"President Kennedy made a decision, and he politely told everybody, 'You know, we're starting the campaign now, and the people are my asset'. And so, we all of a sudden understood. It left a firm command to stay off the back of the car," said agent Jerry Blaine.
Blaine's revelations, and from other JFK's secret service agents in a forthcoming book, 'The Kennedy Detail' reveal how challenging the charismatic president could be to protect and how shaken his murder left those whose job it was to keep him safe, the 'Discovery News' reported.
Now, 47 years after the 35th US President was fatally shot on November 22, 1963, his bodyguards are sharing their memories about a charismatic man, his glamorous family, and a tragic ending.
"It was an assault on our country, on every single thing that we stand for. It was a thing that just must not be allowed to happen. And we were supposed to prevent it. And we failed. In our work, and in military work and things like that, you either get the job done or you don't.
"There are very few excuses. You can always say 'Well, you know, it would have been a nice picnic if it didn't rain, but it rained'. And it rained on us. And so we lost a symbol of our country," said agent Toby Chandler, who was giving a speech to trainee agents when the news came in from Dallas.