Documental Los secretos del caso Kennedy

Somos Documental

Durante años, los hombres del Servicio Secreto responsables de proteger al presidente John F. Kennedy guardaron silencio sobre el magnicidio que, el 22 de Noviembre de 1963, segó la vida del joven y carismático líder norteamericano.    Ahora, por primera vez ante las cámaras, los agentes del Servicio Secreto a cargo de la seguridad de los Kennedy durante esos turbulentos años han accedido a compartir sus historias sobre la família, así como sus recuerdos y reflexiones sobre el atentado de Dallas.

Transcript

00:00:00They swore to protect the president, but they couldn't.

00:00:06A tragedy that has tormented them since then.

00:00:09I heard a sound that I immediately recognized as a shot.

00:00:13It seems that something has happened in the caravan committee.

00:00:16For years they have kept silent.

00:00:19We never talked about it.

00:00:22While others told the story for them, half-truths and theories of the conspiracy.

00:00:27I heard a second shot.

00:00:29I ran towards the presidential vehicle.

00:00:33Come on, Clint. Come on, come on, come on.

00:00:36Now the agents of the secret service assigned to Kennedy have returned to Dallas.

00:00:40What could we have done differently? What did we do wrong?

00:00:44To reveal for the first time ...

00:00:47We felt that we had disappointed the country.

00:00:51The story of his best years ...

00:00:55and his worst day.

00:00:58This is what really happened in Dallas.

00:01:01The secrets of the Kennedy case.

00:01:04For many of the men of Kennedy's secret service,

00:01:07this is the first time they have returned to Dallas since the assassination of the president.

00:01:12Bookstore, Dallas, Texas.

00:01:15Sixth floor window.

00:01:17From here it seems much closer than we imagined looking from below.

00:01:23It's an easy shot. He had three shots, all in a straight line.

00:01:28All you have to do is ...

00:01:30raise the rifle.

00:01:32A bastard, luckily.

00:01:35When I left Dallas that day, I said I would never come back.

00:01:39I have kept that promise for years.

00:01:43But I told myself it was time to come back,

00:01:46to try to clarify the images of my mind.

00:01:50This is the Orange Bowl.

00:01:52And this is in the speech of the brigade that invaded Cuba.

00:01:55Is that you? Are you there?

00:01:57Yes.

00:01:58They tried not to think about that time,

00:02:00not to think about the assassination.

00:02:03There were more than a million people in that caravan.

00:02:06Maybe two.

00:02:08I took one of you out on the point, Charlie.

00:02:10Did you come from Berlin?

00:02:11Yes.

00:02:12I am a Berliner.

00:02:13None of the agents spoke to their companions about the assassination.

00:02:18This reunion is the first meeting

00:02:22where the assassination of President Kennedy has been discussed.

00:02:27It was a moment that changed everything for his country,

00:02:30his profession, and for themselves.

00:02:35Kennedy's men came from families of small, working towns,

00:02:39who, thanks to the effort and dedication,

00:02:41had not only reached the elite of the secret service,

00:02:45but also the team that protected the President of the United States.

00:02:48If you want to be protected,

00:02:50the place you prefer is the Presidential Protection Division.

00:02:54In 1959, when I was transferred to the White House,

00:02:58I was 27 years old.

00:03:02When I was assigned the 30-day provisional destination to the White House,

00:03:06I almost died of fear.

00:03:07I didn't know what to expect.

00:03:09I knew that this would be a crucial moment in my career,

00:03:13that I would define if I had one,

00:03:15and that I had to be up to it.

00:03:18I never got over the thrill of being in the White House.

00:03:22It's a historical dream.

00:03:24You walk in, and late at night,

00:03:27you look down to the hall,

00:03:29you look at the map room,

00:03:31and you can almost visualize Lincoln walking,

00:03:35his shoulders down the hall,

00:03:38or Jefferson celebrating a party in the White House.

00:03:42I got a letter from the secret service,

00:03:46in which they told me that they would accept me and hire me.

00:03:51That was a wonderful moment.

00:03:55And here's the gentleman from the White House,

00:03:57this guy from Texas, from Oliver,

00:03:59licensed by Texas A&M.

00:04:02I was sure that they had made a mistake,

00:04:04and I thought that maybe I had too.

00:04:07The very first time that President Kennedy went to New York,

00:04:13I went to his hat shop,

00:04:16and bought him a cabana, which was his favorite brand.

00:04:21And this is the complement of the Kennedy years,

00:04:25when the President wore a hat,

00:04:28the Americans wore hats,

00:04:30and when he took it off, they had no more.

00:04:34Let everyone know,

00:04:36from this meeting in New York,

00:04:39that we as enemies,

00:04:41that the torch has been handed

00:04:44to a new generation of Americans.

00:04:47Most of Kennedy's agents

00:04:49started their careers with Eisenhower.

00:04:52The ideas of the new president were a little different.

00:04:55Eisenhower was a general,

00:04:58and we were his troops,

00:05:00although we liked him and he took good care of us.

00:05:03However, Kennedy knew everyone by their name,

00:05:08and I think that reinforced the bond with the President.

00:05:15I remember that once he came out of his office,

00:05:19and he crossed the Rosaleda,

00:05:21and I opened the door for him,

00:05:23and he said, thank you.

00:05:25The next time I saw him pass by,

00:05:28he said, hello Mr. Landis, how are you?

00:05:33And I was very impressed that he had taken the trouble

00:05:37to learn my name or to ask who I was.

00:05:41He was generous, he was kind,

00:05:45he was what we could call a street man.

00:05:50The agents liked the young president,

00:05:53and the feeling was mutual.

00:05:56I think we had fun.

00:05:58He had so many intellectuals in the White House

00:06:01that he enjoyed the agents.

00:06:04He was playing golf on Palm Beach.

00:06:08While we were at Eisenhower's office,

00:06:11we discovered that President Ike

00:06:13always hit the ball from right to left,

00:06:16so the new agent always stood on the left,

00:06:19and the old agent on the other side.

00:06:21I just assumed we would have another hitter

00:06:24from right to left,

00:06:26but it turned out he hit from left to right,

00:06:29and the next thing I remember is,

00:06:31ouch, right in the head.

00:06:34If a senator was visiting the White House,

00:06:37he would come up to me and say,

00:06:39hey Jer, how far were you when I hit you with the golf ball?

00:06:45I said, that's been around 300 yards.

00:06:49He said, see, I told you.

00:06:51And that became a regular routine.

00:06:55It was not only the president and Mrs. Kennedy

00:06:57and her two children, Caroline and John.

00:07:00It was the ambassador and Mrs. Kennedy,

00:07:03all the brothers and sisters of Kennedy,

00:07:06all their wives and husbands and children,

00:07:09and they would come and go constantly.

00:07:12They were a very united family,

00:07:15a totally different social level

00:07:18from the environment I grew up in.

00:07:23To me, it was a unique relationship,

00:07:26that unity that existed in the family.

00:07:30It was fun.

00:07:32It was almost like a normal family,

00:07:34except it was bigger and they had a bigger house.

00:07:37The Kennedys were very close to the agents.

00:07:40We became part of them.

00:07:43We felt part of the family.

00:07:46They needed agents to take care of the children.

00:07:50So I was assigned to the diaper service.

00:07:53The two children were very reasonable, very affectionate.

00:07:57I think they trusted us.

00:07:59John was very active and a very affectionate boy.

00:08:04It was a pleasure to be around them.

00:08:07It was very pleasant for us to do our job,

00:08:11although sometimes the safety of mothers and children

00:08:14can be difficult.

00:08:17Mrs. Kennedy was very strict

00:08:19about the relationship between the children and the agents

00:08:22being respectful.

00:08:24If there was any reason for us to inform them of something,

00:08:28they always made sure the children took it

00:08:30as if the decision came from their mother or their father.

00:08:35They had a wonderful time together.

00:08:38They laughed.

00:08:39Just very happy times.

00:08:44The charm that the agents saw in person

00:08:46also won over public opinion.

00:08:48His political style was his charisma.

00:08:52He knew he was attractive and that he had a good relationship with people.

00:08:58And so if he could get out of the car and shake a hand,

00:09:02he would.

00:09:03He never stopped campaigning.

00:09:06And all that made it much more difficult to protect the president.

00:09:11While Ike had trouble getting people together,

00:09:14Kennedy and I had trouble keeping it together.

00:09:19People went crazy to see him.

00:09:22I remember once the president decided he wanted to take a shower

00:09:26and he ended up drowning, literally,

00:09:28by all the people who had gotten into the water to see him.

00:09:33So we had to get in the water dressed and get him out of there.

00:09:38After working together for so long,

00:09:40we knew exactly what each individual had to do

00:09:43in certain circumstances.

00:09:45A simple gesture with the hand or a movement

00:09:47was enough to know what was going on all the time.

00:09:52We were very penetrated.

00:09:54We didn't have the electronics they have today

00:09:57to communicate individually.

00:10:00You could feel it.

00:10:01You could notice people doing something weird among the crowd.

00:10:06You could look to one side and see it.

00:10:08What are you doing, individual?

00:10:11And of course, when you looked at his face and looked at his hands,

00:10:14you felt that it could be a problem.

00:10:18You hit the hood of the car and then you made a sign.

00:10:24One of the reasons we were constantly wearing sunglasses

00:10:27was so they couldn't see where we were looking.

00:10:29We didn't wear them for fashion.

00:10:32They had a purpose.

00:10:34He was drawn to troublesome people like flies.

00:10:39I worked with the Chicago office when Ike came to the city

00:10:43and they barely needed four people to control the situation

00:10:46and take care of everything.

00:10:48But when Kennedy came,

00:10:49the volume of threatening emails multiplied.

00:10:52Everything multiplied.

00:10:56We went to church on a Sunday morning.

00:11:00I was standing guard by the door

00:11:02and an old man, disheveled, came in,

00:11:06looked at him, and his eyes just focused on the president.

00:11:13I just kept looking at him the whole time

00:11:16and then he became uncomfortable and walked out.

