Queen Elizabeth's visit to San Francisco in 1983 caused great concern among US intelligence agencies and police
It was supposed to be the highlight of the event little did the Queen know that the FBI was feverishly investigating a possible IRA plot to assassinate her when the royal yacht Britannia was sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.
< p>The origins of the threat can only be revealed now that the FBI has declassified more than 100 pages of documents relating to the visit following freedom of information requests.
An investigation by The Telegraph has found a trail of clues leading to an Irish bar in the Mission District San Francisco, a colorful cast of characters including an IRA-sympathetic pub owner and a one-eyed radical journalist, and a bizarre Irish Republican attempt to get seagulls to swoop down on Britain. This unusual story even has a cameo appearance by Hunter S. Thompson.
According to classified FBI documents, at that time, not only in San Francisco, but also at other stops of the royal tour of the United States, a hectic atmosphere reigned.
In the run-up to the visit, agents were introduced. in Irish republican groups and dossiers of their activities were kept. It has only been four years since the IRA killed Lord Mountbatten, the Queen's second cousin.
Queen Elizabeth with Ronald Reagan in San Francisco during a US tour in 1983 Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
The San Francisco threat was detailed in a memo addressed directly to FBI Director William Webster, marked «priority.» It said, «This entire message is classified.»
The memo described a February 9, 1983 report by a US Secret Service agent that an inspector from the San Francisco Police Department had passed on information gathered by the police. officer.
The names in the memo were redacted, but it was about someone who was a «permanent patron» and «well acquainted with the [censorship] of the Dovre Club.»
It said: «The Dovre Club has a popular reputation as a «Republican Bar» frequented by supporters of the Provisional Irish Republican Army [PIRA].»
Threat to the Golden Gate Bridge
On the evening of Friday 4 February 1983, an unnamed person «received a telephone call from a man who claimed that his daughter was killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet.
“This man also claimed that he was going to harm Queen Elizabeth and would have done so by either throwing an object from the Golden Gate Bridge onto the royal yacht Britannia as she sailed under it, or would have tried to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visited the National Park. Yosemite.”
According to FBI documents, the secret service agent planned to re-interrogate the policeman who received the tip the next day, but no record of this interrogation has been preserved.
The memo went on to say that the agent also intended to contact someone who «was previously questioned in PIRA cases and was generally cooperative, though openly sympathetic to the IRA.»
The Telegraph asked FBI, given the elapsed tense, can the names be left unedited, but the agency «respectfully» refused.
An FBI spokesman said: «In general, the FBI does not comment on the content of files released through the FOI, and allows information contained in files, speak for itself.”
The only unredacted specific information in the files is the Dovre Club, and it appears to have been well known to the FBI at the time.
Club «Dovre» in its modern location. In 1983 it was a hotbed of Irish radicalism. Photo: Max Kirkeberg Collection
Dovre's owner, Dublin-born Pat Nolan, was something of a local legend in Irish Republican circles, running a bustling pub that regularly fired bartenders and drank Harp, Dunphy's, Tullamore Dew and Jameson whiskey until the early hours. .
Republican landlord
According to an obituary published in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1996, «Nolan's devotion to the Irish cause was shown in 1981 when Bobby Sands, on a hunger strike in a Northern Ireland prison, died during a quick protest.
«Enlisting the help of Irish bar owners in San Francisco, Mr. Nolan organized a three-hour closing of saloons in memory of Sands.»
He was also «an active supporter of the Irish Northern Aid [Noraid ], a major faction in the the unification of Ireland and Northern Ireland into a single Republic of Ireland,” the obituary says.
Nolan himself once told The Chronicle: “Sands has alerted the whole world to something. The child died for something.”
Mike Mosher, a muralist who occasionally worked at the bar at the Dovre Club in the early 1980s, told the Telegraph that there was a sign above the bar that read: «Let's toast to the final defeat of the British Army in Ireland.» .
Nolan used to say it as a toast, and there was also a Noride donation jar on the bar.
According to Mr. Mosher, now a professor of art at the university, Nolan «sometimes will bring a quirky character» — on the run from Interpol? To the city to buy weapons? “Come in tonight and say, ‘Mike, this is Liam. If anyone asks, you've never seen him.»
Seagull Bombs and the Godfather of Gonzo
Mr Mosher added: «I often saw the journalist Warren Hinkle and his basset hound at the bar.»
Hinkle, in addition to drinking at the Dovre club with his basset hound, entered San Francisco folklore, being variously described as «the city's most infamous and outrageous journalist» and «the godfather of gonzo.»
He helped launch the career of Hunter S. Thompson, who also drank at the Dovre club, having published his early articles. According to the FBI, he was also an IRA sympathizer.
But Mr. Mosher spoke of a conspiracy conceived at the Dovre Club that was more in keeping with Hinkl's penchant for extravagant prank than for threatening the Queen's life.
«The most subversive act I knew of took place, when Hinkle organized the Irish Republican Navy when the Queen and Philip visited San Francisco in 1983,” he said.
“They hired a small boat and filled it with chum salmon, chopped and fragrant fish, in order to sail as close as possible to the royal yacht and attract a large number of seagulls, who would then mock the royals lounging on their deck. There may have been a large amount of liquor involved.»
Mr. Mosher added: «Perhaps a more dangerous hooligan was up, but … makes me think it was a typical FBI excess that lumped the pranksters together.» a real threat.»
