The True Story Of The Man Who Tried To Save JFK

a presidential Vendetta against the tree a smoke shared with the first lady and agent Elvis he may be most remembered for a tragic moment in American history but Clint Hill the man who tried to save JFK has his own Amazing Story Clint Hill might not be a household name but images of him are an iconic part of American history as he was the secret service agent

who jumped on the back of President John F Kennedy's limo in the seconds after Kennedy was shot Hill had no designs to be a part of history or even a part of the Secret Service born in North Dakota in 1932 Hill went to college fully intent on becoming a history teacher and a coach but that's where Fates intervened according to the North Dakota Office of the

governor Hill was trained in counter-intelligence during his mandatory three years of military service and he told the John F Kennedy presidential librarian Museum that when he was introduced to Denver's Secret Service agents at the end of his military service he decided that it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up Clint Hill served under five presidents the first being president Dwight D Eisenhower Phil describes his time

alongside Eisenhower to the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and museum recalling that the president regarded the agents like his troops and didn't know their names Bill's time with Eisenhower resulted in some great stories especially in regards to Dwight's golf game he'll set on today that the agents had inside jokes about how good or bad he would do the bane of Eisenhower's golf game a tree in

the middle of a Georgia golf course there was a tree in the middle of a course in Augusta and he hit that tree every time he was on the car though he failed in his attempts to get the tree removed it eventually came down due to an ice storm parts of it were preserved however and it's still known as the Eisenhower tree Clint hill was a

part of Jackie Kennedy's security detail although it was a job that he didn't want at First Hill told an interviewer at the John F Kennedy presidential librarian Museum I was really disgusted I had seen what former first ladies did fashion shows tea parties ballet school I didn't want any part of that but I had to accept it that changed one day when driving around Washington D.C

Hill and the driver were chauffeuring Jackie around when hilled at a cigarette Kennedy gave the order to pull the car over and asked Hill if he would ride in the back with her so she could bum a cigarette and have someone to talk to decades later he'll rediscovered a steamer trunk filled with memorabilia from the nearly four years he'd spent traveling the world with her the

trunk inspired the book my travels with Mrs Kennedy and Hill said of their relationship we had a bond a bond that was really almost indescribable Clint Hill told the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and museum that Jackie Kennedy was about eight months pregnant when she went into labor early with John Jr and it resulted in chaos JFK had just gotten on a private plane to Palm

Beach Jackie was rushed to Georgetown hospital and no one could get in touch with anyone the soon-to-be first lady underwent an emergency C-section and it wasn't her husband at her side but Hill ironically he added that he wasn't at JFK's inauguration he was on security detail for the Kennedy children Caroline and John Jr saying it was Specific Instructions the agents were to treat them as if

they were just one of their own if the kids fell down they got up you didn't help them they had to learn all this stuff on their own bill is written not just about the fond memories but the not so fond ones as well in 1963 their Whirlwind of activities came to a temporary halt as Jackie prepared for the arrival of another baby however Patrick Kennedy

site when the president is in town Communications too have come a long way and Hill said that when Kennedy was killed their protocol for signaling a fatal wound was to give other agents a thumbs down there were also only 269 agents at the time and the assassination signaled a massive overhaul for the agency agent numbers and budgets increased but that said Hill had something that can't

necessarily be trained as he told the Sun at the time I never thought I might be killed or I won't see my kids again I didn't think that at all that was the farthest thing from my mind even though decades had passed the events of the November day in Dallas 1963 were still crystal clear for Clint Hill Jackie Kennedy recalled in his New York Times op-ed

was still reeling from the loss of her infant son and the trip was meant to sort of ease her back into public appearances the Dallas motorcade was meant to be routine until suddenly it wasn't Hill reacted to the first shots and ran for the president's car he wrote I was just feet away when I heard and felt the effects of a third shot it hit the

president in the upper right rear of his head and blood was everywhere once in the back seat I threw myself on top of the president and first lady so that if another shot came it would hit me instead he stayed in the car as they rushed to the hospital and once they were there Jackie Kennedy refused to let go of her husband until Hill took off

his jacket and used it to cover the president's wounds he fielded a phone call from Robert Kennedy and then he was tasked with finding a casket it was one of the men who carried it onto Air Force One where a day's Jackie ran up to him and asked him if he was all right he stayed at aside for the days following the assassination there have always