00:11:20I went out, saw him get in a car,

00:11:22and I found out the individual was Richard Pavlik,

00:11:27who had wired the car with five sticks of dynamite

00:11:32ready to drive on the road

00:11:34and launch it against the president's car.

00:11:38For some reason, he saw Mrs. Kennedy and the children with him

00:11:44and he decided it wasn't the best time.

00:11:51Every agent will tell you it's impossible

00:11:56to totally protect an individual.

00:12:00The Secret Service and the political parties are facing each other.

00:12:05The Secret Service wants to keep the individual away from everyone.

00:12:09The parties want the individual with the people, among the people.

00:12:14The agents lived in fear

00:12:16that not even their best men were good enough, and they were right.

00:12:20Let's turn.

00:12:22At that moment, I heard a huge noise next to my right ear.

00:12:27Something terrible has happened.

00:12:35President JFK traveled more than any of his predecessors,

00:12:39and wherever he went, the Secret Service was with him.

00:12:42I got the opportunity to go to a lot of places I had never been to.

00:12:48For example, on the first trip of President Kennedy to Europe,

00:12:52I flew on the escort plane to Paris.

00:12:55I had never been to Europe.

00:12:57It was very exciting to travel by plane.

00:13:00I had never gotten on a plane.

00:13:03The only person capable of stealing prominence from the charismatic new president

00:13:07was his glamorous first lady.

00:13:09Jackie was very popular, and the children were very popular.

00:13:14She was very well known everywhere she went.

00:13:17I feel deeply impressed by the respect they show here in Pakistan,

00:13:23for art and culture.

00:13:26For the first time in history,

00:13:28Pakistan offers its proverbial hospitality to the president's wife.

00:13:32I think it was Clint who told me,

00:13:34you're going to Peshawar in the morning.

00:13:37I replied that I had just arrived,

00:13:39but I had to get on the ambassador's plane,

00:13:41and they sent me to the Kiber Pass, and it was a whole experience.

00:13:46The agents had worked with the tribal chiefs to secure the area for us.

00:13:50They cooperated a lot, but they only made us a request,

00:13:53that we stop, so that they could say hello to Mrs. Kennedy.

00:13:58The tribal chiefs wanted to offer him a gift of some kind.

00:14:01I said, oh, great.

00:14:03And he told me that they also wanted to give him a lamb.

00:14:07I said, oh, great.

00:14:09So I didn't realize, but the lamb was to be sacrificed before her.

00:14:14They would slaughter it.

00:14:16If they were sacrificing an animal in its presence,

00:14:19we would get into a good mess.

00:14:21So I arranged with the agents,

00:14:23through the agents, that they would sacrifice the animal when we left.

00:14:27So I got her in the car,

00:14:29and when we left, I heard the screams of that poor animal in the background,

00:14:34as if he was losing his life in that sacrifice.

00:14:39In 1962, she wanted to go to the coast of Amalfi.

00:14:43One day she wanted to go to Paestum,

00:14:45which was where the ruins were.

00:14:47We went to Paestum, visited the ruins,

00:14:49and then we had to go back to the yacht.

00:14:51We had a very small boat.

00:14:54So I got on the boat and I sat on the bow.

00:14:57Then there was the sailor, Mrs. Kennedy,

00:15:01her sister Lee, and another friend of hers.

00:15:05And we all almost drowned.

00:15:08And the press took a picture, unfortunately.

00:15:11And I was screaming with all my strength.

00:15:14And she was laughing like she had never seen anyone laugh in all her life.

00:15:18She was having a blast.

00:15:20I thought we would sink, but we did.

00:15:23The only problem was that the press was there.

00:15:26They wanted a picture of Mrs. Kennedy in a swimsuit,

00:15:30and they never left us alone.

00:15:32And so we came to an agreement with the press and Mrs. Kennedy.

00:15:36The agreement was that if we gave them a picture,

00:15:40one picture of Mrs. Kennedy in a swimsuit,

00:15:44they would leave us alone.

00:15:46And so they did.

00:15:52With children and pets playing on the grass,

00:15:55with the constant visits of writers, artists and famous musicians,

00:15:59it seemed that the White House had become an idealized camelot.

00:16:03Camelot was something almost real.

00:16:07It was exciting for me to be with people I only knew from books.

00:16:14Some of them I had never heard of.

00:16:17They told me,

00:16:19this man is a great writer, a great historian and an artist.

00:16:23And now they all added to Mrs. Kennedy's taste

00:16:27for beautiful things and clothes.

00:16:30There were so many things going on.

00:16:33In that house, many charming and intellectual people came in and out,

00:16:38and they were really part of all that with great pleasure.

00:16:46It was a big transition to go from living in El Cabo,

00:16:49to seeing all those very big and sumptuous houses on the coast,

00:16:56to going out on a yacht,

00:16:58and then coming back to my little house of two bedrooms in Arlington, Virginia,

00:17:03where I faced reality.

00:17:07This is who I really am.

00:17:12We didn't really talk much about work with our women.

00:17:15I told mine all I could about those trips,

00:17:18because in reality they had nothing secret once they were done.

00:17:22But before I left,

00:17:25she only knew that I was going to India,

00:17:27without knowing very well what was going on there.

00:17:30I did it to help her,

00:17:32so that I wouldn't tell anyone,

00:17:34and consider her responsible for a leak.

00:17:37I didn't want anything like that to happen.

00:17:39I remember that at that time,

00:17:42they took us to West Executive Avenue,

00:17:44and they left us there.

00:17:46We said goodbye with a kiss,

00:17:48and we didn't see them until three weeks later,

00:17:50and that's how it was.

00:17:53In those years,

00:17:54I saw more of Mrs. Kennedy,

00:17:56and Caroline, and John,

00:17:58and my wife, and my two children.

00:18:01That was just the way I did my work.

00:18:03When I got home,

00:18:04I'd go inside and bathe the kids,

00:18:06and put them to bed,

00:18:08and then, you know,

00:18:09as if she'd never gone,

00:18:11I'd ride with the other women to dinner.

00:18:15Not every month,

00:18:17but occasionally.

00:18:19We don't have one specific location,

00:18:21and she would organize it.

00:18:23And I remember that I chose a restaurant

00:18:25in Capitol Hill,

00:18:26and it only cost us four dollars per person.

00:18:29Whenever I got home,

00:18:30I'd take the kids.

00:18:32I'd give my wife a break,

00:18:34and the first thing we'd do

00:18:35was go out to dinner.

00:18:37We'd call a babysitter,

00:18:38and we'd go out to dinner,

00:18:39a little bit out there.

00:18:40We didn't go to fancy places.

00:18:42They were normal restaurants,

00:18:44but she liked going out a little bit.

00:18:47The pay was horrible.

00:18:49I think we'd make about 3,300 euros a year.

00:18:52If I'd have made 3,100 a year,

00:18:54I'd have been able to apply for

00:18:56welfare assistance in Chicago.

00:18:58We weren't in it for money.

00:19:02We were in it for privilege,

00:19:05and we would never get rich,

00:19:08but we could take care of each other.

00:19:11We worked together,

00:19:13we ate together,

00:19:14we slept together,

00:19:15we played together.

00:19:17We did everything together,

00:19:18like we were brothers.

00:19:20Our wives supported us.

00:19:22They probably weren't very happy,

00:19:25but they supported us,

00:19:27and they took care of each other.

00:19:30We were all from small towns.

00:19:32We'd never left the country,

00:19:34we'd never been anywhere,

00:19:36we were all over the world.

00:19:38Mr. President, happy birthday!

00:19:40The night that Marilyn Monroe

00:19:42sang Happy Birthday,

00:19:43it was a moment I'll never forget.

00:19:45I can retire from politics now

00:19:47that I've been singing Happy Birthday

00:19:49with so much sweetness.

00:19:54When I went in there,

00:19:55I was blinded by the stars.

00:19:57There were all the pretty people of the time.

00:19:59There were movie stars

00:20:01that I never thought I'd see in person.

00:20:03One day he called me at two in the morning,

00:20:05at two, and he said,

00:20:07you're not going to believe what I'm doing.

00:20:09Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak.

00:20:12You should see it.

00:20:14I got mad and hung up.

00:20:16I heard the click,

00:20:18and I learned my lesson.

00:20:20I never called home again

00:20:22to tell where I was,

00:20:24nor did I ever call

00:20:26with music in the background.

00:20:29It's hard to trust your husband

00:20:31if he's never at home,

00:20:33because you hear stories, many stories.

00:20:35They could be doing anything

00:20:37that we wouldn't know.

00:20:39I kind of felt it

00:20:41for the agents that were married

00:20:43and had to travel all the time,

00:20:45but they managed to keep their marriage

00:20:47and their family going.

00:20:49I don't know how they were able to do it.

00:20:52My wife had accepted the fact

00:20:54that I had been assigned to Mrs. Kennedy.

00:20:58It was a job.

00:21:00I don't think she was really jealous,

00:21:02until it got to something constant,

00:21:05and I was always gone,

00:21:07I was always with that famous lady,

00:21:09and never with my wife

00:21:11to take her out to dinner.

00:21:13But I was always with Mrs. Kennedy

00:21:15to take her where she wanted to go,

00:21:17and so there was a little conflict.

00:21:19You know, who are you with?

00:21:23That election between the family life

00:21:25of the agents and their duty

00:21:27never became more obvious

00:21:29than on October 13, 1962,

00:21:31when the president and the country

00:21:33faced a real nuclear war threat.

00:21:35We knew what an atomic bomb

00:21:37could do, and we just didn't want

00:21:39to escape from it.

00:21:41It was a very tense moment for him.

00:21:43We had instructions,

00:21:45if someone tried to get on the helicopter,

00:21:47shoot them.

00:21:55In October 1962,

00:21:57when they were campaigning in Illinois,

00:21:59President Kennedy and his detachment

00:22:01suddenly returned to Washington.

00:22:03We were in Chicago.

