Five Days in November

Written by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill

Narrated by Jeremy Bobb

Secret Service agent Clint Hill reveals the stories behind the iconic images of the five tragic days surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in this 60th anniversary edition of the New York Times bestseller.

On November 22, 1963, three shots were fired in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the world stopped for four days. For an entire generation, it was the end of an age of innocence.

That evening, a photo ran on the front pages of newspapers across the world, showing a Secret Service agent jumping on the back of the presidential limousine in a desperate attempt to protect the President and Mrs. Kennedy. That agent was Clint Hill.

Now Hill commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the tragedy with this stunning book containing more than 150 photos, each accompanied by his incomparable insider account of those terrible days. A story that has taken Hill half a century to tell, this is a “riveting, stunning narrative” (Herald & Review, Illinois) of personal and historical scope. Besides the unbearable grief of a nation and the monumental consequences of the event, the death of JFK was a personal blow to a man sworn to protect the first family, and who knew, from the moment the shots rang out in Dallas, that nothing would ever be the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781442367401

Clint Hill

Clint Hill is the New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Kennedy and Me; Five Days in November; Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford; and My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy. A United States Secret Service Agent from 1958 to 1975, Clint Hill was assigned to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and was in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. For his courage and swift actions that day, Hill received the nation’s highest civilian award for bravery. Starting out as a Special Agent, Clint Hill served as Agent in Charge of the First Lady Detail, the Vice Presidential Protective Division, the Presidential Protective Division, and when he was retired in 1975, he was Assistant Director responsible for all protective activity. Hill married coauthor Lisa McCubbin in 2021. Find out more at ClintHillSecretService.com.

Reviews for Five Days in November

[Pam Miller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was 10 years old when President Kennedy was assassinated and while I do vaguely remember the funeral procession, this first-hand account by Clint Hill has been most informative, yet so very sad for our nation.

[Robert Losiniecki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic factual retelling, I have heard this man speak on podcasts and know him to be of very sound mind this is truly his memories not an authors interpretation.

[Dana Wilson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A factual retelling. I appreciate Mr Hill telling this story.

[Melanie Danielson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Yet another excellent book by Mr. Hill. Worth the read/listen.

[dara85 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This takes you through the days before the assassination of President Kennedy and the days after. It gives you a first hand look at death of the president and trying to get his body from Texas, back to Washington D.C. and how the beautiful casket used to transport the body was too big to fit through the plane door and they had rip the handles off. Clint Hill was one of secret service agents assigned to the motorcade on that fateful day. He is the one you see climbing on the back of the car in which Kennedy was riding, in the films after the shots were fired.After returning to Washington, D.C. he is the one to escort Jackie back out to Arlington National Cemetery at midnight after the funeral, when Jackie can't sleep. A very moving book.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mr Hill, you keep breaking my heart! I loved Mrs Kennedy and Me, and of course I have read about the assassination many times before, not least in William Manchester's Death of a President, but hearing about those fateful, tragic five days in November 1963 from the agent assigned to protect Mrs Kennedy is somehow ten times more powerful. Recounted in the present tense, so that the reader almost feels like they were right there with Clint Hill, flying from Washington to Texas and back again in the worst reversal of circumstance possible, we follow the President and First Lady, so happy together and full of life, on the motorcade tour through San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth and finally Dallas. Jack was keen to reach out to seemingly every one of the thousands of people who turned out in each city, much to the agents' concern, and Jackie followed where he lead, even though she didn't really like crowds or public speaking. The book is filled with photographs of the two of them beaming at each other and at the warm welcome they received throughout the tour, which makes what happened in Dallas all the more soul-destroying. When they finally appear on the steps of Air Force One at Love Field, I'm always left thinking, 'No, go back!' Whether you believe, as Mr Hill staunchly insists, that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin, or that there was far more to the violent deaths of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and other key figures of the 1960s, only the hardest heart could read this personal and first hand account of the President's murder and funeral without tearing up. Beautiful images, heartfelt words, a terrible loss.

[lkernagh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a highly personal, insider account of those historical five days as Hill details the events while acting in his role as Secret Service for Mrs. Kennedy. While the text is highly charged with Hill's emotions and his duty as a Secret Service agent, the text coupled with the photographs provide a unique account of the events that have been hashed and rehashed by numerous individuals before him. Yes, it gets a little tedious to have Hill explain, innumerable times, of the enormous task the security detail faced, not just during the trip to Texas, but the delivery of the body back to Washington D.C. and the funeral services, but one can not help but appreciate just how personal the events are for Hill, even fifty years later. I do like how in the epilogue he points to one picture that he says should refute the "grassy knoll" shooter debate. Overall, a lovely commemorative book to mark that historic event.

[bellafoxx · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Clint Hill was one of the agents assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy in this book he takes us through the events leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy and the immediate aftermath. This is a very detailed account, as a Secret Service agent he had to take detailed notes of times and events. The book also has more than 150 photos. The photos aren’t captioned but the narrative on the pages relates to the photos.

Besides detailing the events we can see the emotional impact the events had on the agents and the Kennedy’s loved ones and close friends. We can feel Mr. Hill’s grief over the loss of President Kennedy, his sorrow at seeing the pain First Lady Kennedy was feeling, having spent everyday with her he knew her better than most people, and his deep guilt at failing to protect the president.

He touches briefly on the conspiracy theories and explains his viewpoint and his feelings on learning Oswald was shot and killed.

Fascinating book that I recommend to anyone wanting to get a personal insider view of JFK and Jackie.

[cmasson17_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was so well-written that it managed to capture the mood of America during a 30 year old period of time. The photographs were tasteful, revealing and free from the usual captioning which detracts from the flow of the story.

[wrbinpa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a well written and very informative book with its detailed descriptions of those "Five Days in November." It is a book filled with candidness and displayed by many iconic photographs. Clint Hill, Secret Service agent, reveals his vivid memories of those days surrounding the assassination of President John F Kennedy, who died at the early age of 46. Clint Hill has clearly lived through much pain, anger, and frustration, and has felt a sense of failure because of that tragic day in Dallas - "If only I had reacted quicker, run faster." He was there when those three shots were fired - a day that ended the age of innocence. November 21, 1963 - November 25, 1963 - It started with such high expectations, hope, and promise, as President and Mrs Kennedy, with their young son, John, awaited the presidential helicopter, to begin the trip to Texas. Nothing could appease the tearful little John as his Mummy and Daddy boarded Air Force One and he begs to go with them. There is a last hug for little John and the President asks Mr Foster "take care of John for me, won't you, Mr Foster?" - a very emotional good-bye. And the story unfolds through the events that led up to that tragic day in history - a day the world stopped for four days, and continues as the courageous widow leads the walking funeral procession of the slain President. Jacqueline Kennedy displayed model, grace and dignity, and was a pillar of strength to the nation during this time.President Johnson had declared November 25, 1963, a national day of mourning in the United States. Mrs Kennedy was able to orchestrate and add her personal touches throughout that historic day from the music played to the bagpipers, who marched ahead of the horse drawn caisson. I'm so glad I read this very touching book, which added so much dimension to the events, as they unfolded through those five days. Completely absorbing and wonderfully written. 5 stars.

[wirtley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Written by Secret Service agent for Jackie Kennedy. Easy to read, good photographs, gripping.