SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — A new memoir released Tuesday details one local Northeast Ohio man's life as a U.S. Secret Service agent, including new details from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Paul Landis has lived in Northeast Ohio for more than 30 years; however, it's his time protecting the Eisenhower grandchildren, the Kennedy kids and eventually the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy, that is the subject of "The Final Witness."
"That's the best job I ever had," he said. "I was fortunate to be there when I was, and I was unfortunate to be there in Dallas when I was."
For the 88-year-old Shaker Heights resident, it took a long time to open up about his years as a Secret Service agent following the assassination of JFK.
The agent, code-named “Debut” for his young age, was riding in the car right behind President Kennedy and the First Lady in Dallas when the president was shot.
‘’I had terrible nightmares after that assassination," Landis said. "I had been looking at the president when the third shot hit him in the head, and the vision of everything happening, it was a loop over and over. I took that baggage with me wherever I went."
For much of what happened after, Agent Landis can be seen near the former First Lady, from LBJ being sworn in as president to the funeral of the former president.
Beforehand, Landis said he collapsed and cried on the plane and was told by a colleague, 'C'mon Paul - you got to see this, you’re witnessing history.'
"And my thought was I've seen enough history for the day," Landis recounted.
In Landis’s newly released book, his account differs from the official version of the day Kennedy was killed.
Investigators determined what’s known as the "Magic Bullet Theory," that one shooter fired all the shots, and one bullet entered JFK, then entered Texas Governor John Connally's right shoulder, struck his rib, exited his chest and continued through his right wrist and into his left thigh.
Investigators came to the conclusion in part because the bullet was found on a stretcher for the Texas governor, assuming it had exited his body.
But Paul Landis never told his story and spoke to investigators. He told News 5 that he wrote a report about what happened but omitted how he moved the bullet to a gurney after he found it lodged in the back of the limousine, and he didn’t want it to get lost.
"I didn’t want that to disappear," Landis said. "It was an important piece of evidence. And with the stress and everything, I have tried to analyze all the things, and I can’t really answer. You had to be there to know how bad and how stressful and the chaos that was going on."
Landis doesn’t subscribe to the conspiracy theories out there but admits he wishes he had spoken up earlier about what he remembers from that day.
"I don't know if it will change the conclusions [of the Warren Commission]," he said. "It’s just another bit of information that they can take and go back and reexamine everything."
Agent Landis left the Secret Service not long after and retreated to a quieter life away from it all.
"It was still painful to think about or talk about, and that's why I never talked to anyone about the assassination for 45 years," Landis added. "I wasn’t trying to hide anything; it was just something I did, and unfortunately, I never said anything about it until now. I never read anything. The assassination was so hard for me that I just buried everything in the back of my mind."
Landis admits the mental damage done after the assassination cut short his career with the Secret Service.
"At that time, I was a committed agent, and that would have been my career," he said.
"The Final Witness" is available through most major book retailers and can be purchased here.
"My quiet life has disappeared," he said.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
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