Charles P . Cabell Charles Pearre Cabell ( October 11 , 1903 – May 25 , 1971 ) was an United States Air Force General and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency . Biography . Early life . He was the son of Ben E . ( son of Confederate general William L . Cabell ) and Sadie E . ( Pearre ) Cabell and attended Oak Cliff High School in Dallas , Texas . He graduated from the West Point in 1925 . He was initially commissioned as an artillery lieutenant and served in the field artillery until 1931 , when he went to flying school , and was transferred to the Air Corps . He served in a variety of aviation roles as a staff officer and squadron commander throughout the pre - war years , primarily in observation and pursuit squadrons . His observation roles led naturally to his later involvement in photographic and intelligence roles . Cabell achieved the rank of colonel in 1942 and brigadier general in 1944 , serving both at Air Force headquarters at The Pentagon and in the European Theater . During the late 1940s and early 1950s , he held a variety of staff headquarters positions , including chief of Air Force intelligence 1948 - 1951 , and director of the staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1951 - 1953 . In 1949 , Cabell set up Project Grudge to " make a study reviewing the UFO situation for AF HQ . " However , Grudge quickly became all but moribund , while simultaneously reporting that all UFO cases were being closely investigated . When Cabell learned of this , he ordered Grudge dissolved and ordered that the " open minded " Project Blue Book be created . In 1952 , he was an enthusiastic promoter of the U - 2 spy plane , along with Allen Welsh Dulles and John Foster Dulles . CIA career . On April 23 , 1953 , while still an active Air Force officer , he was appointed deputy director of the CIA . In 1956 , along with the CIA ' s Richard Bissell , he flew to Bonn , to brief the West German Chancellor , Konrad Adenauer , on the U - 2 program . Adenauer allowed U - 2 planes , pilots , and support teams to be based at Wiesbaden . He was promoted to full general in 1958 . Cabell became Deputy Director of CIA under Allen Dulles . He was forced by President Kennedy to resign , on January 31 , 1962 , following the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion . Cabell ' s brother , Earle Cabell , was Mayor of Dallas when Kennedy visited that city and was assassinated , on November 22 , 1963 . Legacy and death . " The Washington Post " revealed in 1973 that New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison was preparing as late as March 1971 to accuse Charles Cabell of conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination , although he had no evidence . General Cabell died in 1971 , his brother Earle in 1975 . He was married to Jacklyn DeHymel in 1934 ; they had two sons , Charles P . Cabell , Jr . and Benjamin Cabell IV , and one daughter , Catharine C . Bennett . He left an autobiography " A Man of Intelligence : Memoirs of War , Peace and the CIA " published in 1997 . His oldest son Charles was also an Air Force officer and West Point graduate ( Class of 1958 ) , achieving the rank of brigadier general . He was a tenth - generation descendant of Pocahontas and a third cousin of Navy four - star admiral Richard H . Jackson .