Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Secret Service agent to JFK and Jackie Kennedy
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Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Biography
CLINT HILL will forever be remembered as the courageous Secret Service Agent who leapt onto the back of the presidential limousine in the midst of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, on November 22, 1963. His primary responsibility was the protection of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and for his actions that day, Hill received the nation's highest civilian award for bravery.
Hill rose through the ranks of the Secret Service to become the Assistant Director, responsible for all protective forces, having served five administrations--Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. But even though the world viewed him as a hero, he lived with overwhelming feelings of guilt and responsibility for being unable to save President Kennedy, and suffered from what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He spiraled into a deep depression, and at the age of 43, no longer physically or mentally capable to serve as an agent, he retired from the job he loved. After languishing for decades in what he calls his "emotional prison," secluded from friends and family, dependent on cigarettes and alcohol, it wasn't until he faced the demons that continued to haunt him that he finally came to the conclusion that he had done all he could that day.
He remains in contact with the current U.S. Secret Service and is actively involved in training activities at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. In April 2012, Hill collaborated with journalist, Lisa McCubbin, to write Mrs. Kennedy and Me, a memoir of the four years he spent with Jacqueline Kennedy, that was followed by Five Days in November, a factual account of the November 22 assassination and the days leading up to and including the funeral, and Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, covering the period 1958 to 1975. All three books became New York Times best sellers.
Clint Hill credits Lisa McCubbin with helping him "find a reason to live, not just exist."
LISA McCUBBIN is an award-winning journalist who has been a television news anchor and reporter for NBC, ABC, and CBS; hosted her own talk radio show; and spent more than five years in the Middle East as a freelance writer.
Ms. McCubbin met Clint Hill while writing the New York Times best seller, The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence (with Gerald Blaine) in 2009. She convinced Hill that the information and memories he had buried for nearly 50 years were of historic value, and should be documented. McCubbin collaborated closely with Hill in the writing of Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Their newest book "Five Presidents" has been named by ABC News as one of the "16 Must-Read Books for Summer."
The dynamic chemistry between McCubbin and Hill is evident in their unique joint presentation in which history comes to life as McCubbin draws out the poignant and painful memories from Hill, in an unforgettable hour filled with humor and drama, with the backdrop of rarely seen photos and videos. Audiences leave with an insight into the workings of the Secret Service, answers to the conspiracy theories, and inspired by the powerful message of an unlikely hero.
Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Featured Keynote Programs
Mrs. Kennedy and Me
An Interview Presentation with Clint Hill
Retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill shares his amazing experiences as a first-hand witness to Jackie Kennedy's life. Lisa McCubbin, NYT's best-selling author and former news anchor, interviews Hill to journey through the world's fascination with the former first lady. Hill acted as primary Secret Service agent to Jackie Kennedy from her initial day in the White House through the tragic assassination of Friday, November 22, 1963. With extensive use of photos and videos, Hill and McCubbin share the joys and ultimate tragedy of the Kennedy's experiences. It is a journey through history and the inspirational story of Clint Hill--the lone Secret Service agent who tried so desperately to shield the President from the assassin, yet has lived with the guilt of failure his entire life.
Five Days in November
A Multimedia Presentation with Clint Hill
November 22, 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In a riveting presentation filled with rare slides and video footage, Secret Service Agent Clint Hill is interviewed by coauthor Lisa McCubbin about five days that changed the world forever. On November 21, 1963, Clint Hill was with President and Mrs. Kennedy as they departed the White House for Texas--traveling that day to San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth. On Nov. 22, Hill was with the Kennedys as they traveled to Dallas, was in the motorcade when JFK was assassinated, and stayed by Jacqueline Kennedy's side for the next three days, through the heart wrenching funeral of the President. Hear the dramatic story, from someone who was there, and how those five days changed America forever.
FIVE PRESIDENTS
My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
Clint Hill sheds light on the character and personality of the five presidents he served—two Democrats and three Republicans— revealing their humanity in the face of grave decisions.
The presentation is a conversational format in which co-author/journalist Lisa McCubbin interviews Clint Hill about his extraordinary career in the Secret Service against a backdrop of rare photos from Hill’s personal collection. Including Hill’s riveting account of the assassination of JFK, the audience will walk away with a history lesson that demonstrates how their vote for President of the United States can alter the future of our country.
Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Featured Books
Five Presidents
by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Kennedy and Me and Five Days in November reflects on his seventeen years on the Secret Service for presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford.
The assassination of one president, the resignation of another, and the swearing-in of the two who followed those traumatic events. Clint Hill was there, on duty, through Five Presidents.
After an extraordinary career as a Special Agent on the White House Detail, Clint Hill retired in 1975. His career spanned the administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford. A witness to some of the most pivotal moments in the twentieth century, Hill lets you walk in his shoes alongside the most powerful men in the world during tumultuous times in America’s history—the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Nixon.
It was indeed a turbulent time—and through it all, Clint Hill had a unique insider perspective. His fascinating stories will shed new light on the character and personality of each of these five presidents, as Hill witnesses their human sides in the face of grave decisions.
