The Black History of the White House Read online

  There is more than one way to interpret Bolden’s experiences. At one level, Bolden’s tribulations could have been the consequence of an agency’s embarrassment at being unable to faithfully execute the mission with which it was tasked: to protect the president of the United States at all costs. Assertions from an agent that incompetence and bigotry were factors in the Secret Service’s actions would have had a ring of authenticity and needed to be quashed at all costs. Given the agency was still all white and that many of the agents held openly racist views, railroading Bolden would have been simple. Willfully making false accusations to discredit and destroy outspoken blacks was part of the U.S. government’s covert COINTELPRO (counterintelligence) operations during the 1960s, and taking Bolden out of play in this manner would have been consistent with the policies of the times.

  This is all the more likely given that Bolden’s information, unbeknownst to him, was entangled in much larger international intrigues emanating from the White House. In what was termed “Operation AmWorld,” President Kennedy and his brother, the U.S. attorney general, had formed covert plans for the overthrow of the Castro government, to take place on December 1, 1963. For close to forty years, Operation AmWorld had been kept secret from the media, the public, Bolden, and, most directly, from multiple Congressional investigations (and the Warren Commission) that have been conducted into the Kennedy assassination. In a September 30, 1963, memo titled “Plan for a Coup in Cuba,” written by Army Secretary Cyrus Vance, the Kennedy brothers had laid out plans for Cuban President Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl to be “neutralized” in a “palace coup.” The coup leaders would then present themselves as a provisional government and declare martial law. The provisional government would also, if needed, “request” military assistance from the United States, justifying a U.S. invasion. The coup was to be lead by Juan Almeida, a hero of the revolution and then Commander of the Cuban Army, who was in communication with the Kennedys. Hartmann reports that Fidel Castro only discovered Almeida’s role almost thirty years later. Almeida briefly disappeared, then returned to public life, and his death on September 11, 2008, was a national day of mourning and honor. His dealings with the Kennedys, according to historian Thom Hartmann, have never been made public in Cuba.22

  Bolden had no way of knowing that exposing the Chicago assassination attempt would have likely triggered an investigation that would have led to uncovering the Kennedys’ covert plans to overthrow Castro. The existence of Operation AmWorld was revealed for the first time in 1999, disclosed in the millions of pages of newly declassified documents released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act.23 Lamar Waldron, Thom Hartmann, and other researchers have argued that due to the need to keep Operation AmWorld secret, given its potential for escalating the Cold War or generating another missile crisis, Bolden became a sacrificed pawn. His story of Cuban assassins in Chicago was linked to international issues too politically volatile to be made public.

  “The files released after Congress passed the JFK Act unanimously in 1992 show the massive amount of information that had been withheld from at least five Congressional investigations,” write Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann.24 “Even worse, the Final Report of the JFK Board created by Congress shows that crucial files about attempts against JFK—the cases Bolden worked on—were destroyed by the Secret Service in 1995. And, a report by the government oversight group OMB Watch says that “well over one million CIA records” related to JFK’s era remain unreleased, perhaps until the mandatory release date of 2017.”25

  It is difficult not to conclude that race played a major role in what happened to Bolden, the lone black man in an all-white agency. This likely made it easier for his colleagues to avoid offering him support and assistance. Indeed, what has happened to other black Secret Service agents after Bolden only strengthens his story of racism and conspiracy within the agency.

  In 2000, the group Black Agents of the Secret Service (BASS), which grew to represent more than 250 black agents, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of ten of them accusing the agency of racism. They declared that the Secret Service has “discriminated against African-American Special Agents, from at least January 1974 forward, in its personnel policies, practices, and procedures.”26 In 2004, after four years of delays by the Secret Service and the Bush administration, Black Agents of the Secret Service filed a Writ of Mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to force the court to expedite their case. They contended that the Bush administration had purposely allowed the case to languish.27 With the Writ, the group asked the federal appeals court to intercede and compel the federal district court to take action. They alleged that “the Bush Administration and the Secret Service have used the judicial process to prevent a discussion of this case on its merits,” including not calling a “single witness” or producing “a single document.” “The refusal to address the merits of the Black Agents’ case is shameful,” said BASS president and Special Agent Reginald G. Moore. He stated further, “For the future of the Secret Service, we must have a hearing on the merits of more than 20 years of racial discrimination and a remedy that dissolves the ‘Good Ol’ Boy’ network, which has worked so often to disadvantage black agents.”28

  A plaintiff in the case, Moore had worked on President Clinton’s security detail as well as that of Presidents Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Ford.29 Moore claims that he had been passed over to head the Service’s Joint Operation Center, for which he had been the acting head, and which oversees security for the White House. The position was given to a white agent who had never even been on a presidential protection detail or ever worked at the Joint Operations Center. In other instances, Moore states that positions that he applied for were given to less-qualified relatives of Service directors. Camilla Simms, another plaintiff, spoke of a racially hostile atmosphere that was also beset by problematic gender bias. After she complained about the defacing of a picture of a black woman by several white agents on a calendar that was given out to all agents, she was ostracized.30

