Most Popular Books by Lisa McCubbin

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Five Presidents and The Kennedy Detail comes the definitive biography of Betty Ford, tracing the extraordinary journey of a First Lady who transformed personal struggle into national change and reshaped how America talks about women’s health, addiction, and equality. Raised as a Midwestern girl far from the spotlight, Betty Ford was thrust onto the world stage when her husband, Gerald Ford, unexpectedly assumed the presidency. As First Lady, Betty defied convention, speaking openly about issues that had long been considered taboo—breast cancer, depression, abortion, and sexuality—while championing the Equal Rights Amendment and women’s rights at a time when few public figures dared to do so. Behind the scenes, Betty faced her own private crisis. After a family intervention, she confronted her addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs and made the unprecedented decision to speak publicly about recovery. Her honesty sparked a national conversation and led to the founding of the Betty Ford Center in 1982, forever changing the treatment of addiction and the cultural understanding of recovery. Drawing on intimate interviews with her children, Susan Ford Bales and Steven Ford, as well as friends, colleagues, and family members, this deeply researched biography also illuminates Betty’s enduring love story with Gerald Ford—a partnership built on mutual respect, loyalty, and devotion that lasted a lifetime. Vivid, compassionate, and deeply human, this book captures the life of a First Lady whose courage left an indelible mark on American history.

"Sparked by long-forgotten gifts and memorabilia discovered in an old trunk, the now ninety-year-old Hill reminisces about private moments, shared laughs, and crazy adventures with one of the world''s most iconic women during her time as First Lady, and the excruciating year following the assassination of her husband. After all, he notes that ''when you travel with someone, you experience things that can''t be fully appreciated by anyone who wasn''t there''"--

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir by Clint Hill that Kirkus Reviews called “clear and honest prose free from salaciousness and gossip,” Jackie Kennedy’s personal Secret Service agent details his very close relationship with the First Lady during the four years leading up to and following President John F. Kennedy’s tragic assassination. In those four years, Hill was by Mrs. Kennedy’s side for some of the happiest moments as well as the darkest. He was there for the birth of John, Jr. on November 25, 1960, as well as for the birth and sudden death of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy on August 8, 1963. Three and a half months later, the unthinkable happened. Forty-seven years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the one vivid image that never leaves Clint Hill’s mind is that of President Kennedy’s head lying on Mrs. Kennedy’s lap in the back seat of the limousine, his eyes fixed, blood splattered all over the back of the car, Mrs. Kennedy, and Hill as well. Sprawled on the trunk of the car as it sped away from Dealey Plaza, Hill clung to the sides of the car, his feet wedged in so his body was as high as possible. Clint Hill jumped on the car too late to save the president, but all he knew after that first shot was that if more shots were coming, the bullets had to hit him instead of the First Lady. Mrs. Kennedy’s strength, class, and dignity over those tragic four days in November 1963 held the country together. This is the story, told for the first time, of the man who perhaps held her together.

Secret Service agent Clint Hill tells the stories behind the iconic images of those five infamous, tragic days surrounding JFK s assassination, published for the 50th anniversary of his death.

