From 20 Feet Away, an Agent Thought Kennedy Was Just Turning Toward a Noise
Paul Landis mistook the first shot for a reaction to noise, then saw the president's head split open just feet away.
Who Killed JFK? · The Secret Service Agent Who Witnessed it All [BONUS]The motorcade had just turned onto Elm Street in Dallas, and the two open cars were beginning to line up one behind the other. Paul Landis, a 28-year-old Secret Service agent, was riding outside the follow-up car agents called halfback, on a small platform at its right rear, directly behind President John F. Kennedy's limousine.
Then came the first sharp sound. Landis looked at Kennedy, who leaned a little to his left and raised his arms. Landis did not think the president had been hurt. He thought Kennedy was simply reacting to the noise and turning to see where it came from.
That calm misreading is what makes what happened next so stark. From no more than 15 to 20 feet away, Landis had an almost unobstructed view of a presidential assassination as it unfolded over a few seconds, moving from confusion to catastrophe.
Still convinced the sound had come from behind and to his right, Landis turned and looked over his right shoulder. He saw nothing. He looked down over the grassy hill beside the road that later became known as the grassy knoll, a small grassy rise beside the road, and across the top of the railroad underpass the motorcade was approaching.
As he happened to look back toward the president, he heard a second shot, then very soon a third. Landis said, "I saw the President's head split wide open. A mist of blood and flesh and brain matter flew into the air." The spray drifted toward him.
Landis ducked to avoid being splattered. The cars zoomed under the underpass, and the motorcade raced for Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Dallas emergency hospital where doctors would try to save the president's life.
Questions people ask
How close is 15 to 20 feet?
It is very close, about the length of one large car or a little more. At that distance, a person can see facial expressions and small movements clearly. For Landis, it meant the spray from the fatal shot came toward him.
Why was an agent riding on the outside of a car?
Secret Service agents often rode on running boards and rear platforms during motorcades so they could watch the crowd and jump off quickly. The outside perch gave Landis a raised, open view of the president's car and the street. It also left him fully exposed to what happened.
What happened when they reached Parkland Hospital?
Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital tried to resuscitate Kennedy in Trauma Room 1, but his head wound was not survivable. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, about 30 minutes after the shooting. Texas Gov. John Connally, who was also wounded in the limousine, survived.