Original subtitles

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[John F. Kennedy] Let all our neighbors know that we shall

join with them to oppose aggression or subversion

anywhere in the Americas.

And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to

remain the master of its own house.

My fellow citizens of the world,

ask not what America will do for you,

but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

[applause]

[♪ slow classical music]

[applause]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Clint Hill] I'm 91 years old now, and it's been

60 years this year.

There are a few of us left.

But very few.

I think about the event as it happened.

And I go right back to the moment that it happened.

I mean, it's there.

It's like a movie, run through my brain.

[♪ intense classical music]

[♪ music continues]

[♪ music continues]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Clint Hill] I was a Secret Service agent that protected the

President of the United States and his wife and family.

[♪ slow classical music]

And I was assigned to protect Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy.

[♪ slow classical music]

First ladies previous to Mrs. Kennedy had done things

like go shopping, watch ballet,

play canasta, a card game,

and that's about the most activities the agents had

that were with those ladies.

And that's not what I aspired to.

I wanted to be where the action was.

[splashing]

And I did not think it would be with Mrs. Kennedy.

I was really mistaken in that belief,

it turned out.

It was very unusual for her

to participate in anything political.

She didn't like politics.

She told me that she thought

she would go on this trip to Texas.

She wanted to do everything she could to help President Kennedy

get re-elected in 1964.

They wanted to get out in front early.

[crowd noise, water spraying]

[crowd noise]

[Crowd] Freedom, freedom, freedom.

[Spokesman] Louder! Louder!

[Crowd] Freedom!

[Spokesman] Louder!

[Crowd] Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Paul Landis] The whole trip brings back memories.

I can remember everything pretty much in detail.

[sighs]

[crowd cheering]

[crowd cheering]

[♪ slow classical music]

It was like a dream come true for me.

When I first joined the Secret Service,

this is what I wanted to do.

My code name was Debut.

I think that was just because I was so young.

Clint, his code name was Dazzle.

He knew Mrs. Kennedy like the back of his hand,

and there were just two of us assigned to her at that time.

We did everything together.

We began to think alike.

[crowd cheering]

[Reporter] Mrs. Kennedy is proving an able campaigner as

she charms the crowds with her smile,

handshakes and pleasantries.

[Paul Landis] Everybody wanted to see Jackie.

Chanting "Jackie, Jackie, Jackie."

They were like a movie star couple really.

I think he kind of thrived on that.

[♪ slow classical music]

When we got to Fort Worth that night, it was 11:00.

Still had a large crowd outside the hotel.

[♪ slow classical music]

We were all in a good mood and felt that there was no sign of

animosity or anything like that.

[♪ radio intro music]

[Radio Host] 570 Radio in Fort Worth, WBAP.

Here is Morning Edition,

complete news and weather coverage,

combining authoritative sources of WBAP and ABC,

brought to you by your 30 conveniently located

Buddies Supermarkets.

[Reporter] Good morning everyone.

President and Mrs. Kennedy arrived in Fort Worth from

Houston late last night to an enthusiastic reception from

huge crowds, and spent the night in suite 850

at Hotel Texas downtown.

[♪ slow classical music]

[Sid Davis] Thousands gathered around the presidential hotel

in Fort Worth this morning in drizzling rain.

Many starting nearly three hours before the Kennedys

were to come out.

[crowd cheering]

After all, it was Mrs. Kennedy's

first trip to Texas,

and Texans like to make big impressions.

This is Sid Davis with the presidential party, Texas.

[laughs]

I was with Westinghouse Broadcasting Company

as a White House correspondent,

and I covered Kennedy wherever he went.

When the Dallas trip was announced,

we were excited at the fact that it would be a

good political trip because we knew that Texas was not

a Kennedy town or state.

So, there was some trepidation on the part of the press and

what kind of a reception Kennedy would get.

[Man] Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

[crowd cheering]

[Sid Davis] He was inspirational.

Even if you didn't agree with him,

you couldn't help but like him.

You know, "we shall go to the moon in this decade and return

the astronauts safely to Earth."

And everybody said, "he's nuts, he's crazy."

[crowd cheering]

[John F. Kennedy] Why choose this as our goal?

And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain?

Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon!

We choose to go to the moon...