  The 2004 Writ of Mandamus pleading states:

  Over four years have passed since the government filed its motion to dismiss and the Petitioners filed their motion for class certification. Petitioners have waited patiently, but they are suffering prejudice. They have not been allowed to depose any fact witnesses, analyze any personnel databases, or conduct any discovery whatsoever. In the meanwhile, the Secret Service admits that it has not in the past and will not in the future preserve electronic mail evidence relevant to the present action. Petitioners have no way to determine if the Secret Service is complying with its responsibility to preserve other documents relevant to the case.31

  One factor complicating the case is that Black Agents of the Secret Service contend, with more than a little evidence, that the original judge in the case has a substantial conflict of interest. In a long footnote in the Writ, it was stated:

  In a July 13, 2000 Order, Judge Richard Roberts disclosed to the parties that he was personal friends with then Treasury Undersecretary James Johnson, who had supervised the United States Secret Service for the Department of Treasury during much of the relevant time period. Judge Roberts disclosed that he and Johnson had discussed the case as it had been reported by the Washington Post one morning over breakfast. In addition, Judge Roberts disclosed that as a Department of Justice attorney he served on the “Church Arson Task Force,” co-chaired by Undersecretary Johnson. As a result, he was exposed to the “Good Ol’ Boy Roundup” investigation which had documented organized racism by Agents in the Justice and Treasury law enforcement bureaus, including the Secret Service. At that time, Judge Roberts deemed recusal (stepping down from the case) inappropriate because there was no indication that he would be required to assess then Undersecretary Johnson’s credibility and that the Roundup allegations were a small part of Petitioners’ complaint. Four years later, the facts have changed substantially.

  Through Freedom
of Information Requests, witness interviews, and other investigative techniques, Petitioners have learned more about the Roundups and Undersecretary Johnson’s role in the subsequent investigation. Petitioners believe that Treasury Undersecretary James Johnson will be a key witness and that the “Good Ol’ Boy Roundups” will be a significant part of this case. Thus, Judge Roberts will be required to assess Undersecretary Johnson’s credibility and to rule on matters concerning the Roundup investigation.32

  After years of delay, Roberts suddenly acquired a work ethic and reacted quickly to the Writ. On October 24, 2004, within two days of its filing, he ruled that “despite the [agents’] compelling allegations of discrimination within the Secret Service,” the class action part of the suit should be dismissed on technical grounds because all the agents had not, as required, completely exhausted all necessary federal administrative channels before bringing the case into federal court.33 Roberts contended that the agents had bypassed the internal processes for settling their disputes. Unsurprisingly, Roberts did not address the conflict-of-interest allegation raised by the Black Agents group.

  While Roberts’s ruling was a setback, it did not prevent Black Agents of the Secret Service from refiling the class action suit after going through all the administration steps and still finding no relief. In addition, individual claims would continue. Despite the filing of the case in 2000 and the unfavorable attention it brought to the Secret Service, overt racism continued to be a problem within the agency. In 2008, once some records were finally released, it was revealed that from 2003 through 2005, during the Bush administration, at least ten email messages contained racist jokes and messages. Remarkably, these messages were sent or forwarded from Secret Service supervisors. One email, referring to an assassination attempt on black leader Reverend Jesse Jackson, stated that if a missile hit a plane on which he was flying, it “certainly wouldn’t be a great loss and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”34 Another email made a joke about lynching.

  The high rank of the Secret Service officials sending these emails demonstrated that the hostility was not a matter of isolated improprieties of entry-level employees, but rather institutional racism being perpetuated by agency leadership. One email dated October 9, 2003, that referred to a “Harlem Spelling Bee” and ridiculed black speaking styles was sent by Thomas Grupski, then assistant director for protective operations and later promoted to head the Office of Government Liaison and Public Affairs. Another racially inappropriate email about interracial sex, dated February 2003, was sent by Donald White—then head of the Presidential Protective Detail—to Kurt Douglass, the agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Cincinnati.35

  In April 2008, a noose was left in a room used by a black instructor at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Beltsville, Maryland, where the Secret Service trains. A white agent admitted to leaving the rope and was put on administrative leave. The first response by the Secret Service was to state, “There has been no indication of racial intent on the part of the employee who has claimed responsibility.”36 Although the rope was found and reported on April 16, it took the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility eight more days to begin a formal investigation.37 As Newsweek reported, the agency first debated whether the noose was even a noose or just a hanging rope.38

  The emails came to light because a different judge in the case brought by the Black Agents group, Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson, proved much more aggressive than her predecessor in pushing the Secret Service to give up files relevant to the case. She strongly criticized the agency for destroying records, deleting emails, failing to produce documents, and needlessly dragging out the case. On three occasions she admonished the agency and the Bush administration. The agency had been able to get away with stonewalling the case for so long because the Bush Justice Department had allowed it to.

