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Five Days in November
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.
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.
256 pages, Audio CD
First published November 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 472 reviews
November 25, 2013
I just finished reading this book and read it in one evening...even though I already knew the outcome it was so well written and minute by minute detail it kept me hooked. There is a lot of information in the book which I did not know, and there are many photographs I had never seen before. truly a well documented and well written account through the eyes of Clint Hill, who was actually Jackie Kennedys Secret Service man. The book brought me to tears as I relived the event I remember vividly watching when I was 7 years old. The detail is amazing ....how Clint Hill remembers every thing so well. I highly recommend this book. You won't be disappointed.
November 11, 2013
Powerful, touching, honest and gratifying. Clint Hill's voice and memories are more than I, born after the assassination, ever expected to hear. They are clear and not muddled by theories or historic vitriol. The authors give a clear view of the events of those five days through the eyes of Clint Hill.
March 23, 2024
The book was a really interesting read. It is about the days preceding & the immediate days after the Kennedy assassination as seen from the author’s eyes. Clint Hill, the author, was the Secret Service agent assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy. The description of the events were very emotional & intimate from Mr. Hill’s perspective. The pages included many rare photos, maps, & illustrations. This wonderful book is definitely the best historical nonfiction I read so far this year.
October 2, 2020
Former Secret Service Clint Hill's account of President Kennedy's trip to Dallas that ended in Kennedy's assassination. Starts with Kennedy leaving the White House in Army 1, and ends with Jackie's return to the White House after JFK's funeral. What a sad time for America. In the epilogue Hill shuts down the conspiracy theorists, pointing out he was the closest agent to Kennedy, and he observed where the shots came from on his race to try and protect the Kennedys. Hill was Jackie Kennedy's personal Secret Service agent. Plenty of photos documenting the events. Hard to keep a dry eye while reading. Particularly love Hill's comment at the end of his epilogue--"President John F. Kennedy understood the power of America lies not in its politics--whether you are red or blue--but in its resilience and unified vision of freedom and liberty. "
January 7, 2016
Wow. Amazing book. I really didn't imagine that this book would be as wonderful as "Mrs. Kennedy and Me", but Clint Hill did it again. I just finished it and still have such a heavy feeling in my heart. Kennedy's assassination was 50 years ago, but Hill's memories are like it was yesterday. Not a single other person experienced Kennedy's death and the aftermath with the closeness to Jackie Kennedy that Hill had. He was by her side for all of it, so he has a view into this tragedy like no one else. I highly recommend the hardback version of this and not reading this on a kindle or e-reader. The hardback is a large book (not number of pages large, but large pages). There are large photographs on almost every page. It is almost more like a "coffee table book" (but not that big), and I just don't think it would translate well or have the same impact on an e-reader with a small screen.
February 22, 2018
I, like so many other Americans, can remember with amazing clarity where I was when I learned that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Former Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, assigned to protect the First Lady, has written a book about the assassination and the events of that weekend that followed from a perspective that only he has. While I thought that I knew a lot about these events, in fact, I stood in line for hours to view the casket in the Capitol and watched the funeral procession move through the streets of Washington, D.C., I found that there was much that I didn't know. I ended up reading this book in one evening and was surprised at the strength of the emotions that it evoked. Recommended for anyone wanted to read a concise and moving account of those dark days in November fifty years ago.
November 24, 2013
I was 13 and I remember seeing a teacher sobbing, her make-up streaking her face. I remember walking home from school that day and everything was so quiet, no children playing, no one watering their lawn, no dogs barking, no cars, just silence and the world seemed so gray. I was certainly old enough to understand what had happened and by 13 had already experienced the loss of my grandparents so I understood grief but this was so different.
Reading the detailed description of what happened during those five days, I am overwhelmed with the strength and dignity of the individuals who experienced that horror so intimately. Of course, I saw Jackie on television with the Kennedy family and admired her strength and ached for her grief but listening to Mr. Hill's recollection, almost seeing his face and those of the other agents who were there once again brought me to tears. No one should have to see something so horrific but to have to deal with it as they did is unimaginable.
