Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir
Written by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill
Narrated by Jeremy Bobb
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
In those four years, Hill was by Mrs. Kennedy’s side for some of the happiest moments as well as the darkest. He was there for the birth of John, Jr. on November 25, 1960, as well as for the birth and sudden death of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy on August 8, 1963. Three and a half months later, the unthinkable happened.
Forty-seven years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the one vivid image that never leaves Clint Hill’s mind is that of President Kennedy’s head lying on Mrs. Kennedy’s lap in the back seat of the limousine, his eyes fixed, blood splattered all over the back of the car, Mrs. Kennedy, and Hill as well. Sprawled on the trunk of the car as it sped away from Dealey Plaza, Hill clung to the sides of the car, his feet wedged in so his body was as high as possible.
Clint Hill jumped on the car too late to save the president, but all he knew after that first shot was that if more shots were coming, the bullets had to hit him instead of the First Lady.
Mrs. Kennedy’s strength, class, and dignity over those tragic four days in November 1963 held the country together.
This is the story, told for the first time, of the man who perhaps held her together.
Clint Hill
Clint Hill is the New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Kennedy and Me; Five Days in November; Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford; and My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy. A United States Secret Service Agent from 1958 to 1975, Clint Hill was assigned to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and was in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. For his courage and swift actions that day, Hill received the nation’s highest civilian award for bravery. Starting out as a Special Agent, Clint Hill served as Agent in Charge of the First Lady Detail, the Vice Presidential Protective Division, the Presidential Protective Division, and when he was retired in 1975, he was Assistant Director responsible for all protective activity. Hill married coauthor Lisa McCubbin in 2021. Find out more at ClintHillSecretService.com.
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Reviews for Mrs. Kennedy and Me
243 ratings31 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a first hand account of Cliff Hill's 3 years serving as the primary Secret Service agent to Mrs. Kennedy. It was a well written, very easy to read account of the daily life of Mrs. Kennedy. The "trash" (JFK's) numerous affairs were omitted.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a time I was a part of. So revealing
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the second book I’ve read from Mr. Hill, well done!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating information about the experience of a Secret Service Agent to Jackie Kennedy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a first hand account of Cliff Hill's 3 years serving as the primary Secret Service agent to Mrs. Kennedy. It was a well written, very easy to read account of the daily life of Mrs. Kennedy. The "trash" (JFK's) numerous affairs were omitted.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A fascinating book that's hard to put down. Well worth reading!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent writing. Mr. Hill shared so much. Thank you sir!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SO enjoyed this book. For a woman that was such an enigma its so interesting!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this book ............ 100% loved it will read again
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the absolute best books I’ve ever read about the Kennedy’s
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An utterly compelling and rich tapestry of history, storytelling and a chapter in America’s history. 10/10
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a fascinating look into the White House with the Kennedys. The author has a lead an incredible life and seems to really appreciate it all. They really did have a Camelot for a short while. I was especially interested in the section where the assassination takes place as Mr. Hill was on Secret Service detail that day for Mrs. Kennedy. This book really makes you feel for everyone involved and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how it all came to be
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a phenomenal read and insight into what the Secret Service do for our Presidents and their families. Also, of course, the story of one of the most famous and loved First Ladies of all times. Clint Hill, I'm sure had many notes of his times with all the presidents he served under, but to be able to express in detail the years he spent with Jackie took us beyond just a story. Well done.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed Clint Hill's book about his Secret Service years in the White House, so I decided to read this one. It is excellent in many ways. It is interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at what the Secret Service does, and it was also informative when it came to Jackie Kennedy. The book read well and is full of good information. I highly recommend this one!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The author is a former Secret Service agent who was part of Mrs. Kennedy's protection detail almost from the beginning. Here, he recounts his memory of the years spent with her.I am amazed at how much time is put in by these agents. It is a wonder that any of them manage to stay married given the demands of the job. There are a lot of behind the scenes details. It struck me that Mrs. Kennedy really wanted to have privacy and a "normal" life--two things that were hard to come by once she became the First Lady.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was better than I had anticipated. Clint Hill takes great pains to show you the side of Jackie that he knew and admired. She was very well educated and knowledgeable about the history and cultures around the world. This helped her to bridge positive relationships with other leaders around the world and cemented her status as one of the world's most beloved first ladies.
Jackie did not "have it all" as some would like you to believe. She endured her own share of troubles. Like other popular people, she had trouble with the paparazzi. She endured heartbreak at the loss of her son, Patrick, and two other pregnancies. The assassination of her husband was a nightmarish experience that no first lady or wife should ever experience.
The assassination had a magnificent impact on the Secret Service staff. I cannot fathom the emotions that roller-coasted through them during this tumultuous time. Reading about little John made me cry rivers of tears. Burying your father on your birthday is something no child should go through.
