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My Extraordinary
Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Gallery Books
May 3, 2016/ ISBN 9781476794136
Biography / History
Reviewed
by Elise Cooper
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Five
Presidents
by Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin is a non-fiction book written
as a page turning historical novel. People might not recognize
the author, but the photo of him jumping on the Presidential
car is engrained in most everyone’s mind. He is the Secret
Service Agent that heroically leaped onto the Kennedy car in
Dallas after the President was shot.
Knowing people have played Monday morning quarterback for decades
about the JFK assassination, Hill dispelled some of the rumors:
“I don’t think what the FBI knew would have made
a difference. Nothing indicated Lee Harvey Oswald had a grievance
against President Kennedy. There was no conspiracy because no
one would have utilized a guy like Oswald, who was not intelligent
or capable enough for anyone to put trust in him. He was a failure:
his wife split up with him, unable to become a Marine, and could
not hold down a job. Even his defection to the Soviet Union
did not work out. He came back to the US and was extremely upset
because no one honored him. He did the assassination in an attempt
to seek recognition.”
The reason the car did not initially speed up was “the
driver apparently heard and thought perhaps the noise was a
blown tire. I know he tapped the break pedal ever so briefly
because I saw the brake lights come on momentarily. After that
he did begin to accelerate, which was about the time I reached
the car. Understand, this is a big heavy car so acceleration
did not happen instantaneously.”
Hill succeeds in allowing readers to have a rare glimpse into
the personalities and characters of the five uniquely different
Presidents, from Eisenhower to Ford. As a secret service agent
assigned to protect them he was able to view their strengths
and weaknesses, a witness to the historical decisions made by
these men. He reflects on the tumultuous times involving the
Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of JFK,
the Vietnam War and Watergate. However, it is more a book about
personalities and their human side; how the Presidents spent
their private time, treated people around them, and interacted
with their families.
Able to sympathize with those in the military who suffer from
PTSD, Hill admitted to blackfive.net that he had PTSD from the
assassination, “You never completely overcome it. I am
better off today than I was. Talking about it with my co-author
Lisa, writing about it, and talking to the public about it was
very therapeutic. What also helped was going back to Dealey
Plaza in Dallas and spending time there, examining the situation.
I looked at everything, the angles, location of the shooter,
the motorcade, weather conditions, and the type of transportation
we were using. I realize now I had done everything I could have
done that day. All the advantages went to the shooter and we
did not have any.”
The best parts of the book are the well-written stories and
anecdotes. Anyone wondering if there is anything new to be said,
the answer is an unequivocal yes!
These include President Eisenhower traveling to Pakistan and
Afghanistan to adoring crowds, allowing readers to understand
how times have changed; how Eisenhower was also revered for
his trustworthiness, yet during the U2 Spy incident with Francis
Gary Powers he hedged the truth to the American people; Hill
having personal demons as he struggled with PTSD over the Kennedy
assassination; the auspicious humiliating first greeting with
President Johnson in October 1964 as the President ignored Hill’s
handshake, and instead blew his nose in a handkerchief; Hill’s
decision to place the White House files under protection after
a midnight phone call about Watergate; how Nixon attempted to
put an informant on the Secret Service detail of Senator Ted
Kennedy; and President Ford’s willingness to travel to
five different countries even though there was no sitting Vice-President.
There is also a reminder to Americans how secret service agents
are a lot like those in the military and intelligence, where
their personal life must be sacrificed for the good of the nation.
Hill witnessed the joy, triumphs, agony, disappointments, egos,
and frailties of these five Presidents; yet missed many of his
own.
Hill gave the example of the Cuban Missile Crisis, “I
write in my book that the worst part for all the agents was
knowing in the case of a nuclear attack or a possible missile
launch from Cuba we would go with the President and his family
to a relocation site while our families would most likely perish.
If someone tried to get aboard the helicopter that was not authorized
it may come to the point of causing bodily harm to protect those
we were guarding. Our obligation is to complete the mission
and perform our job, which ultimately means we would have to
leave our families to fend for themselves. Anyone wanting to
be an agent has to be extremely devoted, dedicated, and willing
to sacrifice.”
Five Presidents illuminates the lives of each leader
in an insightful way. Hill has allowed readers to take the memory
journey with him as he opens up about the private world he observed.
This book is an incredible inside account.
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