Somebody had fired a shot at the President, and I had to get myself between the shooter and the President and Mrs. Kennedy. Nothing else mattered.
I had a great childhood. Even though I never had my own room - I shared the porch with my grandfather and kept my belongings in one drawer of a dresser that was jammed next to the piano - I never went hungry and was always supported by my family.
President Kennedy knew every agent by name. President Johnson knew many of us, but not as many as President Kennedy, probably.
President Lyndon Johnson was very, very unpredictable. We never knew for sure what he is going to do next, and he preferred to have it that way; if he could do something as a complete surprise, that was his preference.
The fact that President-elect Kennedy would be the first Catholic president did not sit well with many Americans. There was a fear that, as president, Kennedy's decisions would be based on his religion and dictated by the pope.