While preparing to sell his home in Alexandria, Virginia, retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill uncovers an old steamer trunk in the garage, triggering a floodgate of memories. As he and Lisa McCubbin, his coauthor on three previous books, pry it open for the first time in 50 years, they find forgotten photos, handwritten notes, personal gifts and treasured mementos from the trips on which Hill accompanied First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as her Secret Service agent. During these journeys, Jacqueline Kennedy became one of her husband’s --- and America’s --- greatest assets; in Hill’s words and the opinion of many others, she was “one of the best ambassadors the United States has ever had.”

Setting a precedent as First Lady, Betty Ford refused to be silenced by her critics as she publicly championed equal rights for women, and spoke out about issues that had previously been taboo --- breast cancer, depression, abortion and sexuality. Privately, there were signs something was wrong. After a painful intervention by her family, she admitted to an addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. Her courageous decision to speak out publicly sparked a national dialogue, and in 1982 she co-founded the Betty Ford Center, which revolutionized treatment for alcoholism and inspired the modern concept of recovery.

After an extraordinary career as a Special Agent on the White House Detail, Clint Hill retired in 1975. His career spanned the administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. A witness to some of the most pivotal moments in the 20th century, Hill lets you walk in his shoes alongside the most powerful men in the world during tumultuous times in America’s history --- the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Nixon.

On the night JFK was assassinated, 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. Now Secret Service Agent Clint Hill commemorates the 50th anniversary of the tragedy with a book containing more than 150 photos, each accompanied by Hill’s insider account of those terrible days.