US Secret Service
Listen to "US Secret Service"
The United States Secret Service was originally founded (in 1865) as an anti-counterfeiting unit in the Treasury Department. However, once President McKinley was assassinated, the Secret Service assumed presidential protection duties. As of 2002, the Secret Service (Special Agents and the Uniformed Division) is part of the Department of Homeland Security. They are also part of Marine One, Air Force One, and Cadillac One (all of which are described in this episode).
Throughout their history, the Secret Service has witnessed and/or foiled many assassination attempts including ones on: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush Jr.
For more information, read:
http://www.secretservice.gov/
http://people.howstuffworks.com/air-force-one2.htm
http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1135.html
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/trivia/assassin.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4535911.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/georgia/story/0,,1487041,00.html
The American Presidents by David Whitney
Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General Magazine and the International Research and Publishing Corporation
The United States Secret Service was originally founded (in 1865) as an anti-counterfeiting unit in the Treasury Department. However, once President McKinley was assassinated, the Secret Service assumed presidential protection duties. As of 2002, the Secret Service (Special Agents and the Uniformed Division) is part of the Department of Homeland Security. They are also part of Marine One, Air Force One, and Cadillac One (all of which are described in this episode).
Throughout their history, the Secret Service has witnessed and/or foiled many assassination attempts including ones on: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush Jr.
For more information, read:
http://www.secretservice.gov/
http://people.howstuffworks.com/air-force-one2.htm
http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1135.html
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/trivia/assassin.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4535911.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/georgia/story/0,,1487041,00.html
The American Presidents by David Whitney
Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General Magazine and the International Research and Publishing Corporation
posted by George Hageman at 4:12 PM
3 Comments:
Hi, one correction regarding "Air Force One".
No aircraft actually has that name; it's attached to the President himself. It's an FAA callsign assigned to any aircraft the president is flying on.
For example, if GWB wants to use his old pilot skills and take up a Stearmann Biplane at an airshow, that plane would have the callsign "Air Force One" for the day.
There are two Boeing 747-200s for presidential use, designated VC-25A, tail numbers 28000 and 29000.
TriSec said that any aircraft the President flies is Air Force One, which is incorrect. It applies to any US Air Force aircraft. If it's a Navy aircraft, it's Navy One. Just like the Marine Helicopter that flies the President is called Marine One.
An Army aircraft is Army One; Coast Guard aircraft are called Coast Guard One. If a civilian aircraft is used, it's Executive One. The last title has only been used once by Nixon who flew during the oil crisis in the 70's.
Following the callsign designator for "Air Force One," there are more aircraft than the 747s that serve at the use of the president. Occasionally an airport cannot handle the 747s, and smaller aircraft -- thus the floating callsign. One of the more famous events with this was Nixon's flight home to California which changed callsigns upon Ford's official swearing in.
However, I would like to call out the analogy in this episode regarding the Secret Service as comparable to other elite service units, particularly the Nazi SS. That is absurd. U.S. Secret Service, while certainly paramilitary in activities, is not military, nor is it a special service unit undertaking the type of ethnic cleansing that the SS handled for Hitler. Pretorian Guards, Palace Guards, etc., are reasonable analogies. Iraq Republican Guard equates more to Marines; an elite selection above regular enlistees. Within the Republican Guard were bodyguards; within the SS would be bodyguards of the leader; but the overall missions of these are military units.
Post a Comment
<< Home