The Final Witness: A Kennedy Secret Service Agent's Story After Sixty Years

On November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, the course of history was forever altered. As shots rang out at Dealey Plaza, the president was struck in the head by a rifle bullet, plunging the nation into a state of confusion. Special Agent Paul Landis, who was in the follow-up car directly behind JFK's limousine, was one of the first to arrive at the scene.

Landis found himself inside Trauma Room #1 at Parkland Memorial Hospital, where the president was pronounced dead. He then accompanied the president's casket on the flight back to Washington, DC, on Air Force One, bearing witness to Lyndon Johnson's swearing-in as the new commander-in-chief.

The images and events of that fateful day were indelibly imprinted upon Landis' psyche. He dutifully wrote and filed his report, but to his surprise, he was never called to testify before the Warren Commission, the body tasked with investigating the assassination. The one person who could have provided key answers to the many lingering questions was never asked to share his firsthand account.

Haunted by the nightmares from Dallas, Landis resigned from the Secret Service by mid-1964, unable to reconcile the trauma he had experienced. It wasn't until the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination that Landis finally began to open up about his experiences, reading his first books on the subject and immersing himself in the raging conspiracy theories that had emerged in the decades since.

As Landis delved deeper into the assassination's historiography, he came to a realization: the conspiracy theories, though captivating, were fundamentally flawed. The true story, the one he had witnessed firsthand, was being obscured by a web of speculation and misinformation.

Landis' unique perspective, forged in the crucible of that tragic day in Dallas, offered a rare and invaluable insight into the events that shook the nation to its core. His refusal to remain silent, even decades later, served as a testament to the enduring power of eyewitness accounts in the face of historical revisionism.

Through his willingness to share his story, Landis hoped to shed light on the true nature of the assassination, cutting through the noise of conspiracy theories and providing a glimpse into the chaos and confusion that engulfed the country on that fateful November day. His voice, long silenced, had now found its way to the forefront of the ongoing debate, offering a new and essential perspective on one of the most pivotal moments in American history.

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