Clint Hill > Quotes

“it's been a long time since i've thought about that night, that wonderful raucous night. I can still see the president s surprise and amusement while opening gifts. I can still hear the music, the guests singing along and the president having such a wonderful time surrounded by his closest family and friends. What a privilege it was to have been there, to witness the joy and laughter. But Always, when I remember that special birthday celebration on the Sequoia, I can't help but think it should not have been his last. At forty six it shouldn't have been his last”
― Clint Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir

“I understand that my memories are important to history.”
― Clint Hill, Five Days in November

“I sat there, staring at the television set, the images of her playing over and over, my memories right there on the screen. I was overcome with a deep sense of loss. The tears streamed down my face, and I was not ashamed.”
― Clint Hill, The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence

“We had been through so much together, mrs. Kennedy and me. More than anyone can imagine. More than anyone can ever know.”
― Clint Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir

“Mr. Hill, if the situation develops that requires the children and me to go to the shelter, let me tell you what you can expect. If the situation develops, I will take Caroline and John, and we will walk hand in hand out onto the south grounds. We will stand there like brave soldiers, and face the fate of every other American.”
― Clint Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir

“If there was one thing I had learned. . . it was that politics was a damn dirty business.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“People often ask me, "What was Jackie Kennedy really like?" Well, now you know.”
― Clint Hill, My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy

“THE U.S. SECRET Service is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in America, created in 1865. Its original mission was to investigate and prevent counterfeit currency, which was rampant after the Civil War and threatened to destabilize the country’s economy. The”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“No one person has all the qualities necessary to be a perfect leader in every situation.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“It was a sober lesson for President Kennedy—that in a dangerous world, the perception of weak American leadership can embolden our enemies to take aggressive action. Khrushchev came away with the opinion that the new American president was weak and inexperienced, while President Kennedy, in an interview with James Reston of the New York Times, said the summit meeting had been “the roughest thing in my life.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“negativism.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“He walked over to a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and said, “You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.” He looked up at the president who had weathered the burdens of the Civil War and said, “I sure hope I have better generals than he did.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“anything”
― Clint Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir

“The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are—but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“By our every action we must strive to make ourselves worthy of this trust, ever mindful that an accumulation of seemingly minor encroachments upon freedom gradually could break down the entire fabric of a free society.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford

“America’s voters carry the responsibility of choosing the best person to lead our nation, and whoever that person may be, there is one thing for certain: they will face challenges that cannot be imagined at the present time. As we choose our next commander in chief, we can, and must, learn from the mistakes and successes of our past presidents.”
― Clint Hill, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford