Lisa McCubbin Hill's Blog, page 5

USA Today gives Mrs. Kennedy and Me Stellar Review

USA TODAY Rating:USA TODAY REVIEW'Mrs. Kennedy': A relationship of respect, protection, loveBy Don Oldenburg, USA TODAYApril 02, 2012If you're a Kennedy vulture looking for scandalous scraps of hushed-up affairs, look elsewhere. Retired Secret Service Special Agent Clint Hill's charming insider's chronicle of the Kennedy years is more of aDriving Miss Daisy tale that contains lots of Secret Service logistical stories and daily-life anecdotes but few startling revelations.Not that Hill drove Mrs. Kennedy much. His job was to protect her. But this account by the Secret Service agent seen in the Zapruder film frantically climbing onto the back of the presidential limo to shield JFK and the first lady on that fateful day in Dallas is more about how a relationship between two strikingly different people in close contact evolves into genuine intimacy.When Hill, now 80, first met Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in November 1960, JFK had just been elected president and "Jackie" was pregnant with their first child, Caroline. Jackie was a rich girl, Mrs. Potter's School, Vassar, the Sorbonne, equestrian, married to the junior U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Clint Hill was an adopted small-town North Dakota boy, normal '50s childhood, Concordia College in Minnesota.Hill had served on President Eisenhower's Secret Service detail and figured this reassignment to protect the next first lady was a demotion — the "Kiddie Detail." Little did he know he'd soon be accompanying Mrs. Kennedy on trips worldwide as she redefined the role of the modern first lady.While Mrs. Kennedy's beauty, grace, intelligence and spirit quickly captivated Hill, her insistence on privacy and trying to raise her children normally are what earned his respect. He writes that he "wasn't there to be her friend," but he became one of her most trusted friends. He never uses the word, but not only did he adore her, it's clear from his book that Hill (who was married) loved her.Yet they never ventured beyond formality. He was always "Mr. Hill," she was always "Mrs. Kennedy."What makes this memoir memorable is that Hill was always there as the Kennedy legend evolved. He was there for Caroline's first snowman, and John-John's birth, for Thanksgivings at Hyannis Port and Christmases at Palm Beach. When Jackie's horse threw her headfirst, he raced to her side. As more than a 100,000 people lined the streets in New Delhi waving miniature American flags and cheering her, he was scanning the crowd for potential dangers. When she needed a tennis opponent, he did the best he could in his dark suit and Florsheim wingtips. While many of the book's anecdotes have previously been reported, Hill owns the point-of-view advantage.At times, it's easy to tell where Hill's voice ends and co-author Lisa McCubbin's voice begins, such as when describing what Jackie was wearing: "an ice-blue long-sleeved silk coat with a matching whimsical beret." But McCubbin, an award-winning journalist, undoubtedly helped Hill sustain the storytelling quality of the narrative.Nowhere in the book does that quality become more intense and dramatic than the 25 pages describing the day of the assassination and the disturbing details of Hill's eyewitness account as he climbed across the back of the limousine after hearing the first shot and seeing the president reach for his throat. What Hill saw in those seconds would haunt him forever.As for JFK's infidelities, Hill upholds the "secret" side of his service and never even mentions any scandals. Still, the book conveys a sense of honesty and proves to be an insightful and lovingly penetrating portrait of the Jacqueline Kennedy that Hill came to know.

Jacqueline Kennedy's historic trip to Pakistan 50 years ago today

Gordon Parks (WHACA) and Agent Clint Hill at the Khyber Pass
From the personal collection of Clint Hill50 Years ago this week, Secret Service Agent Clint Hill was with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Pakistan.  Here is Agent Hill (right) at the Khyber Pass.

Click below to watch this terrific video of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's historic trip to India and Pakistan from the JFK Library.  It is amazing how much the world has changed.  In MRS. KENNEDY AND ME, Clint Hill describes this incredible trip--the sights, the sounds, the challenging adventures--and reminds us of the almost inconceivable impact Mrs. Kennedy had on foreign relations.  She was a true ambassador.

