John Buckner

The Vigilant John Buckner

The time is 1960 and the Presidential election is coming up. David, Daniel and Paul, who have worked directly for President Eisenhower for the previous three years have to decide whether to steal away quietly after the elections or retain their government positions as Secret Service agents. The jobs are a cover for what they really do, which is the things that others can't. Each of the three has a special ability bestowed upon them by God and they have had an agreement with Eisenhower that they would only perform tasks that were approved by God. How could they know if the missions were approved by God you ask? The fact was that if they got off track God sent angels to set them right. They kept their abilities secret to the extent possible and very few people, either in or out of government, knew about them. The circle was so small that Eisenhower borrowed the Director of Operations for the CIA to work with them from the White House. CIA Director Dulles didn't know about them and that was a bone of contention when he asked his Director of Operations why he was spending so much time at the White House and the DO refused to tell him. Now with someone new running the country the three did not know whether the newly elected President would even want them around. Upon Kennedy's election he was briefed about them and they agreed to continue with the things they had been doing. The failed attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro took place shortly after President Kennedy took office and was a very inauspicious start to his Presidency. The Cuban Missile Crisis found the three in Moscow to determine what the Russians would demand in order to remove the missiles. The two and one half years of Kennedy's Presidency provides the backdrop for the extraordinary contributions the three make to U. S. clandestine intelligence collection.