Now, another voice - a credible voice - has entered the debate. Killian's secretary, Marian Carr Knox, describes herself as Killian's "right hand" during much of the 1970s.
She flew to New York Wednesday afternoon to tell 60 Minutes that she believes the documents we obtained are not authentic.
But there's yet another confusing twist to this story. She told Correspondent Dan Rather that she believes what the documents actually say is exactly as we reported.
Knox is 86 years old, and completely comfortable in the eye of a storm. She spent more than two decades keeping pilots and officers in line at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston. Now, she wants to set the record straight about the memos that CBS News obtained.
Knox says she didn’t type these memos, but she says she did type ones that contained the same information.
“I know that I didn’t type them," says Knox. "However, the information in those is correct.”
Knox says the information in the four memos that CBS obtained is very familiar, but she doesn't believe the memos are authentic. She does, however, remember Killian being upset over Mr. Bush's failure to take a physical.
“Did or did not Lt. Bush take a physical as ordered by Col. Killian,” Rather asks Knox. “The last time, no he didn’t,” says Knox. “It was a big no-no to not follow orders. And I can’t remember anyone refusing to. Now for instance, with the physical, every officer knew that before his birthday he was supposed to have that flying physical. Once in a while they might be late, but there would be a good excuse for it and let the commander know and try to set up a date for a make-up. If they did not take that physical, they were off flying status until they did.”
Did Knox ever hear Killian talk about this, or did he write memos about Bush not taking the physical?
“He was upset about it. That was one of the reasons why he wrote a memo directing him to go take the physical,” says Knox. “I’m going to say this, but it seems to me that Bush felt that he was above reproach.”
...
Knox says that Killian started what she calls a "cover-your-back" file -- a personal file where he stored the memos about the problems with Mr. Bush's performance, his failure to take a physical, and the pressure Killian felt from upstairs.
She addressed one memo, and a reference to retired Gen. Staudt pushing for a positive officer training report on Lt. Bush.
"’Staudt is pushing to sugar coat it.’ Does that sound like Col. Killian? Is that the way it felt,” Rather asked Knox.
“That's absolutely the way he felt about that," says Knox.
...
She told 60 Minutes again and again that she believed Lt. Bush refused a direct order to take a physical.
“Col. Killian’s son says that this isn’t true,” says Rather.
"He has no way of knowing whether that is true or not," says Knox.
Knox says that working in a senate campaign in 1972 became more important to Mr. Bush than flying for the Guard.
"I think it is plain and simple. Bush didn't think that he had to go by the rules that others did,” says Knox.
"He had this campaign to take care of, and that's what he was going to do -- and that's what he did do.”
The typed memos are transcriptions or re-creations. Possibly made by Killian himself while he was still alive, or possibly made by someone else with access to Killian or his CYA file. The information in the memos is accurate. An eyewitness with no reason to lie is backing them up. Marian Carr Knox is George W. Bush's blue dress
President George W. Bush has repeatedly lied about not pulling strings to get into the Guard and to avoid even fulfilling his required committment to the Guard. That was 30 years ago, but it tells us exactly what he is. He's the man who did inhale, but denied that he lit up.