This Black Secret Service Agent Protected JFK. Then He Was Sent to Jail

In 1961, Abraham Bolden became the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a presidential detail. Bolden says when he left Chicago for D.C., it was like going from “heaven to hell,” and he faced constant racism from other agents. He says he also heard other agents say they wouldn’t protect President John F. Kennedy if there was an attempt on his life because they despised Kennedy’s work on integration. Bolden spoke up about the agents, but ended up setting off a 50-year fight for justice. City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran spoke with Bolden last year, not long after President Joe Biden granted Bolden clemency. 

This conversation was originally published May 25, 2022.

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