Clint Hill, the United States Secret Service agent who jumped into the car as former President John F. Kennedy was being shot in Dallas and prevented a scrambling Jacqueline Kennedy from falling to the ground, has died.

According to The New York Times, Mr Hill died at his home in Belvedere, California, last Friday, but his death was only announced by his publicist, Jennifer Robinson, on Monday.

He was 93.

Although Mr Kennedy succumbed to the injuries he sustained in the assassination, Mr Hill was still commended for his bravery and credited with saving the life of the first lady.

“I think Special Agent Clinton Hill saved her life,” David Powers, an aide to Mr. Kennedy who was riding in the backup Secret Service car, later told the Warren Commission investigating the president’s assassination.

He added that Mrs Kennedy “probably would have fallen off the rear end of the car and would have been right in the path of the other cars proceeding in the motorcade.”

Meanwhile, Mr Hill maintained that he was long tormented by his inability to save the former president.

“I have a great deal of guilt about that,” he said. “Had I turned in a different direction, I’d have made it. It’s my fault, and I will live with that to my grave.”