Dec. 3, 1963 | Secret Service Agent Clint Hill Commended for Heroism

Dec. 3, 1963 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, wearing the same simple black suit which she wore during the funeral services for her husband last week, looked on today as a Secret Service agent, Clinton J. Hill, received the Treasury Department’s highest award for “exceptional bravery” in the assassination attack on President Kennedy. With other members of the Kennedy family, she came to watch Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon present a gold medal and citation to the agent. Mr. Hill made no comment but shook hands with Mr. Dillon after accepting the award. Mr. Dillon said Mr. Hill’s actions added luster to the “great tradition of courage and heroism” of the Secret Service, which comes under his department. The citation said Mr. Hill had been standing on the running board of a Secret Service car just behind the Presidential limousine when the assassin fired his first shot in Dallas on Nov. 22. With the bullets still being fired, the citation noted, Mr. Hill “climbed on the rear of the President’s rapidly moving limousine and shielded the President and Mrs. Kennedy with his own body.” Mr. Hill, 31 years old, served three years in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps. He joined the Secret Service in September 1958 and was transferred to the White House detail in the Eisenhower Administration. About 75 persons, many of them fellow agents, witnessed today’s ceremony and applauded Mr. Hill, who has been assigned to remain on duty with Mrs. Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy plans to move out of the White House Friday, when she is expected to move into the Georgetown home of W. Averell Harriman. No date has as yet been set for President Johnson and his family to move into the White House.

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