After 47 years, members of the Secret Service detail tasked with protecting President John F. Kennedy broke their silence in Gaston Hall last night.

At the Georgetown University Library and Lecture Fund co-sponsored event, former Secret Service agent Gerald Blaine shared his memories of the Kennedy security detail.

Blaine, along with journalist Lisa McCubbin, wrote The Kennedy Detail to provide the agents’ story of the Kennedy administration and of the assassination. The Discovery Channel plans to air a special—produced by Kenneth Atchity (COL ’65)—based on the book.

McCubbin moderated a panel discussion of Kennedy Secret Service agents that featured Blaine, Ron Pontius, Win Lawson, Tom Wells, and Clint Hill, who is known for jumping onto the back of Kennedy’s limousine after he was shot in Dallas.

Between clips from the upcoming special, the agents offered their insight about the Secret Service, the Kennedy family, and the assassination of the president. Blaine said that none of the agents ever talked to each other about the assassination during their time with the Secret Service.

“We had a responsibility to go to work. We had to work twice as hard because we had a new president and we had just lost a president,” he said.

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