[applause]

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and

do the other things,

not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

[Sid Davis] Talk about being a gambler?

This guy had what the Spanish would call cajones,

you know?

[♪ slow classical music]

There was a breakfast that morning,

and I think there were about 2,000 or more people there.

And President Kennedy really wanted Jackie to be seen

by everybody in Texas.

Texas was such an important state.

He felt that with Jackie along, he would do better.

[applause]

[Reporter] As you may have noticed,

Mrs. Kennedy did not enter with the President.

So far, we have no indication of where she may be,

and I can tell you from where we are standing,

there are quite a few ladies who appear to be

quite disappointed that Mrs. Kennedy is not here.

[Clint Hill] Now, Mrs. Kennedy had indicated that she was

not planning to go to this breakfast.

And so, I went to Mrs. Kennedy's room

and she was preparing to leave the hotel.

[Reporter] Quite a few people in the ballroom are

watching the maitre-d.

He's the short man that's walking back and forth

behind the head table.

Now he's pouring coffee.

As he moves down the line,

he did not stop at Mrs. Kennedy's place.

[Clint Hill] Then the phone rang,

and it was the agent who was with the President

down at the breakfast.

He said, "Clint, the President wants you to

bring Mrs. Kennedy down here."

I said, "Oh, she's not planning to go to that breakfast at all."

He said, "Clint, you didn't get the message.

The President says, bring Mrs. Kennedy down here now."

I said, "Okay, I got the message."

The door opened, we walked in,

and the place absolutely erupted.

[applause]

[applause]

[Sid Davis] When she walked into the room,

the crowd just got out of its chairs and started cheering.

[applause]

[applause]

She was dressed in this two-piece suit,

and I'm not a fashion expert, so I said to one of the

lady reporters, I said, "Is that pink?"

She said, "Mrs. Kennedy wouldn't be caught dead in pink."

I said, "Shoot, excuse me.

[laughs]

What do you call it?"

She said, "You can call it strawberry or raspberry."

And I called it raspberry.

[John F. Kennedy] Ladies and gentlemen, two years ago

I introduced myself in Paris by saying that I was the man

who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris.

I'm getting somewhat that same sensation

as I travel around Texas.

[laughs, applause]

[John F. Kennedy] Nobody wonders what Lyndon and I wear.

[laughs]

[Sid Davis] She'd been through a terrible period

the previous four months.

Her baby, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy,

died in August, and so she was getting over that.

This was her first visit out of the White House in the public.

And so, it was an uplifting thing for people to see her

out and smiling.

[applause]

[Clint Hill] Prior to that you'd never see them

hug or kiss or hold hands in public.

From that point on, they didn't care who was there.

They'd hold hands, they'd hug.

And it changed their relationship.

It really changed everything.

[Sid Davis] I'd never seen her happier than

she was that morning.

[Raymond Buck] Mr. President, we know that you don't wear a hat.

[laughs].

[Raymond Buck] Couldn't let you leave Fort Worth without

providing you with some protection against the rain.

[laughs]

[applause].

[crowd cheering]

[Sid Davis] The time we were ready to leave Fort Worth that

morning, we drove out to Carswell Air Force Base,

and we got in Air Force One to fly to Dallas.

[Reporter] At this moment three special jetliners are supposed

to be in the air between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Right now, the eyes of Texas

and the nation are focused on Dallas.

[crowd cheering]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Paul Landis] The day we left, we had a briefing,

and everybody was given their assignments and

what they would be doing.

And this was the first I learned that Dallas

had a moniker, the City of Hate.

I, I never knew, had never thought anything about that.

Dallas to me was big money.

You had the Hunt brothers, oil country,

home of the big rich.

I was surprised to hear this.

I knew nothing about it being a bad political environment.

[Reporter] Dallas Police Chief, Jesse Curry,

has told the citizens and visitors that nothing must

occur that would be disrespectful or degrading

to the President.

But there are those opposition signs,

and we see in brilliant evidence right now,

a Texas flag and a huge Confederate flag are flying.

[Earle Cabell] We undoubtedly will have a few pickets,

as you have everywhere in the United States.

There will probably be a few of the radical right wing.

Possibly a few of the radical left wing.

But sincerely, we anticipate no trouble.