  The carefully cultivated and protected image of the Secret Service as a model of impeccable service and selfless professionalism was further shattered by a notorious security breakdown during the first year of the Obama administration. On November 24, 2009, at the first official state dinner hosted by the Obamas for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the supposedly super-tight, multilayered, impenetrable circle of security around the White House and the president was brazenly breached by a publicity-seeking couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, and Carlos Allen, who entered with the official Indian delegation. Without an official invitation, all three were able to get into the event and even shake hands with President Obama and other top administration officials. Before the dinner was officially over, the Salahis had left and began posting pictures of themselves at the White House on the Internet.

  While it is doubtful that a similar black couple would have been able to talk their way through White House security—the fact that both as a candidate and as a U.S. president Obama had reportedly received more death threats than any president in history, in part because of his race, underscores the seriousness of the security failure.39

  Bolden has surely been watching these developments with some sense of vindication. His persecution by the agency and then the judicial system was a toxic mix of race and politics at the White House. From Kennedy to George W. Bush, and perhaps beyond, the White House has allowed racist behavior and discrimination to run rampant within the agency charged with protecting the president.

  After the pioneering appointments of E. Frederic Morrow by Eisenhower and Bolden by Kennedy, black faces in high places became more frequent at the White House. Soon there would be other presidential aides, with significantly more visibility and authority than Morrow or Bolden. The 1960s would also bring black cabinet appointments, beginning with a trickle and then becoming normal. In fact, as a consequence of black activism, even conservative presidents felt an obligation to bring some racial diversity to their cabinets. The White House would also start to swing as it had never done before, as the sweet sound of black jazz musicians began to flow at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

  The 1960s and 1970s: The White House, the Modern Black Freedom Movement, and Averting Crisis

  Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. You don’t need anything else.—Malcolm X, 1965

  In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.— Toni Morrison

  The 1960s would be a challenging time for the White House on many levels, particularly in racial politics. Racial and ethnic barriers (as well as gender, age, religion, disability, and sexual orientation) were being pushed and broken at a dizzying pace. Millions were mobilizing in the streets, suites, and other sites to become involved in their communities and in the political structures that made decisions affecting their lives. Trade unions found new life after decades of retreat following the organizing advances of the 1930s. Young people fought the White House over the Vietnam War and its other foreign and domestic policies. The 1960s were a time of turmoil not only in the United States but around the world as workers’ movements in Europe and liberation movements in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin American directly confronted centuries-old power structures.

  Under John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford, the White House would be relentlessly confronted by the black community. On multiple fronts, black organizations, churches, and social movements mobilized to fight back against racial inequality at every level of daily life. With powerful leadership, black people of all ages used protest marches, civil disobedience, and relentless lobbying to open up space for landmark reforms in the area of racial justice and civil rights. The black freedom struggle was creating a culture of resistance that spread through church networks, the media, and the popular music of the time.

  What historian C. Vann Woodward has called the “Second Reconstruction” came about because substantial change was the only way to prevent widespread civil unrest and revolt.40 Power brokers in the White House, Congress, and Supreme Court
passed reforms that had been rejected or ignored for decades. In nearly every area of U.S. society, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and other groups historically oppressed and marginalized by whites were making breakthroughs by organizing. These accomplishments, however, were overwhelmingly driven from the bottom up rather than top-down organizing strategies. Wide-ranging social movements were applying relentless pressure on a historically white-dominated system to transform or risk continued disruption, rebellion, or even destruction. Those in power in the areas of public policy, business, academics, sports, and entertainment were forced to get involved, and their concessions were for the most part due to the mobilization of millions of activists and the radicalizing atmosphere of the period. It is also important to note that these changes were profoundly uneven. While the two coasts and large urban areas in the Midwest made changes relatively rapidly, in the South and many small communities around the country change was difficult and slow, and white backlash was stern and often violent.

  And, once in place, newly gained reforms were often immediately endangered, either from passivity and timidity in their enforcement or from determined attack. Democratic administrations gave strong rhetorical support to defending the gains of the period while offering little support when they came under assault, and sometimes distancing themselves from black legislators, civil rights leadership, and other progressives. Republicans, using supposedly race-neutral frames, sought to roll back or stall any advances in racial equity and social justice.

  The White House was not immune to the transformations and turbulence occurring across the country. From the liberal and progressive candidates who ran for office to the newly diverse staff at the White House to the opening for a more inclusive cultural life, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was forced to change with the times. And militant black advocates who went to the White House to meet with the president during this period, such as Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, and John Lewis, came with support from millions of African Americans who were working at the local level to bring more justice, fairness, democracy, and equality into U.S. social, cultural, economic, and political life.