(Testimony of Clinton J. , Special Agent, Secret Service Hill)
Mr. Specter.
Will you outline for the Commission your duties with the Secret Service during your tenure there?
Mr. Hill.
I entered the Secret Service in Denver, and during that period I did both investigative and protection work. I was assigned to Mrs. Doud, the mother-in-law of President Eisenhower. I attended the Treasury Law Enforcement School during my first year, and was sent to the White House for a 30-day temporary assignment at the White House in June 1959. In November of 1959, November 1, I was transferred to the White House on a permanent basis as a special agent assigned to the White House detail. I have been at the White House since that time.
Mr. Specter.
Now, were you assigned to duties on the trip of President Kennedy to Texas in November 1963?
Mr. Hill.
Yes, sir; I was.
Mr. Specter.
Did you have any special duty assigned to you at that time?
Mr. Hill.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Specter.
In connection with the trip?
Mr. Hill.
I was responsible for the protection of Mrs. Kennedy.
Mr. Specter.
And, in a general way, what does that sort of an assignment involve?
Mr. Hill.
I tried to remain as close to her at all times as possible, and in this particular trip that meant being with the President because all of their doings on this trip were together rather than separate. I would go over her schedule to make sure she knows what she is expected to do; discuss it with her; remain in her general area all the time; protect her from any danger.
Mr. Specter.
Would you tell us, in a general way, what were the activities of the President and Mrs. Kennedy on the morning of Friday, November 22, before they arrived in Dallas?
Mr. Hill.
I went to the fifth floor, I believe it was, where the President and Mrs. Kennedy were staying in the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth at 8:15 in the morning. President Kennedy was to go downstairs and across the street to make a speech to a gathering in a parking lot. I remained on the floor during the period the President was gone.
It was raining outside, I recall. About 9:25 I received word from Special Agent Duncan that the President requested Mrs. Kennedy to come to the mezzanine, where a breakfast was being held in his honor, and where he was about to speak. I went in and advised Mrs. Kennedy of this, and took her down to where the President was speaking; remained with her adjacent to the head table in this particular area during the speech; and accompanied she and the President back up to the, I believe it was, the fifth floor of the hotel, their residential area; remained on that floor until we left, went downstairs, got into the motorcade, and departed the hotel for the airport to leave Fort Worth for Dallas.
We were airborne approximately 11:20, I believe, in Air Force 1. I was in the aft compartment, which is part of the residential compartment, and we arrived in Dallas at 11:40.
Mr. Specter.
Would you describe, in a general way, what the President and Mrs. Kennedy did upon arrival in Dallas?
Mr. Hill.
They debarked the rear ramp of the aircraft first, followed by Governor and Mrs. Connally, various Congressmen and Senators. And Special Agent in Charge Kellerman and myself went down the ramp. There was a small reception committee at the foot of the ramp, and somebody gave Mrs. Kennedy some red roses, I recall. I walked immediately to the followup car and placed my topcoat, which is a raincoat, and small envelope containing some information concerning the Dallas stop in the followup car, returning to where the President and Mrs. Kennedy were at that time greeting a crippled lady in a wheelchair.
Mr. Specter.
What do you estimate the size of the crowd to have been at Dallas that morning?
Mr. Hill.
At the airport?
Mr. Specter.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Hill.
It is rather difficult to say. They were behind a chain-link fence, not on the airport ramp itself, and they were jammed up against the fence
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