00:22:05I had done an advance in Springfield,

00:22:07and the U-2 planes

00:22:09that were flying over Cuba

00:22:11suddenly found out

00:22:13that they were mounting

00:22:15nuclear missiles.

00:22:17The Russians, with the collaboration

00:22:19of their puppet Fidel Castro,

00:22:21have turned Cuba into a fortress island,

00:22:23and the American planes

00:22:25have discovered missile installations.

00:22:27The Russian nuclear missiles

00:22:29discovered in Castro's Cuba

00:22:31were within their reach

00:22:33on the east coast of the United States.

00:22:35To stop this offensive,

00:22:37a strict blockade has been initiated

00:22:39of all military offensive material

00:22:41shipments to Cuba.

00:22:43All ships of any type

00:22:45heading for Cuba,

00:22:47whether they are from any nation,

00:22:49will be forced to turn around

00:22:51if we discover that they contain weapons.

00:22:55When the American spy planes

00:22:57discovered the Soviet ships

00:22:59transporting more missiles to Cuba,

00:23:01President Kennedy ordered the Navy

00:23:03to prevent them from passing

00:23:05by force if necessary.

00:23:07It was a situation

00:23:09in which someone would have to act,

00:23:11or we would be in trouble.

00:23:15It was a very tense moment for Elie.

00:23:17At that time,

00:23:19he relied a lot on his brother Bobby,

00:23:21on all the people

00:23:23who worked in the White House

00:23:25situation room.

00:23:29They were aware of everything

00:23:31that was happening minute by minute.

00:23:33This nation will consider

00:23:35any nuclear missile

00:23:37launched from Cuba

00:23:39against any nation in the Western Hemisphere

00:23:41as an attack

00:23:43of the Soviet Union

00:23:45against the United States.

00:23:47I was waiting outside the situation room

00:23:49and when he came out he said to me,

00:23:51Jer, we're in a good situation.

00:23:53He said to me,

00:23:55you know, if something happens

00:23:57you have to come with me.

00:23:59What about your family?

00:24:01Do you have someone to take care of them?

00:24:03I said, well,

00:24:05this is our job.

00:24:07It was a job that required them

00:24:09to leave their wives and children

00:24:11behind to be with the president

00:24:13in case of attack,

00:24:15knowing that Washington

00:24:17could be the first target.

00:24:19We knew what an atomic bomb

00:24:21could do.

00:24:23We knew its destructive power

00:24:25and who had permission

00:24:27to get on each helicopter.

00:24:29And the question was,

00:24:31what do we do if someone else tries to get on?

00:24:33I remember the answer

00:24:35they gave us was,

00:24:37shoot.

00:24:39We were trying to explain

00:24:41to Mrs. Kennedy what to do

00:24:43in case of attack.

00:24:45We told her where we would take her,

00:24:47what we would do.

00:24:49And she replied,

00:24:51if there is an attack,

00:24:53we will stay there,

00:24:55and watch.

00:24:57She was not going to give up

00:24:59and hide in a bunker.

00:25:01I tried to convince her,

00:25:03and I don't know what would have happened

00:25:05if we had arrived at that situation.

00:25:07I guess I would have taken her

00:25:09and taken her where she had to go.

00:25:11Finally, with the ships

00:25:13just a few hours away

00:25:15and the world under the threat

00:25:17of a nuclear war,

00:25:19the Soviets turned around.

00:25:21He proved to me that

00:25:23he was very calm

00:25:25and he owned himself

00:25:27in a complicated situation.

00:25:29He knew what to do,

00:25:31when to do it,

00:25:33and he did it very well.

00:25:35In the face of the determination

00:25:37of the United States,

00:25:39the Soviets dismantle their missiles

00:25:41and bombers and send them home.

00:25:43They retreat to Moscow.

00:25:45Democracies have warned the Russians

00:25:47that they will not tolerate

00:25:50In the spring of 1963,

00:25:52the White House surprised

00:25:54and moved the country

00:25:56with the news that the First Lady

00:25:58was expecting her third child.

00:26:00But about six weeks before

00:26:02the scheduled date,

00:26:04Mrs. Kennedy gave birth.

00:26:06One morning, Mrs. Kennedy

00:26:08left her room,

00:26:10approached me and said to me,

00:26:12Mr. Landis, I think we should go.

00:26:14I was driving

00:26:16down a narrow two-lane road

00:26:18and she just had to repeat to me,

00:26:20Mr. Landis, could you go a little faster?

00:26:22I thought, please,

00:26:24don't give birth to this child

00:26:26in the back seat of the car

00:26:28while I'm driving.

00:26:30But we managed to get to the medical facilities

00:26:32they had in Otis.

00:26:34I had the day off,

00:26:36but I got to Otis shortly after they did,

00:26:38and she was already in labor.

00:26:40Then we notified the White House

00:26:42in Washington,

00:26:44who had given birth to a child.

00:26:46The baby had severe lung problems.

00:26:48They said they would have to move him to Boston,

00:26:50where they had the best facilities.

00:26:54I was at the door of the room

00:26:56where Anna Patrick was,

00:26:58and I remember the President came

00:27:00and at some point

00:27:02someone said

00:27:04that the baby had died.

00:27:06In the middle of the night,

00:27:08the President came

00:27:10to the Otis Air Force base

00:27:12and told Mrs. Kennedy

00:27:14that young Patrick had died.

00:27:16They buried Patrick in Boston.

00:27:18Mrs. Kennedy was unable

00:27:20to attend the funeral.

00:27:22It was a very sad moment

00:27:24for the Kennedy family,

00:27:26but it was also sad

00:27:28for every agent that was with them.

00:27:32We all had children,

00:27:34and we knew what it meant

00:27:36for the President,

00:27:38and it gave us

00:27:40a great deal of concern.

00:27:45When Patrick died,

00:27:48we all felt so close

00:27:50to the Kennedys,

00:27:52and we felt

00:27:54so terribly for them.

00:27:58You just felt,

00:28:00I don't know,

00:28:02call it premonition if you want,

00:28:04but you just felt

00:28:06such a terrible weight.

00:28:08That weight sank

00:28:10at the beginning of the campaign.

00:28:13In the fall of 1963,

00:28:15the country was facing

00:28:17the struggle for civil rights.

00:28:19While the President joined

00:28:21the protesters,

00:28:23riots broke out in the South.

00:28:25The town of Oxford

00:28:27is an armed camp

00:28:29due to the riots that

00:28:31accompanied the enrollment

00:28:33of the first black man

00:28:35in the 118 years of the University's history.

00:28:37With the campaign for re-election

00:28:39on the horizon,

00:28:41it was possible to travel

00:28:43to two states where it was difficult

00:28:45to get voters,

00:28:47Florida and Texas.

00:28:49The motorcades in important

00:28:51metropolitan areas

00:28:53were especially complicated.

00:28:55The air conditioning

00:28:57was just something new,

00:28:59so you had a lot of windows

00:29:01that were open

00:29:03and people looking out

00:29:05at them.

00:29:07There were a million

00:29:09people on the road.

00:29:11It was a secret service,

00:29:13on a trip,

00:29:15usually with five agents,

00:29:17maybe seven,

00:29:19to protect the President.

00:29:21And that is the whole

00:29:23secret service.

00:29:25If he stops the car

00:29:27in the middle of the street,

00:29:29you know you're ready,

00:29:31you're sold.

00:29:33When we were in a caravan,

00:29:35if there were people

00:29:37in the caravan,

00:29:39the President also

00:29:41refused to wear

00:29:43the protective hood of his car.

00:29:45It was a regular routine.

00:29:47If the sun was shining

00:29:49and he had to participate

00:29:51in a caravan,

00:29:53they took off the hood

00:29:55because he wanted to see

00:29:57people and he didn't

00:29:59want to feel locked up.

00:30:01During the fall of 1963,

00:30:03many agents were exhausted.

00:30:05There were no new agents

00:30:07at the President's service.

00:30:09There were only 40 agents

00:30:11at the President's service.

00:30:13The prior recognitions,

00:30:15the 24-hour protection

00:30:17and the long days

00:30:19of the President's constant trips

00:30:21and the First Lady

00:30:23began to cost.

00:30:25We had eleven agents

00:30:27who had left

00:30:29and about sixteen

00:30:31on recognitions,

00:30:33they had been covered

00:30:35by novice agents.

00:30:37They didn't have much experience

00:30:39in protection.

00:30:41Then all those trips came

00:30:43and they had to send out

00:30:45more experienced agents

00:30:47as recognition agents,

00:30:49so that those who had gone to Florida

00:30:51would have to go later to Texas.

00:30:53That meant that the President

00:30:55would be accompanied

00:30:57by a good number of inexperienced men.

00:30:59And this was already a problematic trip.

00:31:01Florida, with its numerous Cuban population,

00:31:03had witnessed violent protests

00:31:05and threats against the President.

00:31:07Florida was full of Cubans

00:31:09pro-Castro and anti-Castro

00:31:11and they were unknown to us

00:31:13except for the local agents

00:31:15who had investigated

00:31:17a handful of cases

00:31:19in which Cubans were involved.

00:31:23So I was a little worried about that.

00:31:28The President arrived

00:31:30at the base of the MacDill Air Force

00:31:32in Tampa

00:31:34and he moved in a helicopter

00:31:36to the López Stadium

00:31:38where he gave a speech

00:31:40and we started the caravan.

00:31:42The problem was

00:31:44that we had 45 kilometers of caravan.

00:31:46I thought,

00:31:48those men will be exhausted,

00:31:50so we will put them

00:31:52in the back of the President's car

00:31:54because we don't have enough men

00:31:56to do anything else.

00:31:58Suddenly I heard on the radio

00:32:00that the President wanted

00:32:02the members of the Ivy League

00:32:04to be in the back

00:32:06in the escort car

00:32:08and that he said very politely

00:32:10to everyone

00:32:12that we are starting the campaign

00:32:14and the people are my base.

00:32:16He said, I wouldn't get

00:32:18elected or zeroed

00:32:20if I didn't go out to greet the public.

00:32:22Suddenly we all understood

00:32:24that he didn't want anyone

00:32:26in the back of the car.

