Clinton J. Hill was born
in 1932. He attended Concordia College, Minnesota, where he studied
history. After graduating in 1954 he joined the US Army. He left in
1957 and found work with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
Hill entered the Secret
Service in September 1958. Hill did investigative and protection work
in Denver until 1959 when he was assigned to the staff of the White
House where he helped to protect Dwight
Eisenhower and John
F. Kennedy.
In November 1963 Hill went
on the presidential trip to Texas. His special duty was to protect
Jackie
Kennedy.
On the motorcade tour of
Dallas on 22nd November, 1963, Hill rode on the running board of the
Secret Service car immediately behind the presidential car.
After the first shot was
fired Hill ran forward: "I jumped onto the left rear step of
the Presidential automobile. Mrs. Kennedy shouted, "They've shot
his head off," then turned and raised out of her seat as if she
were reaching to her right rear toward the back of the car for something
that had blown out. I forced her back into her seat and placed my
body above President and Mrs. Kennedy."
At the Warren
Commission
Hill claimed he only heard
two shots. He also thought the second shot sounded very different
from the first shot. Some researchers have claimed that this indicated
that it had been fired from a different gun. Another explanation is
that the second and third shots were fired at virtually the same time.
Hill was praised for his
bravery. He was the only Secret Service agent who attempted to cover
the president's body with his own. Rufus
Youngblood
had done the same thing
to protect Lyndon
B. Johnson
in his car.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
Forum Debate on Clinton J. Hill
Namebase: Clinton J. Hill
(1)
Clinton J. Hill, statement dated 30th November, 1963.
President and Mrs. Kennedy
entered the automobile with the President getting into the right rear
seat and Mrs. Kennedy into the left rear seat. Mrs. Connally got into
the left jump seat and Governor Connally into the right jump seat.
SA William Greer was driving the automobile with ASAIC Roy H. Kellerman
in the right front seat. I went to the left rear side of the Presidential
automobile and stood on the airport ramp along side where Mrs. Kennedy
was sitting.
As the Presidential automobile
began to move forward at 11:55 a.m. I walked along side of the left
rear of the automobile for about 150 feet, and since there were no
people at all on the airport ramp I went back to the automobile immediately
behind the Presidential Automobile and mounted the forward portion
of the left running board.
SA Sam Kinney was driving
this Secret Service Follow-up car which was a 1955 Cadillac 9-passenger
convertible specifically outfitted for use by the Secret Service.
ATSAIC Emory Roberts was sitting in the right front seat and operating
the two way radio. SA John Ready was on the forward portion of the
right hand running board; SA William McIntyre on the rear portion
of the left hand running board; SA Paul E. Landis on the rear portion
of the right hand running board; Mr. Kenneth O'Donnell, Presidential
Appointment Secretary, was seated on the left side of the second seat;
Mr. Dave Powers, Presidential Receptionist, was seated on the right
side of the second seat; SA George Hickey was seated on the left side
of the third seat- and SA Glen Bennett was seated on the right side
of the third seat.
The Presidential Follow-up
car was followed by a 1964 Lincoln 4-door convertible occupied by
Vice-President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson, Senator Ralph Yarborough,
with ASAIC Rufus Youngblood in the right front seat. This automobile
was followed by a Secret Service follow-up car for the Vice President,
and then came automobiles occupied by photographers, correspondents,
Senators and Congressmen.
Preceding the Presidential
automobile was a Dallas Police Department Lead car in which SA Winston
Lawson of the Secret Service was riding. Police motorcycles preceded
and flanked the motorcade. There were two police motorcycles on the
left side of the President's Secret Service follow-up car running
abreast of one another between the automobile and the crowd of people.
My instructions for Dallas
were to work the left rear of the Presidential automobile and remain
in close proximity to Mrs. John F. Kennedy at all times. The agent
assigned to work the left rear of the Presidential automobile rides
on the forward portion of the left hand running board of the Secret
Service follow-up car and only moves forward to walk alongside the
Presidential automobile when it slows to such a pace that people can
readily approach the auto on foot. If the crowd is very heavy, but
the automobile is running at a rather rapid speed, the agent rides
on the left rear of the Presidential automobile on a step specifically
designed for that purpose.