Jacqueline Kennedy's Historic Trip to Pakistan and India

Video courtesy of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Click here to buy MRS. KENNEDY AND ME

Publishers Weekly Reviews Mrs. Kennedy and Me

The reviews are beginning to come in.  Here's what the notoriously critical Publishers Weekly writes about Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Mrs. Kennedy and Me:
An Intimate MemoirClint Hill with Lisa McCubbin. S&S/Gallery, $26 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4516-4844-7 In November 1960, Hill, who had been on President Eisenhower's Secret Service detail, wasn't looking forward to his new assignment—which he viewed as a demotion—of protecting Jacqueline Kennedy. But a disappointed Hill soon realized he was actually serving the president "by protecting the things that were most important to him, personally—his wife and his children." Hill was completely won over by the first lady's spontaneity, curiosity, sincerity, and joie de vivre. He accompanied her to Greece twice; on the first trip, in 1961, he was under strict if baffling instructions from JFK to keep his wife away from Aristotle Onassis. Hill was with Mrs. Kennedy on a Virginia hunt where she flew headfirst over her horse and a rail fence, through the death of infant Patrick and in Dallas when the president was assassinated. Hill is close-mouthed about JFK's infidelities. His book is most valuable for his perceptive recall of the daily routine and problems faced by the Secret Service detail. This is a worshipful, competent insider's glimpse of a matchless first lady whose diplomatic skills and glamour enabled her to do the unthinkable: briefly wrest the Mona Lisa from France. Photos. (Apr.)

Mrs. Kennedy and Me Gets Kirkus Star Review

The Kirkus StarAwarded to books of remarkable merit



"Of the many words written about Jacqueline Kennedy, these are among the best."
Evocative memoir of guarding First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy through the young and sparkling years of the Kennedy presidency and the dark days following the assassination.
Secret Service Special Agent Hill had not looked forward to guarding Mrs. Kennedy. The action was with the president. But duty trumped preference, and he first met a young and pregnant soon-to-be First Lady in November 1960. For the next four years Hill would seldom leave her side. Theirs would be an odd relationship of always-proper formality combined with deep intimacy crafted through close proximity and mutual trust and respect. Hill was soon captivated, as was the rest of the world, by Mrs. Kennedy's beauty and grace, but he saw beyond such glamour a woman of fierce intelligence and determination—to raise her children as normally as possible, to serve the president and country, to preserve for herself a playful love of life. Hill became a part of the privileged and vigorous life that went with being a Kennedy, and in which Jacqueline held her own. He traveled the world with her, marveling at the adulation she received, but he also shared the quiet, offstage times with her: sneaking a cigarette in the back of a limousine, becoming her unwilling and inept tennis partner. When the bullet ripped into the president's brain with Hill not five feet away, he remained with her, through the public and private mourning, "when the laughter and hope had been washed away." Soon after, both would go on with their lives, but Hill would never stop loving Mrs. Kennedy and never stop feeling he could have done more to save the president. With clear and honest prose free of salaciousness and gossip, Hill (ably assisted by McCubbin) evokes not only a personality both beautiful and brilliant, poised and playful, but also a time when the White House was filled with youth and promise.
Of the many words written about Jacqueline Kennedy, these are among the best.

Book of the Month Club Selection

Exciting news!  Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin has been selected by Book of the Month Club/Quality Paperbacks as a featured alternate in their early April 2012 catalog—and also a featured alternate of the Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, and the History Book Club! 
But don't worry, if you're not a Book of the Month Club member, you can pre-order your copy now at:Simon and Schuster 
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble  or support my favorite independent booksellers:
bookpassage.com 
Anderson's Bookshop Naperville, IL 
Rainy Day Books 

In Memory of Secret Service Agent Jack Walsh

Jack Walsh, loyal agent to the Kennedy family was laid to rest today.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Jack Walsh in September 2011, just four months ago, when Clint Hill spoke at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.  Director Tom Putnam had arranged for Mr. Hill and I to go to the private "family room" upstairs in the library prior to the presentation.

