Five Days in November by Clint Hill

Format: Hardbound
Pub. Date: 2013
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Library Book
Pages: 243
Read: 4/29/2014
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

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.

Clint Hill was one of the agents assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy in this book he takes us through the events leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy and the immediate aftermath. This is a very detailed account, as a Secret Service agent he had to take detailed notes of times and events. The book also has more than 150 photos. The photos aren’t captioned but the narrative on the pages relates to the photos.

Besides detailing the events we can see the emotional impact the events had on the agents and the Kennedy’s loved ones and close friends. We can feel Mr. Hill’s grief over the loss of President Kennedy, his sorrow at seeing the pain First Lady Kennedy was feeling, having spent everyday with her he knew her better than most people, and his deep guilt at failing to protect the president.

He touches briefly on the conspiracy theories and explains his viewpoint and his feelings on learning Oswald was shot and killed.

Fascinating book that I recommend to anyone wanting to get a personal insider view of JFK and Jackie.