This is more than a memoir. It's a beautiful tribute to Mrs. Kennedy. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Clint Hill was a secret service agent to President John F. Kennedy. Behind the car carrying the President and Mrs. Kennedy on that fateful day in November when the shots ran out and he witnessed JFK slump forward as his wife, Jacqueline, in terror and fear, crawled out of the back seat of the limo onto the hood of the car. Just steps away from the car when the shots were heard, Mr. Hill ran as quickly as possible to catch up to the car.This is his story of that event, and the years afterward. Never stooping to gossip or divulging secrets, this is a remarkable book told by a remarkable man.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5MRS. KENNEDY AND ME illuminates the Kennedy family in both glowing and real life descriptions.It makes us feel as if we are there with Clint Hill watching the good, the funny, the challenging and,finally,the terrifying events which cost the nation's innocence.In comparison with the scandal-ridden (however true) books about JFK,this readable version focuses on him as a generousand loving father, husband, son, and boss.It would have been welcome if Mr. Hill had allowed commentary on the contrastsof all the Presidential riches given to the already super rich when so many Americans were -and are - so poor and in need of help.What are the costs to maintain huge and mostly empty CAMP DAVID?!?And why is it needed at all? Sell it now and donate the profits to Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA, and Social Security.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is more interesting for what it doesn't say than what it actually relates. On the surface it's a rather pedestrian account of the Kennedy presidency, told through the adoring eyes of Mrs. Kennedy's secret service agent But if the reader looks between the lines, a different picture is revealed of a first lady who lived in her own rarified world - an existence that wouldn't be possible under the scrutiny of today's 24/7 media coverage. Jacqueline Kennedy apparently made no secret of her distaste for politics and Washington, DC and managed to avoid participating in political life as much as possible - spending most of her time at the family's rented estate in Virginia or the Kennedy family's compounds in Hyannis Port and Palm Beach, as well as taking foreign junkets to India, Pakistan, Italy and Greece. Any First Lady who absented herself from the White House as much s she did today would find herself the subject of both media and political scrutiny.The book also shows just how all consuming the job of a Secret Service agent can be. Author Clint Hill was rarely home during the four years of his assignment to guard Mrs. Kennedy and although he doesn't talk about its effect on his marriage, one can only assume that it was detrimental as while he names his sons in the book's acknowledgements, he doesn't say a word about his wife.And, of course, the most riveting part of the book is of the fateful trip in November, 1963 to Dallas, Texas where Hill gives the reader a blow-by-blow description of the terrible events of that day.I'm not sure this book will add anything to the mountain of material that already exists on the Kennedys, but it's a quick read and an interesting peek into the domestic arrangements of their lives.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had heard Clint Hill speaking on NPR about this book and was interested in the book. It was gentle, sad and respectful. One can hear the respect and love for the family in his narration. Seems to have been restorative for Mr. Hill to have written it and puts the Kennedys in a better light too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was only 9 years old when JFK was killed, so I didn't know much about Jackie at the time. I followed some of the news reports about her later when she married Onassis, then some about her work in the publishing industry, & finally when she died of cancer. I never really felt like I knew her until I read Mrs. Kennedy and Me.
Secret Service agent Clint Hill kept such meticulous notes during his years with Jackie that, even 50 years after JFK died, he made me see Jackie through his eyes. I felt her personality come alive and I came to have a real admiration for her coping with life as the First Lady and afterwards as the widow of an assassinated President. She truly made his legacy much more than it would have been had he married someone else.
I should also report that Clint Hill's co-author, Lisa McCubbin, is probably the one who made this book so extremely readable amidst all of the facts & details that were part of a Secret Service agent's job. I was glad to read that this book finally allowed Mr. Hill (as Jackie always called him) to start living again after years of feeling that he had failed in his job of protecting the President. He did his upmost to keep both the President and his wife safe from harm in a difficult situation. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed the easy style of this book. Mr. Hill was initially a reluctant body guard. Mrs. Kennedy was a woman who craved freedom. Somehow, they managed to form a friendship built on respect. The easy writing style made reading about that period in time a pleasure. Clint Hill filled the book with personal vignettes without being intrusive. The book was very respectful and never crossed into tabloid land.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Repetitive, interesting concept but not particularly well written.