Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, died in February 2025 at the age of 93. His name is forever tied to one of the most traumatic days in American history: November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
Hill was only 31 years old that day. He had been with the Secret Service for about five years and had served as Jackie Kennedy's personal bodyguard since JFK won the election.
At first, Hill was not thrilled with the assignment. He had hoped to be on the president's detail, and protecting the president's wife felt like a step down. Over time, that changed. He developed a deep respect and admiration for her and accompanied her everywhere, from official visits and vacations to public events, horseback riding trips, and family getaways.
Even after the assassination, he stayed by her side, remaining on the detail until she moved to New York in 1964.
The aircraft at the center of the story is Air Force One, tail number SAM 26000. It was only about a year old at the time of the assassination and remained in service until 1998, carrying every president from John F. Kennedy through Bill Clinton.
The plane is now displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Its layout helps explain what Hill experienced on board.
Up front were the crew quarters and communications shack, with a galley on the left side. Moving back, an area that later became the presidential suite was, in 1963, general seating for staff and press, complete with electric typewriters mounted on the walls.
Further back was the president's office. In 1963, Kennedy's desk sat roughly where a table now stands, and the windows beside it were the ones he looked out on the flight into Dallas.
It was in that same office area that Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president later that afternoon. The famous photograph of the oath was taken there, with Johnson facing one direction, Jackie Kennedy to his left and Lady Bird Johnson to his right.
Beyond the office space, the aisle turned right toward what had been the president's bedroom, which held two twin beds. The bathroom where Jackie Kennedy cleaned the blood from her face was in that area. She famously did not change her clothes.
Further back was an area for the Secret Service to sit. Two rows of seats there were removed to make room for Kennedy's casket, which was tied down with cargo straps.
That was the section of the plane where Hill would have been sitting on the flight into Dallas.
On the day of the assassination, Kennedy and the First Lady descended the stairs of the aircraft, with Hill following close behind. The motorcade then moved out, with the president and Mrs. Kennedy in a Lincoln convertible, followed by Secret Service agents and a car carrying Vice President Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, and Senator Yarborough. Dallas police and Texas Rangers handled the crowds.
Some of the most iconic images of Hill that day come from the Zapruder film, which shows him running toward the back of the presidential limousine as Jackie Kennedy climbed onto the trunk.
Hill later recalled that he was standing on the left front running board of the follow-up car when he heard a sharp noise. At first he did not recognize it as a gunshot, thinking it might have been a firecracker. Then he looked at the president and saw him slump forward, clearly in distress.
Hill jumped off the running board and sprinted toward the limousine. As he ran, a second shot was fired. Just as he reached the back of the car, the third and fatal shot struck.
In his account, Hill described the shot hitting the president in the back of the head and erupting out of the upper right quadrant just above the ear. Blood, bone fragments, and brain matter covered the back of the car, Hill himself, and Mrs. Kennedy.
When Hill started to get up on the car, Mrs. Kennedy came up onto the trunk, trying to grab material that had erupted from the president's head. Hill grabbed her and put her in the back seat. When he did, the president's body fell to his left into her lap.
The right side of Kennedy's face was up. Hill could see his eyes were fixed and there was a hole in his skull. He assumed the president had died.
The limousine itself is now on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It looks different today because it was heavily modified in later years, including the addition of a permanent roof, and it remained in service for several more presidencies.
Hill had been assigned to what the Secret Service called the halfback car, the vehicle that followed directly behind the president and stayed just a few feet away no matter how fast the motorcade moved. It was a 1955 Cadillac Series 75 carrying eight Secret Service agents, four inside and four standing on the running boards.
Hill was positioned on the left front running board, the closest spot to Jackie Kennedy, who was seated on the left side of the limo. When the first shot rang out, he was in position, but still too far away to prevent what happened in those few seconds.
Once the motorcade reached Parkland Hospital, the first priority was getting Governor Connally out of the limousine. He had also been wounded and was in the way of reaching the president. Medical teams got him onto a gurney, then tried to get Kennedy onto one, but Jackie would not let go of her husband.
Hill repeatedly pleaded with her to let go so the medical staff could care for the president, but she refused and continued to clutch his body. It finally dawned on Hill that she was not holding on only out of grief. She did not want anyone to see the horrible state the president was in.
Realizing that, Hill removed his jacket and gently placed it over the president's head. Only then did Jackie let go, allowing hospital staff to take him inside.
Hill remained with Jackie at the hospital. At one point he managed to reach the White House through a switchboard temporarily set up in Dallas and reported the situation to his superiors in Washington.