00:32:28The problem was that the agents

00:32:30never knew when a few meters

00:32:32could mean the difference

00:32:34between life and death.

00:32:36When the President appeared

00:32:38in the parking lot,

00:32:40he broke one of the cardinal rules

00:32:42of security.

00:32:44He approached the crowd.

00:32:46Once he is with the people,

00:32:48the secret service

00:32:50looks helpless to protect him.

00:32:52It's a matter of survival.

00:32:54It's scary when you're left behind.

00:32:56I've never felt so alone.

00:32:58What do I do now?

00:33:00I don't think he'll make it.

00:33:02You can't give up.

00:33:04If you find yourself

00:33:06in the middle of hell,

00:33:08keep moving forward.

00:33:10These are the stories

00:33:12of those who deceived death.

00:33:14Escape Hell with Bear Grylls

00:33:16Monday at 10

00:33:18only on Discovery Channel.

00:33:22Discovery Channel

00:33:28In November 1963,

00:33:30the campaign of President Kennedy

00:33:32in Florida had been relatively

00:33:34calm, despite the fear

00:33:36that the anger of the Cubans

00:33:38and the riots for civil rights

00:33:40could have influenced the caravan.

00:33:42The next stop was Texas.

00:33:44But the secret service,

00:33:46which was already exhausted,

00:33:48was facing a new challenge.

00:33:50The first lady would join the caravan.

00:33:52The president knew

00:33:54he was vulnerable.

00:33:56He had talked about

00:33:58how easy it would be

00:34:00to shoot the president.

00:34:04He said,

00:34:06somebody could shoot

00:34:08from a window

00:34:10and we would have nothing to do.

00:34:12This trip would take him

00:34:14through San Antonio, Houston,

00:34:16Fort Worth and Dallas,

00:34:18and to Lyndon B. Johnson's ranch.

00:34:20But the place they were most concerned

00:34:22was Dallas.

00:34:24Weeks before the president's visit,

00:34:26there were already problems.

00:34:28We made the trip to San Antonio,

00:34:30which went very well.

00:34:32And then the trip

00:34:34to Houston.

00:34:36I did the trip to Houston

00:34:38and the recognition trip.

00:34:40It was the first time I saw

00:34:42an anti-JFK banner.

00:34:44I had never seen any.

00:34:46And it was on a private plane

00:34:48or they flew over our caravan

00:34:50right in front of our eyes.

00:34:52It said,

00:34:54JFK, go home.

00:34:56And I said,

00:34:58oh my God, well.

00:35:00San Antonio, Houston

00:35:02and finally Fort Worth

00:35:04put an end to a long and complicated day

00:35:06for the president and his men.

00:35:08The next stop was Dallas.

00:35:10By this time,

00:35:12the shifts were starting

00:35:14to take turns,

00:35:16but I didn't have anyone

00:35:18to pick me up.

00:35:20So I spent a lot of time

00:35:22in the tracking car

00:35:24on the ground.

00:35:26I was a little tired

00:35:28when we got to Houston.

00:35:30Then we went to Fort Worth

00:35:32and we got there

00:35:34around midnight.

00:35:36The next morning in Fort Worth,

00:35:38President Kennedy

00:35:40had to give a speech

00:35:42in front of the people

00:35:44who had gathered in front of his hotel.

00:35:46When the president appeared

00:35:48in the parking lot,

00:35:50he broke one of the cardinal rules

00:35:52of security.

00:35:54In fact, he broke it two or three times.

00:35:56He approached the crowd.

00:35:58And of course, for his escort,

00:36:00this was the most nervous moment.

00:36:02As long as the secret service men

00:36:04can keep people away from the president,

00:36:06they have a good chance of protecting him.

00:36:08But once he's with the people,

00:36:10they are practically impotent

00:36:12to protect him.

00:36:16Then he went to breakfast.

00:36:18And Mrs. Kennedy

00:36:20announced that she didn't know

00:36:22if she would go or not.

00:36:24As you may have observed,

00:36:26Mrs. Kennedy has not entered with the president

00:36:28and for the moment we don't know

00:36:30where he may be.

00:36:32He said, tell Clint

00:36:34to tell Mrs. Kennedy

00:36:36to come down for breakfast.

00:36:38I called the door.

00:36:40I went in.

00:36:42I went into Mrs. Kennedy

00:36:44and I said,

00:36:46I would like the president

00:36:48to come down for breakfast

00:36:50as soon as possible.

00:36:52She was ready.

00:36:54She was dressed in her pink suit

00:36:56and her pink hat.

00:36:58For the ladies who are listening,

00:37:00we will tell them to wear a pink suit

00:37:02with black ribbons.

00:37:04She will have made many women happy

00:37:06and now they've seen her.

00:37:08Two years ago,

00:37:10I introduced myself in Paris

00:37:12saying that I was the man

00:37:14who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris.

00:37:16I think I have the same feeling

00:37:18now that I'm touring Texas.

00:37:28Nobody asks what we're wearing,

00:37:30pretty, right?

00:37:32After breakfast at Fort Worth,

00:37:34the president,

00:37:36the first lady and the men

00:37:38of the secret service

00:37:40started the caravan

00:37:42to Carswell Air Base

00:37:44where they would board the Air Force One

00:37:46that would take them to Dallas.

00:37:48The public has gathered here

00:37:50from the first hour of this morning

00:37:52to wait for the arrival of the president

00:37:54and Mrs. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

00:37:56from the Carswell Air Base

00:37:58in Fort Worth.

00:38:00My personal memories

00:38:02One, it was a wonderful experience

00:38:04to arrive and see those people

00:38:06happy to see their president

00:38:08and the first lady, the vice president,

00:38:10his wife and the governor and Mrs. Connolly.

00:38:12Another plane is approaching.

00:38:14But it is also incredibly sad

00:38:16to remember that in this same area,

00:38:18in this same place, a few hours later,

00:38:20we brought the president's body

00:38:22inside a coffin

00:38:24and we had to get him on a plane

00:38:26to go back to Washington after he was killed.

00:38:28The police have been patrolling

00:38:30the airport since the first hour of the morning

00:38:32and we have seen a huge contingent of police.

00:38:34Wynne Lawson was already there.

00:38:36I approached him and asked him

00:38:38if I was still assigned

00:38:40to the car in pursuit

00:38:42and he said yes.

00:38:44We had country police

00:38:46mixed with the public

00:38:48and also uniformed personnel

00:38:50among the crowd.

00:38:52Agents Landis and Hill accompanied

00:38:54the Kennedys to Dallas.

00:38:56Agent Wynne Lawson was already there.

00:38:58The plane they are seeing

00:39:00is a C-123 that has transported

00:39:02the famous convertible limousine

00:39:04in which the president

00:39:06and the first lady will travel.

00:39:08Yes, from here we can see

00:39:10that the hood is not raised.

00:39:12It is the Air Force One,

00:39:14ladies and gentlemen,

00:39:16that transports the president.

00:39:18At that very moment

00:39:20the president's plane was landing.

00:39:22A wonderful vision, wonderful.

00:39:24It's pretty amazing.

00:39:26The doors of the big bird

00:39:28have opened.

00:39:30There is Mrs. Kennedy.

00:39:32The crowd cheers

00:39:34for the president of the United States

00:39:36and we can see her tan

00:39:38even from here.

00:39:40She appeared,

00:39:42that vision in pink.

00:39:44People began to shout,

00:39:46to cheer for her,

00:39:48to applaud her,

00:39:50and she, as elegant as ever,

00:39:52greeted her with her hand.

00:39:54The crowd greets him,

00:39:56as you can see.

00:39:58He saw that there was a fence

00:40:00that prevented the passage to the public

00:40:02and decided that he would approach

00:40:04the fence to greet them.

00:40:06The president has broken the protocol

00:40:08and has approached the fence

00:40:10to greet the people.

00:40:12She did not intend to do it,

00:40:14but since he did it,

00:40:16she felt obliged to approach too.

00:40:18And there it is,

00:40:20as she has done so many times.

00:40:22It was a great meeting

00:40:24and normally we did not put her

00:40:26in situations where she had to face

00:40:28a large group of people.

00:40:30It has been great for the crowd

00:40:32and it has complicated even more

00:40:34the life of the secret service

00:40:36whose mission is to protect this man.

00:40:38They did not expect something like this.

00:40:40The president says goodbye,

00:40:42he waits for his wife

00:40:44and they both get into the car.

00:40:46Governor Connolly

00:40:48waits for them in the smiling car.

00:40:50The president, of course,

00:40:52will cross the center of Dallas

00:40:54and a good part of the route

00:40:56will run through Main Street.

00:40:58In the head car

00:41:00was agent Wynn Lawson,

00:41:02who had been the recognition agent

00:41:04for the trip to Dallas.

00:41:06The caravan program,

00:41:08once they reached the center,

00:41:10was to take Main Street,

00:41:12turn right to Houston Street

00:41:14and left to Elm Street,

00:41:16where they would take the Estemons highway

00:41:18to the Dallas market.

00:41:20As we were driving,

00:41:22I was late to the car.

00:41:24I was in the back right

00:41:26of the car.

00:41:32We traveled the city

00:41:34from the Love airfield

00:41:36and passed by several groups of people.

00:41:40I remember a woman

00:41:42appeared on my right

00:41:44trying to get up to the car.

00:41:46Quite a lot of people

00:41:48occupy two lanes of traffic.

00:41:50The crowd was much more numerous

00:41:52than we had expected

00:41:54and expected.

00:41:56The welcome was very warm

00:41:58throughout the route.

00:42:00There were no incidents of any kind.

00:42:02Mrs. Connolly said,

00:42:04Mr. President, you see what Dallas wants.

00:42:0610-4, we have a motorized escort.

00:42:08There were people in the windows.

00:42:10There were open windows

00:42:12and people along the entire route.

00:42:14When we got to Main Street,

00:42:16the crowd began to be

00:42:18much more numerous.

00:42:20They were in rows

00:42:22of 10, 15, 20.

