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

1951 Permanent Authorization for Secret Service Presidential Protection

The Blair House attack led to 1951 legislation permanently authorizing the Secret Service to protect the President, his immediate family, the President-elect, and the Vice President (upon his request). Vice Presidential protection had actually begun in January 1945 when Harry S. Truman assumed the office.

1962 Expansion of Secret Service Protected Personnel

In 1962, Congress further expanded the list of protected officials to include the Vice President (or next officer in line of succession) without requiring a request, the Vice President-elect, and a former President at his request for a reasonable period after leaving office. The Secret Service interpreted “reasonable period” as six months.

Amendments to the 1917 Presidential Threat Statute

Amendments to the 1917 threat statute in 1955 and 1962 made it a crime to threaten to harm the President-elect, the Vice President, or other officers next in succession to either office. Notably, the President’s immediate family was not included in the threat statute.

Congressional Restrictions on Secret Service Functions

Congressional concerns about the potential uses of the Secret Service, first under Theodore Roosevelt and later under Woodrow Wilson, led to tight restrictions on the Service’s functions and uses of funds. These restrictions likely prevented the Secret Service from becoming a general investigative agency, leaving the field open for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), established within the Department of Justice in 1908.