While he was on the line, the operator interrupted to say the Attorney General was on the phone. It was Robert Kennedy, the president's brother. Bobby asked Hill what was going on in Dallas, and Hill explained there had been a shooting. Bobby asked how bad it was. Not wanting to tell him outright that his brother was gone, Hill said simply that it was as bad as it could get. Bobby hung up.
The hospital then helped Hill contact a mortuary to arrange for a bronze casket, the one used to carry Kennedy's body back on Air Force One.
There are many stories about a heated confrontation between the Secret Service and Dallas authorities over leaving the hospital with Kennedy's body. Texas had a law requiring autopsies for homicide victims before the body could be released, and accounts describe a tense standoff with armed Secret Service agents allegedly pushing past local authorities.
Hill's recollection was of a more civil exchange. According to him, the hospital's chief physician ultimately agreed to release the body on the condition that a physician accompany it to the final destination for an autopsy.
With that agreement, Kennedy's casket was loaded into a hearse. Jackie Kennedy insisted on riding with him, joined by Hill and the White House physician, as they drove to Love Field where Air Force One awaited.
The 600-pound casket was carried up the narrow stairs, with Jackie following closely behind. Once inside, it had to be maneuvered into place.
A physical reminder of that day remains on the aircraft. The bulkhead is dressed with aluminum trim now, but a saw was taken to it along that line, and a section was removed so the casket could be pivoted through the door and into the section of the plane where two rows of seats had been taken out. The casket was placed there and tied down with cargo straps to keep it from shifting during flight.
Mrs. Kennedy retreated to her private room aboard the aircraft, where she had a brief conversation with President and Mrs. Johnson, who offered their condolences. Meanwhile, Hill went to the front of the aircraft, likely joining other Secret Service members. It may have been his first real moment to begin processing the enormity of what had happened.
Lady Bird Johnson later recalled hearing one of the Secret Service agents on board say, "We've never lost a president in the service."
At some point while he was in the front of the aircraft, Hill received word that Mrs. Kennedy wanted to see him. He went back to her, and when he arrived she looked at him and said, "Oh, Mr. Hill, what is going to become of you now?"
Hill later reflected on that moment, realizing that even in the midst of her unimaginable grief, she was thinking about him. She knew how much he and his fellow agents had cared for the president, and in that moment she was more concerned for them than for herself.
Shortly before the plane departed for Washington, President Johnson was sworn in in the president's office, where Kennedy had been sitting just a few hours earlier. Twenty-six people were crammed into the small space to witness the event. Hill was not in the famous photograph but would have been nearby.
After the oath was administered, Johnson gave his first order as president: "Let's get this thing in the air."
Jackie retreated to the back of the plane, and Hill followed her. He stayed beside her and the casket for the entire flight back to Washington.
Hill later recalled that the back of the plane was very quiet and not much was said. From what is known now, Jackie was already planning even in her grief. She had begun mapping out the funeral, discussing who would carry the casket, where the president would be buried, and even the idea of an eternal flame at Arlington.
For the rest of the flight, Hill remained at her side with the casket, just as he had all day, watching over her as she mourned.
The plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base at 6 p.m. The casket was removed from Air Force One, and Hill stayed with Jackie, now joined by Robert Kennedy, as they accompanied the president's body to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy.
It was a long night. Around 2:45 a.m., Hill was called in to view the president's body. He saw the wounds up close and watched as Kennedy was prepared for placement into a new casket. The original bronze casket was later dropped into the ocean from a military aircraft to prevent it from becoming a morbid curiosity.
Even after all those hours, Hill never left Jackie's side. By the time they arrived at the White House close to 4:30 a.m., he was still with her as the casket was placed in the East Room, where the Kennedy family would have their private time with the president.
Hill never really recovered from that day. It took decades for him to be able to talk about it, and he blamed himself for not getting to the president in time.
He stayed with the Secret Service for a while afterward and continued to protect Jackie until sometime the following year. He later worked under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, but struggled with severe PTSD that led to alcoholism. By 1975, at just 43 years old, he had to retire.
Later in life, he began to open up. He co-authored books about his time with the Kennedys, and in doing so was finally able to make some peace with what happened that day.
When people look back, Hill is likely to be the most remembered of all the Secret Service agents that day. When everything went wrong, he ran toward the danger. He was willing to put his life on the line for the First Lady, and no matter how much guilt he carried, the world still sees him as a hero.