When first lady Barbara Bush visited the Aurora campus of Waubonsee Community College, I was on the welcome committee to greet her. Secret Service were all over the building talking into their sleeves. Mrs. Bush came up to me and shook my hand, her piercing, blue, radiant, eyes looked straight into mine. Her handshake was warm and firm.
We all went into the big rooms of AC124-125 and she gave a few short remarks. She decided to tell a story about the president: “I phoned George who was already in Florida and asked him about the weather and what clothes I should bring. He replied that I should just bring ‘sweats.’ What kind of word is that, she asked, and repeated the word saying she did not care for that word.” The first lady was a delight.
I met the president and Mrs. Bush again in Houston at a national literacy conference. They were both gracious and friendly.
The harshest criticism from her Secret Service agents suggested that Hillary Clinton would smile in public, but as soon as the cameras were off, “her angry personality became evident. Hillary flew into rages and she had an explosive temper. Hillary Clinton could make Nixon look benign. She is sarcastic and is very hard on her staff.”
So, in reading Ronald Kessler’s book “In the President’s Secret Service” I recalled those moments, too. Kessler interviewed more than 100 current and former Secret Service agents revealing untold stories about presidents and their families, Cabinet officers, and White House aides.
The read was rather shocking, to say the least.
Lyndon Johnson gave dangerous instructions to his Secret Service agents and “engaged in extensive philandering at the White House and at his ranch.” Jimmy Carter is portrayed as a phony and a liar who would walk into the Oval Office at 5 a.m. then nod off to sleep. He wanted to appear in the press as working hard for the American people.
Vice president Spiro Agnew, a champion of family values, had “extra-marital affairs while in office.” Threats against president Obama were up 400% compared with those against president George H.W.Bush. Based on a psychic’s vision that a sniper would assassinate president George H.W. Bush, the Secret Service changed his motorcade route. helicopter would be housed.
For a short time after the Civil War, the War Department assigned soldiers to protect the White House and its grounds. On special occasions Washington police officers helped maintain order and prevented crowds from gathering. The permanent detail assigned to protect the president numbered….three! Abraham Lincoln’s last official act was to sign into law the legislation creating the agency. In 1894 the Secret Service began to supplement protection by providing agents on an informal basis, including when the president traveled.
Today, federal spending for the Secret Service is estimated to be $2.23 billion yearly! There are 7,000 employees in the agency with 55 actual Secret Service agents protecting. White males comprise 71% with an average age of 45. Male agents earn $70,146 and female agents (29%) earn $58,470. President Joe Biden has appointed a 27-year veteran of the agency, Kim Cheatle, director.