[dog barking]

[Buell Frazier] Being a young 19-year-old boy from Dallas,

I never had seen a presidential motorcade.

Um, I didn't know what to expect.

I had no idea.

Uh, my number one thing was you go into work and

doing what you had to do, and get home.

[♪ pleasant pop music]

Well, that Friday felt like any other Friday morning.

[♪ pleasant pop music]

I drove Lee Harvey Oswald to work, because

Lee did not own a car.

We listened to the radio.

Lee wasn't a big talker.

He would not initiate a conversation.

The thing he would talk most about was his child.

And I noticed a package on the backseat.

And I just glanced at it, I didn't look at it.

I said, "What's in the package, Lee?"

And he says, "Curtain rods."

[♪ ominous music]

Then we got to work at Texas School Book Depository.

And Lee gets out, gets the package,

and he walked off.

We always walked together, but not this morning.

And it never dawned on me anything was different.

[ambient crowd noise]

[ambient crowd noise]

[Gayle Newman] When we arrived at Love Field,

there was a huge crowd waiting to see the President.

I put the boys in their Sunday best clothes,

and we both dressed up.

We were excited.

We said we were taking the children,

but I think we were more interested in seeing

the President and First Lady than, than uh, the kids.

They didn't know who they were.

[Bill Newman] Gayle and myself were glad to be there.

It's not an everyday event that

the President of the United States comes to Dallas, Texas.

It looked like the best place to be was out at Love Field

as the plane came in.

[Reporter] And here comes the presidential plane,

Air Force number one.

[cheering]

[jet engine]

[jet engine]

[Reporter] The official greeting party is consisting of

the Vice President Lyndon Johnson,

and Mrs. Johnson of course.

[cheering]

[cheering]

[Clint Hill] At the airport in Love Field on arrival,

there's large crowds.

President Kennedy, he just headed straight for the fence

where the people were.

Mrs. Kennedy normally wouldn't do that.

But she went right along right behind him,

and so I accompanied her.

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

We knew that there was a group in Dallas that did not like or

did not agree with President Kennedy's position

on many things.

[♪ slow classical music]

Now, how far they were willing to go for that,

I did not know, we did not know.

You never know what's in that crowd.

Who's in that crowd.

[♪ ominous music]

[Gayle Newman] I mean, the crowd was pushing,

just surged around us and we weren't able to get any further.

[cheering]

I wasn't able to really get up close.

[cheering]

And Bill said, "I think we can probably get ahead of the

motorcade and get down where we can get maybe a closer look."

[cheering]

[Reporter] And now the President and First Lady

are retreating from the fence.

They're heading now for the official limousine,

where Governor Connally stands, waiting their arrival so that

they can make their way downtown.

[cheering]

[cheering]

[♪ ominous classical music]

[cheering]

[Man] Gotta get to the car.

[chatter]

[Clint Hill] Now, it had been raining lightly,

but it had stopped.

By the time we were ready to leave,

the word was "the top is to be off."

The President's insisted on having an open car,

was because he wanted to be felt

as close to the people as possible.

He wanted the people to feel there was never any barrier

between them and him.

[♪ slow ominous music]

We started to drive through the outskirts of Dallas.

And I was surveying the crowd, just scanning them to see

what was going on.

[♪ slow ominous music]

[♪ slow ominous music]

Everywhere that they could get to see President and

Mrs. Kennedy, they tried to get.

[♪ classical music]

I jumped from my position on the follow up car,

and went to the rear bumper of the presidential vehicle,

and got up on top of there, to be as close to Mrs. Kennedy as

I could be, because I didn't know what to expect from any of

these people who were that close to her.

[♪ slow classical music]

[Sid Davis] I was in the press bus,

'cause I could sit up front in the bus and see out.

There was something magical about this trip,

and I think it was Jackie, and the fact that he brought her.

I don't know, I uh...

I changed my opinion about Dallas and Texas.

It was not a cold city.

It made a big difference because Jackie was there.

I think the town really was very,

very welcoming to her.

It was a celebration, that they were getting a chance to see

this First Lady who'd never been to Dallas.

And, of course, it changed her life.

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Clint Hill] I have this sense of guilt.

I should have been able to do more than I did.

I wasn't fast enough.

I guess I wasn't faster than a speeding bullet.

