Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

DEVELOPMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL PROTECTION

The assassination of McKinley, only 36 years after Lincoln’s death, shocked the nation and heightened awareness of the uniqueness of the Presidency and its grim hazards. While the first congressional session after McKinley’s assassination gave more attention to legislation concerning attacks on the President than any previous Congress, it passed no protective measures. Nevertheless, in 1902, the Secret Service, then the only significant Federal general investigative agency, assumed full-time responsibility for presidential safety as one of its major permanent functions, assigning two men to its original full-time White House detail and providing additional agents when the President traveled or vacationed.

CHAPITRE II. With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the

This chapter traces the historical development of U.S. presidential protection by the Secret Service from Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency through the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It covers legislative authorizations, notable assassination attempts, organizational changes, and concludes with medical records from Parkland Memorial Hospital relating to President Kennedy.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Perspective on Secret Service Protection

Theodore Roosevelt, the first president to receive extensive Secret Service protection, expressed ambivalent views in a 1906 letter to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Roosevelt described the Secret Service men as “a very small but very necessary thorn in the flesh,” acknowledging that they would not prevent an assassination but were essential for managing the daily intrusions of carriages, pedestrians, cranks, and others. He quoted Lincoln’s observation that although it would be safer for a president to live in a cage, doing so would interfere with his duties.

1912 Assassination Attempt on Theodore Roosevelt

After leaving office, Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt on October 14, 1912, in Milwaukee, during his presidential campaign. John N. Schrank, a 36-year-old German-born ex-tavern keeper, shot Roosevelt in the breast. The bullet was stopped by Roosevelt’s folded manuscript speech and the metal eyeglass case in his coat pocket. Schrank claimed that in 1901, the ghost of McKinley had appeared to him and instructed him to prevent Roosevelt—who he believed had murdered McKinley—from becoming president. Schrank was found insane and committed to mental hospitals in Wisconsin for life.

Early Legislative Authorization of Secret Service Presidential Protection

The Secret Service began full-time presidential protection in 1902, but Congress did not provide funds or sanction for this role until 1906, when the Sundry Civil Expenses Act for 1907 included protection funding. After William Howard Taft’s election in 1908, the Secret Service began protecting the president-elect, a practice that received statutory authorization in 1913. That same year, Congress authorized permanent protection of the President, though the authority required annual renewal in appropriations acts until 1951.

1917 Threat Statute and Presidential Family Protection Authorization

The United States’ entry into World War I in 1917 heightened concerns about presidential safety, prompting Congress to enact a “threat statute” making it a crime to threaten the President by mail or any other means. In the same year, Congress also authorized the Secret Service to protect the President’s immediate family.

Early 20th Century Presidential Foreign Travel Protection

As the presidency expanded in scope during the 20th century, the Secret Service faced increasing protection challenges. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting president to travel outside the United States when he visited Panama accompanied by Secret Service agents. In 1918-19, Woodrow Wilson broadened the precedent by traveling to Europe with a Secret Service escort of 10 men for the Versailles Peace Conference.

1933 Assassination Attempt on President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt

On February 15, 1933, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt at a political rally in Miami’s Bayfront Park. Giuseppe Zangara, a bricklayer with stomach problems who had planned to travel to Washington to kill President Hoover but stayed in Miami for his health, shot five rounds at Roosevelt. Roosevelt slid down into his seat just before Zangara could take aim; the shots missed him but mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak and injured four others. Zangara was electrocuted 33 days later, and no evidence of accomplices emerged despite sensational speculation about a Chicago gangster conspiracy.