been theories surrounding the circumstances of the assassination where Clint Hill there has never been anything to debate he wasn't just there he was the one who turned to the other Secret Service agents and gave the signal that whatever happened it was over and the Fatal consequences were done it took Hill decades before he would talk about the assassination and it wasn't until 2009 that a phone

call from author Lisa mccubbin convinced him to talk about what had happened that day and for him it was clear when Hill was asked by Marin magazine and he believed Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman he replied I do it was an individual who over the preceding years had desperately sought attention Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone killed President Kennedy based on all the information I've

been exposed to including the Warren Commission that's a conclusion I've reached bill has repeated that over and over again including to TMZ in 2017. Clint Hill wrote on his website that for years it had never occurred to him that he was struggling with what would now be diagnosed as PTSD it took decades for him to not only come to terms with the lasting impact the assassination

had on him but to realize that there were therapies out there to help people cope after the assassination Hill found himself struggling with feelings that he had failed and it just started to really eat at me for decades he crawled into a bottle I was really drinking myself to death he recounted just how bad it got in his book my travels with Mrs Kennedy consumed by

guilt One Night in Palm Beach he'll simply walked out into the ocean and kept walking he wrote I wanted the water to swallow me up he was ultimately dragged out of the water by local police and since then Hill's Mission has become twofold in addition to speaking about what really happened during the assassination and what went on behind the scenes with the Kennedys he also does

outreach to encourage others with PTSD to find the help that is available as close as Clint Hill and Jackie Kennedy became in the years he spent as her dedicated secret service agent they eventually drifted apart he'll talk to Marin magazine about the last time they spoke which was at Robert Kennedy's funeral five years after JFK had been killed Bill said that they spoke briefly and went

their separate ways Hill went on to work for three more presidents Lyndon B Johnson Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford he sat down with today for the release of his book five presidents and has shared some of the stories that happened behind the scenes including a hilarious story between Nixon and Elvis Elvis he recalled showed up at the White House wanting to see Nixon to ask if

the president wanted his help in getting the country's youth to turn away from drugs Elvis gifted Nixon a gun and Nixon gave him an honorary badge declaring him a federal bureau of Narcotics and dangerous drugs agent as Hill recalled in his book Elvis believed he had some Authority which he did not have but he went away happy Clint Hill retired not long after Gerald Ford was

sworn in as president but according to what he told Maron magazine it wasn't voluntary at just 43 years old he could no longer pass the physical requirements of Secret Service agents he told the outlet I was having gastrointestinal problems neurological problems I didn't think I was having psychiatric problems but I was told my emotional problems over what had happened on November 22nd 1963 and a few

days after were causing all these other problems so he'll retired and with nothing to do he soon withdrew he'll recalled that at the time there was no support system put in place for president or former agents according to the New York Times he essentially took his alcohol and cigarettes withdrew from friends and family and spent years rarely even leaving the basement of his home by 1982

a friend who was also a doctor got through to him and told him that he was very slowly killing himself Hill gave up smoking and drinking but it wasn't until 1990 that it could bring himself to overcome a massive hurdle turning to Dallas he told today that he walked through dealy Plaza and walked up to the sixth floor of The Book Depository and hadica experience and

I came away realizing that I had done everything I could have done that day when asked about his life hill told Marin magazine that he had never really realized just how many places he'd been or the exciting life he lived until he started writing about it at the same time though he's very realistic about what that life cost him saying I had two boys and they

grew up without me their mother raised them I was gone 80 to 90 percent of the time I wasn't there for my son's births or their birthdays Christmas gone Easter gone my life was strictly the Secret Service as a trade-off he was there for the Kennedys in an interview with the John F Kennedy Library and Museum he shared how Jackie Kennedy had asked the agents waiting

with John Jr before the funeral to teach him how to salute they tried but he would only salute left-handed until a marine Colonel came in and had him prepped to salute his father as he was laid to rest he recalled too the night after the public funeral he escorted Jackie Kennedy back to the cemetery for her private goodbye despite all that he'll endured he doesn't regret

the life he lived if he had it to do over would you take that life again oh I'd go right back to work tomorrow morning if you or someone you know needs help with mental health please contact the crisis text line by texting home to 741-741 call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-90-6264 or visit the National Institute of Mental Health Website foreign