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

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.