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The one issue I have with Kennedy biographies is that, no matter how well sourced they are, they are rarely written by anyone who was actually there at the time, and therefore might know what they are writing about. Authors can spin facts and figures, and even rumour and hearsay, to suit particular biases - the mud-slinging anti-Kennedy brigade, the defenders of Camelot, and the scrupulously neutral 'accountants' of history. I'm all for those who strive to be fair, but really, I prefer to throw my lot in with those who are trying to preserve the fairy tale. Kenny O'Donnell and Dave Powers' memoir of JFK, Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye, is one of my favourites, and now Clint Hill's account of his time with Mrs Kennedy in the White House is another. Hill may not have written his own story, but he was there, in the background, and actually present at the assassination too.Clint Hill was the Secret Service agent who jumped onto the back of the President's car after the fatal bullet struck. He pushed Jackie back into her seat, and then shielded her with his body all the way to the hospital while she nursed her dying husband. Yet he was there through so many happier times too, the Secret Service shadow standing close to Mrs Kennedy in so many press photos. His simple yet heartfelt account, brought to life by Lisa McCubbin, of those three years in the White House really moved me, especially of course the final chapters. I couldn't stop reading, and I've ploughed through more than a few versions of the same era.What I think I loved most, though, was how much Clint Hill obviously loved his job - and Jackie herself. His ghost writer may have been putting a deliberately romantic spin on Hill's words, but the story of a devoted bodyguard who falls in love with his beautiful, intelligent and charismatic charge would make an excellent film. Oh, wait ... Hill talks about Jackie's 'infectious laugh', reading her mood 'by her eyes', how she looked even more beautiful in riding gear and no make-up than 'in her fancy gown', and thinking to himself, 'You know what impresses me, Mrs Kennedy? You.' He also staunchly defends her against accusations that she was bothering with Onassis on his yacht ('She returned to her stateroom. Alone'.) All very, very sweet, and completely understandable. Jackie Kennedy was an amazing woman.The chapter on the assassination and the aftermath had me in tears, of course. John Masefield's poem - 'so she took a ring from her finger and placed it in his hands' - finished me off, but Clint Hill's personal devastation and his sorrow for Jackie really brought the shocking timeline of November 22, 1963, into sharp clarity.Anybody seeking a heartfelt, if decidedly unbiased, recounting of the Kennedy administration - from someone who was there - should definitely start here.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The reason I gave this book a 1 is because I felt Mr. Hill's account was effected by his feelings for Mrs. Kennedy. He seemed to have feelings for Mrs. Kennedy that went beyond what was required for his job and therefore effected his view of events.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5All of the detail and the conversational style lend a very personal tone to Clint Hill's memoir about his years as the Secret Service agent assigned to Jackie Kennedy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir by Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin This is a story from the man who was a secret service agent that guarded Mrs. Jackie Kennedy. Love all the details and especially the mail problem, how he solves the delay.Goes all the pregnancies, travel, decorating, etc.Love hearing of all the places and all the procedures to protect her and the kids.The horse riding in Newport, I am learning so much about her life and Newport is within 20 minutes from my house.Such joy and tragedy throughout her life and so many things I didn't know about.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5She was the most famous woman in the world, married to a powerful man many years older than her, and she wanted a big family but had only two children. She was a fashion leader and considered very beautiful yet her husband was unfaithful to her: she valued privacy and had an ambivalent relationship with the press – Jackie Kennedy was the prototype that Princess Di and many others followed.Dead for nearly 20 years, she still fascinates, and a book offering the unique insights a personal bodyguard would be bound to have, especially during those tumultuous, short-lived ‘Camelot’ years, will have a ready market. Clint Hill was already an experienced member of the secret service when he was assigned to protect Jacqueline Kennedy, then First Lady in waiting, and for him – as for so many others – it was a case of love at first sight. He speaks movingly of her soft, breathy voice [shades of Marilyn Monroe?]; her coy charm, her sense of humour and mischievous spirit, and describes how difficult it was to guard Mrs Kennedy when she was water skiing or hunting, activities she performed far better than any of her protection squad.For all the talk of Jack and Jackie, Hill reveals how very little time she actually spent at the White House, preferring to be out of the public eye at one of the myriad mansions they owned or rented around the country, or to soak up foreign fashion and culture during both official and private trips to Europe and Asia. Clint was obviously a trusted member of the First Lady’s entourage since she sent him on shopping expeditions where he was tasked with choosing designer clothes for her [apparently he knew her taste] and personal toiletries – jobs more suited to a secretary or personal assistant. An easy, fast read, Mrs Kennedy and Me is an eye-opener into the life of a First Lady’s body-guard but tells us nothing new about the First Lady: Jackie Kennedy smoked, spoke several languages, loved art, fashion and animals, and had a devastating miscarriage in August of 1963, but that’s as ‘intimate’ as Hill gets.How she felt about the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Marilyn Monroe, Kennedy’s ill health or his myriad affairs is not mentioned here: the memoir is the soul of tact and despite conversations which are repeated verbatim [with dubious accuracy after 50 years] the reader comes no closer to understanding the enigma of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this quick read about what it was like to be Mrs. Kennedy's secret service man. Lots of interesting antidotes, but I must admit I was exhausted reading about all her travels and after a while it all began to sound repetitive. I had no idea that she spent so much of her time away from the White House! The last parts of the assassination were riveting and my heart went out to Mr. Hill and his eyewitness account of what it was like for him right there at the limousine. A good book and must read for anyone interested in what life was like in the Kennedy White House (and outside it as well.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved it. I admit that I am a sucker for anything Jackie and that I lived through the story as an adult which may make a difference. I knew much of what was in the book but I did not know that Jackie spent as little time at the White House as she did. She was away most of the time.