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Rufus Youngblood

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Rufus Youngblood in his official Secret Service portrait. 

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The Youngblood Family 

Early Life

Rufus Wayne Youngblood was born in Georgia on January 13, 1924 and grew up mostly near Atlanta. He graduated high school in 1941 at the age of 17 and spent several months enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he went on to become a waist gunner in the Eighth Air Force. He earned both a Purple Heart and an Air Medal before the war ended. 

In 1943, he married his high school sweetheart Peggy. After the war, they settled again in Atlanta where Youngblood earned a degree from Georgia Tech in industrial engineering, and they began their family (see picture at left) which eventually grew to include four children! 

He joined the Atlanta branch of the United States Secret Service (USSS) in March of 1951, and in 1952 he was transferred to Washington D.C. This began his career working with and protecting the nation's leaders. 

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The contents of the first half of the Presiential motorcade. 

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President Johnson and Ladu Bird Johnson speak with Youngblood after arriving at the White House after Kennedy's death. 

The Assassination 

The Morning  

Youngblood arrived on the Vice Presidential Plane (Air Force 2) at 11:35am CST on the morning of November 22, 1963. The Vice President and his detail arrived before the President but waited for him to arrive before going to meet the dignitaries and get in the vehicles. The vehicles left Love Field at approximately 11:50am CST. 

The Motorcade and the Hospital 

The motorcade (see the NARA record at right) was on its way to the Trade Mart in Dallas and had just made its way through the congested downtown crowds at 12:30 pm CST. The Vice Presidential car, which Youngblood was riding in along with VP Johnson, his wife Lady Bird, Senator Yarborough, and the driver Herschel Jacks, was about two lengths behind the Presidential follow up car when the first shot rang out.  

This is when Youngblood remembers hearing an "explosion" and immediately shielded the Vice President with his body as the remaining shots rang out. He says in his testimony,

"I turned in my seat and with my left arm grasped and shoved the Vice President, at his right shoulder, down and toward Mrs. Johnson and Senator Yarborough...I quickly looked all around again and could see nothing to shoot at, so I stepped over into the back seat and sat on top of the Vice President."

Youngblood's heroism of shielding the Vice-President with his body was something that Lyndon Johnson did not forget and earned Youngblood notoriety, though he refused pomp and circumstance. 

After the initial threat was over and it had been established that President Kennedy had been severely injured, Youngblood and his car followed the rest of the motorcade to the nearest hospital. He never left Johnson's side while in the hospital and was with him when they found out the news that President Kennedy had died. 

Youngblood made all the arrangements for Vice President (now almost President) Johnson to leave the hospital and get back to Love Field and board Air Force One. 

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Part of Youngblood's written testimony where he outlines Johnson taking the Oath of Office. 

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The closing portion of Youngblood's written testimony.

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A graphic showing the 85 most used terms in Youngblood's written testimony. 

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LBJ and Youngblood attending the burial of JFK.

Air Force One and the Oath

Once on the plane from the hospital, arrangements were made for Vice President Johnson to take the Oath of Office.

To the left is the text of part of Youngblood's written testimony to the Secret Service in December of 1963. It reads: 

"When Judge Hughes arrived, the oath was administered, and Cecil Stoughton, White House photographer, took photos of this event. His photos show most of those who witnessed this event within the stateroom and thru the passageway door leading to the front of the plane. There were some other witnesses who were not in the pictures since we were on the side of the stateroom where the photographer was. These persons included myself,  an Air Force steward, and an agent who was stationed at the rear of the plane with the President's body."

The second half (bottom left) reads: 

"The oath of office was administered at approximately 2:40 p.m., CST. Judge Hughes and Chief Curry disembarked from the plane, and the plane was airborne from Love Field, Dallas, at 2:47 p.m., CST, enroute to Andrews Air Force Base.

 The foregoing account of events is true and accurate to the best of my recollections."

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JFK with Youngblood on his right. 

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Inscription from LBJ to Youngblood. 

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The cover of Rufus Youngblood's memoir, first published in 1974.

After the Assassination

Five Presidents 

In his twenty year tenure as a Secret Service Agent, Youngblood served under five presidents. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy (see picture at left), Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. His closest relationship seems to have been with Johnson, which after sharing the trauma of Kennedy's assassination together seems to make sense. In the photo on the left is a picture of Johnson and Youngblood signed by Johnson that reads: "To Rufus, My protector and always my friend." This is an extremely affectionate message to be coming from the president. 

In 1965, Youngblood became the head of the Presidential detail, and then in 1969 became deputy director of the Secret Service. He retired under President Nixon in 1971, after he reached his twentieth year of service.

Soon after this retirement in 1974, Youngblood published a memoir entitled 20 Years in the Secret Service: My Life with Five Presidents (see photo at left), which would eventually be edited and re-published by his youngest daughter Rebecca Youngblood Vaughn.    

Later Life

After his retirement, he and his wife returned to Georgia, where he became a real estate agent, and by all accounts a master gardener. He passed away in September 1996 due to complications brought on by a life time of smoking that culminated in lung cancer. 

Rufus Youngblood left behind a legacy of heroism, intelligence, modesty, and stellar loyalty that is remembered in the Secret Service and history to this day.

Works Cited

Vandenberg, Jack. “Agent Describes Role of Shielding Johnson.” The New York Times,
     November, 28 1963. news.google.com/newspapers    
     id=YEMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XCMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4637%2C4145342.
Vaughn, Rebecca Y. “20 Years in Secret Service by Rufus W. Youngblood.” 20 Years in
     Secret Service by Rufus W. Youngblood, Rebecca Vaughn, 2017,
     www.rufusyoungblood.com/.
Youngblood, Rufus W. 20 Years in the Secret Service: My Life with Five Presidents. New
     York: Simon and Schuster, 1973.