Former Kennedy Detail SSA Paul Landis Interviewed by ABC News, Cleveland

JFK secret service agent breaks his silence on assassination of president 48 years ago

By Leon Bibb, newsnet5.com

http://www.abc2news.com



CLEVELAND - A former U.S. presidential secret service agent, who was with President John Kennedy the day the president was assassinated, now walks the quiet halls of the Western Reserve Historical Society, a Cleveland museum dedicated to the history of Northeast Ohio.

Paul Landis was in Dallas as part of the Kennedy secret service detail November 22, 1963, when bullets flashed through the sunlit Texas air, striking the president, killing him.

"I heard the gunshot," said Landis. "It came over my right shoulder."

Landis was within a few feet of the presidential limousine, the top of which had been removed at the president's request. Movies of that day show Landis and several other secret service agents trailing the limousine as each man watched for any unusual movement in the crowds of people who had lined Dallas streets to get a view of the nation's chief executive.

Landis said when he heard the first shot, his eyes turned toward where he thought the shot had originated. Still searching the crowd, there came another shot in quick succession.

"And when my eyes came back to the president again, it was a third shot and that was the one that hit him in the head," Landis remembered.

Dressed in a blue sweater with an shirt underneath, Landis sat quietly in one of the rooms of the Western Reserve Historical Society, where he has worked as a security guard for many years. Without emotion, he told the story of how he had joined the Secret Service.

Read Paul Landis' Entire Interview Here

Agents of The Kennedy Detail

PAUL E. LANDIS, JR.

Paul Landis grew up in Worthington, Ohio, and earned a degree in geology from Ohio Wesleyan University. After college, Landis signed up with the Air National Guard and joined the Secret Service field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1959.

Special Agent Landis' first protection assignment was with the Eisenhower grandchildren, then Landis was transferred to the Children's Detail early in President Kennedy's administration, followed by the First Lady's Detail with Special Agent in Charge Clint Hill. Along with Special Agent Tom Wells and Special Agent in Charge Clint Hill, Special Agent Landis often traveled with Mrs. Kennedy and her children to the family's homes in Rhode Island, Florida, Virginia and Massachusetts.


Paul Landis left the Secret Service shortly after President Kennedy's assassination.