Kennedy Assassination Handwritten Eyewitness Account by Secret Service Agent Winston Lawson

Single page autographed letter signed on yellow lined paper, 85" x 11". Penned on both recto and verso, dated '11/4/97", and signed on verso by Winston Lawson as "Win Lawson". Written to Mr. Hensel to assist with Children's education of the event.

Winston Lawson, the Secret Service agent who planned President John F. Kennedy's motorcade route in Dallas and rode in a car immediately in front when Kennedy was assassinated. Winston Lawson spent 22 years in the Secret Service. He served under seven presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan.

His letter is shown in part below:

"… I was certain that the sounds were shots and that they were directly probably at President Kennedy. It was almost immediate that word came over the S.S. radio that he had been hit + to go to the Hospital (picked out + checked out as part of the Advance Planning). Nothing was said about Gov. Connally + Chip Curry, DPD broadcast on his police network for Dispatcher to notify the Hosp. We were on the way. I was not aware of Clint running up from the follow-up car or Mrs. Kennedy trying to get out.

Roy Kellerman has been dead for a number of years + Clint Hill, other than an interview with CBS doesn't talk about it. It affected him greatly wondering if there had been more that he could do - which of course there wasn't certainly. His effort was superhuman, as it was, + it was a wonder he didn't fall underneath some of the cars, especially since we sped up so quickly …"

An important letter from a key eye witness who was also the person involved in the advance preparations.

For additional review of the involvement of Lawson during the day of the assassination, shown in part below, is an official detailed statement from Winston Lawson offered on December 1, 1963 regarding the event:

"On Friday, November 22, 1963, I handled general advance details, talked over final arrangements with Mr. Jack Puterbaugh; Mr. Art Balas, White House Communications Agency; SAs Hickey and Kinney, and talked to various individuals on the phone before departing the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel. One of those who contacted me by phone was ASAIC Kellerman in Fort Worth concerning car seating and instructions as to whether the bubble top on the President's car was to be used.

The motorcade proceeded over the scheduled route from the airport. During the course of the trip I was watching crowd conditions along the route, requesting Chief Curry to give specific instructions to escort vehicles, keeping Lead Car in proper position in front of President's car depending on its speed and crowd conditions watching for obstructions or other hazards, and in general performing normal duties of advance agent in the Lead Car. Chief Curry was giving instructions at my suggestion to escort vehicles for keeping crowd out of street, blocking traffic in certain areas, requesting pilot vehicle to speed or slow up, and giving orders needed for us to proceed unhampered.

The President's car made one unscheduled stop, apparently at his direction, which was not uncommon. This lasted only a few moments and motorcade proceeded on. On a few occasions I noticed agents leap off the follow-up car to intercept someone orwhen they thoughtsomeone was trying to reach the President's car. They were able to return to positionsonthefollow-up car.

Themotorcadeproceeded atabout 143971milesper houruntilthe very heavycrowdconcentrationinthedowntown area, when it slowed to approximately10 milesperhour.

At the corner of Houstonand Elm Streets I verified with Chief Curry that we were about five minutes from the Trade Mart and gave this signal over my portable White House Communications radio. We were just approaching a railroad overpass and I checked to see if a police officer was in position there and that no one was directly over our path. I noticed a police officer but also noticed a few persons on the bridge and made motions to have these persons removed from over our path. As the Lead Car was passing under this bridge I heard the first loud, sharp report and in more rapid succession two more sounds like gunfire. I could see persons to the left of the motorcade vehicles running away. I noticed Agent Hickey standing up in the follow-up car with the automatic weapon and first thought he had fired at someone. Both the President's car and our Lead Car rapidly accelerated almost simultaneously. I heard a report over the two-way radio that we should proceed to the nearest hospital. I noticed Agent Hill hanging on to the rear of the President's vehicle. A motorcycle escort officer pulled alongside our Lead Car and said the President had been shot. Chief Curry gave a signal over his radio for police to converge on the area of the incident. I requested Chief Curry to have the hospital contacted that we were on the way. Our Lead Car assisted the motorcycles in escorting the President's vehicle to Parkland Hospital."

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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