Protecting the Leader of America

1
(No Transcript)
2
Protecting the Leader of America

• Evolution of Presidential Protection

3
Threats Before Presidency

• George Washington needed protection from both the
  British and American Tories (Loyalists)
• There was at least one known assassination plot
  against Washington by New York Tories
• His earliest protection was his slave, Billy Lee,
  who accompanied General Washington throughout the
  Revolutionary War and all of its battles
• Washington also established a personal bodyguard
  of soldiers known as the Life Guard

4
Billy Lee

• Bought by Washington in 1768, William Lee was
  groomed as a personal servant
• Accomplished rider and hunting partner of
  Washington, and served faithfully during
  Revolutionary War
• Freed in Washingtons will and lived out the rest
  of his years at Mount Vernon

5
Life Guards

• Established in March 1776 to protect Washington
  and his baggage
• Fought in battles
• Requirements of Washington- be from five feet
  eight inches to five feet ten inches, handsomely
  and well made
• Numbered 50, disbanded after the war

6
Pre-Lincoln Protection

• Although a mentally disturbed person wandered
  into the White House threatening President Adams
  life, there was no official Presidential
  protection
• For special events, local police would be used
  for crowd control/security but President was
  often in public with very limited, or no,
  protection from possible assassination
• Many Presidents, including Lincoln, resisted
  attempts to increase security, feeling it would
  limit their movements and public presence

7
Lincoln Assassination

• Despite pleas from many, Lincoln resisted
  increasing his security even during the Civil War
• Near the end of the war, he allowed Washington
  Metropolitan Police to guard him while out in
  public
• His police guard had left his post the night of
  Lincolns assassination at Fords Theatre
• Despite the assassination, Presidential
  protection did not change

8
(No Transcript)
9
Origins of the Secret Service

• July 5, 1865- Secret Service formed as part of
  U.S. Treasury Department to stop counterfeiters
• 1867- mission expanded to include detecting
  persons perpetrating frauds against the
  government
• 1894- Secret Service begins informal protection
  of President Garfield after assassination plot
  discovered
• Informal protection for traveling Presidents
  continued
• 1902, after McKinley assassination, Secret
  Service assumes official, full-time Presidential
  protection

10
Expansion of Secret Service Protection

• 1908- Secret Service protection of
  President-elect
• 1917- Congress expands protection to Presidents
  immediate family, Presidential threats federal
  crime
• 1951- protection expanded to Vice-President
• 1961- protection for ex-Presidents begins
• 1965- protection for ex-Presidents
  spouse/children
• 1968- after RFK assassination, protection
  expanded to Presidential candidates and nominees
• 1971- protection of foreign heads of state, and
  official guests of U.S. government

11
Secret Service post-9/11

• 2001- jurisdiction expanded to include
  computer-based financial crime/terrorism
• 2002- Secret Service transferred from U.S.
  Treasury Department to newly created Department
  of Homeland Security
• 2007- Secret Service protection begins in May for
  Illinois Senator/Presidential candidate Barrack
  Obama, earliest protection ever (candidate
  Hillary Clinton already under Secret Service
  Protection due to status as spouse of
  ex-President Bill Clinton)

12
(No Transcript)
13
Presidential Assassinations

• Abraham Lincoln- shot by John Wilkes Booth at
  Fords Theatre Apr. 14, 1865, died next day
• James Garfield- shot by Charles Guiteau in train
  station on July 2, 1881, died of blood poisoning
  on September 19, 1881
• William McKinley- shot by Leon Czolgosz at
  Pan-American Exhibit on September 6, 1901, died
  eight days later
• John F. Kennedy- shot and killed by Lee Harvey
  Oswald in Dallas motorcade on November 22, 1963

14
(No Transcript)
15
Presidential Assassination Attempts

• Andrew Jackson- Jan. 30, 1835 Richard Lawrence
  shot at him at a funeral, both guns misfired
• Theodore Roosevelt- Oct. 14, 1912 shot by John
  Shrank at speech, hit in chest but blocked by
  thick speech
• Franklin D. Roosevelt- Feb. 15, 1933 shot at by
  Giuseppie Zangara in Miami, missed FDR
• Harry Truman- Nov. 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican
  nationals attacked Blair House, killed by guards
  
• Gerald Ford- Sept. 1975, threatened, shot at, by
  two women, Lynnette Fromme/Sara Jane Moore
• Ronald Reagan- Mar. 30, 1981, shot in lung by
  John Hinkley Jr., trying to impress actress Jodi
  Foster

16
Reagan Assassination Attempt
17
Research Project

• With your group, choose one presidential
  assassination, or attempt, to research
• Choose a U.S. President or other world leader
• You will have two days to research and one day to
  put your presentation together
• Your groups presentation should include
  information about the event, the leader, the
  assassin, motives, protection or lack of, etc.
• Presentation should have visual aids, include a
  typed 1-2 page summary with a minimum of 3
  sources listed in your bibliography