We had been there just a few minutes when a group of people walked in, and Clint's face lit up with a smile as he recognized his old friend, Jack Walsh, whom he hadn't seen in more than thirty years.

"John Frances Michael Walsh!" Hill exclaimed.

As we sat on the sofas, the Kennedy memorabilia all around us, Jack and Clint reminisced about funny stories in New York City and at Hyannis Port.  Jack spoke with that lilting Boston accent and had such an exuberant personality, it was easy to imagine him with Caroline and John as young children.  It was a memorable evening and what a special treat to be there as these two old friends reconnected.

Clint Hill joins me in expressing our deepest sympathies to the Walsh family.  For a touching tribute to Jack Walsh, read this article in today's Boston Globe. jack-walsh-secret-service-agent-who-guarded-jfk-family

Recording History

Article in JFK Library Foundation LEGACY Magazine


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Former Secret Service agent Clint Hill sits down with Kennedy Library metadata catalogers working on our digitization project. During the administration, Mr. Hill was assigned to protect Jacqueline Kennedy, and he became a nationally recognized figure because of his quick action during the events of November 22, 1963. Mr. Hill collaborated with former Secret Service agent Gerald Blaine and writer Lisa McCubbin (in photograph, on Mr. Hill's left) on the recent book The Kennedy Detail . While here to do research for his own upcoming book with Ms. McCubbin on his experiences guarding Mrs. Kennedy, Mr. Hill took the time to help our archivists and metadata catalogers with some of the unknown people and places in our photographic holdings.

The staff at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston have been invaluable to Clint Hill and me as we wrote MRS. KENNEDY AND ME.  We are so grateful to Laurie Austin and Maryrose Grossman in the audiovisual department who gave so freely of their time and expertise--their enthusiasm and devotion to their jobs is admirable.  Click here to read the article 

Story Behind the Cover of Mrs. Kennedy and Me

After months of deliberation, sorting through thousands of photos, and dealing with two authors with strong opinions, the wonderful team at Simon & Schuster revealed the book jacket for Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin.
In the end, the front photo was chosen because we felt it epitomized the close and intensely personal relationship between First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her trusted Secret Service Agent, Clint Hill. This photo, taken in the summer of 1962 in Amalfi, Italy is from Clint Hill's personal collection, and has never before been published. 
It is just one of more than eighty photos--many of which have rarely been seen--throughout the book that chronicles Clint Hill's four years with the woman he always called, "Mrs. Kennedy."
As we gear up for the release of the book on April 4, 2012, we will keep you posted on what's happening, and insights into how this book came about.  

"Like" the Mrs. Kennedy and Me Facebook Page for more info and updates.  

Washington Post Article honors Bob Faison

In memoriam: Robert R. Faison, 1929-2011

 ASSOCIATED PRESS/ASSOCIATED PRESS - As U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's highly guarded car rounds the corner taking him on "L" street and then to the Capitol building he lost balance, but regained it with the help of Mrs. Edmund Brown, wife of California governor, Sept. 17, 1964, in Sacramento, Calif. Secret Service agent Robert Faison is at far left.

After several years of struggling with recurring cancer, it became obvious to Faison that he was nearing the end of his fight. He recognized the signs, having lost both a wife and son to cancer; his eldest son, Gregory, succumbed to the disease in 1997. Though Faison's health was declining, he was reluctant to relinquish his love of traveling, so Faison and his wife embarked on a jazz cruise to the Caribbean in early 2011. But Faison wasn't strong enough to tour the islands as they had so many times before, and they had oxygen delivered to the cabin. Their new limitations led Faison and his wife to a difficult conclusion.

