Did The Secret Service Fail in JFK’s Assassination?
Apparently, several agents were out late drinking before the assassination
I can’t imagine a worse nightmare for the Secret Service than JFK’s assassination. Of course it didn’t look good for the agency, but I didn’t know many of President John F. Kennedy’s agents were permanently haunted. Clint Hill was one agent who famously leaped onto the back of the Kennedy motorcade from a trailing car, shielding Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy after he got shot:
According to Emma Parry at The Sun, Hill internalized a sense of shame from the death of Kennedy, believing he “should have been faster” in the wake of JFK’s death. To this day, he can’t forget the image of Kennedy’s face after getting shot, blood everywhere, and “no more brain matter left” after the gunshot wound. At no point in trying to protect the Kennedys did Hill think about himself and his family — he wanted to provide cover “so no more damage could be done.”
“If I had been slightly faster I may have been able to prevent the president’s fatal wound and that has bothered me ever since. It always will — I’m sure,” Hill said.
