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FORGOTTEN WITNESS

Paul Landis

A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After 60 Years

The last eyewitness account to the JFK assassination. Once in a generation, a story comes out that sheds light on an event shrouded in darkness. FORGOTTEN WITNESS will no doubt be the final piece of the Kennedy story told first-hand by an eyewitness. As such, it is an important piece of history.
Books about JFK's assassination, marking 60 years in 2023, Historians place the assassination of John F. Kennedy among the biggest watershed events of the 20th century. Since that 1963 tragedy, more than 2,000 books have covered various aspects of the assassination and its aftermath. Some claim to solve the case, some obfuscate the conspiracy theories further, very few are by eyewitnesses. Agent Landis was in the trail car on that fateful November 1963 day. Here, for the first time, Landis will detail what he saw and what he did. His actions led to one of the greatest mysteries in American history, debated by experts and conspiracy theorists for over 50 years. He'll explain his long silence and reveal the truth once and for all. His story will be a headline-grabbing news event leading in to the 60th anniversary of the assassination. Looking for travel and excitement, Landis applies to the Secret Service. By July 1959, he is accepted, soon watching over Eisenhower's grandchildren at Ike's Gettysburg, PA residence. After Secret Service School in January 1961, he is assigned to his dream job - the White House, providing security for the young Kennedy children. In 1962 he travels with Mrs. Kennedy on her Jet Set trip to Italy. The following year it's off to Greece (and Aristotle Onassis) and Morocco, where Mrs. Kennedy announces that she will accompany her husband on his trip to Texas. Dallas. November 23, 1963. Shots ring out on Dealey Plaza. The president is struck in the head by a rifle bullet. Confusion reigns. Were there two shots? Three? Was there a shot fired from the front? And how did a bullet strike the president, then change direction and strike Texas Governor Connelly? Agent Landis is in the chase car directly behind JFK's and is at the president's limo as soon as it stops. He is inside Parkland Hospital, where the president is pronounced dead. He is on the plane with the president's casket back to Washington, D.C., an eyewitness to Lyndon Johnson taking the Oath of Office. What he saw is indelibly imprinted upon his psyche. He writes and files his report. And yet... Agent Landis is never called by the Warren Commission. The one person who could have supplied vital answers is never asked questions. By mid-1964, Landis can't take it anymore and resigns. It isn't until the 50th anniversary that he can even think, let alone talk about it. He begins reading books on the assassination for the first time. He learns about the raging conspiracy theoriesand realizes where they all go wrong. Realizes that he holds the key that will unlock a half-century of mysteries surrounding that fateful day in Dallas. Once in a generation, a story comes out that sheds light on an event shrouded in darkness. FORGOTTEN WITNESS will no doubt be the final piece of the Kennedy story told first-hand by an eyewitness. As such, it is an important piece of history.
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Published 2023-11-14 by Chicago Review Press

Comments

An inherently fascinating, memorable, and thought-provoking read from start to finish... must be considered as essential reading for anyone with an interest in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Japanese: Keiei Kagaku ; French: Hachette