Politickin' With John Brown: A History Of Secret Service Fails

Our resident political expert examines incidents when the officers protecting the President got caught slippin'.

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When the Virginia couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, hustled their way into last week's White House state dinner, it put the Secret Service on blast. Luckily, the two social climbers' intentions were more self-serving than sinister and none of the top-ranking guests were harmed. But it now has members of congress asking the agency's leaders, "would you take a bullet for your homie?"
 
The Secret Service was created in 1865 to suppress counterfeiting but moved into presidential protection in 1902 - a year after President William McKinley got assassinated. Their track record is relatively strong for defending against attacks, but there have been serious failures over time - some far more impactful than others. To reflect on the seriousness of security lapses, here are some of the more well-known mishaps by the Commander-In-Chief's bodyguards...  

FDR-AND-THE-WIFE

President F.D.R., 1938
• As public anger escalated towards the aspiring reality stars for deceiving the Secret Service, the son of one of F.D.R.'s cabinet members recalled a similar scenario that occurred as the result of a dare. Apparently, two teenagers fronted like they were related to Roosevelt's secretary of the Treasury, bullshitted their way in and got autographs. Mrs. Roosevelt later hated on the kids for succeeding with the ploy but recognized that they may have received some props in their inner circles. That's right, there was White House party crashing long before reality TV. 

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eisenhower-horse

President Eisenhower, 1953
• During Eisenhower's first inauguration, a professional cowboy, Montie Montana, surprised Secret Service agents when he approached the stage and slung a lasso around the Prez. Montana later claimed he had Ike's permission. Blame it on the moonshine.  

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President Obama, 2009
• In all fairness to Obama's team, the attention-starved couple was in fact run through a security checkpoint for weapons. They just weren't supposed to be there. But a string of issues have raised the level of concern for protecting the nation's first black president. During the campaign, the Dallas Star-Telegram received hundreds of complaints that the Secret Service failed to screen attendees at a rally. And since taking office, an internal congressional report claimed that the agency was facing deep budget cuts at a time when right-wing protesters are bringing guns to presidential events. Hopefully, the fact that the party got crashed will now make the Secret Service buckle up.

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