00:42:24You looked ahead

00:42:26and you didn't imagine

00:42:28how the cars could pass.

00:42:30We had motorcycles

00:42:32that when they got to the areas

00:42:34where there was more public,

00:42:36they had to stop.

00:42:38Because there were so many people

00:42:40on the street,

00:42:42so that the president

00:42:44who was on the right

00:42:46was as far away as possible

00:42:48from that side of the street,

00:42:50from the crowd.

00:42:52But that put Mrs. Kennedy

00:42:54closer to the people,

00:42:56which caused me to have to

00:42:58get out of the car

00:43:00on numerous occasions

00:43:02and run to the presidential vehicle

00:43:04to be as close as possible

00:43:06to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:08and act if necessary,

00:43:10to be as close as possible

00:43:12to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:14and act if necessary

00:43:16to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:18and act if necessary

00:43:20to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:22and act if necessary

00:43:24to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:26and act if necessary

00:43:28to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:30and act if necessary

00:43:32to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:34and act if necessary

00:43:36to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:38and act if necessary

00:43:40to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:42and act if necessary

00:43:44to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:46and act if necessary

00:43:48to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:50and act if necessary

00:43:52to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:54and act if necessary

00:43:56to Mrs. Kennedy

00:43:58and act if necessary

00:44:00to Mrs. Kennedy

00:44:02and act if necessary

00:44:04to Mrs. Kennedy

00:44:06There were much fewer people.

00:44:08I looked at the buildings on my right

00:44:10and I didn't see anything.

00:44:12There was barely anyone around there.

00:44:14I looked forward

00:44:16and I saw a building.

00:44:18It was the book store.

00:44:20I remember it orange.

00:44:22It was different from the other buildings.

00:44:24The driver had to brake the car considerably

00:44:26to take the curve.

00:44:28The driver had to brake the car considerably

00:44:30to take the curve.

00:44:32The driver had to brake the car considerably

00:44:34to take the curve.

00:44:36Instead of going at 15-20 km per hour

00:44:38Instead of going at 15-20 km per hour

00:44:40he reduced the speed to almost half.

00:44:42he reduced the speed to almost half.

00:44:44At that moment,

00:44:46I was looking to the left of Elm Street.

00:44:48I heard a huge explosion

00:44:50I heard a huge explosion

00:44:52next to my right ear.

00:44:54At first I thought it was a firecracker.

00:44:56My eyes looked at the back

00:44:58of the presidential car

00:45:00and I saw the president grab his throat

00:45:02and lean slightly to the left

00:45:04and I knew something had happened.

00:45:06On my right shoulder I heard a sound

00:45:08On my right shoulder I heard a sound

00:45:10which I immediately recognized as a shot.

00:45:12which I immediately recognized as a shot.

00:45:14I had been a hunter.

00:45:16I had fired powerful rifles

00:45:18and I knew what the sound was.

00:45:20I heard a second shot

00:45:22and I remember seeing Clint

00:45:24jumping out of the car

00:45:26running to the president's limousine

00:45:28and I thought,

00:45:30let's go Clint, let's go, let's go.

00:45:32Just before I got to the presidential car

00:45:34I heard another sound

00:45:36from the right side, from behind

00:45:38and then I heard the sound of an impact

00:45:40and then I heard the sound of an impact

00:45:42like a bullet had hit something hollow.

00:45:44like a bullet had hit something hollow.

00:45:46Bang!

00:45:48Bang!

00:45:50I saw the president's head explode

00:45:52I saw the president's head explode

00:45:54like a melon

00:45:56like a melon

00:45:58and I saw

00:46:04and I saw a lot of blood.

00:46:12It seems that something has happened in the caravan.

00:46:14I repeat, something has happened in the caravan.

00:46:16I repeat, something has happened in the caravan.

00:46:18Mrs. Kennedy was on top of the trunk of the car

00:46:20trying to recover something

00:46:22that she had seen coming out of the president's head.

00:46:24I was trying to get in the car

00:46:26when the driver suddenly accelerated

00:46:28and he stepped on the accelerator

00:46:30and he stepped on the accelerator

00:46:32and he almost fell off

00:46:34and I repeated to him, grab yourself

00:46:36because I knew that

00:46:38if I didn't do it, we would run him over.

00:46:40if I didn't do it, we would run him over.

00:46:42I grabbed myself, I got in the car

00:46:44I grabbed Mrs. Kennedy

00:46:46and put her in the back seat

00:46:48and the president collapsed on his lap.

00:46:50and the president collapsed on his lap.

00:46:52I looked down

00:46:54of how serious the president's wounds were.

00:46:57Above his right ear, there was an area the size of the palm of my hand

00:47:02that had disappeared.

00:47:04The skull was gone.

00:47:06It looked as if they had put a spoon of ice in it

00:47:08and removed everything from that area.

00:47:11And there was encephalitis, skull and blood

00:47:15throughout the entire car.

00:47:18I turned around and gave a signal with my thumb

00:47:21to the car in pursuit

00:47:24because I wanted them to know

00:47:26that the wounds were serious.

00:47:29We can see a man from the secret service

00:47:31trying to grab the car.

00:47:33Something terrible has happened.

00:47:36As soon as they reached him,

00:47:38I knew that he could not survive that in any way.

00:47:43It seems that if it had happened...

00:47:45Luckily, we were about to leave the highway to Stamford

00:47:49and that was the closest point to get to Parkland Hospital quickly.

00:47:55I was at the market and I saw the committee pass by.

00:47:59It should have turned, but it didn't.

00:48:02I saw the president's car

00:48:04and that there was no one sitting in the back seat

00:48:08and that there was someone lying on the trunk.

00:48:11Then I got a call.

00:48:12The president has been caught.

00:48:15And I thought that with that they wanted to say

00:48:18that someone had thrown something from the elevator.

00:48:21We were driving very fast down the highway,

00:48:25but I wasn't sure where we were going.

00:48:28On the way to Parkland, I saw the governor's chest covered in blood.

00:48:33And I realized that he had also been caught.

00:48:36Police cars are coming to Parkland from everywhere.

00:48:39We got to Parkland Hospital.

00:48:41Agent Lawson, who had gone in the head car in front of us,

00:48:45ran in, found a nurse and two stretchers,

00:48:48and ran out to the car.

00:48:51Governor Connolly tried to get out of the car by himself,

00:48:55but we had to get him up to a stretcher too.

00:48:58I took Mrs. Kennedy by the shoulders.

00:49:01She was holding the president's head and said,

00:49:04I don't want to leave him.

00:49:06Mrs. Kennedy had the president in her arms

00:49:09and she didn't want to let him go.

00:49:12I asked her, please, Mrs. Kennedy, let us go to the president.

00:49:18I realized she wasn't going to let him go.

00:49:21And the reason why she wasn't doing it was because

00:49:24she didn't want anyone else to see what condition he was in.

00:49:28So I removed my jacket and put it on the president's head and chest,

00:49:33and she let him go.

00:49:36When we entered the hospital, it was chaos.

00:49:41There were people running everywhere, or looking, or getting in the way.

00:49:45I was with Mrs. Kennedy.

00:49:47My first thought was to get rid of the people,

00:49:49get them out of there and clear that up.

00:49:51Someone brought him a chair to sit on.

00:49:54I parked at the emergency entrance and talked to the people who were there,

00:49:58who I knew, and they told me it was a very serious wound.

00:50:01They didn't tell me he was dead.

00:50:04They didn't say it was very serious.

00:50:06They said they had taken him to an emergency box and they were attending to him.

00:50:11The scene in Parkland was chaotic.

00:50:14Public agents and journalists were trying to find out what had happened.

00:50:19One moment, please.

00:50:21I clearly remember three shots.

00:50:23Mrs. Kennedy and Connolly could be injured.

00:50:26The exit wound was here.

00:50:28We believe that his arm...

00:50:29There are rumors that Johnson has been wounded.

00:50:32I remember someone said they thought he was still breathing.

00:50:36And she got nervous.

00:50:38Is he alive?

00:50:40Because no one really said anything.

00:50:44Agent Kellerman, who was the agent coordinating the trip,

00:50:47entered the emergency room where President Kennedy was.

00:50:51And he realized how serious it was.

00:50:54And he yelled something about calling the White House on the phone.

00:50:57I was talking on the phone with Washington.

00:50:59And the operator interrupted me to tell me that the Attorney General wanted to talk to me.

00:51:04And he simply asked me,

00:51:06How bad is it?

00:51:08I didn't know what to tell him.

00:51:13I really didn't know what to say.

00:51:16I just told him,

00:51:18It's as bad as it could get.

00:51:20President Kennedy has received a transfusion of blood.

00:51:23A priest has been requested.

00:51:24Blood reserves are still arriving at the hospital.

00:51:27President Kennedy was very serious.

00:51:30He didn't move a muscle.

00:51:33And I was next to his head.

00:51:37Which, of course, was bleeding profusely.

00:51:41And...

00:51:43There was a lot of encephalic mass on the bed.

00:51:47And blood was coming out of his head.

00:51:51I was there when the priest arrived, but I don't remember much.

00:51:56Mrs. Kennedy got up from time to time and entered the emergency room to see what was going on.

00:52:01Although she realized that they couldn't do anything to save her life.

00:52:05They tried everything.

00:52:08Kellerman left the emergency room and said,

00:52:11Clint, tell Jerry that this is not for publication.

00:52:16This is not a press release.

00:52:18But the President is dead.

00:52:20The President's military advisor on the trip was General McHugh of the Air Force.

00:52:26I asked him, What's wrong with Mrs. Kennedy? Why is she crying like that?

00:52:31He told me, Because they shot her husband and killed him.

00:52:35He's dead.

00:52:37And I thought, Oh my God.

00:52:40The President of the United States is dead.

00:52:45We have seen adult men, members of the Secret Service,

00:52:48next to the emergency room with tears in their eyes.

00:52:51There is only one word to describe the image we have seen.

00:52:54And it's pain.