Five Days in November
by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Don't miss the New York Times bestseller Five Days in November, where Secret Service agent Clint Hill tells the stories behind the iconic images of those five infamous, tragic days surrounding JFK's assassination, published for the 50th anniversary of his death. On November 22, 1963, three shots were fired in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the world stopped for four days. For an entire generation, it was the end of an age of innocence. That evening, a photo ran on the front pages of newspapers across the world, showing a Secret Service agent jumping on the back of the presidential limousine in a desperate attempt to protect the President and Mrs. Kennedy. That agent was Clint Hill. Now Secret Service Agent Clint Hill commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the tragedy with this stunning book containing more than 150 photos, each accompanied by Hill's incomparable insider account of those terrible days. With poignant narration accompanying rarely seen images, we witness three-year-old John Kennedy Jr.'s pleas to come to Texas with his parents and the rapturous crowds of mixed ages and races that greeted the Kennedys at every stop in Texas. We stand beside a shaken Lyndon Johnson as he is hurriedly sworn in as the new president. We experience the first lady's steely courage when she insists on walking through the streets of Washington, DC, in her husband's funeral procession. A story that has taken Clint Hill fifty years to tell, this is a work of personal and historical scope. Besides the unbearable grief of a nation and the monumental consequences of the event, the death of JFK was a personal blow to a man sworn to protect the first family, and who knew, from the moment the shots rang out in Dallas, that nothing would ever be the same.
The Kennedy Detail
by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
The New York Times bestselling and extraordinary true story of the critical events leading up to and following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as told by the Secret Service agents who were firsthand witnesses to one of America’s greatest tragedies.
The Secret Service. An elite team of men who share a single mission: to protect the president of the United States. On November 22, 1963, these men failed—and a country would never be the same. Now, for the first time, a member of JFK’s Secret Service detail reveals the inside story of the assassination, the weeks and days that led to it and its heartrending aftermath. This extraordinary book is a moving, intimate portrait of dedication, courage, and loss.
Drawing on the memories of his fellow agents, Jerry Blaine captures the energetic, crowd-loving young president, who banned agents from his car and often plunged into raucous crowds with little warning. He describes the careful planning that went into JFK’s Texas swing, the worries and concerns that agents, working long hours with little food or rest, had during the trip. And he describes the intensely private first lady making her first-ever political appearance with her husband, just months after losing a newborn baby.
Here are vivid scenes that could come only from inside the Kennedy detail: JFK’s last words to his tearful son when he left Washington for the last time; how a sudden change of weather led to the choice of the open-air convertible limousine that day; Mrs. Kennedy standing blood-soaked outside a Dallas hospital room; the sudden interruption of six-year-old Caroline’s long-anticipated sleepover with a friend at home; the exhausted team of agents immediately reacting to the president’s death with a shift to LBJ and other key governmental figures; the agents’ dismay at Jackie’s decision to walk openly from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the state funeral.
Most of all, this is a look into the lives of men who devoted their entire beings to protecting the presidential family: the stress of the secrecy they kept, the emotional bonds that developed, the terrible impact on agents’ psyches and families, and their astonishment at the country’s obsession with far-fetched conspiracy theories and finger-pointing. A book fifty years in coming, The Kennedy Detail is a portrait of incredible camaraderie and incredible heartbreak—a true, must-read story of heroism in its most complex and human form.
The Secret Service. An elite team of men who share a single mission: to protect the president of the United States. On November 22, 1963, these men failed—and a country would never be the same. Now, for the first time, a member of JFK’s Secret Service detail reveals the inside story of the assassination, the weeks and days that led to it and its heartrending aftermath. This extraordinary book is a moving, intimate portrait of dedication, courage, and loss.
Drawing on the memories of his fellow agents, Jerry Blaine captures the energetic, crowd-loving young president, who banned agents from his car and often plunged into raucous crowds with little warning. He describes the careful planning that went into JFK’s Texas swing, the worries and concerns that agents, working long hours with little food or rest, had during the trip. And he describes the intensely private first lady making her first-ever political appearance with her husband, just months after losing a newborn baby.
Here are vivid scenes that could come only from inside the Kennedy detail: JFK’s last words to his tearful son when he left Washington for the last time; how a sudden change of weather led to the choice of the open-air convertible limousine that day; Mrs. Kennedy standing blood-soaked outside a Dallas hospital room; the sudden interruption of six-year-old Caroline’s long-anticipated sleepover with a friend at home; the exhausted team of agents immediately reacting to the president’s death with a shift to LBJ and other key governmental figures; the agents’ dismay at Jackie’s decision to walk openly from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the state funeral.
Most of all, this is a look into the lives of men who devoted their entire beings to protecting the presidential family: the stress of the secrecy they kept, the emotional bonds that developed, the terrible impact on agents’ psyches and families, and their astonishment at the country’s obsession with far-fetched conspiracy theories and finger-pointing. A book fifty years in coming, The Kennedy Detail is a portrait of incredible camaraderie and incredible heartbreak—a true, must-read story of heroism in its most complex and human form.
Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Featured Articles & Resources
Clint Hill receives North Dakota's highest honor
WASHBURN – Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday presented retired U.S. Secret Service agent and author Clint Hill with the North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award during a...
Jackie O.'s Secret Service Agent Reveals How Sister Lee Radziwill Comforted Her After JFK's Death
Though their relationship was at times a challenging one, Lee was her sister's biggest protector
By JOELLE GOLDSTEIN and LIZ MCNEIL
Lee Radziwill and Jacqueline Kennedy...
Five Presidents Listed In ABC's '16 Must-Read Books for Summer!'
Clint Hill spent over 17 years in service at The White House as a Secret Service agent. Over the span of his fascinating career, he served the administrations of Dwight D....
Remembering | President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29th, 1917 in Brookline Massachusettes. He would have been 98 years old today! In rememberance of his birthday, former Secret Service...
Former Secret Service Agent Talks About Recent White House Security Breaches [VIDEO]
Andrea Mitchell talks to former Secret Service agent Clint Hill about the recent breach at the White House that is raising alarms over security.
Biography
CLINT HILL will...
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Government & Politics
Q&A with Clint Hill on C-SPAN [VIDEO]
Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill, two former Secret Service agents, spoke about the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. They also talked about the assassination’s...
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