The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (Hardcover)

~ Ph.D. Philip H. Melanson (Author), Peter F. Stevens (Author) "On July 5, 1865, in Washington, D.C., a tall, wiry man raised his right hand..." (more)
Key Phrases: coney men, other protectees, protective mission, United States, New York, Treasury Department (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This comprehensive, sometimes critical and often dry history explains how the Secret Service grew out of the Treasury Department in 1865, with the original mission of protecting American currency against counterfeiters. Melanson, an expert on political violence and government secrecy, and Stevens (The Voyage of the Catalpa) show how, late in the century, the Service gradually (and initially without congressional authorization) expanded its mission into presidential protection. Opponents of the expansion thought assigning a guard to the president would give him the trappings of monarchy, making him less accessible to the people. The most compelling chapter examines the failure that continues to haunt the agency: the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy. The authors analyze what went wrong in Dallas: Kennedy's limo driver reacted too slowly to the first bullet, failing to take evasive driving action so as to avoid the second, fatal shot. Moreover, according to the authors, Kennedy's death was a failure of intelligence-sharing between the Secret Service and the FBI. Following the assassination, the authors argue, the agency "began a pattern of lies about its fatal missteps in Dallas." All aspects of the agency's work are covered extensively: recruiting, training, intelligence gathering, the often-tense relationship between the agency and the people it tries to protect. President Johnson, in particular, rebelled against Secret Service restrictions, once literally pissing on an agent. This is a worthwhile book for assassination buffs and those with an interest in the inner workings of government.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Initially created to combat counterfeiters of U.S. currency, the Secret Service is far better known for protecting presidents. This latter task, as Melanson and Stevens note in their informative history of the organization, was not technically legal until 1951, when Congress authorized it following the foiled assassination attempt on Harry Truman the previous year. The expansion of the Secret Service since then, combined with the increase in threats and actual attacks on presidents and presidential candidates, supplies the book's grist. In search of lapses by the Secret Service, the authors make reasonable critiques of poor protection of John Kennedy and then proceed to score the service for its failure to protect George Wallace in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1981. They then turn to the topic of safeguarding the White House and to the recruitment and training of agents, and maintain a balanced tone in discussing the personal relations between agents and their presidents. Occasionally speculative, the authors generally seem fair-minded, earning their work a solid recommendation for the law-enforcement shelf. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; illustrated edition edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710845
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710843
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #973,615 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and inaccurate, July 13, 2003

By A Customer

This is a book written about the history of the Secret Service. The author covers from the beginning of the agency to current day. The problem with this book is that it has many inaccuracies.

For example: The book lists individuals who are or were at one time receiving protection from the Secret Service. The author o doesn't seem to be aware that the Secret Service is still protecting LadyBird Johnson. The book also incorrectly states that Hillary Clinton's code name is "eagle". Chapter 7, which is about the internal setup of the Secret Service, is completely inaccurate. The author states in a footnote that some information may be outdated and that the Secret Service would not respond to the author's queries. So he still goes ahead and just makes up how he thinks the agency is set up based on interviewing agents that worked in the 70s and 80s. If you are going to read this book, skip chapter 7. It's more wrong than right. The book also gives the number of agents assigned to the Presidential Protective Detail that is not anywhere near the truth. The book talks about what the author calls, "the Secret Service's Watch List" and Watch Office. Disregard this information too. There are many, many more inaccuracies.

The problem with the book is that the reader does not know what is accurate and what is not. The author was too busy writing about unsubstantiated gossip instead of fact. He could have saved himself a lot of time and found out legally, what is the authority of the Secret Service and where does it come from. The author covers that for the Secret Service back in the 1860s, but he never mentioned it for today's Service.

The book also covers a lot of time second guessing incidents from the past. Although hindsight is 20/20, I don't have a problem the second-guessing. But I do have a problem with him not understanding laws and individual's rights. The author doesn't seem to understand that law enforcement cannot detain nor can they search anyone without cause.

In summary, I found the overall history of the Secret Service interesting. But inaccuracies, typos and the author's misguided opinions ruin this book. Lucky to get 2 stars.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting material, however, nearly impossible to read!, August 16, 2005

By	Jeremy Charette "News Editor - Digital Media ... (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a brief and cursory review of the history of the Secret Service (330+ pages simply cannot do this agency justice), but that's not what I'm choosing to focus on with this review. Instead, I'd like to comment on the absolutely terrible writing and editing of this book. I found it nearly impossible to read at times, due to overly complex grammatical choices by the author, absolutely terrible editing, and even some sections where the same sentences and paragraphs have been cut and pasted into multiple pages. The author overuses quotes, referencing them multiple times in completely different chapters, relating them to entirely different topics. The last chapter is a commentary and set of recommendations for the Service which (in my opinion) has no place in a historical re-telling of the Service's history. Who appointed the author to the head of the Secret Service restructuring committee?

Although you may (like me) be interested in learning more about the Secret Service, please, do yourself a favor and skip this book. There are far better texts on the topic, and frankly, this one is a waste of your time and money. It certainly was mine.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read with Speed Bumps, May 22, 2005

By	John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The spirit was willing, but...

The idea: write a concise, frank, engaging history of the US Secret Service.

The obvious barriers: well, it's secret. Research might be a wee problem. Getting "the truth" a huge issue...

Less obvious: having a weak or incompetent editorial/fact checking staff. The editing here is just awful: typos, internal inconsistencies, needless repetition that slows down the narrative pace.

Frustrating: this could be an endlessly fascinating story, but you hit speed bumps. I kept envisioning all the agents standing on the running boards of the presidential limo getting pitched off when...