Mrs. Kennedy and Me

Mrs. Kennedy and Me recounts Secret Service agent Clint Hill's four years protecting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, from his reluctant assignment in November 1960 through his final day of service in late 1964.

In November 1960, Hill, a member of the White House Detail (the Secret Service team assigned to protect the sitting president), was unexpectedly reassigned to the First Lady's Detail, the unit responsible for protecting the president's wife. He viewed the move as a demotion to a future of fashion shows and tea parties. Raised as an adopted child in the small town of Washburn, North Dakota, Hill recognized that his background was worlds apart from that of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, who grew up in East Coast privilege, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, and spoke fluent French.

Hill met Mrs. Kennedy at her Georgetown townhouse on November 11, 1960. Eight months pregnant, she was gracious but guarded, making clear she wanted privacy for herself and her children. Over the following weeks, the two developed a rapport during walks along a canal towpath in Georgetown. On Thanksgiving night, Mrs. Kennedy went into early labor, and her son, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., was born at Georgetown Hospital. The president-elect, who had been en route to Palm Beach, returned on a faster press plane, arriving hours after the birth.

Hill spent Christmas with the Kennedy family at the Palm Beach estate of the president's father, Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, devising ways to shield Mrs. Kennedy from public exposure. Ordered to stay behind with the children during the Inauguration, Hill watched the ceremony on television with the Kennedys' three-year-old daughter, Caroline. The experience forced him to reframe his role: He was serving the president by protecting what mattered most to him.

After the family moved into the White House in February 1961, Mrs. Kennedy began spending weekends at Glen Ora, a rented estate in Virginia's hunt country. Hill confronted the challenge of protecting her during fox hunts, with the Secret Service following by car rather than on horseback. She also launched the Fine Arts Committee to restore the White House with authentic period furnishings, and a warm camaraderie developed between agent and first lady.

In May 1961, Hill advanced Mrs. Kennedy's first major international trip: a state visit to Paris followed by an unofficial visit to Greece. Before departure, President Kennedy instructed Hill to keep Mrs. Kennedy away from Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate whose reputation as a womanizer and history of legal disputes with the U.S. government made any association politically risky. In Paris, more than 200,000 people lined the streets, and Mrs. Kennedy's fluency in French captivated President Charles de Gaulle at a dinner at Versailles. President Kennedy quipped to the press that he was merely the man who had accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris. In Greece, Hill successfully kept Mrs. Kennedy away from Onassis.

Mrs. Kennedy's influence grew. She orchestrated a state dinner at Mount Vernon for Pakistani President Ayub Khan and hosted cellist Pablo Casals at the White House for his first U.S. performance in 33 years. In December 1961, Ambassador Kennedy suffered a debilitating stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to speak. In March 1962, Hill led Mrs. Kennedy's solo trip to India and Pakistan. While in Karachi advancing the Pakistan leg, he received top secret messages ordering him to assume command of the First Lady's Detail, replacing Agent Jim Jeffries, the detail's original leader. In Pakistan, Ayub Khan presented Mrs. Kennedy with a horse named Sardar.

The summer of 1962 brought a vacation in Ravello, Italy, where Hill managed aggressive paparazzi, ran personal errands for Mrs. Kennedy, and kept nightclub photographs out of the press. That October, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the threat of nuclear war. When Hill explained the White House bomb shelter, Mrs. Kennedy responded with defiance, saying she would take her children and "walk hand in hand out onto the south grounds" to "face the fate of every other American" (191). Hill resolved privately that he would carry her to safety regardless.

In early 1963, Mrs. Kennedy revealed she was pregnant with a third child. On August 7, she went into premature labor five weeks early. Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born at Otis Air Force Base Hospital weighing 4 pounds, 10 and a half ounces. Diagnosed with hyaline membrane disease, a lung condition common in premature infants, the baby was transferred to Children's Hospital in Boston, where he died on August 9. The loss was Mrs. Kennedy's third, after a previous miscarriage and a stillbirth. Afterward, the agents observed a visibly closer relationship between the president and Mrs. Kennedy, who began holding hands openly.

To aid Mrs. Kennedy's recovery, her sister Lee Radziwill arranged a cruise on Onassis's yacht through the Greek islands. President Kennedy approved the trip despite the political risks he had warned against two years earlier. The cruise lifted Mrs. Kennedy's spirits, and on the flight home, she told Hill she had decided to join the president on an upcoming political trip to Texas.

The Texas trip began on November 21, 1963, with enthusiastic receptions in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth. Before departure, Hill had learned that the president requested agents no longer ride on the back of the presidential limousine, saying it looked as though they were crowding him. On November 22, the motorcade entered Dallas with the limousine's top removed. As the car turned onto Elm Street, Hill heard an explosive noise and saw President Kennedy grab at his throat. Hill leaped off the follow-up car and sprinted toward the limousine. A third shot struck the president in the head. Hill reached the car and pushed Mrs. Kennedy, who had climbed onto the trunk reaching for a piece of her husband's skull, back into the seat. He shielded the occupants and screamed at the driver to get to a hospital.

At Parkland Memorial Hospital, Hill established an open line to the White House. When Attorney General Robert Kennedy demanded to know how bad the situation was, Hill replied, "It's as bad as it can get" (294). After the president was pronounced dead, Hill ordered a casket and helped navigate a standoff with Texas authorities who insisted on a local autopsy before the body could leave the state. At Love Field, the agents broke the handles off the casket to force it through the door of Air Force One. Before Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president, Mrs. Kennedy, still in her blood-crusted pink suit, grasped Hill's hands and asked, "What's going to happen to you now, Mr. Hill?" (300).

Over the following four days, Hill accompanied Mrs. Kennedy through the funeral. She insisted on walking in the procession to St. Matthew's Cathedral despite security concerns. At the end of the service, three-year-old John, coached moments earlier by a Marine colonel, raised his right hand and saluted his father's casket. Mrs. Kennedy lit the Eternal Flame at Arlington National Cemetery and returned to the grave at midnight with Robert Kennedy for a private visit.

Hill remained with Mrs. Kennedy for one more year, consumed by guilt that he had not been able to save the president. She wrote a letter praising Hill and the other agents, saying they "made it possible for us to have the happy close life that we did" (328–330). Agent Paul Landis resigned in June 1964, unable to cope with the emotional toll. Mrs. Kennedy moved to New York City, and on Hill's last day, she presented him with a photo album inscribed: "Mr. Hill—Are you happy in your work?—JBK" (333).

In an epilogue set in May 1994, Hill met President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. That evening, he learned that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had died at the age of 64. Sitting alone, Hill was overcome with loss. Tears streamed down his face, and he was not ashamed.