"I realized then, and I think he realized, that that was going to be our last cruise together," Jacquelyn says. After their return, Faison turned his energies to a subject he had long tried to avoid: himself. He set to work on his own obituary.
As Faison saw it, he was the only one who could tell his story, since no one knew the details as he did. He worked quietly from their family room, sitting at the round table at which he regularly toiled over the bills and balanced their accounts. Using a yellow legal pad, he began to reconstruct the facts of his life. "Robert R. Faison," he began, "affectionately known as Bob, was born in Montclair, New Jersey on August 12, 1929. ..."


For weeks he worked on a draft. He wrote about the small Southern town where he was raised (Seaboard, N.C.), and the cousin who took him in and treated him as her own; the university where he graduated from with honors (North Carolina A&T), and the prestigious fraternity that he was an active member of for 51 years (Alpha Phi Alpha). He wrote of his pride in being promoted to chief warrant officer, and acknowledged the church he and Jacquelyn had joined after leaving Silver Spring for retirement in Palm Coast, Fla. He remembered those he loved and lost, and those who were left behind to "cherish his memory."

Regarding his profession, he wrote, "He was the first African American permanently assigned to the White House and had the pleasure of serving six U.S. presidents during his career and traveled to more than 30 countries until he retired in 1995."

A month before he died, Faison presented the legal pad to Jacquelyn, who was surprised but relieved. The draft was so thorough that she typed it verbatim, and used it in the programs at two of the three of the services held in his honor. The only addition she made was one her husband, so modest and matter of fact, would never have included. Robert Faison "was the epitome of a gentleman, loving, kind and always good-natured."

After several years of struggling with recurring cancer, it became obvious to Faison that he was nearing the end of his fight. He recognized the signs, having lost both a wife and son to cancer; his eldest son, Gregory, succumbed to the disease in 1997. Though Faison's health was declining, he was reluctant to relinquish his love of traveling, so Faison and his wife embarked on a jazz cruise to the Caribbean in early 2011. But Faison wasn't strong enough to tour the islands as they had so many times before, and they had oxygen delivered to the cabin. Their new limitations led Faison and his wife to a difficult conclusion.

"I realized then, and I think he realized, that that was going to be our last cruise together," Jacquelyn says. After their return, Faison turned his energies to a subject he had long tried to avoid: himself. He set to work on his own obituary.
As Faison saw it, he was the only one who could tell his story, since no one knew the details as he did. He worked quietly from their family room, sitting at the round table at which he regularly toiled over the bills and balanced their accounts. Using a yellow legal pad, he began to reconstruct the facts of his life. "Robert R. Faison," he began, "affectionately known as Bob, was born in Montclair, New Jersey on August 12, 1929. ..."

For weeks he worked on a draft. He wrote about the small Southern town where he was raised (Seaboard, N.C.), and the cousin who took him in and treated him as her own; the university where he graduated from with honors (North Carolina A&T), and the prestigious fraternity that he was an active member of for 51 years (Alpha Phi Alpha). He wrote of his pride in being promoted to chief warrant officer, and acknowledged the church he and Jacquelyn had joined after leaving Silver Spring for retirement in Palm Coast, Fla. He remembered those he loved and lost, and those who were left behind to "cherish his memory."

Regarding his profession, he wrote, "He was the first African American permanently assigned to the White House and had the pleasure of serving six U.S. presidents during his career and traveled to more than 30 countries until he retired in 1995."

A month before he died, Faison presented the legal pad to Jacquelyn, who was surprised but relieved. The draft was so thorough that she typed it verbatim, and used it in the programs at two of the three of the services held in his honor. The only addition she made was one her husband, so modest and matter of fact, would never have included. Robert Faison "was the epitome of a gentleman, loving, kind and always good-natured."
Robin Rose Parker is a writer living in Maryland. She can be reached at wpmagazine@washpost.com.

Inspired by Clint Hill

Gainesville native helped protect 3 presidents while in Secret Service