Mr. Hill's generosity and sense of patriotism in sharing his "up-close and personal" experience, reflects as I said before an uncommon gentleman. In his previous book, sharing his recollections of protecting Mrs. Kennedy, he maintained his dignity and his respect for an exceptional lady, never succumbing to the maudlin, sensationalist journalism that others writing of this time have too often presented in their story telling. His grief and guilt which was mirrored by the other agents assigned to the First Family, underscores the incredible commitment to the task they fully embrace. There is no way any of them could have possibly prevented what happened but no matter who tells them that, even Jackie, their sense of duty did play a huge part in the magnitude of their grief. Too bad they can't look at their reactions as I do and see how truly remarkable they were.
Although it may not carry a lot of weight, I am truly proud of Mr. Hill and all the agents who supported the Kennedy family. A madman succeeded. They did not fail.
I highly recommend this book to people who experienced that time in history. Although it takes us back, it also gives us something to be proud of.
Bravo Mr. Hill. Well done. Jackie would be so pleased.
Reading the detailed description of what happened during those five days, I am overwhelmed with the strength and dignity of the individuals who experienced that horror so intimately. Of course, I saw Jackie on television with the Kennedy family and admired her strength and ached for her grief but listening to Mr. Hill's recollection, almost seeing his face and those of the other agents who were there once again brought me to tears. No one should have to see something so horrific but to have to deal with it as they did is unimaginable.
Mr. Hill's generosity and sense of patriotism in sharing his "up-close and personal" experience, reflects as I said before an uncommon gentleman. In his previous book, sharing his recollections of protecting Mrs. Kennedy, he maintained his dignity and his respect for an exceptional lady, never succumbing to the maudlin, sensationalist journalism that others writing of this time have too often presented in their story telling. His grief and guilt which was mirrored by the other agents assigned to the First Family, underscores the incredible commitment to the task they fully embrace. There is no way any of them could have possibly prevented what happened but no matter who tells them that, even Jackie, their sense of duty did play a huge part in the magnitude of their grief. Too bad they can't look at their reactions as I do and see how truly remarkable they were.
Although it may not carry a lot of weight, I am truly proud of Mr. Hill and all the agents who supported the Kennedy family. A madman succeeded. They did not fail.
I highly recommend this book to people who experienced that time in history. Although it takes us back, it also gives us something to be proud of.
Bravo Mr. Hill. Well done. Jackie would be so pleased.
January 8, 2014
How can anyone write an account about those five days of the Kennedy assassination and have anything new to say? Well, if you are the Secret Service bodyguard for Jacqueline Kennedy during JFK's days in the White House, you can. I wouldn't say the writing was a knock out. But it is, after all, a day to day account of what went on during the days before and after. Everyone is aware of how brave and gracious Jackie was during such a truly unimaginable tragedy. In this book, we get to hear and see (many revealing photos) a different side of this woman. She does break down behind closed doors, she must care for her children as privately as possible, yet prepare them for their public appearance at the funeral. She shows concern for her body guard's future even in the depth of such despair. In other words, Jackie is a person that shows self control and grace and humility under incredible pressure and pain. Yet, she feels all the feelings anyone would during such a hellish nightmare. The difference being, she must remember the president's public persona and act accordingly. The Eternal Flame, is just one of the things she helped arrange. Would any of us have the guts and presence of mind to do what she did? Jackie was truly remarkable.
August 26, 2023
There are events in history we are all taught and all know. But at some point if we didn't actually live thru it, they become something like that chair in the corner of the living room. It's just a part of life that doesn't have a lot of meaning till we need to move it for one reason or another.
Clint Hill did a great job of presenting what those days were like from moment to moment as he was right there being the Secret Service Agent for Mrs Kennedy. There was little opion just facts. But more importantly he showed us the aftermath. The book does not end with the shots fired but rather the JKF Jr's 3rd birthday. Sadly the same day his dad was laid to rest in Arlington. Life goes on but it leaves and indelible mark.
Clint Hill did a great job of presenting what those days were like from moment to moment as he was right there being the Secret Service Agent for Mrs Kennedy. There was little opion just facts. But more importantly he showed us the aftermath. The book does not end with the shots fired but rather the JKF Jr's 3rd birthday. Sadly the same day his dad was laid to rest in Arlington. Life goes on but it leaves and indelible mark.
April 24, 2018
This is a very detailed account of the exact days surrounding the JFK assassination with excellent pictures to go along with the entire story- so you must read a hard copy of this, no audiobook! ☺️ It doesn’t give a lot of background so I suggest reading the Kennedy Detail first to give greater depth to this book. It is very well written and makes you feel like you lived those five days along with them in a small way. ❤️
May 6, 2020
The heartbreaking memories of John Kennedy's assassination told by Jackie Kennedy's Secret service agent. Very touching!