Bede's death — and a dubious plot
The redaction makes the documents unclear, but one reading of the threatening phone call was that it was received at the Dovre club, who then reported it to the police.
The threat was reportedly from a man whose daughter was fatally shot by a rubber bullet in Northern Ireland.
Of the 17 people killed by rubber or plastic bullets during the riots, three were women.
All three died in separate incidents in 1981. They were Carol Ann Kelly, 12, Julie Livingston, 14, and Nora McCabe, 30.
There is no suggestion that any of their relatives subsequently moved to San Francisco, which casts doubt on the existence of the plot.
However, this leaves open the possibility that the would-be killer may have been motivated by three high-profile deaths and announced his intention by calling the pub where he was drinking. Or it could just be a hoax.
The FBI's security efforts
The FBI files show that the agency took the threat very seriously, and also shows the depth of anti-British sentiment in the city.
After the phone call was reported, the Secret Service decided to close the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent anything from falling on the royal yacht.
For a visit to San Francisco, the FBI office activated 20 agents «from the squads that cover violations of the presidential assassination statute.»
They also contacted all major charter and tour companies to check who was renting boats at the time of the British arrival.
In the end, the yacht never passed under the bridge due to the storm.
The Dovre Club itself has since moved from its location in the San Francisco Women's Building to a new location a few blocks down the road.
Today it is a completely different, hospitable place with Guinness advertising, posters about the history of Ireland. , a map of ancient Ireland and a billiard table.
The sign calling for the defeat of the British army is long gone, and there is a saying: «Whoever rings the bell for fun buys a drink for everything else.»
While visiting the Telegraph, 52-year-old bartender Michael Lieber, when told about the unknown caller in the FBI files, replied: «Was that Warren Hinkle?»
Hinkle, editor of the leftist political magazine Ramparts. , lost an eye in a car accident at the age of 10 and, along with a large eye patch, wore a bow tie and raincoat. He had a pet monkey that sat on his shoulder and was named «Henry Luce» after the magazine mogul. Warren Hinkle, an eyepatch-wearing friend of Hunter S. Thompson who became a San Francisco journalism legend. Photo: Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle. for Ireland with a big announcement in his new Frisco magazine.
In it, he tried to draw the equivalent between American independence and the IRA by displaying a photograph of George Washington under the heading «Wanted for Terrorism».< /p>
He wrote: «The Thatcher regime branded the IRA 'criminals', just as King George branded our patriots Minutemen 200 years ago.
«American Volunteer Brigade mobilizes to help IRA freedom fighters, Ireland calls to us.»
He planned to advertise on all US military reserve bases. He added: “Applicants wishing to enlist in the brigade must send their name and details to 3541 18 Street South, San Francisco, California. You will be contacted.» It was the address of the Dovre club.
IRA watchlist
According to his FBI file, «Warren Henkel [sic] is a prominent supporter of the Irish Republican Army and a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.» fundraising and lectures. The Dovre Club address has often been used as a point of contact for IRA activists visiting San Francisco.
«This office is often tasked with reporting FBI headquarters on its activities.»
Hinkle, who died in 2016 at the age of 77, was described in a New York Times obituary as «a natural provocateur with a keen sense of public relations.»
FBI documents revealed two main protest groups during the Queen's visit. , one of which appears to have been linked to Hinkle.
The first was the March 3rd Coalition, named after the date of Her Majesty's arrival. It consisted of «traditional left-wing groups» including the Livermore Action Group, which advocated nuclear disarmament, the anti-colonialist Movement of the American Indians, the unionist National Lawyers Guild, and «groups of lesbians and other local activists.»
< p>Special Agent The FBI attended his press conferences and followed his plans.
The FBI also monitored Noraid, for which donations were collected at the Dovre Club. The secret note stated that someone acting on Noride's behalf had been questioned by the San Francisco Police Department and «promised that demonstrators would be present at every stop Queen Elizabeth makes.»
Protest tricks
The memo said: «He also indicated that he was considering the idea of having the boat salute the Britannia as she sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge.»
«On the night of the State Dinner, [name removed] proposes a soup line with complimentary beer to illustrate the contrast with the elegance of the state dinner.
«He constantly mentioned certain surprises prepared for patrons that could potentially embarrass and attract a lot of media attention.»
No wonder Hinkle came up with these tricks.
The level of concern about the Queen's stay in San Francisco was such that intelligence was shared with the US Army Intelligence Command, the US Coast Guard, and the US State Department's Office of Security.
Meanwhile, the Alameda Bay Area County Sheriff's Intelligence Office San Francisco said it had an agent who infiltrated the Coalition on March 3 and would be «able to provide information.» />Queen Elizabeth in Yosemite, where, despite fears of protests and threats, her visit was uneventful. Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
In the end, the Queen's visit was a success. It included a star-studded event at the De Young Museum in San Francisco with President Ronald Reagan, where Her Majesty also met with Steve Jobs and Joe DiMaggio, as well as stopping by Stanford and Hewlett Packard.
At the Davis Symphony Orchestra Hall serenaded her with Tony Bennett singing I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Outside, a crowd of 1,000 protesters chanted «Queen Go Home» and protested against Northern Ireland.
There was no mention in the FBI files of whether anyone was ever arrested.
< p> The tour moved to Yosemite National Park and the safety concerns seemed to ease somewhat as crowds lined the road to see the Queen.
An onlooker said, “I remember seeing them on the highway 120 on the way to the park. I still remember how she waved to us.”
Свежие комментарии