00:52:56But the men of Kennedy's Secret Service had to put pain and guilt aside

00:53:01because they still had a job to do, and even dead, a President to serve.

00:53:06One way or another,

00:53:08that corpse would return to Washington with us.

00:53:15Little by little, each of the men of Kennedy's Secret Service

00:53:20were finding out that the President they had sworn to protect had died in Dallas.

00:53:25Tom Wells was with Caroline when he heard the news.

00:53:28It was the first night that Caroline would go out of the house.

00:53:32She would spend the night with one of her school friends.

00:53:36It was quite an event for her.

00:53:41Friday, after class,

00:53:43Ms. Posen came to pick her up and they left in her car.

00:53:47I was in the follow-up car.

00:53:50My commercial radio was on.

00:53:52I heard the news that there had been gunfire in the President's caravan area in Dallas.

00:53:58As soon as I could, I called Ms. Posen's attention.

00:54:02The traffic light went red and she stopped.

00:54:05I got up to the car and asked her if she had her radio on.

00:54:08She said, yes, and that she had turned it off.

00:54:11She said, I don't think anyone in the car heard anything.

00:54:14I turned it off as soon as I could.

00:54:16I told her that my instructions were to return to the White House with Caroline.

00:54:20Caroline didn't want to get out of the car.

00:54:23I told her that the plans had changed,

00:54:26that she would spend the night at her friend's house another weekend.

00:54:31And she pretty much accepted it.

00:54:34She didn't like it, it was obvious.

00:54:37I have a strong suspicion that Caroline,

00:54:41maybe not knowing concretely what had happened,

00:54:45the degree of the problem,

00:54:47she was so intelligent that I have no doubt

00:54:51that she knew inside that something had happened.

00:54:54Jerry Blaine was in Austin,

00:54:56where he had gone to prepare for the arrival of the President

00:54:59when he heard the news.

00:55:02I was sound asleep,

00:55:05and Art Godfrey started banging on my door.

00:55:09I thought he was going to tear it from the hinges.

00:55:12So I got up, I went to the door and I asked him,

00:55:15what's wrong, Art?

00:55:17He said, they shot the boss.

00:55:19I just couldn't imagine it.

00:55:21I didn't think they would have shot him.

00:55:24Toby Chandler was in Washington,

00:55:26teaching his secret service group.

00:55:28I ran all of a sudden to the White House.

00:55:33There were already various theories,

00:55:36we heard a lot of conversations,

00:55:38that if the Russians, that if the Cubans, that if the mafia.

00:55:42While the agents in the hospital are involved in the controversy,

00:55:46while rumors of conspiracies begin to circulate,

00:55:49they try to focus on protecting Mrs. Kennedy and Linton Johnson,

00:55:53the next in line to the presidency.

00:55:55Everyone wanted Vice President Johnson to leave the area

00:55:58and return to Washington immediately.

00:56:01Vice President Johnson said he wouldn't leave without Mrs. Kennedy.

00:56:05And Mrs. Kennedy said she wouldn't leave without the President's body.

00:56:09Then the problem was that the President's body couldn't be moved,

00:56:13because, according to the law,

00:56:16since he had been murdered in Dallas,

00:56:19they had to do the autopsy in Dallas.

00:56:22They wanted him to stay in Dallas to do the autopsy.

00:56:28His people who were with us, especially Kenny O'Donnell,

00:56:32who was his personal boss, said no.

00:56:35O'Donnell tried to make them understand

00:56:38that he was the President of the United States,

00:56:41not just anyone, and that he had to take him

00:56:45to Washington, D.C., the capital of the nation,

00:56:48where they would do the autopsy.

00:56:50That was not acceptable for the Director of Parkland Hospital.

00:56:55And this went on for quite a while.

00:56:58Mrs. Kennedy was very strong at all times.

00:57:01She was determined to accompany the President's body,

00:57:04no matter what happened.

00:57:06I knew very well that one way or another,

00:57:09that body would return to Washington with us,

00:57:13whether it was legal or not.

00:57:16Finally, it was decided that if Admiral George Berkeley,

00:57:20who was the President's doctor,

00:57:23traveled with the President's body,

00:57:26and never went outside,

00:57:29nor during the autopsy,

00:57:32it would be acceptable.

00:57:35It was an accession to the strength of Mrs. Kennedy.

00:57:39Kenny O'Donnell, the President's advisor,

00:57:43came up to me and said,

00:57:46get a coffin for the President.

00:57:49So I asked one of the hospital administrators

00:57:53to take me somewhere

00:57:56and put me in contact with the nearest funerary.

00:58:00He took me to an office where there was a phone.

00:58:03He gave me a number and I called.

00:58:06I told them who it was,

00:58:09that we needed a coffin at Parkland Hospital,

00:58:12the best one they had, and we did it immediately.

00:58:21When we got to the airfield,

00:58:23they carried in their arms the coffin,

00:58:26which was quite heavy, up the stairs of the Air Force One.

00:58:29But when they got to the door,

00:58:31the coffin wouldn't fit through it,

00:58:34because the caskets handled,

00:58:37impeding the access through the door.

00:58:40So they broke the wings of the coffin.

00:58:43We got up there

00:58:46and lifted the coffin on the airplane,

00:58:50which was difficult, by the way.

00:58:54I think we were about 10 or 15 people

00:58:57trying to get it up on the plane.

00:59:00But we did it, and it got on the plane.

00:59:03I was with Mrs. Kennedy,

00:59:06and when she was on the plane,

00:59:09she fainted immediately.

00:59:12I don't know how she had held up until then.

00:59:18From the time of the assassination itself,

00:59:21Mrs. Kennedy was covered in blood

00:59:24and her brain had come out of the president's head wound.

00:59:27They suggested that before the oath of the new president,

00:59:30since Vice President Johnson would become president,

00:59:33she might want to clean up.

00:59:36But she refused to do it.

00:59:39She said she wanted them to see

00:59:42what they had done to her husband.

00:59:45With the president's body in the Air Force One hangar

00:59:48and a feeling of sadness and failure,

00:59:51the secret service men got up

00:59:54and witnessed the oath of the new president.

00:59:57Agent Kellerman said,

01:00:00Come on, Paul, you've got to see this.

01:00:03It's history. You've got to see it.

01:00:06I really didn't care about the slightest bit,

01:00:09but he said, Come on.

01:00:12Observe. Protect. Defend.

01:00:15The Constitution of the United States.

01:00:18The Constitution of the United States.

01:00:22I was told that Mrs. Kennedy wanted to see me.

01:00:25So I went through the presidential hangar

01:00:28where President Johnson was

01:00:31to go to Mrs. Kennedy's area,

01:00:34where she was with the body.

01:00:37She grabbed my hand and she said,

01:00:40Mr. Hill, what are you going to do now?

01:00:43And I said to her,

01:00:46I'll be all right, Mrs. Kennedy.

01:00:49I'll be all right.

01:00:52And I went back to my seat.

01:00:56This is Air Force One.

01:00:59Two hours and 15 minutes to get to Andrews.

01:01:02Received, Air Force One.

01:01:06I took a car to go to Andrews Air Base

01:01:09and wait for President Johnson

01:01:12and President Kennedy to arrive.

01:01:15I got there running.

01:01:18I saw the coffin coming down

01:01:21and I ran to President Johnson

01:01:24because, well, I was assigned to the president.

01:01:29We were there when he arrived

01:01:32and I watched how my friends unloaded the coffin.

01:01:38I helped unload the coffin.

01:01:41The handle I was holding broke and I thought,

01:01:44what a cheap coffin to bring the president back home.

01:01:50She got in the ambulance.

01:01:52The general got in too.

01:01:54The coffin was in the back of the ambulance.

01:01:57I got in the first car that was behind the ambulance

01:02:00and we escorted the corpse to the Naval Hospital in Bethesda.

01:02:05I don't think anyone said a word throughout the trip.

01:02:08It was absolute silence.

01:02:11Everybody had nothing to say.

01:02:13We had seen the head of the destroyed president.

01:02:16Knowing that we had left with a 45-year-old man,

01:02:22and we were leaving with him in a coffin,

01:02:25and that was something that no one could understand.

01:02:30But I knew it happened,

01:02:32and it happened while I was there in the service.

01:02:37But they would have very little time to wonder why,

01:02:40before another shot was added to a situation that was already terrible.

01:02:45That's the worst thing we could have imagined.

01:02:48Now we'll never know.

01:02:50We'll never know what really happened.

01:02:56THE END

01:03:00It was dawn when the president's body finally arrived at the White House

01:03:05and the darkest part of the day began for the agents.

01:03:09We felt that we had disappointed the country.

01:03:12A part of our lives had gone.

01:03:18We started to get really excited

01:03:20about four thirty in the morning

01:03:23when Mrs. Kennedy, Clint, Paul Landis and the body arrived at the White House.

01:03:32That's tough.

01:03:38But you just have to contain your feelings

01:03:44and move on.

01:03:48We were met there by a squadron of Marines

01:03:58who escorted the body to the North Portico.

01:04:07The body was then carried by the Marines' funeral unit

01:04:11to the White House and placed in the East Hall, on the catafalque.

01:04:18This was about four o'clock in the morning.

01:04:21I had gotten up at six o'clock in Fort Worth.

01:04:27I was standing up thanks to the adrenaline,

01:04:29like everyone else, including Mrs. Kennedy.

01:04:33I spent that night in a post outside The Elms,

01:04:38the residence of President Johnson.

01:04:42You were there, for your tour,

01:04:47all alone, in your mind,

01:04:50revealing all the possibilities.

01:04:53How could this have happened?

01:04:55How could this have happened?

01:04:56How could this have happened?

01:04:57What are we going to do now?

01:04:58I was on the corner of the back of President Johnson's house.

01:05:03None of us had been in a sleep for three days.

01:05:06And about a quarter to two in the morning,

01:05:10I suddenly hear a noise coming from the balcony.

01:05:14I picked up my Thompson, put it on my shoulder and hammered it,

01:05:19which is something that makes a lot of noise.