December 22, 2013
Concise memory (and guilt) told from Mrs. Kennedy's secret service agent, who was there. The one who leaped upon the back of the convertible after the first shot. This well written, emotionally tough reveal surprised me: that this secret service agent felt tremendous guilt because he didn't do his job. It has haunted him. He rarely discussed it with others, even though no one accused him of being able to have done anything differently. The five day "Texas tour" was planned to reunite the Democratic party in order to have John win re-election in 1964. It was meant to be personal, with Jackie accompanying him--which she rarely did. There was enormous organization and pressure, danger with such crowds, and in unfamiliar (to the agents) territory. The tight writing lets the frightened agents attitudes come through. They made nervous eye contact. There was no sharing of worries. Only a job to do. And constant worry about just how they could keep John and Jackie safe.
There is much I remember about November 22,1963, the day JFK died. Horrific, shocking, and gut-wrenching. I was 18 years old, full of hope, and completely enthralled with the Kennedys. A youthful president, along with a young wife who brought hope and a feeling of pride in America and what was possible. How quickly it unraveled and covered the nation is despair and sadness. Everyone who is old enough remembers where they were, the tough announcement by Walter Cronkite that evening.
It would be only one of three times I saw my father cry.
There are pictures and diagrams all through the book that bring a more complete picture of all that happened and why the author strongly believes in a sole gunman theory and why. Well done, save all the sad memories it evoked.
There is much I remember about November 22,1963, the day JFK died. Horrific, shocking, and gut-wrenching. I was 18 years old, full of hope, and completely enthralled with the Kennedys. A youthful president, along with a young wife who brought hope and a feeling of pride in America and what was possible. How quickly it unraveled and covered the nation is despair and sadness. Everyone who is old enough remembers where they were, the tough announcement by Walter Cronkite that evening.
It would be only one of three times I saw my father cry.
There are pictures and diagrams all through the book that bring a more complete picture of all that happened and why the author strongly believes in a sole gunman theory and why. Well done, save all the sad memories it evoked.
November 22, 2013
The one book to read
Of all of the many books about President Kennedy’s assassination this is the one to read. It is the only one written from cover to cover by an eyewitness, up close (really close) and personal. It is well written in first person present tense. Only Clint Hill could do that.
All of the other books about the assassination must use secondary sources or rumors. That is not the case in “Five Days in November” because Clint Hill was there as shown in many of the photos. He succinctly describes exactly what he saw and the narrative tracks the many photos so closely that there is no need for captions. His narration gives meaning to iconic photos as well as images never seen before.
It is rare indeed for such a dramatic and important historical event to be described fifty years later in such exquisite detail by a witness to the event. The writing is tight, crisp, straightforward and unflinching without an agenda. So many minute details are revealed for the first time such that the reader seems to be carried along on the fateful trip. The emotions that we felt then seem to come back in full force. The story is highly readable even though we know the ending and wish it could be different.
Thank you Mr. Hill for sharing with us what you saw. Even though it must have been difficult for you to relive those five days, this book is an important contribution to the historical record. Everyone should read this book whether you are old enough to have experienced the horror and grief or young enough to only know about it second hand.
Of all of the many books about President Kennedy’s assassination this is the one to read. It is the only one written from cover to cover by an eyewitness, up close (really close) and personal. It is well written in first person present tense. Only Clint Hill could do that.
All of the other books about the assassination must use secondary sources or rumors. That is not the case in “Five Days in November” because Clint Hill was there as shown in many of the photos. He succinctly describes exactly what he saw and the narrative tracks the many photos so closely that there is no need for captions. His narration gives meaning to iconic photos as well as images never seen before.
It is rare indeed for such a dramatic and important historical event to be described fifty years later in such exquisite detail by a witness to the event. The writing is tight, crisp, straightforward and unflinching without an agenda. So many minute details are revealed for the first time such that the reader seems to be carried along on the fateful trip. The emotions that we felt then seem to come back in full force. The story is highly readable even though we know the ending and wish it could be different.
Thank you Mr. Hill for sharing with us what you saw. Even though it must have been difficult for you to relive those five days, this book is an important contribution to the historical record. Everyone should read this book whether you are old enough to have experienced the horror and grief or young enough to only know about it second hand.
