The previous bodyguard of John F Kennedy has dismissed conspiracy theories surrounding the 1963 assassination of the US President.
Talking after greater than 13,000 unredacted paperwork have been launched by the US authorities, Clint Hill, now 90, mentioned there’s ‘no truth’ and solely ‘guess work’ in different theories about who shot his former boss.
The previous Secret Service agent advised BBC Radio 4’s In the present day Programme that killer Lee Harvey Oswald was ‘merely on the proper place on the proper time with the fitting gear’.
Kennedy was shot within the head by Oswald throughout a go to to Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, as he was being pushed by town along with his spouse Jackie in an open-top automobile.
The previous bodyguard of John F Kennedy has dismissed conspiracy theories surrounding the 1963 assassination of the US President. Talking after greater than 13,000 unredacted paperwork have been launched by the US authorities, Clint Hill (proven prime proper), now 90, mentioned there’s ‘no truth’ and solely ‘guess work’ in different theories about who shot his former boss
The previous Secret Service agent advised BBC Radio 4’s In the present day Programme that killer Lee Harvey Oswald (pictured after being arrested) was ‘merely on the proper place on the proper time with the fitting gear’
Mr Hill was using on the Secret Service automobile straight behind the President’s limousine, which was additionally carrying Texas governor John Connally and his spouse Nellie.
After the motorcade handed the Texas Faculty E book Depository, Oswald – who was hiding in a sixth-floor window – fired on the President.
One shot hit him within the neck, while one other – which was deadly – struck him within the head.
Mr Hill was famously seen scrambling to guard the President after the primary shot was fired, however didn’t attain him in time.
Mr Hill, now 90, retired in 1975 (file picture)
Mr Hill mentioned: ‘I heard an explosive noise over my proper shoulder from the rear. I did not recognise precisely what it was at first, so I began to show towards the noise to see if I may determine it. I noticed President Kennedy seize at his neck. He began to fall to his left.
‘In realised that what I had heard was a gunshot. I jumped from my place from the follow-up automobile, operating as quick as I may in the direction of the Presidential automobile, with the intention of getting on prime of the again of the automobile to type a defend or barricade there to guard each President and Mrs Kennedy.
‘Sadly simply earlier than I obtained there, one other shot was fired and it the President within the head and it was a deadly wound.’
Mr Hill mentioned he has been requested ‘hundreds of occasions’ about what actually occurred as conspiracy theorists have questioned the official conclusion reached by the Warren Fee, which discovered that Oswald acted alone.
‘If you say conspiracy theories, that sums it up, the phrase theories, there is no truth concerned, it’s strictly guess work,’ Mr Hill added.
Mr Hill was famously seen scrambling to guard the President after the primary shot was fired, however didn’t attain him in time. Above: The bodyguard climbs on to the again of the limousine to push Jackie Kennedy down as she tried to climb out
Requested if any of the 13,173 unredacted paperwork that have been launched yesterday by President Joe Biden will yield any new insights into Kennedy’s loss of life, Mr Hill mentioned: ‘I actually do not assume there’s any extra essential info on the market.
‘I believe that every little thing that has been launched is about as a lot that you’ll get. I do not assume that there is something left of any significance.’
He mentioned he additionally believes that, ‘nothing’ may have stopped the assassination from occurring, due to ‘the way in which this one developed’.
Within the moments instantly after Kennedy’s capturing, Jackie was seen climbing out of the again seat, earlier than Mr Hill pushed her again into the automobile.
She later had no recollection of climbing out of the automobile, though Hill has beforehand mentioned she could have been attempting to retrieve a bit of her husband’s cranium.
Connally was severely wounded within the assassination, with a bullet that had handed by Kennedy fracturing his rib, puncturing certainly one of his lungs and shattering his wrist.
Afterwards, Oswald, who labored on the faculty ebook depository, shot useless Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit as he tried to depart the world.
After Kennedy’s loss of life, Mr Hill labored as Jackie Kennedy’s bodyguard, after which labored for Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson.
Mr Hill (seen standing, carrying solar glasses) was using on one of many operating boards of the Secret Service automobile straight behind the President’s limousine, which was additionally carrying Texas governor John Connally and his spouse Nellie. Above: Mr Kennedy smiles at crowds
He went on to guard Richard Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew earlier than turning into the assistant director of the Secret Service’s safety workforce. He retired in 1975.
Oswald was himself shot useless by nightclub proprietor Jack Ruby simply two days after Kennedy’s killing.
Ruby later insisted that he killed Oswald to avoid wasting Mrs Kennedy the ordeal of going by a trial.
Others have speculated that Ruby killed Oswald on behalf of organised crime. Ruby handed away in 1967 from pneumonia.
President Biden issued an govt order yesterday authorising the publication of the unredacted paperwork.
‘Pursuant to my path, companies have undertaken a complete effort to assessment the total set of just about 16,000 information that had beforehand been launched in redacted type and decided that greater than 70 p.c of these information could now be launched in full,’ he mentioned.
After Kennedy’s loss of life, Mr Hill labored as Jackie Kennedy’s bodyguard, after which labored for Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson. Above: The pair are seen in August 1962 on the crusing yacht ‘Agneta’
‘This important disclosure displays my administration’s dedication to transparency and can present the American public with better perception and understanding of the federal government’s investigation into this tragic occasion in American historical past.’
Tons of extra paperwork nonetheless stay beneath wraps nonetheless, however a CIA spokesman mentioned 95 p.c of the recordsdata had now been launched in full.
A number of the recordsdata do shed extra mild on how the CIA had been observing Oswald, a former US marine, since 1960.
In September 1963, he visited the Soviet Union’s embassy in Mexico Metropolis. He had defected to Russia in 1959, however returned to the US three years later.
His affiliation with the Soviet Union led to hypothesis that Russian figures could have been concerned in Kennedy’s killing.
Nevertheless, the newly launched recordsdata reveal how the KGB – the Soviet Union’s feared intelligence service – thought of Oswald to be ‘loopy’ and claimed to have had no contact with him after he returned to the US.
