Abraham Bolden facts for kids

Abraham W. Bolden (born January 19, 1935) is a former United States Secret Service agent. He made history as the first African American to join the special team protecting the President. John F. Kennedy himself chose him for this important role in 1961. Later, in 1964, Bolden faced serious accusations and was let go from the Secret Service. He was accused of trying to sell information about a fake money case he was working on. A jury found him guilty, and he was sent to prison for six years. Bolden always said he was set up by people in the government to stop him from speaking out. In April 2022, President Joe Biden officially cleared his record by giving him a pardon.

Early Life and Career

Abraham Bolden was born on January 19, 1935, in East St. Louis, Illinois. His parents were Daniel and Ophelia Bolden. He went to Lincoln High School in East St. Louis. Bolden then attended Lincoln University, where he studied music composition and graduated with honors.

Before joining the Secret Service, Bolden was the first African-American detective at the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. After that, he worked as a highway patrolman for the Illinois State Police. In 1956, Bolden married Barbara L. Hardy. They had three children: Ahvia Maria, Abraham Jr., and Daaim Shabazz.

Working for the Secret Service

In October 1960, Abraham Bolden became a member of the United States Secret Service. In June 1961, he was given a special, temporary job. He was assigned to the Presidential Protective Division, which meant he would help guard President John F. Kennedy. This made Bolden the first African American to protect a U.S. President.

Bolden remembered meeting President Kennedy on April 28, 1961, at an event in Chicago. He said Kennedy personally invited him to join the White House security team. Bolden also shared that President Kennedy once called him "the Jackie Robinson of the Secret Service." This made Bolden feel very touched.

However, Bolden soon became unhappy with his experience protecting the President. He felt the security for the President was not strong enough. He decided to leave the Presidential Protective Division after his first few months. He returned to Chicago to work as a field agent in the counterfeiting division. There, he was very successful at stopping groups that made fake money. In 1962, Jet magazine reported that he was one of the best in the country at solving these types of cases.

Accusations and Trials

On May 12, 1964, Bolden was accused of trying to sell a government file for $50,000. This file was about a fake money case he was investigating. Bolden was officially charged in Chicago on May 20, 1964. He was accused of trying to get money in exchange for information related to his work.

Bolden's Claims of Being Framed

On May 20, Bolden held a press conference at his home. He strongly denied the accusations. He said he was being set up by the government. Bolden claimed this was because he planned to tell the Warren Commission about problems he saw with how Secret Service agents were protecting President Kennedy. The Warren Commission was a group investigating Kennedy's assassination.

Bolden said he had told a fellow agent that he wanted to speak to the Commission. He told the media, "I wanted to, and I still intend to, tell the commission about the relaxed and careless attitude of Secret Service agents handling the protection of the President." He also said he had told the head of the Secret Service, James J. Rowley, about these issues, but nothing was done.

Edward Hanrahan, a government lawyer, said Bolden's claims were "fantastic." He pointed out that Bolden had not spoken about these issues until after he was arrested. The Warren Commission was aware of Bolden's claims. A spokesperson for the Commission said they were thinking about asking Bolden to testify.

James J. Rowley, the head of the Secret Service, spoke to the Warren Commission on June 18. He said Bolden's assignment to the White House team was a standard rotation. Rowley stated that Bolden never told him or any supervisors about his concerns. He also said there was "no truth to the charges of misconduct." Bolden himself was never called to testify before the Warren Commission.

The Trials and Conviction

Bolden's first trial began on July 6, 1964. To help pay for his legal defense, Bolden performed piano concerts in Chicago, playing his own music. The government's case relied on the statements of two men, Frank Jones and Joseph Spagnoli Jr. Both of these men were facing serious charges from the same Secret Service office where Bolden worked.

The government claimed Bolden tried to sell information to Joseph Spagnoli Jr. Frank Jones testified that Bolden tried to sell him government information for $50,000. Bolden denied all charges against him during his testimony on July 9. The first jury could not agree on a verdict, so the judge declared a mistrial. A new trial was set for August 3.

On August 12, 1964, the jury in the second trial found Bolden guilty. The judge sentenced him to six years in prison. Bolden was reported to be very upset by the verdict. He apologized if he had embarrassed any government agency, saying he believed his statements were true at the time of his arrest. In August, Bolden was fired by the Secret Service.

Appeal and Pardon

In January 1965, Joseph Spagnoli Jr. was found guilty of counterfeiting and sentenced to fifteen years. At his trial, Spagnoli admitted that he had lied during Bolden's trial about how he made his living. He said he had been encouraged to lie by the government's lawyers to make the jury think better of him.

Based on this new information, Bolden appealed his conviction. He also argued that the judge in his first trial was not fair. However, on December 29, 1965, the United States Court of Appeals upheld Bolden's conviction. The Court said they found no reason to believe he had not received a fair trial. They also said Spagnoli's lies were about a minor detail and would not have changed the jury's overall decision.

Bolden began serving his sentence in June 1966. He spent thirty-nine months in prison and was then released on probation. On April 26, 2022, it was announced that President Joe Biden had given Abraham Bolden a pardon. This means his conviction was officially forgiven.

Claims of a "Chicago Plot" to Harm John F. Kennedy

While Bolden was in prison in 1967, his lawyers and others held a press conference. They said Bolden had told them that the Secret Service knew about a plan to harm President Kennedy in Chicago before he was assassinated. They claimed the Secret Service had been told about a possible attempt on the President's life in Chicago. This led to Kennedy's visit there being canceled for safety reasons. Bolden reportedly said he and other agents had watched a suspect because of this report.

In 1970, a man named Sherman Skolnick claimed that Bolden was wrongly imprisoned to stop him from revealing a plot to harm Kennedy in Chicago. Skolnick later filed a lawsuit, stating that government documents about a Chicago plot were being hidden. He claimed the plot was originally planned for November 2, 1963, in Chicago, but was rescheduled for three weeks later in Dallas.

House Select Committee on Assassinations

In 1976, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was formed to investigate the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.. The Committee found that the "Secret Service was not good enough in doing its job." They said the Secret Service had information that was not properly used before Kennedy's trip to Dallas. On January 19, 1978, Bolden gave his testimony to this Committee.

Later Years and Books

In later years, Bolden became more open about his time in the Secret Service. He was interviewed for books and documentaries about the Kennedy assassination. Authors like James W. Douglass interviewed Bolden many times. Douglass wrote that in 1995, the Secret Service destroyed all its records about the Chicago plot.

In 2007, Bolden repeated his claims about the Chicago plot to ABC News Chicago. ABC News ran a headline calling his claims a "New Assassination Plot." Bolden was also interviewed about the Chicago plot for a History Channel series in 2017.

Subsequent Career and Memoir

After being released from prison, Bolden worked as a quality control supervisor in the car industry. He worked there until he retired in 2001. His wife, Barbara, passed away in 2005.

In 2008, Bolden published his own book, The Echo From Dealey Plaza. In an interview about the book, Bolden said he believed there was a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. He also recalled hearing Secret Service agents who were unhappy with the President's policies joke that they would "step out of the way" if someone tried to shoot the President. A review of his book in The Washington Post called it "a shocking story of injustice."

Portrayals in Fiction

Abraham Bolden has been shown in television and books. In the 2011 TV miniseries The Kennedys, Rothaford Gray played Bolden. The show depicts him joining the President's security team. In one episode, President Kennedy talks to Bolden during a difficult time when a university was being desegregated.

A character named Eben Boldt in the crime novel Target Lancer by Max Allan Collins is based on Abraham Bolden. Collins has said that Bolden's role in a possible assassination attempt against Kennedy in Chicago inspired the character.