December 25, 2013
After watching Clint Hill on several C-SPAN programs talking about the Kennedy assassination, I read his book. I really enjoyed reading it. The collaboration with Lisa McCubbin resulted in a well-written flow through Kennedy's trip to Dallas to his funeral. I have read other books on the assassination, but learned things reading this book that I had not known.
If you want to learn more on the assassination, I recommend reading this book along with the chapters covering the assassination in The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro.
If you want to learn more on the assassination, I recommend reading this book along with the chapters covering the assassination in The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro.
March 28, 2014
I read this right after listening to an audiobook on JFK and the assassination, and while I found the narrative in the other book more riveting, this one makes up for it in pictures and personal anecdotes from a member of Jackie Kennedy's Secret Service detail, an eyewitness who was there every step of the way in the days preceding and following JFK's assassination. Recommended!
November 3, 2015
Great book from Jackie Kennedys secret service agent. This book has some pics I'd never seen before and that was a nice touch. The book covers 5 days in November, '63. Starting with the day before they arrive in Dallas and ending on the day of JFKs funeral, which was also JFK Jr's birthday. I've read several books on JFKs assasination and this is the best book by far.
May 5, 2014
Very interesting and educational.
There are LOTS of never before seen (by me) pictures, and a different historical perspective by someone who was there.
There are LOTS of never before seen (by me) pictures, and a different historical perspective by someone who was there.
November 24, 2014
Interesting account of the JFK assassination. As someone who didn't live through that even, it has always fascinated me. This book was a fast read, with many photographs from that time. I enjoyed it.
May 13, 2022
I had bought a few books to read this anniversary week and weekend about John Kennedy and the assassination. I read a few but realised just why I saved "Five Days in November", by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin, to read tonight. It is a stunningly beautifully produced book - full of pictures - with just the right amount of text to bring the memories of that horrible weekend to life.
Clint Hill was 31 years old in 1963 and had been one of the Secret Service agents assigned to guard Jacqueline Kennedy since the inauguration nearly three years before. She called him "Mr Hill" and he called her "Mrs Kennedy"; the respect they held for each other was real. He was the agent who had leaped onto the back of the car, pushing Jacqueline back into the car as she was reaching for a piece of the president's skull. He has lived the last 50 years wondering why he wasn't fast enough to save the president.
The text of the book looks at the four days - from leaving the White House on Nov 21st, a happy President and First Lady - to returning the following night with the presidential casket through the weekend and then the President's funeral and procession. The pictures are not captioned but the text accompanying them are all the explanation needed.
I usually write much longer and detailed reviews. I can't do that with this book tonight. Just please take my word that this is a book worth reading and keeping.
Clint Hill was 31 years old in 1963 and had been one of the Secret Service agents assigned to guard Jacqueline Kennedy since the inauguration nearly three years before. She called him "Mr Hill" and he called her "Mrs Kennedy"; the respect they held for each other was real. He was the agent who had leaped onto the back of the car, pushing Jacqueline back into the car as she was reaching for a piece of the president's skull. He has lived the last 50 years wondering why he wasn't fast enough to save the president.
The text of the book looks at the four days - from leaving the White House on Nov 21st, a happy President and First Lady - to returning the following night with the presidential casket through the weekend and then the President's funeral and procession. The pictures are not captioned but the text accompanying them are all the explanation needed.
I usually write much longer and detailed reviews. I can't do that with this book tonight. Just please take my word that this is a book worth reading and keeping.
November 14, 2023
So moving and intriguing!!
I loved getting an inside look into a few days of The Kennedy's life as President and First Lady. Told through the voice of Mrs. Kennedy's Secret Service agent, this book gave me a "fly on the wall" perspective we don't get to often see. The pictures are 🔥
Emotionally moving as you can empathize with Mrs. Kennedy losing her husband and her beloved President as well as how the Agents felt so much guilt at not being able to protect The President as they are assigned to do.
Highly recommend.
I loved getting an inside look into a few days of The Kennedy's life as President and First Lady. Told through the voice of Mrs. Kennedy's Secret Service agent, this book gave me a "fly on the wall" perspective we don't get to often see. The pictures are 🔥
Emotionally moving as you can empathize with Mrs. Kennedy losing her husband and her beloved President as well as how the Agents felt so much guilt at not being able to protect The President as they are assigned to do.
Highly recommend.