As the motorcade moved
from Love Field through downtown Dallas toward the Trade Mart, there
were four (4) occasions before we reached the end of Main Street where
I moved from the forward portion of the left running board of the
follow-up car to the rear step of the Presidential automobile. I did
this because the motorcycles that were along the left hand side of
the follow-up car were unable to move up alongside the President's
car due to the crowd surging into the street. The motorcycles were
forced to drop back and so I jumped from the Follow-up car and mounted
the President's car. I remained in this position until the crowd thinned
and was away from the President's automobile, allowing the motorcycles
to once again move up alongside of the automobile. When we approached
the end of Main Street the crowd was noticeably less dense than had
been the case prior to that point.
The motorcade made a right
hand turn onto Elm Street. I was on the forward portion of the left
running board of the follow-up car. The motorcade made a left hand
turn from Elm Street toward an underpass. We were traveling about
12 to 15 miles per hour. On the left hand side was a grass area with
a few people scattered along it observing the motorcade passing, and
I was visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar
to a firecracker. The sound came from my right rear and I immediately
moved my head in that direction. In so doing, my eyes had to cross
the Presidential automobile and I saw the President hunch forward
and then slump to his left. I jumped from the Follow-up car and ran
toward the Presidential automobile. I heard a second firecracker type
noise but it had a different sound-- like the sound of shooting a
revolver into something hard. I saw the President slump more toward
his left.
I jumped onto the left
rear step of the Presidential automobile. Mrs. Kennedy shouted, "They've
shot his head off," then turned and raised out of her seat as
if she were reaching to her right rear toward the back of the car
for something that had blown out. I forced her back into her seat
and placed my body above President and Mrs. Kennedy. SA Greer had,
as I jumped onto the Presidential automobile, accelerated the Presidential
automobile forward. I heard ASAIC Kellerman call SA Lawson on the
two-way radio and say, "To the nearest hospital, quick."
I shouted as loud as I could at the Lead car, "To the hospital,
to the hospital."
As I lay over the top of
the back seat I noticed a portion of the President's head on the right
rear side was missing and he was bleeding profusely. Part of his brain
was gone. I saw a part of his skull with hair on it lying in the seat.
The time of the shooting was approximately 12:30 p.m., Dallas time.
I looked forward to the jump seats and noticed Governor Connally's
chest was covered with blood and he was slumped to his left and partially
covered up by his wife. I had not realized until this point that the
Governor had been shot.
When we arrived at Parkland
Memorial Hospital, Dallas, I jumped off the Presidential automobile,
removed my suit coat and covered the President's head and upper chest
with it. I assisted in lifting the President from the rear seat of
the automobile onto a wheel type stretcher and accompanied the President
and Mrs. Kennedy into the Emergency Room. Governor Connally had been
placed in an Emergency Room across the hall.
(2)
William
Manchester, The Death of a President (1967)
There was
a sudden, sharp, shattering sound. Various individuals heard it differently.
Jacqueline Kennedy believed it was a motorcycle noise. Curry was under
the impression that someone had fired a railroad torpedo. Ronald Fischer
and Bob Edwards, assuming that it was a backfire, chuckled. Most of
the hunters in the motorcade - Sorrels, Connally, Yarborough, Gonzalez,
Albert Thomas - instinctively identified it as rifle fire.
But the White
House Detail was confused. Their experience in outdoor shooting was
limited to two qualification courses a year on a range in Washington's
National Arboretum. There they heard only their own weapons, and they
were unaccustomed to the bizarre effects that are created when small-arms
fire echoes among unfamiliar structures - in this case, the buildings
of Dealey Plaza. Emory Roberts recognized Oswald's first shot as a
shot. So did Youngblood, whose alert response may have saved Lyndon
Johnson's life. They were exceptions. The men in Halfback were bewildered.
They glanced around uncertainly. Lawson, Kellerman, Greer, Ready,
and Hill all thought that a firecracker had been exploded. The fact
that this was a common reaction is no mitigation. It was the responsibility
of James J. Rowley, Chief of the Secret Service, and Jerry Behn, Head
of the White House Detail, to see that their agents were trained to
cope with precisely this sort of emergency. They were supposed to
be picked men, honed to a matchless edge. It was comprehensible that
Roy Truly should dismiss the first shot as a cherry bomb. It was even
fathomable that Patrolman James M. Chaney, mounted on a motorcycle
six feet from the Lincoln, should think that another machine had backfired.
