Clint Hill

Clinton J. Hill was a U.S. Secret Service Agent from 1958 – 1975, serving five presidents—Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. He was in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, assigned to protect First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Hill will forever be remembered for his brave and swift actions as he leapt onto the back of the presidential limousine in an effort to protect President and Mrs. Kennedy while shots were being fired. He is credited with saving Mrs. Kennedy’s life.

He graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with a degree in History and Physical Education. He intended to be a history teacher and athletics coach, but was immediately drafted into the United States Army, where he served as a Special Agent in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps.

In 1958, Hill applied and was accepted into the U. S. Secret Service as a Special Agent in the Denver field office. A year later he was assigned to the elite White House Detail protecting President Dwight D. Eisenhower. When John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, Hill was assigned to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s detail, and he remained with Mrs. Kennedy, Caroline, and John Jr. for one year after the assassination.

Hill was reassigned to the White House in November 1964 and eventually became the Special Agent in Charge of Presidential Protection during Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. When Richard M. Nixon became president in 1969, Hill was the Special Agent in Charge of Vice Presidential Protection with V.P. Spiro Agnew. When Hill retired from the Secret Service in 1975, he was the Assistant Director responsible for all protective forces.

After his retirement, Hill spiraled into a deep depression, suffering from undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that stemmed from witnessing—and being unable to prevent—the assassination of JFK. At the age of 77, he met journalist Lisa McCubbin and she convinced him that his memories were important to history.

With insightful, and often humorous anecdotes, as well as his riveting moment-by-moment account of what really happened that day in Dallas, Hill’s incredible story is one of courage, integrity, and resilience. Hill’s career and actions have been recognized worldwide. He is a guest speaker at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and continues to participate with present day Secret Service personnel in discussing protective activities and procedures. In December 2013, the U.S. Secret Service honored him at the James J. Rowley Training Center with a permanent bronze plaque next to a street they named Clint Hill Way.