“You couldn’t have gotten there. You don’t—surely you don’t—have a sense of guilt about that?”
The most gripping part about Clint Hill’s memoir “Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford” comes in one of the final chapters. After letting it simmer under the surface for most of the book, fallout from Hill’s role in the JFK assassination comes bursting out in an interview with Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes.” To anyone familiar with Hill, a 17-year Secret Service vet and bestselling author of two other books about the Kennedys (“Mrs. Kennedy and Me” and “Five Days in November“), this should come as no surprise. Hill was not merely serving on the Kennedy detail on November 23, 1963; he was the one who jumped on the back of the limousine in an attempt to block the shots. Since that date, Hill’s life and legacy have been inextricably tied to the American tragedy. And when Wallace asks him the above question, 12 years after the fact, he had never before discussed his part in it to another living soul. No wonder the dam burst.
Although his relationship with the Kennedy clan is the lifeblood of Hill’s recollections, that does not mean that his work for the other four titular presidents plays second fiddle. One of the best parts about a memoir like this, from someone who served administrations of both parties, is an evenhandedness of account that you don’t normally get from people with access to power at the highest level. With the exception of Richard Nixon, for whom Hill cannot manage to even thinly veil his contempt, the author is able to provide a compelling and vivid picture of real-life men who actually led the free world. It is easy to treat these dead mean as characters in a history book—as relatable in the present day as Alexander Hamilton or Ulysses Grant. But Hill is able to effectively show them occupying a world not that long lost.
Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Paperback — $12.61
Of course, one of the reasons many people pick up a Secret Service memoir in the first place is in search of scandal. (Who can forget the minor media squall when an author alleged female Secret Service agents were offended by now President-elect Joe Biden’s penchant for skinny dipping). This is not that book. Most of the things now generally known about past presidents’ private lives, such as JFK’s innumerable affairs, are not mentioned here. This is a credit to the author. Hill’s discreetness is likely just the kind of quality needed to survive nearly two decades in the White House.
Older readers will enjoy “Five Presidents” for its recounting of history, providing the ability to read along and reminisce about past events. Younger readers interested in world events will like to learn about facts not often taught in the history books. For example, Hill tells about Nixon fulfilled his promise to reduce the U.S. presence in Vietnam to nearly zero, something that apparently made him popular at the time but that no one remembers today.
Even though it was written after Hill’s other books, this might be the one to start with. As a survey of sorts, one can see if they like the style of Hill and frequent writing partner Lisa McCubbin. If so, Hill has made a font of knowledge available on the topic that most haunts him.
