The 20th Century was filled with some of the most earth-shattering events the world has ever seen.  The home video shot by Abraham Zapruder that recorded the assassination of John F. Kennedy stands as one of the most important pieces of motion picture ever captured.  During that film, as former Firs Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy reaches to the trunk of the car to retrieve a portion of JFK’s skull, a secret service agent can be seen leaping on the trunk of the car as the motorcade sped down the Stemmons Freeway en route to Parkland Hospital.  The agent, Clint Hill stands out in the film as only one of two agents to make any major movement to help the fatally wounded Kennedy and Gov. John Connally. Hill would go on to serve three more presidents and today is a best-selling author with several books published about his time working in the United States Secret Service.

Teaming up with Lisa McCubbin, who worked with Hill on his first book, ‘Mrs. Kennedy and Me’ and subsequent memoir ‘Five Days In November’, Hill recounts his experiences during a career that stretched over five administrations, beginning with the legendary Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.  The secret service of today is far advanced from the days of Eisenhower’s administration and as Hill shows us, the secret service was still developing as the agency tasked with the daily protection of the commander-in-chief.  As Eisenhower’s administration comes to an end, a new president takes office and his administration would change Hill’s life forever.  Primarily assigned to guard Mrs. Kennedy, she and Hill become close friends and as fate would have it, he was included in the motorcade on November 22, 1963.   The murder of JFK and the swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson are still surreal and continue to capture the public’s attention as more books are published about that day.

Moving on to Johnson’s administration, we see the stark contrast between the two presidents.  But Hill allows us to see the private side of LBJ, not often seen or discussed in books or magazines. He would stay with Johnson throughout the remainder of his term until the top office in the land was assumed by Richard M. Nixon.  Nixon’s presidency and the events that followed would shock not only Hill but the entire nation.   The Vietnam War and Watergate scandal permanently marked Nixon’s time in office and his resignation is the only one to have ever occurred by a sitting U.S. President.  The prior resignation of then Vice-President Spiro Agnew began to erode the already crumbling confidence in the U.S. government.  And by the time that Gerald Ford took office, things had reached the point where the nation was threatening to become unhinged.   Regardless of their personal shortcomings or questionable judgment calls, Hill stood by each one and recalls his time with each and remarks fondly and gracefully on the proud career he left behind.

This book is not a “smoking gun” about JFK’s murder nor is it a gossip column.  It is a memoir by a remarkable person who had an even more remarkable career.  His life was and is extraordinary by far and in the book an entire cast of characters make an appearance such as Arnold Palmer, Frank Sinatra and even Elvis Presley.  Assassinations and attempted assassinations,  infant deaths, racial tension, war and social change are relived as Hill’s memory comes alive.  And as he Hill points out, not many agents have worked in as many details as himself making his story all the more valuable as a piece of history recounting America’s most dangerous moments.

ISBN-10: 1476794138
ISBN-13: 978-1476794136