34 - Clint Hill: Secret Service agent from the JFK assassination
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Clint Hill Leaps onto the presidential limousine after president kennedy was struck by the third and fatal shot
You might not know him by name, but you know his story. Well, a small part of it, anyway. Clint Hill is best known for his role in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Mr. Hill was a Secret Service agent at the time, in charge of protecting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. During the assassination on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, while the shots were still ringing out, Agent Hill ran from the car behind the presidential limousine, leapt onto the back of the car and shielded Mrs. Kennedy and President Kennedy with his body while the car sped toward Parkland Memorial Hospital. You can see all of this take place in the famous Zapruder film.
clint hill
Anyone who has listened to any of my podcast interviews knows that I do a lot of research for them. I feel that I owe that to the guests and to the listeners. But I’ve never done as much research for any episode as I did for this one. I felt extremely fortunate that Mr. Hill agreed to chat with someone with an obscure podcast from Canada. I knew I had one crack at speaking with this man and I didn’t want to squander it. The way the interview was scheduled, I had several months to prepare. During that time, I listened to two of his audio books (28 hours in total) and read every story and watched every interview I could find about him. What struck me is that virtually every journalist in every interview has focused on the exact same thing - those six seconds in Dallas. And while that’s certainly understandable since it was such a world-changing event, there’s so much more to know about Mr. Hill and his story. Like his unlikely path to the Secret Service. His fascinating relationship with President Lyndon Johnson. Initially, President Johnson didn’t want Mr. Hill on his detail because he thought he was a ‘Kennedy man’. But Agent Hill eventually earned the trust of the President. In fact, President Johnson tried to convince Agent Hill to come and lead his personal detail on his ranch in Texas after his presidency was over. There are so many interesting anecdotes and stories from his time serving under five presidents. The deep depression that he suffered for many decades as a result of PTSD, which stemmed from the JFK assassination. There’s the Clint Eastwood movie, In the Line of Fire, which was based in large part on Clint Hill. And, ultimately, his decision around the age of 80 to start telling his stories, thanks to a chance meeting with author Lisa McCubbin, which led to the three books they wrote together (more on that below).
After they’re done, I almost always beat myself up about the interviews I do on this podcast. I think about the questions I should have asked but didn’t. Or the little interesting threads from the guests’ answers that I didn’t pull on but should have. But I’m pretty happy with this interview and there’s not much I would change if I could do it again. Mr. Hill was a very gracious guest. My one regret is that I think I wish we would have had more time. I felt like we were just hitting our stride and that we could have gone on for another hour easily.
Mr. Hill has answered the same questions about the assassination many, many times. I didn’t ask him about the conspiracy theories, etc. For the record, he maintains there was one shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald. You can see all of those interviews on YouTube. With this interview, I wanted to find out more about the man behind the iconic black and white images…something that would let people know a bit more about who he is as a person and the massive impact the assassination had on the rest of his life. In terms of trying to get a well-known but intensely private person to open up about themselves, I think this interview is right up there with the one I was able to do with Dr. Roberta Bondar.
Everyone knows someone who is fascinated with the Kennedy assassination. Please share this episode with that friend of yours. I usually do little to no promotion of this podcast. But this is a man who has much more to him than those six seconds in Dallas and whose stories deserve to be heard by the widest possible audience.
As always, thanks for listening.
WIN A BOOK AUTOGRAPHED BY CLINT HILL AND LISA MCCUBBIN
If you would like to have a chance at winning this incredible keepsake, here’s how to do it. I have a copy of Mrs. Kennedy and Me that is autographed by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin. I’m going to be giving it away to one lucky listener. All you have to do to enter is to post a review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts. I would only ask that you please at least listen to some of the episodes before posting a review and that you make it an honest review. Take a screenshot of your review and email it to me at warren@weeksmedia.ca with the subject line: Clint Hill book contest. The deadline for submitting your entry is 11:59 pm ET on December 6, 2020.
I will be doing a random draw from all entries and will videotape the draw and post it online for transparency. The book will be mailed out to the lucky winner wherever they are in the world. And for everyone else, I highly recommend checking out any of their books. The links are below. They’re all available in audiobook format as well.
CONNECT WITH CLINT HILL
Clint Hill’s Website - where you can purchase his books
PLEASE TAKE A FEW SECONDS TO GIVE THIS PODCAST A RATING OR REVIEW ON APPLE PODCASTS. AND IF YOU LIKED THIS EPISODE, PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND WHO MIGHT ENJOY IT AS WELL. THANKS!
Thank you for taking the time to listen. If there’s someone you’d like me to interview, please leave a comment below, write me an email or connect with me on social media.