The United States Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865 in Washington D.C. Contrary to what many people think, it was not established to protect presidents. When first formed, its assigned task was to suppress counterfeit currency and was under the Department of the Treasury. A couple of years later it was given broader responsibilities, they where to include, "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government." For some reason, it was decided to relocate their headquarters to New York City, in 1870. This didn't last long and they were again relocated back to Washington, D.C. in 1874. It wasn't until 1894 that the Secret Service began to guard the President and this was only on a part time basis for President Cleveland. In 1901, because of the assassination of President McKinley, Congress requested that the Secret Service guard the presidents on a full time basis. In 1902 The Secret Service assumed their duties of guarding the president. In 1908 the Secret Service also started to protect the President Elect In 1915 the Secret Service was directed to investigate espionage in the U.S. In 1917 the Secret Service, under a mandate from Congress, began to also protect the President's family. In 1930 the White House Police force, which were created in 1922, was put under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service. In 1951 Congress authorized Secret Service protection for the Vice President, if he wanted it. In 1961 Congress decided that former presidents should have Secret Service protection for a reasonable time. This was expanded in 1962 and the law was changed to include the Vice President and Vice President Elect. In 1965 Congress authorized the Secret Service protection of former Presidents and their spouses for their lifetime and their children up to 16 years of age. In 1968 Congress authorized the protection, by the Secret Service, of major Presidential and Vice presidential candidates and nominees along with widows of presidents. In 1971, Congress appointed the Secret Service to protect visiting heads of state or government and any other official guests as directed. Its duties were expanded again in 1975, when they began to protect foreign diplomatic missions in the U.S. and its territories. In 1984 it was charged with investigation of debit and credit card fraud. In 1986 the Treasury Police were merged into the Secret Service Uniformed Division. In 1990 the Secret Service received jurisdiction, current with the Department of Justice, to conduct any type of investigation, civil or criminal, related to federally insured financial institutions. In 1994 Congress passed a bill that allows the Secret Service to go after counterfeiters outside the U.S. In 1997, the law on protecting former presidents was changed again. Any president elected to office after January 1, 1997 will only get 10 years of Secret Service protection after he leaves office, those elected before will still receive lifetime protection. In 2000 the Secret Service was authorized to participate in the planning of events of national significance. In 2001, the Secret Service was authorized to pursue computer crime. In 2003 the Secret Service was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security.

Left: Secret Service Agents In Their Office in 1906
Right: The Secret Service Chief In His Office 1906

Some politicians have been making it sound like Hilary Clinton is receiving some special benefit because she has Secret Service protection and the other politicians don't, but the truth of the matter is she gets it because she is the wife of a former president and is entitled under the law. It is amazing how the Secret Service has grown. It is also hard to envision how presidents used to walk around without any protection. The country was very naive in those days, even after the assassination of President Lincoln. Can you imagine walking down the street and a president is walking, either by himself or with a friend, towards you.

Counterfeiting has always been around. In ancient times if you dared counterfeit a coin and got caught, the penalty was death. One of the reasons that it was felt that this problem should be handled by an elite organization like the Secret Service was that counterfeiting can undermine a country's currency. An example of this occurred during the American Revolution. The British government counterfeited so much U.S. currency, that the genuine bills of the time became worthless. That is where the saying, "Not worth a Continental" came from. When the Civil War began, it is estimated that from 1/3rd to 1/2 of all money in circulation was counterfeit. Counterfeiting was easy to do since there was no national currency. This was remedied in 1862. The new currency was counterfeited immediately and measures had to be taken. This is why the Secret Service was established in 1865.

Counterfeiting is on the rise again. This can be blamed on the ease of the process, because of new computers and printing equipment. Every advance in technology has its dark uses. Some modern machines, such as copiers, have a chip in them that prevents the copying of money, but this doesn't apply to computer scanners.

Since the 1960s, three presidents have been attacked and some more than once. They were Kennedy, Ford and Reagan. We know that Kennedy was assassinated and Reagan was hurt. Ford was lucky, he was attacked twice and came out unscathed. It is very easy to see why we need the Secret Service to protect our presidents. It is amazing how much power the Secret Service has acquired since it humble beginnings. I guess when you constantly have the president's ear and his life might depend on you, it doesn't hurt.