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ music crescendos]

[Reporter] It appears as though something has happened

in the motorcade route.

Something, I repeat, has happened

in the motorcade route.

The limousine is now traveling at a very high rate of speed,

Secret Service men standing up in the limousine.

[Clint Hill] Mrs. Kennedy was screaming,

"they've shot his head off. I love you, Jack."

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ tense classical music]

[Sid Davis] It was at Dealey Plaza we saw the people trying

to escape the danger.

I saw women taking their shoes off,

running without heels.

I saw a father take his little boy,

place the boy on the ground,

and put his body on top of the boy.

[♪ tense classical music]

[Gayle Newman] We were one lane width away from him

when he was shot in the head.

I think my maternal instinct kicked in.

[♪ tense classical music]

Never in my mind, when I got up that morning,

did I think that I would see something so horrific.

[♪ tense classical music]

[Clint Hill] I was shouting up to the driver,

"Get us to the hospital, get us to the hospital."

Mrs. Kennedy was in shock,

with the President's head in her lap.

[sirens]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Clint Hill] When we got to Parkland Hospital,

Mrs. Kennedy had a hold of his body,

and she would not let go.

I pleaded with her, I said,

"Please Mrs. Kennedy, let us help the President."

Got no response at all.

And then I realized, she wasn't going to let go.

So, I took my suit coat off, and covered up his back,

his head, shoulders and upper back,

and when I did that, she let go.

[Reporter] The latest unconfirmed report from

the emergency room is that he is still alive.

Texas Governor John Connally also was hit by the bullet.

[♪ slow classical music]

[Paul Landis] We got to trauma room one.

I kind of got pushed in with the crowd,

right beside his shoes or feet.

I couldn't look at the President,

I, I was feeling faint.

I knew if I looked at him, I'd pass out.

And it was, I, I just, you can do this Paul.

That was a time, you know, you're needed more.

You've got to stay with it.

You've got to hang in there.

I heard a doctor shout, "Let me through, let me through",

and they're asking everybody to evacuate the room.

And it was about that time somebody came out and asked

for the, uh...

if anyone knew the President's blood type.

And Mrs. Kennedy kind of stood up and said,

"Do you mean he's alive?", and it was just utter silence.

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Clint Hill] My boss yelled at me,

"Clint, get a telephone,

open up a line to the White House,

let them know what's going on."

The operator said, "Mr. Hill, I'm sorry,

but Robert Kennedy wants to talk to you."

I said, "Okay, fine.

Mr. Attorney General, can I help you?"

He said, "Clint," he said, "What's going on down there?"

I said, "Both President Kennedy

and the Governor have been shot."

And he said, "Well, how bad is it?",

and so I just said, "Well, it's as bad as it could get",

and with that, he just hung up the phone.

Mrs. Kennedy, she knew.

As soon as he fell in her lap, I'm sure,

she knew that the President could not have survived and

was, in fact, dead.

[♪ emotional classical music]

[♪ music continues]

[♪ music continues]

[♪ slow classical music]

[Edwin Newman] This is Edwin Newman and the

NBC Newsroom in New York.

This information from Dallas.

President Kennedy was given the last Holy Rites of the

Roman Catholic Church today.

That was, of course, after he was shot down by a would-be

assassin while he was riding in the caravan through

downtown Dallas.

Two priests, who were with President Kennedy,

say he is dead of bullet wound.

This is the latest information we have from Dallas.

We will attempt now to get to station WBAP-TV...

[radio chatter]

[Reporter] What's your you feeling right now?

[Woman] I really couldn't say.

Really.

Right now, I just don't know what to do.

I don't even know where to go, what to say.

There's nothing for me to say.

[♪ slow classical music]

[Clint Hill] Yeah, it's my belief that the United States

lost its innocence on November 22nd, 1963.

[♪ emotional classical music]

[Reporter] The search now centers at the area near the

old Texas School Book Depository building,

and there is a possibility that the would-be assassin is still

inside that building.

[Rusty Robbins] When most people are running away,

that's when police officers are running in.

[Reporter] The plane which is carrying the President's body

in a bronze casket also has now-President Lyndon Johnson,

as well as Mrs. Kennedy.

[Sid Davis] She said, "let them see what they have done."

Captioned by Cotter Media Group.