November 4, 2023
I read this one because the author has my initials (for my reading challenge) and I never would’ve read it otherwise but it was actually really interesting. it’s fairly cut and dry and details the days before and after jfk’s assassination. despite it’s fairly matter-of-fact approach, it tugged at my heartstrings anyway :,(
September 26, 2017
wow. This book is going to stay with me. the words and photos definitely told the truth. man Jackie was young!
May 30, 2022
Such a personal account by Mrs. Kennedy's secret service agent, with lots of pictures and details that I had not seen or read about before. So intimate that you almost feel like you were there.
December 16, 2013
I'd been waiting for this book for a long time, tried to put it on hold twice because I'd forgotten that it was, already on hold for me. Clint Hill doesn't really share anything that he hasn't shared before but the timeline format of this book did bring a different focus to his memories. The addition of so many beautiful photographs made the anecdotes seem more poignant and I think that this book would be a good starting point with people unfamiliar with the events of those days. He also allows himself to add more detail about the preparation involved in a major campaign stop like Dallas in the 60s. It's really a fascinating book - impossible to put down.
The main, heart-breaking moments, he had shared in Mrs Kennedy and Me, are in this book with a little more detail and he seems a bit more comfortable in sharing his feelings. In his first book you do get the feeling that he is struggling with sharing his story and always reverts back to the 'public' story. As a senior secret service agent he was always focused on his task and never let his emotions appear but with this book he opens up a little bit more and gives a more complete picture of the horrible tasks he was faced with during those days.
It's an important read for anyone interested in this time in our shared history and a delight for fans of the American secret service. There are more graphic details than you would find in a quick survey of the events in Dallas so it isn't for every reader, however it balances the world that the Kennedy family had to inhabit in a way that is very revealing. As an armed fly on the wall during one of the most covered marriages in recent history Clint Hill's is a perspective that shouldn't be missed.
The main, heart-breaking moments, he had shared in Mrs Kennedy and Me, are in this book with a little more detail and he seems a bit more comfortable in sharing his feelings. In his first book you do get the feeling that he is struggling with sharing his story and always reverts back to the 'public' story. As a senior secret service agent he was always focused on his task and never let his emotions appear but with this book he opens up a little bit more and gives a more complete picture of the horrible tasks he was faced with during those days.
It's an important read for anyone interested in this time in our shared history and a delight for fans of the American secret service. There are more graphic details than you would find in a quick survey of the events in Dallas so it isn't for every reader, however it balances the world that the Kennedy family had to inhabit in a way that is very revealing. As an armed fly on the wall during one of the most covered marriages in recent history Clint Hill's is a perspective that shouldn't be missed.
April 29, 2014
Riveting; absolutely incredible. Clint Hill, for those unaware, was the Secret Service agent in charge of the security detail for Mrs. Kennedy, made famous for the iconic photos of him lunging toward the presidential convertible limousine to protect the First Lady after the first shot was fired. He tells the story of Jack Kennedy's assassination in stunning detail from the very beginning of that fateful trip to Texas. Mr. Hill's retelling of the minutiae of the trip is simply amazing, from the wonder of John Jr.'s love of helicopters as he rode with his parents to Andrews Air Force Base and saw them off as they boarded Air Force One, to Mrs. Kennedy's apparent unease with public adulation and her husband's encouragement to her, and Mr. Hill's viewing of the President's body after the autopsy, which occurred at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington only after fighting staff at Parkland Medical Center in Dallas, who contended that Texas state law instructed that homicide victims had to be autopsied in the jursidiction in which they were murdered. And, of course, the devastating description of intimate moments such as Caroline kissing the American flag draped over her father's casket, and the history of how John John knew how to salute so perfectly as his father was buried on his own 3rd birthday. Agent Hill experienced life with the Kennedy family from (no pun intended) point blank range, and his memoir from the morning the trip began through to the reception that Mrs. Kennedy, ever the gracious and accommodating hostess, had for visiting heads of state after the funeral for their comfort, was the best read in quite a while for me. Masterful.
July 21, 2015
Clint Hill and his co-author once again take us back in time to those 5 days in November that changed the world and the course of the United States forever. I was a child in 1963, yet the assassination of President John F. Kennedy left me sad and scared. I can only imagine the horror for adults.
Hill had a too close view. In the famous pictures, just after the shots are fired he is the first agent to react. You see him climbing onto the back of the Presidential limo trying in vain to save JFK and to protect his main charge, First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Hill's earlier book "Mrs. Kennedy and Me" shows the dedication of the Secret Service at the expense of family and personal lives. This book as much as the first also reflects the anguish of the Secret Service agents who felt like they failed because the president died, they carry those feelings today.
