of my memory, the crowd had thinned out a great deal, and there was
not too many people in front of that building... When we were going
down Elm Street, I heard a noise that I thought was a backfire of
one of the motorcycle policemen. And I didn't - it did not affect
me like anything else. I just thought that it is what it was. We had
had so many motorcycles around us. So I heard this noise. And I thought
that is what it was. And then I heard it again. And I glanced over
my shoulder. And I saw Governor Connally like he was starting to fall.
Then I realized there was something wrong. I tramped on the accelerator,
and at the same time Mr. Kellerman said to me, "Get out of here
fast." And I cannot remember even the other shots or noises that
was. I cannot quite remember any more. I did not see anything happen
behind me any more, because I was occupied with getting away.
Arlen
Specter: Now, how
many shots, or how many noises have you just described that you heard?
William Greer: I know
there was three that I heard - three. But I cannot remember any more
than probably three. I know there was three anyway that I heard.
Arlen
Specter: Do you
have an independent recollection at this moment of having heard three
shots at that time?
William Greer: I knew that
after I heard the second one, that is when I looked over my shoulder,
and I was conscious that there was something wrong, because that is
when I saw Governor Connally. And when I turned around again, to the
best of my recollection there was another one, right immediately after.
Arlen
Specter: To the best
of your ability to recollect and estimate, how much time elapsed from
the first noise which you have described as being similar to the backfire
of a motor vehicle until you heard the second noise?
William Greer: It seems
a matter of seconds, I really couldn't say. Three or four seconds.
Arlen
Specter: How much
time elapsed, to the best of your ability to estimate and recollect,
between the time of the second noise and the time of the third noise?
William Greer: The last
two seemed to be just simultaneously, one behind the other, but I
don't recollect just how much, how many seconds were between the two.
I couldn't really say.
Arlen
Specter: Describe
as best you can the types of sound of the second report, as distinguished
from the first noise which you said was similar to a motorcycle backfire?
William Greer: The second
one didn't sound any different much than the first one but I kind
of got, by turning around, I don't know whether I got a little concussion
of it, maybe when it hit something or not, I may have gotten a little
concussion that made me think there was something different to it.
But so far as the noise is concerned, I haven't got any memory of
any difference in them at all...
Arlen
Specter: Did you
step on the accelerator before, simultaneously or after Mr. Kellerman
instructed you to accelerate?
William Greer: It was about
simultaneously.
Arlen
Specter: So that
it was your reaction to accelerate prior to the time...
William Greer: Yes, sir.
Arlen
Specter: You had
gotten that instruction?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
it was my reaction that caused me to accelerate.
Arlen
Specter: Do you
recollect whether you accelerated before or at the same time or after
the third shot?
William Greer: I couldn't
really say. Just as soon as I turned my head back from the second
shot, right away I accelerated right then. It was a matter of my reflexes
to the accelerator.
Arlen
Specter: Was it at
about that time that you heard the third shot?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
just as soon as I turned my head.
Arlen
Specter: What is
your best estimate of the speed of the car at the time of the first,
second, or third shots?
William Greer:
I would estimate my speed
was between 12 and 15 miles per hour.
(4)
William Greer interviewed by Arlen
Specter and Thomas
H. Boggs on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen Specter: I
hand you Commission Exhibit 350 and ask you if you are able to state
what that depicts?
William Greer: That depicts
a break or a shatter in the windshield of it.
Arlen Specter:
Does that picture accurately represent the status of the windshield
on the President's car at sometime?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
that windshield looks real familiar to me on the way it...
Arlen
Specter: At what
time, based on your observation, did the windshield of the President's
car look like that picture?
William Greer: I had never
seen that until the following day after it came back from Dallas.
Arlen
Specter: But on November
23, did the President's car windshield look like that?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
it looked like there was a break that had a diamond, in the windshield
whenever I was shown that at the garage, the White House garage.
Arlen
Specter: Was the
size and scope of the crack the same as that which is shown on that
exhibit?
William Greer: That I wouldn't
remember whether it was quite that large or not. I don't believe it
was that big. It might not have been but I wouldn't say for sure.
Arlen
Specter: Did you
observe any crack on the windshield after the time of the shooting
on November 22?
William Greer: No, sir;
I didn't see it at all. I didn't know anything about it until I came
back, until the car came back and I was shown that.
Arlen
Specter: Did you
have any occasion on November 22, after the shooting, to observe closely
the windshield?
William Greer: No, sir.
The only time I was in the car was going to the hospital and I never
- I didn't see the car any more. It was just from the shooting until
we got to Parkland that I was with the car. I left the car there and
never did see it until it was back at the White House garage.
Arlen
Specter: Are you
able to state with certainty there was no crack in that windshield
prior to the shooting on November 22?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
I am sure there was nothing wrong with that windshield prior to that
because I would have it was almost in front of me and I examined the
car, I looked it all over when I got there, I saw it was clean and
everything, the windshield. I didn't see this ever at any time previous...
Arlen
Specter: Give me
your best estimate on the diameter of the cracking of the windshield
as it existed on November 23?
William Greer: To the best
of my estimate it would be these little stars that are here, the little
shatters that are here.
Arlen
Specter: Would it
be fair to say that you are indicating a circle with a circumference
or diameter of approximately an inch to an inch and a half?
William Greer: I don't
think - it probably would be an inch. The whole diameter.
Arlen
Specter: Approximately
1 inch as you estimate it?
William Greer: Yes, sir.
Thomas Boggs: Excuse me,
did you say you did not notice this crack from the time that you drove
the car after the shooting to the hospital?
