Clint Hill, Secret Service Agent Who Aided John F. Kennedy During Assassination, Passes Away at 93 | US News
Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who jumped onto John F. Kennedy’s limousine following the president’s assassination, has passed away at the age of 93.
As per his publisher, Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, the former agent passed away on Friday at his residence in Belvedere, California.
His wife, Lisa McCubbin Hill, a journalist who met Mr. Hill while co-authoring 2012’s The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence, expressed on Instagram: “From the moment we met, there was an undeniable spark between us.”
“We shared a once-in-a-lifetime love that many dream of – a relationship filled with passion, respect, admiration, and pure joy in each other’s company.”
“I am eternally thankful for every day and every moment we spent together over the past 15 years. To us, forever. Rest in peace, my Sweet Prince.”
On November 22, 1963, Mr. Hill, who was part of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s security detail during the assassination, jumped from a Secret Service vehicle to the president’s limousine after Mr. Kennedy was shot.
Footage recorded by eyewitness Abraham Zapruder captured the agent grasping the handle of the limousine’s trunk and pulling himself aboard as the vehicle sped away.
He then compelled Mrs. Kennedy, who had climbed onto the trunk, to return to her seat as the limousine hurried away.
Although Mr. Hill was praised for his swift actions and subsequently took charge of the White House protective detail, he held himself accountable for Mr. Kennedy’s death and left the Secret Service in 1975, at the age of 43.
Clint Hill jumped onto the back of JFK’s limousine after the president was shot in 1963. File pic: AP
During a 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace that year, Mr. Hill remarked: “If I had reacted just a fraction faster. And I certainly could have, and I will carry that with me for the rest of my life.”
Born in 1932, Mr. Hill grew up in Washburn, North Dakota. He attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, served in the Army, and worked as a railroad agent before joining the Secret Service in 1958.
He spent about a year at the agency’s Denver office before becoming part of the elite team assigned to protect the U.S. president and first family.
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After retiring, Mr. Hill co-authored multiple books related to his experiences in the Secret Service with Mrs. McCubbin Hill. The couple met while writing The Kennedy Detail and tied the knot in 2021.
He also became a public speaker and was awarded North Dakota’s highest civilian honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, in 2018.