The New York Times bestselling and extraordinary true story of the critical events leading up to and following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as told by the Secret Service agents who were firsthand witnesses to one of America’s greatest tragedies. The Secret Service. An elite team of men who share a single mission: to protect the president of the United States. On November 22, 1963, these men failed—and a country would never be the same. Now, for the first time, a member of JFK’s Secret Service detail reveals the inside story of the assassination, the weeks and days that led to it and its heartrending aftermath. This extraordinary book is a moving, intimate portrait of dedication, courage, and loss. Drawing on the memories of his fellow agents, Jerry Blaine captures the energetic, crowd-loving young president, who banned agents from his car and often plunged into raucous crowds with little warning. He describes the careful planning that went into JFK’s Texas swing, the worries and concerns that agents, working long hours with little food or rest, had during the trip. And he describes the intensely private first lady making her first-ever political appearance with her husband, just months after losing a newborn baby. Here are vivid scenes that could come only from inside the Kennedy detail: JFK’s last words to his tearful son when he left Washington for the last time; how a sudden change of weather led to the choice of the open-air convertible limousine that day; Mrs. Kennedy standing blood-soaked outside a Dallas hospital room; the sudden interruption of six-year-old Caroline’s long-anticipated sleepover with a friend at home; the exhausted team of agents immediately reacting to the president’s death with a shift to LBJ and other key governmental figures; the agents’ dismay at Jackie’s decision to walk openly from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the state funeral. Most of all, this is a look into the lives of men who devoted their entire beings to protecting the presidential family: the stress of the secrecy they kept, the emotional bonds that developed, the terrible impact on agents’ psyches and families, and their astonishment at the country’s obsession with far-fetched conspiracy theories and finger-pointing. A book fifty years in coming, The Kennedy Detail is a portrait of incredible camaraderie and incredible heartbreak—a true, must-read story of heroism in its most complex and human form.

Originally published in hardcover in 2016 by Gallery Books.

Enhanced with stunning videos and photographs throughout, illustrating the impact of Kennedy’s presidency and death, the true story of the critical events leading up to and following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, in full for the first time by the Secret Service agents who were firsthand witnesses to one of America’s greatest tragedies, and have lived for forty-seven years with unresolved guilt and grief. Drawing on the memories of his fellow agents, Jerry Blaine captures the energetic, crowd-loving young president, who banned agents from his car and often plunged into raucous crowds with little warning. Here are vivid scenes that could come only from inside the Kennedy detail: JFK’s last words to his tearful son when he left Washington for the last time; how a sudden change of weather led to the choice of the open-air convertible limousine that day; Mrs. Kennedy standing blood-soaked outside a Dallas hospital room; the sudden interruption of six-year-old Caroline’s long-anticipated sleepover with a friend at home; the exhausted team of agents immediately reacting to the president’s death with a shift to LBJ and other key governmental figures; the agents’ dismay at Jackie’s decision to walk openly from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the state funeral. Most of all, this is a look into the lives of men who devoted their entire beings to protecting the presidential family: the stress of the secrecy they kept, the emotional bonds that developed, the terrible impact on agents’ psyches and families, and their astonishment at the country’s obsession with far-fetched conspiracy theories and finger-pointing. A book fifty years in coming, The Kennedy Detail is a portrait of incredible camaraderie and incredible heartbreak—a true, must-read story of heroism in its most complex and human form.

Während er sich darauf vorbereitet, sein Haus zu verkaufen, entdeckt der pensionierte Geheimdienstagent Clint Hill einen alten Überseekoffer in der Garage. Als er und seine Frau Lisa McCubbin diesen zum ersten Mal seit fünfzig Jahren öffnen, finden sie vergessene Fotos, handgeschriebene Notizen, persönliche Geschenke und wertvolle Erinnerungsstücke von den Reisen, auf denen Hill First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy begleitete und die sie von Paris nach London, durch Indien, Pakistan, Griechenland, Marokko, Mexiko und Südamerika führten. In seinem neuesten Buch erzählt er zum ersten Mal von der Tiefe ihrer Beziehung, von besonderen Momenten, privaten Lachern, den wilden Abenteuern und der tiefen Zuneigung, die zwischen ihnen bestand. Auch enthüllt Hill, wie er Jackie Kennedy nach der Ermordung von Präsident John F. Kennedy im November 1963 beschützte – und wie ihnen die Reisen beim Heilen halfen. »Meine Reisen mit Mrs. Kennedy« offenbart eine persönliche Seite der Geschichte, wie sie noch nie zuvor erzählt wurde, und lässt das Leben einer der ikonischsten und schönsten Frauen des 20. Jahrhunderts atemberaubend Revue passieren.