William Greer: No, sir;
I had flags on the car and you know they were waving at a high rate
of speed and you have the Presidential flag and the American flag
in front of you there; you know when you are going at a fast speed
you get a lot of, well, I don't know how you would say it, it attracts
you so much that I didn't have any recollection of what happened on
the windshield.
Thomas Boggs: There was
no glass or anything that spattered on you in any way?
William Greer: I was kind
of shocked at the time, I guess anything could have and I wouldn't
have known what hit me. You are tense, I was pretty tense, and naturally
my thoughts were the hospital, and how fast I could get there, and
probably I could have been injured and not even known I was injured.
I was in that position.
(4)
William Greer interviewed by Arlen
Specter on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen Specter: What
did you observe with respect to President Kennedy's condition on arrival
at the Parkland Hospital?
William Greer: To the best
of my knowledge he was laying, it seemed across Mrs. Kennedy, looked
like laying across her lap or in front of her, I am not too sure which,
I opened the doors - the doors were opened before I got to it, someone
else had opened the doors and they were trying to get Connally out,
and Mrs. Connally out of the seats so they could get to the President.
Arlen
Specter: What did
you observe about the President with respect to his wounds?
William Greer: His head
was all shot, this whole part was all a matter of blood like he had
been hit.
Arlen
Specter: Indicating
the top and right rear side of the head?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
it looked like that was all blown off.
Arlen
Specter: Yes.
William Greer: . I run
around the front of the car and got hold of a stretcher or thing and
I got hold of it to keep it steady while they lifted the President's
body onto it and then I helped pull the front end of it into the emergency
room.
Arlen
Specter: Who was
first removed from the automobile?
William Greer: Governor
Connally was first removed. He was on the jump seats.
Arlen
Specter: And what,
if anything, did you observe as to Governor Connally's condition on
arrival at Parkland Hospital?
William Greer: The best
of my recollection he was lying across the seat toward Mrs. Connally
when they picked him up and got him out of the car. And he was rushed
in first into the hospital. That is when I got the stretcher to bring
it, to hold it until they would get the President on it, on the right
side of the car. They took him out on the side he was sitting on,
that side of the car.
Arlen
Specter: Were you
able to make any personal observation about Governor Connally's specific
wound?
William Greer: No, sir.
I didn't know how badly anyone really was injured. I had great thoughts
the President was still living and that was the only thing I was thinking
about was to get them in quick.
Arlen
Specter: Going back
to the shots themselves, Mr. Greer, do you have any reaction as to
the direction from which the shots came?
William Greer: They sounded
like they were behind me, to the right rear of me.
Arlen
Specter: Would that
be as to all three shots?
William Greer: Yes, sir.
They sounded, everything sounded, behind me, to me. That was my thought,
train of thought, that they were behind me.
Arlen
Specter: Have you
ever had any reaction or thought at any time since the assassination
that the shots came from the front of the car?
William Greer: . No, sir;
I had never even the least thought that they could come. There was
no thought in my mind other than that they were behind me.
(5)
Michael
L. Kurtz, Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination From
a Historians Perspective (1982)
The Zapruder and
other films and photographs of the assassination clearly reveal the
utter lack of response by Secret Service agents Roy Kellerman and
James Greer, who were in the front seat of the presidential limousine.
After the first two shots, Greer actually slowed the vehicle to less
than five miles an hour. Kellerman merely sat in the front seat, seemingly
oblivious to the shooting. In contrast, Secret Service Agent Rufus
Youngblood responded instantly to the first shot, and before the head
shots were fired, had covered Vice-President Lyndon Johnson with his
body.
Trained to react instantaneously,
as in the attempted assassinations of President Gerald Ford by Lynette
Fromme and Sara Jane Moore and of President Ronald Reagan by JohnWarnock
Hinckley, the Secret Service agents assigned to protect President
Kennedy simply neglected their duty. The reason for their neglect
remains one of the more intriguing mysteries of the assassination.
(6)
Judyth
Baker, Deadly Alliance (1999)
Lee (Harvey Oswald)
told me that the driver’s habits (William Greer) had been studied,
and a shot going off would cause him to brake, which would slow the
vehicle down. This was desired because even this cabal feared Aristotle
Onassis, who would send killers out to track down anyone who killed
Jackie Kennedy, or so the rumor went – and besides, everybody
liked Jackie and orders were out not to hit her. It was to spare Jackie
that some very expert marksmen missed or delayed their shots that
day in Dealey Plaza: she was in their line of sight a great deal of
the time, according to David Ferrie, who got the report from Marcello's
henchmen as soon as he arrived in the Houston area.
(7)
House
Select Committee on Assassinations
(1979)
Findings of the Select Committee on Assassinations in the Assassination
of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result
of a conspiracy. The committee is unable to identify the other gunman
or the extent of the conspiracy....
Agencies
and departments of the U.S. Government performed with varying degrees
of competency in the fulfillment of their duties. President John F.
Kennedy did not receive adequate protection. A thorough and reliable
investigation into the responsibility of Lee Harvey Oswald for the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy was conducted. The investigation
into the possibility of conspiracy in the assassination was inadequate.
The conclusions of the investigations were arrived at in good faith,
but presented in a fashion that was too definitive.
The
Secret Service was deficient in the performance of its duties.
The
Secret Service possessed information that was not properly analyzed,
investigated or used by the Secret Service in connection with the
President's trip to Dallas; in addition, Secret Service agents in
the motorcade were inadequately prepared to protect the President
from a sniper.
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