President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963. A month later, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy attempted to die by suicide by walking into the ocean.
Former agent Clint Hill is revealing all this and more in his new book, My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy. This is the second book Clint and his wife have written about his time with the Kennedys and follows 2012's Mrs. Kennedy and Me.
Clint writes that he was on duty with Jackie and her two children in Florida a month after JFK's death when he almost ended his life. He says, "Guilt and anguish consumed me. All I could think about was Dallas."
"I was running as fast as I could, my arm reaching for the handholds on the trunk but it was like my legs were in quicksand. Mrs. Kennedy climbing out of the back seat, her terrified eyes looking but not seeing me, like I wasn't there."
So he walked to the ocean. As Clint writes, "Tears streamed down my cheeks, and as the cold water enveloped my legs, and then my chest, and up to my shoulders, the tears turned to sobs. I wanted the water to swallow me up."
Clint Hill was rescued by a police officer who pulled him from the water. He never mentioned what happened that night until night.
"Somehow, there is a sense of freedom in no longer keeping that darkness to myself. People will judge me, I'm sure. But no one — no one — has ever walked in my shoes."
The book is described as Clint's most personal to date and will be released on October 25, 2022. He spends a good deal of the book detailing what happened to the Kennedy family following JFK's death.
"A lot of things happened in 1964," Clint explains. "It was the time when everything changed. Mrs. Kennedy had lost all the things associated with the Presidency and the children no longer had a father."
Those changes also meant that Clint was reassigned to work for President Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains loyal to the family and doesn't consider himself a hero for attempting to save JFK's life. As he puts it, "For me there is no pride in what I did that day. While others may find my actions heroic, I consider them inadequate."
