President Lyndon Johnson 'nearly shot dead' hours after JFK assassination -- President Lyndon Johnson was almost shot dead by an American secret service agent 14 hours after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it has emerged.
The near miss is described in a new book co-written by the agent, Gerald Blaine, who was stationed outside the new president's house in Washington the evening after the assassination in November 1963.
Lyndon B. Johnson, during his inauguration immediately after John F. Kennedy's assassination, with Jackie Kennedy by his side Photo: CORBIS
In the early hours of the next morning, Mr Blaine heard someone approaching and drew his Thompson submachine gun, the book, The Kennedy Detail, explains.
It adds: "He firmly pushed the stock into his shoulder, ready to fire.
"He'd expected the footsteps to retreat with the loud sound of the gun activating, but they kept coming closer. Blaine's heart pounded, his finger firmly on the trigger. Let me see your face, you -------.
"The next instant, there was a face to go with the footsteps. The new President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had just rounded the corner, and Blaine had the gun pointed directly at the man's chest. In the blackness of the night, Mr Johnson's face went completely white.
"A split second later, Blaine would have pulled the trigger," it goes on.
"Blaine struggled to regain his composure as the reality of what had just happened washed over him. Fourteen hours after losing a president, the nation had come chillingly close to losing another one."
Mr Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald as he was driven through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22. Despite several conclusive inquiries, his death remains the subject of elaborate conspiracy theories.
The book's foreword is written by Clint Hill, the secret service agent who jumped on to the back of the Mr Kennedy's car after the shooting to protect the President's wife, Jacqueline.
Mr Blaine writes: "Every man on the Kennedy Detail would re-live those six seconds in Dallas a million times over. For the rest of their lives, they would be defined by the assassination of JFK, questioned and blamed for failing to achieve the impossible.
He also attempts to refute a widely held notion that Mr Kennedy had an affair with Marilyn Monroe. He describes being on duty on May 19, 1962, the night when Monroe sang 'Happy Birthday' to Mr Kennedy at a Democratic Party fund-raiser at Madison Square Garden, New York.
Mr Blaine writes that while Monroe was indeed present in Mr Kennedy's suite at the Carlyle Hotel later that night, she "left before the other guests".
He also claims the pair were in the same place together on only one other occasion. ( telegraph.co.uk )
The near miss is described in a new book co-written by the agent, Gerald Blaine, who was stationed outside the new president's house in Washington the evening after the assassination in November 1963.
Lyndon B. Johnson, during his inauguration immediately after John F. Kennedy's assassination, with Jackie Kennedy by his side Photo: CORBIS
In the early hours of the next morning, Mr Blaine heard someone approaching and drew his Thompson submachine gun, the book, The Kennedy Detail, explains.
It adds: "He firmly pushed the stock into his shoulder, ready to fire.
"He'd expected the footsteps to retreat with the loud sound of the gun activating, but they kept coming closer. Blaine's heart pounded, his finger firmly on the trigger. Let me see your face, you -------.
"The next instant, there was a face to go with the footsteps. The new President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had just rounded the corner, and Blaine had the gun pointed directly at the man's chest. In the blackness of the night, Mr Johnson's face went completely white.
"A split second later, Blaine would have pulled the trigger," it goes on.
"Blaine struggled to regain his composure as the reality of what had just happened washed over him. Fourteen hours after losing a president, the nation had come chillingly close to losing another one."
Mr Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald as he was driven through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22. Despite several conclusive inquiries, his death remains the subject of elaborate conspiracy theories.
The book's foreword is written by Clint Hill, the secret service agent who jumped on to the back of the Mr Kennedy's car after the shooting to protect the President's wife, Jacqueline.
Mr Blaine writes: "Every man on the Kennedy Detail would re-live those six seconds in Dallas a million times over. For the rest of their lives, they would be defined by the assassination of JFK, questioned and blamed for failing to achieve the impossible.
He also attempts to refute a widely held notion that Mr Kennedy had an affair with Marilyn Monroe. He describes being on duty on May 19, 1962, the night when Monroe sang 'Happy Birthday' to Mr Kennedy at a Democratic Party fund-raiser at Madison Square Garden, New York.
Mr Blaine writes that while Monroe was indeed present in Mr Kennedy's suite at the Carlyle Hotel later that night, she "left before the other guests".
He also claims the pair were in the same place together on only one other occasion. ( telegraph.co.uk )
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