First published 2010
Gerald Blaine opens the vault on one of America's most guarded secrets. As a member of President Kennedy's Secret Service detail, Blaine witnessed the careful planning for the Texas trip, the agents' growing concerns, and the split second decisions that shaped November 22, 1963. He reveals how weather changes led to the fatal choice of an open convertible, how JFK's love of crowds constantly challenged his protection, and how Jackie Kennedy made her first political appearance while still grieving a lost baby. Blaine draws on fellow agents' memories to reconstruct the motorcade, the frantic hospital scene, and the immediate aftermath as his team shifted to protecting LBJ. The book exposes the human cost of that day on the men sworn to take a bullet for the president. It shows their families torn apart by secrecy, their psyches scarred by failure, and their frustration with conspiracy theories that ignored the simple, devastating truth they carried alone for decades.
Genres: history, 20th-century, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-account, true-story
Setting: Texas
Period: 1963
427 pages · Hardcover · Gallery Books