Chaney was an ordinary policeman, not a Presidential bodyguard. The
protection of the Chief Executive, on the other hand, was the profession
of Secret Service agents. They existed for no other reason. Apart
from Clint Hill - and perhaps Jack Ready, who started to step off
the right running board and was ordered back by Roberts - the behaviour
of the men in the
follow-up car was unresponsive. Even more tragic was
the perplexity of Roy Kellerman, the ranking agent in Dallas, and
Bill Greer, who was under Kellerman's supervision. Kellerman and
Greer were in a position to take swift evasive action, and for five
terrible seconds
they were immobilized.
Hill, though
mistaken about the noise, saw Kennedy lurch forward and grab his neck.
That was enough for Clint. With his extraordinary reflexes he leaped
into Elm Street and charged forward.
(3) Kenneth O'Donnell was interviewed by Arlen Specter on behalf of the Warren Commission (1964)
Arlen Specter: Would you outline the origin of that trip to Texas,
please?
Kenneth O'Donnell: It came
from a conversation between the President and Vice President Johnson,
and myself. It concerned President Kennedy's desire, and President
Johnson's desire that he came to Texas...
Arlen
Specter: In a general way, what was the purpose of the
President's trip to Texas in November of 1963?
Kenneth O'Donnell: Well,
he hadn't conducted any political activities in Texas. There were
great controversies existing. There was a party problem in Texas that
the President and the Vice President felt he could be helpful, as
both sides of the controversy were supporting President Kennedy, and
they felt he could be a bridge between these two groups, and this
would be helpful in the election of 1964. I think that is the major
reason for the trip.
(4)
Clinton Hill was interviewed by Arlen
Specter on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen
Specter: Did you have any occasion to leave the President's follow-up
car at any time?
Clinton
Hill: When we finally did reach Main Street, the crowds had built
up to a point where they were surging into the street. We had motorcycles
running adjacent to both the Presidential automobile and the follow
car, as well as in front of the Presidential automobile, and because
of the crowds in the street, the President's driver, Special Agent
Greer, was running the car more to the left-hand side of the street
more than he was to the right to keep the President as far away from
the crowd as possible, and because of this the motorcycles on the
left-hand side could not get past the crowd and alongside the car,
and they were forced to drop back. I jumped from the follow car, ran
up and got on top of the rear portion of the Presidential automobile
to be close to Mrs. Kennedy in the event that someone attempted to
grab her from the crowd or throw something in the car.
(5)
Clinton Hill was interviewed by Arlen
Specter and Thomas
H. Boggs on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen
Specter: All right. What was the condition of the crowd as the motorcade
made a right-hand turn off of Main Street onto Houston?
Clinton
Hill: The crowd was very large on Main Street, and it was thinning
down considerably when we reached the end of it, and turned right
on Houston Street. Noticeably on my side of the car, which was the
left-hand side of the street.
Arlen
Specter: And what is your best estimate as to the speed of the President's
car at the time it made the right-and turn onto Houston Street?
Clinton
Hill: In the curve?
Arlen
Specter: The speed - in the curve itself; yes.
Clinton
Hill: We were running generally 12 to 15 miles per hour. I would say
that in the curve we perhaps slowed to maybe 10 miles per hour.
Arlen
Specter: And how far behind the President's car was the Presidential
follow-up car as the turn was made onto Houston Street?
Clinton
Hill: Four to five feet, at the most.
Arlen
Specter: I show you a photograph of a building which has already been
marked as Commission Exhibit No. 348, and ask you if at this time
you can identify what that building is.
Clinton Hill:
I believe I can, sir; yes.
Arlen
Specter: And what building is it?
Clinton
Hill: It is the Texas School Book Depository.
Arlen
Specter: Now, does that building appear on the Commission Exhibit
No. 354?
Clinton
Hill: Yes, sir; it does.
Arlen
Specter: Did you have any occasion to notice the Texas School Book
Depository Building as you proceeded in a generally northerly direction
on Houston Street?
Clinton
Hill: Yes, sir. It was immediately in front of us and to our left.
Arlen
Specter: Did you notice anything unusual about it?
Clinton
Hill: Nothing more unusual than any other building along the way.
Arlen
Specter: What is your general practice, if any, in observing such
buildings along the route of a Presidential motorcade?
Clinton
Hill: We scan the buildings and look specifically for open windows,
for people hanging out, and there had been, on almost every building
along the way, people hanging out, windows open.
Arlen
Specter: And did you observe, as you recollect at this moment, any
open windows in the Texas School Depository Building?
Clinton
Hill: Yes, sir; there were.
Arlen
Specter: Are you able to recollect specifically which windows were
open at this time?
