Wiles-Barre, Pa. – Henry Kulbaski, a uniformed Secret Service agent who played the accordion on the South Lawn for President Kennedy and ordered an errant aircraft shot down over the White House in 1974, died of cancer June 17. He was 74.
Kulbaski was watch commander in the White House Executive Office control center in the predawn hours of Feb. 17, 1974, when he received word from the Maryland State Police that an Army helicopter had been stolen from Fort Meade and was being chased into restricted airspace near the White House.
As the purloined UH1B Huey helicopter circled the Washington Monument, Kulbaski watched and waited. President Nixon and his family were away, and at 1 a.m. Kulbaski was having difficulty reaching his superiors.
“When no one answered, I knew I had to make the decision myself,” he told the Citizen’s Voice in Wilkes-Barre in 1994.
The copter buzzed the White House and resumed circling the monument. If it came back, Kulbaski told the protective service agents on duty, be prepared to shoot it down.
About 20 minutes later, the copter headed again toward the White House, and Kulbaski gave the order. The copter “landed in a blaze of gunfire on the south lawn of the White House,” according to a 1974 article in The Washington Post.
The pilot, who had taken the state police on an erratic 50-mile journey through Maryland and into Washington, suffered superficial pellet wounds and was taken into custody.
Nixon later congratulated Kulbaski for issuing the order to down the helicopter.
Kulbaski, an accomplished accordion player who specialized in polkas, was asked by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to play at White House parties for the president, which he did.
However, when President Lyndon Johnson asked him to play his accordion at a reception in honor of his daughter Lynda Bird’s wedding to Charles Robb, he declined. Kulbaski was concerned that he did not have sufficient time to master the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” said his nephew, Frank Kulbaski.
During his 20-year career, Kulbaski spent much of his time at the White House managing tours and was frequently called on by members of Congress to provide tours for family members and important constituents. He also gave VIP tours to many Hollywood luminaries.
Kulbaski was born in Ashley, Pa., and after graduating from high school at 17, he sought to join the Navy. In 1958, he joined the Secret Service’s Uniformed Division. His service spanned six presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to Jimmy Carter.
