Jackie Kennedy said no bunkers and was ready for 'same fate as every other American' in nuke attack
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
WASHINGTON DC, WASHINGTON: Clint Hill, personal bodyguard to former first lady Jackie Kennedy has made some astonishing claims in his latest memoir, ‘My Travels with Mrs Kennedy'. The 90-year-old remembered his days in Secret Service during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the time after President John F Kennedy’s assassination.
His memoir reveals that the first lady was prepared to face the consequences of a nuclear attack just like any other American and refused to go to an underground bunker if such a situation arrived, amid the deepening Cuban Missile Crisis, as per Daily Mail.
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The man who had served five presidents said the nation was threatened and scared of a possible nuclear attack, but Jackie Kennedy held her ground and remained calm and truly patriotic in the time of adversity. “When I told Mrs. Kennedy we would take her and the children into the shelter if there were incoming missiles, she said she would take John and Caroline and walk onto the lawn like brave soldiers and face the same fate as every other American,” Hill tweeted during the 60th anniversary of the Cold War confrontation.
I was at the White House.When I told Mrs. Kennedy we would take her and the children into the shelter if there were incoming missiles, she said she would take John and Caroline and walk onto the lawn like brave soldiers and face the same fate of every other American.
— Clint Hill (@ClintHill_SS) October 22, 2022
This is among the many stories Hill has opened up about his time with Kennedy. His upcoming memoir, 'My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy', revealed the Secret Service agent had attempted to kill himself by drowning, following the assassination of President JFK, according to People Magazine.
“Guilt and anguish consumed me. All I could think about was Dallas,” he wrote. Remembering the assassination, he continued, “I was running as fast as I could, my arm reaching for the handholds on the trunk but it was like my legs were in quicksand. Mrs. Kennedy climbed out of the back seat, her terrified eyes looking but not seeing me like I wasn't there.”
As per the report, Hill also shared how his suicide attempt had failed, “Tears streamed down my cheeks, and as the cold water enveloped my legs, and then my chest, and up to my shoulders, the tears turned to sobs. I wanted the water to swallow me up.” He was saved by a Palm Beach police officer, who ultimately pulled him out of the water.
He further wrote, “Somehow, there is a sense of freedom in no longer keeping that darkness to myself." "People will judge me, I'm sure. But no one — no one — has ever walked in my shoes,” Hill shared.
In 2013 he published 'Five Days in November', which coincided with the 50th anniversary of JFK’s killing. The memoir ‘My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy’ is set to come out on October 25, and is kind of a sequel to his 2012 bestseller, ‘Mrs. Kennedy and Me'.