Clinton
Hill: No, sir; I cannot.
Arlen
Specter: What was the condition of the crowd along the streets, if
any, along Elm Street, in front of the Texas School Book Depository
Building?
Clinton
Hill: On the left-hand side of the street, which is the side I was
on, the crowd was very thin. And it was a general park area. There
were people scattered throughout the entire park.
Arlen
Specter: Now, what is your best estimate of the speed of the President's
automobile as it turned left off of Houston onto Elm Street?
Clinton
Hill: We were running still 12 to 15 miles per hour, but in the curve
I believe we slowed down maybe to 10, maybe to 9.
Arlen
Specter: How far back of the President's automobile was the Presidential
car when the President's follow-up car had just straightened out on
Elm Street?
Clinton
Hill: Approximately 5 feet.
Arlen
Specter: Now, as the motorcade proceeded at that point, tell us what
happened.
Clinton
Hill: Well, as we came out of the curve, and began to straighten up,
I was viewing the area which looked to be a park. There were people
scattered throughout the entire park. And I heard a noise from my
right rear, which to me seemed to be a firecracker. I immediately
looked to my right and, in so doing, my eyes had to cross the Presidential
limousine and I saw President Kennedy grab at himself and lurch forward
and to the left.
Arlen
Specter: Why don't you just proceed, in narrative form, to tell us?
Thomas
Boggs: This was the first shot?
Clinton
Hill: This is the first sound that I heard; yes, sir. I jumped from
the car, realizing that something was wrong, ran to the Presidential
limousine. Just about as I reached it, there was another sound, which
was different than the first sound. I think I described it in my statement
as though someone was shooting a revolver into a hard object - it
seemed to have some type of an echo. I put my right foot, I believe
it was, on the left rear step of the automobile, and I had a hold
of the handgrip with my hand, when the car lurched forward. I lost
my footing and I had to run about three or four more steps before
I could get back up in the car. Between the time I originally grabbed
the handhold and until I was up on the car, Mrs. Kennedy - the second
noise that I heard had removed a portion of the President's head,
and he had slumped noticeably to his left. Mrs. Kennedy had jumped
up from the seat and was, it appeared to me, reaching for something
coming off the right rear bumper of the car, the right rear tail,
when she noticed that I was trying to climb on the car. She turned
toward me and I grabbed her and put her back in the back seat, crawled
up on top of the back seat and lay there...
Arlen
Specter: What is your best estimate of the speed of the President's
car at the precise time of the first shot, Mr. Hill?
Clinton
Hill: We were running between 12 to 15 miles per hour, but no faster
than 15 miles per hour...
Arlen
Specter: Now, what is your best estimate on the timespan between the
first firecracker-type noise you heard and the second shot which you
have described?
Clinton
Hill: Approximately 5 seconds...
Arlen
Specter: Did Mrs. Kennedy say anything as you were proceeding from
the time of the shooting to Parkland Hospital?
Clinton
Hill: At the time of the shooting, when I got into the rear of the
car, she said, "My God, they have shot his head off." Between
there and the hospital she just said, "Jack, Jack, what have
they done to you," and sobbed.
Arlen Specter: What did you observe as to President Kennedy's condition
on arrival at the hospital?
Clinton
Hill: The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying
in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood
and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs.
Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood
you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except
for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
Arlen
Specter: Did you have any opportunity to observe the front part of
his body, to see whether there was any tear or rip in the clothing
on the front?
Clinton
Hill: I saw him lying there in the back of the car, when I was immediately
above him. I cannot recall noticing anything that was ripped in the
forward portion of his body.
Arlen
Specter: What action, if any, did you take to shield the President's
body?
Clinton
Hill: I kept myself above the President and Mrs. Kennedy on the trip
to Parkland...
Arlen
Specter: I believe you testified as to the impression you had as to
the source of the first shot. To be sure that the record is complete,
what was your reaction as to where the first shot came from, Mr. Hill?
Clinton
Hill: Right rear.
Arlen
Specter: And did you have a reaction or impression as to the source
of point of origin of the second shot that you described?
Clinton
Hill: It was right, but I cannot say for sure that it was rear, because
when I mounted the car it was - it had a different sound, first of
all, than the first sound that I heard. The second one had almost
a double sound - as though you were standing against something metal
and firing into it, and you hear both the sound of a gun going off
and the sound of the cartridge hitting the metal place, which could
have been caused probably by the hard surface of the head. But I am
not sure that that is what caused it.
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