01:05:23And then he turned the corner to President Johnson.

01:05:26I guess he couldn't sleep and decided to go out for a walk.

01:05:31Although it was very dark, I saw that he was pale, but he didn't say anything.

01:05:36I put the gun down, he went into the house

01:05:39and I was shaking for 15 minutes.

01:05:44Finally, I took a break and went back to my house at six in the morning.

01:05:49When I got home, my wife and my children were waiting for me.

01:05:55My son.

01:05:58They didn't really understand what had happened.

01:06:02But I simply changed clothes, took a shower.

01:06:08My wife prepared breakfast for me and I went back to the White House.

01:06:11As soon as he arrived, Clint Hill was informed that the First Lady wanted to see him.

01:06:16I met Mrs. Kennedy and the Attorney General,

01:06:19who told me that she wanted to open the window so that both Bobby and she could see the president.

01:06:24Mrs. Kennedy and Robert walked up to the coffin.

01:06:27Mrs. Kennedy turned around and said,

01:06:29Mr. Hill, will you bring me some scissors, please?

01:06:35I went to the office in Lugier,

01:06:37I took a pair of scissors, I took them to Mrs. Kennedy

01:06:42and I heard the cuts.

01:06:47The coffin was closed.

01:06:50She handed me the scissors.

01:06:52She and the Attorney General left the room.

01:06:55I imagine she had cut a lock of his hair.

01:07:00Get up against the wall.

01:07:01There's the suspect. Record, please.

01:07:04In Dallas, the police had arrested a suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald.

01:07:09Here he is.

01:07:11A slim man, with scratches and marks on his face.

01:07:15Did you kill the president?

01:07:17No, I have not been accused of that. In fact, no one has told me anything yet.

01:07:20I was present in a couple of interrogations with him.

01:07:27He was an arrogant nobody who wanted to be something, that's my impression.

01:07:34He was an arrogant fool.

01:07:37You know what?

01:07:39I picked up the phone and a woman said to me,

01:07:41Is there anyone who can take me to Dallas?

01:07:43I said, Ma'am, this is not a taxi service.

01:07:46And they also killed the president.

01:07:48And she said, Yes, I know, I've heard it on the radio.

01:07:52They think my son is the man who shot him and they arrested him.

01:07:56It was Lee Harvey Oswald's mother.

01:07:59We went to Dallas.

01:08:01When we got to the police station, I didn't want people to know who we were.

01:08:05So I told the first uniformed police officer I saw,

01:08:08I am the person who has betrayed Mrs. Oswald, Oswald's mother.

01:08:12Where can we take her so that the journalists don't bother her?

01:08:16And that man found me an office in the anti-theft brigade.

01:08:20We took her in there and it was a perfect place because there was a phone there.

01:08:24So I left her there and I could go out in the hallway

01:08:28where hundreds of journalists crowded to get information.

01:08:32Then they approached the phone and called their offices.

01:08:36I turned on the television and I waited until it stopped blinking and it became clear.

01:08:46And all of a sudden I saw the doors of an elevator open.

01:08:51And there was that man I recognized as Oswald.

01:08:55And all of a sudden...

01:08:58I looked at the TV and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

01:09:04They shot him, they shot him. Lee Oswald has been shot.

01:09:09I was awake by the phone.

01:09:13It would be better if you came.

01:09:16What happened? And he told me,

01:09:19somebody has killed Oswald.

01:09:22And I thought, oh, this is the worst thing that could ever have happened.

01:09:29There could be no scenario worse than this.

01:09:33Now I know Oswald. We'll never know.

01:09:36We'll never know what really happened.

01:09:39I was glad that they had killed him.

01:09:42I know it's horrible to think like that, but at some point...

01:09:48I myself thought that if I had the opportunity, I would shoot him.

01:09:52But these men would have to put aside even the shock of Oswald's death.

01:09:56Mrs. Kennedy had to attend a state funeral, which would be a challenge for them.

01:10:01A decision had to be made as to where to bury the president.

01:10:06The previous week, he had been to Arlington National Cemetery

01:10:11and had commented on how beautiful the view was,

01:10:14from the cemetery to the Washington Monument and the White House.

01:10:21Mrs. Kennedy wanted to go and take a look,

01:10:24so I accompanied her to Arlington National Cemetery.

01:10:27Some of the family members wanted him to be buried in Massachusetts,

01:10:31but Mrs. Kennedy decided to bury him at the National Cemetery.

01:10:36On the morning of November 25, three days after the assassination of his president,

01:10:41the men of Kennedy's secret service were in charge of the security

01:10:45of the largest state funeral in the history of the nation.

01:10:48One of the things that Mrs. Kennedy wanted to do

01:10:51was to walk behind the car that carried the coffin

01:10:55from the White House to St. Matthew's Cathedral,

01:10:59where the service would be held.

01:11:02Just 72 hours after the assassination,

01:11:05the First Lady's request to walk through the busy streets of Washington

01:11:09behind her husband's coffin,

01:11:11aroused the concern of the agents.

01:11:15The security agent was very much against that,

01:11:19but she remained firm in her position.

01:11:23She was walking.

01:11:25To complicate things further,

01:11:28numerous world leaders had flown to Washington for the funeral,

01:11:33which brought men to the limit of their strength.

01:11:37The heads of state decided that if she was walking,

01:11:42they were going to walk as well.

01:11:45It was an act of courage and challenge on the part of all those involved,

01:11:49especially of the men who faced the task

01:11:52of protecting those who walked with the widow.

01:11:55It's a risk to have a group of people exposed like that,

01:11:59because everyone has their personal enemies,

01:12:02and suddenly you find all those heads of state

01:12:05walking down the avenue.

01:12:07We were concerned,

01:12:09but Mrs. Kennedy's funeral was her funeral,

01:12:12and she felt that was what she wanted,

01:12:15and she was going to get it.

01:12:17Many agents patrolled the surroundings.

01:12:20I walked right behind Attorney General Robert Kennedy on the right side.

01:12:25Paul Landis walked on the left side,

01:12:28behind Senator Edward Kennedy.

01:12:31The streets were full of people.

01:12:34There were crying.

01:12:36Tears all along the way.

01:12:39And all you could hear was the drums.

01:12:45The saddest part, in my opinion,

01:12:49was when she and Caroline knelt down

01:12:52and kissed the coffin that was under the flag.

01:12:58For some men of the Secret Service,

01:13:01it was as if they were looking at their own children.

01:13:05I remember John Young

01:13:09saluting, and that

01:13:12destroyed everyone.

01:13:19I had to walk with him in President Johnson's car

01:13:22all the way to Arlington.

01:13:25And all of a sudden,

01:13:27I was aware of the reality as I crossed Memorial Bridge.

01:13:32There,

01:13:37tears filled my eyes

01:13:39as I accompanied the President.

01:13:41It was hard.

01:13:44At 3.13 on November 25,

01:13:47the President of the United States was buried.

01:13:53Later that night,

01:13:55she decided she wanted to go back to the cemetery.

01:14:00And so I accompanied her and the Attorney General

01:14:03to Arlington National Cemetery

01:14:06so she could see

01:14:10the burial and the eternal flame

01:14:13in private for the first time.

01:14:17We weren't there long.

01:14:19She and the Attorney General knelt down

01:14:21and prayed at the burial site.

01:14:23We were there about 15 minutes, and we left.

01:14:27It was a really heartbreaking tragedy

01:14:30that we all went through.

01:14:32And for me,

01:14:34just being in Dallas that day

01:14:36and knowing that the impact

01:14:38that it had on my emotions

01:14:40to be there while that was happening

01:14:42and to think that the entire nation

01:14:44was focused on it,

01:14:46to see the same photos,

01:14:48to see that boy

01:14:50who was almost like the day

01:14:52that the United States

01:14:54lost its innocence.

01:14:57The loss of their leader

01:14:59and the failure of their mission

01:15:01was a terrible tragedy

01:15:03for the Secret Service agents.

01:15:05They had lost the President

01:15:07they had served faithfully for three years.

01:15:09Now they had to bury their pain.

01:15:11They still had a job to do

01:15:13and a new President to serve.

01:15:16I remained with Mrs. Kennedy

01:15:18until after the 1964 elections.

01:15:22I was notified that I was being transferred

01:15:24from Mrs. Kennedy's service

01:15:26immediately after the elections.

01:15:28It was a difficult time,

01:15:30but we both knew that this was going to happen.

01:15:33Agent Tom Wells remained

01:15:35with Kennedy's children for several months

01:15:37before being transferred to the Johnson administration.

01:15:40We were in a park

01:15:42where they took the children

01:15:44to play from time to time,

01:15:47and then a photographer

01:15:49came from the opposite side

01:15:51of where I was

01:15:53to take a close-up.

01:15:55John looked at him,

01:15:57stopped drinking,

01:15:59looked him directly in the eye

01:16:01and said,

01:16:03why do you take a picture of me?

01:16:05My father has died.

01:16:07And that man, that photographer,

01:16:09did not know what to say.

01:16:11He felt ashamed and disappeared.

01:16:13It was a strange feeling

01:16:15to be with those children.

01:16:18President Johnson had agreed

01:16:20that his family should be protected,

01:16:24and I was with him.

01:16:27I was with President Johnson

01:16:29from then on,

01:16:32and everything changed very quickly.

01:16:35Agents Wynne Lawson, Dave Grant and Paul Landis

01:16:38were reassigned to President Johnson.

01:16:42In my opinion,

01:16:44with President Kennedy

01:16:46we lost

01:16:48a wonderful human being

01:16:51and a guy

01:16:53who knew my name.

01:16:57The morale of the troops, of course,

01:16:59fell apart.

01:17:04We felt like we had disappointed the country.

01:17:07Our mission had not finished,

01:17:09our career either,

01:17:11but there was a piece of our life

01:17:13that had ended.

01:17:15Agent Jerry Blaine resigned

01:17:17from the Secret Service shortly after the murder.

01:17:19When I walked out that door,

01:17:21I wanted to turn around,

01:17:23but I said it was stupid,

01:17:25I wanted to stay there.

