We knew when we began writing this book that it was going to be an enormous undertaking. As with our previous two books, our overriding concern was to present a factual account to preserve history, while also abiding by the Secret Service pledge to be worthy of trust and confidence. We are extremely grateful to retired Secret Service agents Paul Rundle, Dick Keiser, Bill Livingood, Ron Pontius, Win Lawson, Jim Hardin, Johnny Guy, Bob Melchiori, Jim Burke, Walt Coughlin, Tom Wells, Ken Giannoules, Chuck Zboril, Toby Chandler, Ken Wiesman, Rad Jones, the late P. Hamilton “Ham” Brown, the late Jerry Parr; former agents Paul Landis, Jerry Blaine, and Sue Ann Baker; and Army helicopter pilot Pete Rice for graciously providing insight, perspective, and corroboration with Clint’s memories.
We offer heartfelt thanks to Tom and Edwina Johnson for relating your own special memories of LBJ and allowing us to include them. We so appreciate your friendship and boundless generosity.
Likewise, we are grateful to Sid Davis and Muriel Dobbin for sharing the wonderful story of the night President Johnson took them up to the Lincoln bedroom. To you and the rest of the esteemed group of former White House correspondents—Bill Sheehan, Marianne Means, George Watson, and Carl Leubsdorf—we sincerely appreciate being honorary members in your exclusive Washington lunch club, and for your ongoing support, friendship, and encouragement.
Our research included visits to several presidential libraries—all of which have wonderful staffs dedicated to the preservation of history. Sifting through the enormous amounts of material would have been impossible without the help of the following people: at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas—Tim Rives, Kathy Struss, and Valoise Armstrong; at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas—director Mark Updegrove, Margaret Harman, and Christopher Banks; at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts—former director Tom Putnam, Laurie Austin, and MaryRose Grossman; Jon Fletcher at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California; and Elizabeth Druga at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
We are grateful to our bright, hardworking intern Katie O’Neill, who eagerly helps with a multitude of tasks both big and small. And a very special thanks to Wyman Harris for your ceaseless enthusiasm, keen historical perspective, and generous donation of time.
This book would not have happened at all without the guidance and support of our outstanding team at Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster. To Mitchell Ivers, we can’t imagine a more dedicated editor, and we hope you know how much we truly appreciate your willing consultation and advice every step of the way. Thank you to Louise Burke and Jen Bergstrom for believing in us, and to Jen Robinson for your tireless efforts with publicity. To Natasha Simons, Jennifer Long, Theresa Dooley, Susan Rella, Alexandre Su, Lisa Litwack, Ella Laytham, Liz Psaltis, and Akasha Archer, we are grateful for each of your efforts behind the scenes to help make this a book of which we are very proud.
Finally, we would like to thank all of the people around the world who have sent Facebook messages, tweets, and handwritten letters. Your support and encouragement means more than you can imagine.