Surrounded by Enemies Read Online Free Page A

moments,” said Morgenthau in a December 2, 1963 Altman and Berkowitz piece for Top Story . “I could not bear to stay in this sadness and terror, but I could not leave without permission.” Eventually, however, Morgenthau did leave. With no one else in the room and Bobby still rolling from one urgent phone call to another, the New York attorney simply walked from the house, determined to get to his office and roll his own calls so he could give the attorney general the information he had requested.
    Bobby Kennedy’s first telephone call, revealed during the future hearings of the Joint Committee on the Attempted Assassination of the President (JCAAP), was not to his brother but to national security adviser McGeorge Bundy. “Have the combinations on the President’s locked files changed right away,” the attorney general said. Kennedy continued to work the phones from his upstairs bedroom so feverishly that he would not change his wet swim suit for more than two hours and only then when his wife demanded it.
    There was concern that whoever was behind the Dallas ambush might be coming to Hickory Hill next. Because of this fear, the Fairfax County police surrounded the grounds of the RFK compound without being asked, and Kennedy did not object. Normally opposed to strict security, he instructed Justice Department spokesman Edwin Guthman who had rushed to be by his boss’ side, to replace the police with federal marshals.
    Under the supervision of Chief U.S. Marshal Jim McShane, Kennedy’s estate was immediately encircled. As McShane testified in late 1964, “If someone was coming to kill that man, we were prepared to make them kill us first.”
    Parkland Memorial
    Parkland Memorial Hospital’s Margaret Hinchcliffe, working the emergency desk, had been told to assign teams to handle the injuries that were on the way in. When the President’s appointments scheduler and close friend Kenneth O’Donnell approached her with two Secret Service agents, revolvers drawn, he instructed her to assign the best doctor to the President immediately. Hinchcliffe protested this breach of established triage protocol. Seeing her confronted by armed men, Doctor Robert Shaw, senior ER physician then on duty at Parkland Memorial, approached O’Donnell. “I am in charge," he said, "and I will save the President if he needs saving. Follow me.”
    With that, Dr. Shaw, O’Donnell and the agents found President Kennedy, accompanied by his wife and even more Secret Service agents, and directed them all into Trauma One. Dr. Shaw took one look at the commander-in-chief and said, “Sir, lie down on this gurney here. Immediately."
    Kennedy refused, pointing to Connally and Hill, who both had just been wheeled in, unconscious, on gurneys of their own, blood staining the crisp white linens. “They need help first.”
    Shaw, however, focused on the President. “I can personally vouch for the teams working on both of them, sir, but you are my concern, and the country’s. I need you to lie down and let me examine you." Kennedy looked at the First Lady, who nodded that he should do as he was told.
    Kennedy looked around at the pale tile, sterile instruments, and the clock that read 12:37 p.m. Then he flashed his famous charm. “Well, Doctor, I can assure you I would like very much to lie down on that gurney, but I can’t right now.” Kennedy removed his blood-caked suit coat, then began to unbutton his shirt, which was heavily splattered with blood from Connally and Hill.
    As Shaw watched, President Kennedy removed his tie and dress shirt, revealing an unusually constrictive shoulder-to-groin brace. “I'm afraid my back needs support occasionally,” he told the doctor. In subsequent interviews, Shaw remembered being startled by the President's compromised appearance, which was so uncharacteristic of his normal image. In truth, Kennedy had aggravated his back during a sexual encounter in the White House pool nearly two months earlier.
    As Shaw