01:17:27But you can't look back

01:17:29once you make a decision.

01:17:32We had to face it

01:17:34and we had to do it alone.

01:17:36I played handball

01:17:38with a CIA psychiatrist.

01:17:40And in handball

01:17:42you can pay your frustrations like a madman

01:17:44with a little rubber ball.

01:17:47But he helped me a lot.

01:17:49He helped me

01:17:55to get over those days.

01:17:57People talk about pain,

01:18:02but we didn't have time to cry.

01:18:04Life went on

01:18:06and we had a schedule

01:18:08and it was very hectic.

01:18:10It was a very rough time.

01:18:14I imagine that now

01:18:18if something like that happened to me again,

01:18:21God forbid,

01:18:23I would probably

01:18:25need psychiatric help.

01:18:28I should have asked for it then,

01:18:31but I didn't

01:18:33and I didn't do it alone.

01:18:37Arlington National Cemetery

01:18:39I started to get very depressed.

01:18:43Thinking about what had happened in Dallas,

01:18:46thinking about all the ramifications,

01:18:48how it had affected so many people.

01:18:51I really started to go into a

01:18:53really a downward spiral

01:18:55and then it continued for a long time.

01:18:58I became physically ill

01:19:01and I sought the help of a lot of doctors.

01:19:04By 1975

01:19:06when I took my annual physical check-up,

01:19:09one of the doctors was Dr. Voss,

01:19:12who had been on the staff

01:19:14of the White House as a doctor

01:19:16and he was a friend of mine.

01:19:19After the check-up he said to me,

01:19:22we cannot give you a good look

01:19:24so that you continue as an agent of the Secret Service.

01:19:28It was a very difficult year.

01:19:30I had too much time to think about what had happened.

01:19:33The more I thought about what had happened,

01:19:35the more I sank into depression.

01:19:37I was a natural disaster.

01:19:39My doctor said to me,

01:19:41you're going to kill yourself

01:19:43if you don't stop drinking.

01:19:47Then I decided that I had no choice.

01:19:49I had two children to take care of

01:19:51and a wife,

01:19:53and I owed a lot to everyone.

01:19:55It was very selfish of me

01:19:57to behave in that way.

01:20:00I wished I had kept in touch

01:20:02with the agents during that time,

01:20:04but I had not.

01:20:06I was isolated.

01:20:08I had no contact with any agent.

01:20:10If I had kept in touch

01:20:12with the other agents,

01:20:14they would have helped me

01:20:16because they were that kind of person.

01:20:19They held your back.

01:20:21They made you stronger.

01:20:23They kept you going.

01:20:26One of the things that has bothered the agents the most

01:20:28are the numerous theories of the conspiracy

01:20:30that have surrounded the murder.

01:20:32A conspiracy of the agents

01:20:34to kill the president.

01:20:41Bookstore, Dallas, Texas.

01:20:44One of the problems we have always faced

01:20:46is not seeing the sniper

01:20:48because the first shot is free.

01:20:50You don't know what's there.

01:20:52And if the first shot is accurate,

01:20:55that could be fatal.

01:20:57At that point, everyone reacts.

01:20:59But often, as in this case,

01:21:01it's too late.

01:21:03And there are two more shots.

01:21:05Up to this point,

01:21:07the caravan had been like any other.

01:21:10The only difference was the end result.

01:21:18Everyone observes a tragedy

01:21:20from a different perspective.

01:21:23The right-wingers say

01:21:25it was the left-wingers.

01:21:27I know it was the left-wingers

01:21:29and I will collect all the data

01:21:31to show that it was the left-wingers.

01:21:34The left-wingers say,

01:21:36it was those filthy conservatives.

01:21:38They did it.

01:21:41Those who don't like Cubans

01:21:43say that the Cubans did it.

01:21:45Ah, it was organized crime.

01:21:48Because Bobby Kennedy was dismantling

01:21:50all his business in the Caribbean.

01:21:55The most painful theories

01:21:57concern the agents themselves.

01:21:59I read that Pontius was involved

01:22:01because he had disappeared

01:22:03after Houston.

01:22:05A conspiracy of the agents

01:22:07to kill the president.

01:22:09This is crazy.

01:22:11One of the agents shot him.

01:22:14That's a lie.

01:22:18Everyone says whatever they want.

01:22:21One of the conspiracy theories

01:22:23points out that the agents

01:22:25shot the president without protection

01:22:27just before the shots.

01:22:29The caravan had left behind

01:22:31the most public part of the route

01:22:33and was about to reach the Stimons highway.

01:22:35Highway, therefore, at free speed.

01:22:37There were no agents in the back of the car.

01:22:39They couldn't be there in those conditions.

01:22:42There are a lot of stories

01:22:45about how many shots were made.

01:22:47Well, there were three.

01:22:49Exactly those.

01:22:51The third closest to the second

01:22:53was the first one.

01:22:55Bang!

01:22:57Bang! Bang!

01:22:59And they came from behind me

01:23:01on my right shoulder.

01:23:03No one shot in front of me.

01:23:06No one shot from my side

01:23:08or from the front.

01:23:10The shot came from the bookcase

01:23:12behind me, over my right shoulder.

01:23:16They had one individual

01:23:18who fit perfectly

01:23:20in the profile of an assassin.

01:23:23He was lonely.

01:23:25He could not get along

01:23:27with anybody for five minutes.

01:23:29He failed in his marriage.

01:23:31He even didn't live

01:23:33to enjoy all the fame

01:23:35he would get

01:23:37for shooting President Kennedy.

01:23:39We wouldn't be here

01:23:41talking about that

01:23:43if he were alive.

01:23:45Surely we would have eliminated

01:23:47a lot of these theories

01:23:49and all that bullshit.

01:23:51At the age of 67,

01:23:53the agents who protected Kennedy

01:23:55kept to themselves

01:23:57what happened that fateful day

01:23:59in Dallas.

01:24:01We have an annual meeting

01:24:03of the former agents

01:24:05of the Secret Service.

01:24:07We all get together,

01:24:09but that is a forbidden subject.

01:24:11We have never talked about it.

01:24:13And yet, you can see

01:24:15the wear and tear

01:24:17and the emotional reaction

01:24:19of a man who is willing

01:24:21to face his doubts

01:24:23and his remorse

01:24:25for the first time.

01:24:27I'm sure that,

01:24:29in your mind,

01:24:31everyone wonders,

01:24:33did I miss something?

01:24:35Is there anything

01:24:37I could have done better?

01:24:39In my mind,

01:24:41it was assault.

01:24:43Not only to a man

01:24:45I knew and respected

01:24:47for the things he wanted

01:24:49to do for the country,

01:24:51but an assault

01:24:53on our country

01:24:55and on everything

01:24:57that we stand for.

01:25:01It was a thing

01:25:03that shouldn't have happened

01:25:05and we were supposed

01:25:07to have avoided it

01:25:09and we failed.

01:25:11And, you know,

01:25:13people say,

01:25:15we couldn't have done anything.

01:25:17That's not the point.

01:25:19You know, people always say,

01:25:21well, it would have been a great picnic

01:25:23if it hadn't rained,

01:25:25but it rained,

01:25:27and it rained on us, too.

01:25:29The image of the President's head

01:25:31exploding.

01:25:33I still see it.

01:25:35That's never forgotten.

01:25:39They told me it was time

01:25:41to go back,

01:25:43to try to erase

01:25:45certain images of my mind.

01:25:47I try to forget it.

01:25:49I try to say

01:25:51that there's

01:25:53nothing I could have done

01:25:55any better,

01:25:59but I could have done it.

01:26:03I'm sorry for the men

01:26:05who are still there.

01:26:07It's almost impossible

01:26:09for me.

01:26:11You never know what's out there.

01:26:13The men of Kennedy's

01:26:15secret service have experienced

01:26:17firsthand how difficult it is

01:26:19to protect a President.

01:26:21It's impossible

01:26:23to totally protect

01:26:25an individual.

01:26:27Today they have

01:26:29counter-response teams.

01:26:31Well, our group can tell them

01:26:33that if there's a murder,

01:26:35it ends so quickly

01:26:37that the assault team

01:26:39has to get out of the car.

01:26:41I walked around Lilley Square

01:26:43for a long time,

01:26:45looking back and forward,

01:26:47up and down,

01:26:49at every angle,

01:26:51thinking about all the possibilities.

01:26:53How could this have been avoided?

01:26:55What could we have done

01:26:57differently?

01:26:59What did we go wrong?

01:27:01And finally I came to the conclusion

01:27:03that every day the shooter

01:27:05had all the advantages

01:27:07I couldn't have done anything.

01:27:11And I finally accepted the fact

01:27:13that what happened

01:27:15was something I couldn't have avoided.

01:27:19The individuals who were assigned

01:27:21to presidential protection,

01:27:23specifically those assigned

01:27:25to Kennedy's service,

01:27:27were the best of the best.

01:27:31They worked hard.

01:27:33They did their job as best they could.

01:27:35They were not in it for the money,

01:27:37or the politics,

01:27:39or the glory,

01:27:41because there's nothing like that.

01:27:43This group all had the same mission.

01:27:45And when we all failed,

01:27:47we all knew we failed.

01:27:49And when you have a group of guys

01:27:51that still loves you

01:27:53even though you fail,

01:27:55you can't find anything

01:27:57like that anywhere.

01:28:01It's hard to see the guys

01:28:03like that.

01:28:05Clint and I have gone through

01:28:07a lot together.

01:28:09We got here together,

01:28:11and all that.

01:28:13And this might be the last time

01:28:15I see him, you know?

01:28:17Toby Chandler the last time,

01:28:19Tommy Wells the last time,

01:28:21I don't know.

01:28:23The memory will always be there.

01:28:25It's engraved in my mind,

01:28:27in my heart,

01:28:29in my soul.

01:28:31The vision of the president

01:28:33murdered in that car in Dallas.

01:28:35But,

01:28:37I'm okay.

01:28:39And I think she knows.

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