The book draws on pictures from a variety of sources and stills from the Zabruder film. It careens from the high of a successful start to the Texas trip to the quiet despair of a hillside in Arlington Cemetery. You know the story, but not from this close of a perspective. Keep the tissues handy.
Beautiful and heartbreaking from start to finish.
Hill had a too close view. In the famous pictures, just after the shots are fired he is the first agent to react. You see him climbing onto the back of the Presidential limo trying in vain to save JFK and to protect his main charge, First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Hill's earlier book "Mrs. Kennedy and Me" shows the dedication of the Secret Service at the expense of family and personal lives. This book as much as the first also reflects the anguish of the Secret Service agents who felt like they failed because the president died, they carry those feelings today.
The book draws on pictures from a variety of sources and stills from the Zabruder film. It careens from the high of a successful start to the Texas trip to the quiet despair of a hillside in Arlington Cemetery. You know the story, but not from this close of a perspective. Keep the tissues handy.
Beautiful and heartbreaking from start to finish.
February 18, 2014
Coauthored by Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent responsible for Jackie Kennedy's security while she was the First Lady. In those grainy photographs and newsreel of Nov 22, 1963, most people in the world have seen the lone Secret Service agent struggling to climb onto the back of Kennedy's limo in Dallas during the shooting to protect the President and Mrs Kennedy. That man is Clint Hill.
Clint Hill is a decent and courageous man who played an unbelievable part in American history.
There is not a lot of information in this book that is not in the 2012 excellent memoir, "Mrs Kennedy and Me", by the same author. This book specifically recounts the five days before and after the assassination -- a first hand detailed account by a man who was a huge part of what happened. In addition to a lengthy text, this book has over 150 photos, most never seen before. Most are black and white, some are color. Almost all are striking, stark, and stunning.
Five Days in November commemorates the 50th anniversary of the end of Camelot.
Clint Hill is a decent and courageous man who played an unbelievable part in American history.
There is not a lot of information in this book that is not in the 2012 excellent memoir, "Mrs Kennedy and Me", by the same author. This book specifically recounts the five days before and after the assassination -- a first hand detailed account by a man who was a huge part of what happened. In addition to a lengthy text, this book has over 150 photos, most never seen before. Most are black and white, some are color. Almost all are striking, stark, and stunning.
Five Days in November commemorates the 50th anniversary of the end of Camelot.
January 13, 2014
The assassination of President Kennedy happened years before I was born, and my knowledge of it was pretty rudimentary. As the 50th anniversary neared, a friend of mine told me about a book they were reading, Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill. I read it and was fascinated by the amount of detail, by how personal the account was, and it led me to want to read his account of the assassination. Five Days in November is that account. It is incredibly well-written and informative. I read in over the course of two evenings, I just could not put it down. What really struck a cord with me was the incredible amount of detail and the fact that Jacqueline Kennedy was going through this at 34 years old, the same age that I am now, with an almost 3-year-old just as like me. A great read and I highly recommend it to everyone who is interested in this dark period of American history.
January 11, 2014
A detailed retelling of the trip to Texas by President and Mrs. Kennedy by former Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who was Mrs. Kennedy's agent and who was the one who jumped on the back of the limousine during the assassination. Hill gives a pretty good description of what the Secret Service has to do during presidential trips, the long, grueling hours and so forth and fills in a lot of the intimate details of the days between Nov. 21st and 25th, 1963, the earlier trips to San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth and then the assassination, aftermath and funeral. Poignant and compelling. Hill does a credible job of dismissing any discussion of a conspiracy, and his historic role as eyewitness makes him deserving of being listened to.
February 17, 2014
From the one man that witnessed it all (Jackie's Secret Service Agent), incredible account of one of the darkest weeks in American history. Easy read with lots of photographs but reading about the Texas Trip of the Kennedys and then the horrific assassination from Mr. Hill's perspective almost makes all speculation of the event irrelevant. Interesting details of the mood throughout the trip, certain "politics" that came with the offical start of the 1964 re-election campaign for JFK and also why they rode in open top convertiables. Heartbreaking aftermath details including Jackie's private mourning, her childrens reactions, Hill having to view the body and hear the results of the autopsy and how Jackie planned every intricate detail of the state funeral and burial. Worth the wait
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