The United States Secret Service: Law-Enforcement Agency

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The United States Secret Service is considered the nations promise law- enforcement agency. The Secret Service was instituted as a bureau under the Treasury Department on July 5, 1865. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in as the head of the new bureau that same year. At the time of its creation. The Secret Service bore sole responsibility for investigating the counterfeiting of American paper currency, which had steadily been on the rise since the beginning of the Civil War.The Secret Service emerged as a product of the civil war that left the nation torn and shredded politically , socially, and economically. On April 14, 1865 former United States president Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. He was shot and …show more content…
The Secret Service was created to cease the production of counterfeit federal dollars and to regain the integrity of the nations money they lay claim to a unique mission of keeping integrity of the nations currency. Their sole purpose was to investigate the counterfeiting of America's currency. Their job was simple protect the nations money using any means necessary. However the United States Secret Service Did not follow the norms. Popular distrust of the nations currency forced the United States Secret Service to create a system that could overcome these obstacles of that fear. The Secret Services mission trancanded politics, and imposed certain standards on a majority of U.S. …show more content…
In 1867, the Secret Services job expanded to include investigation of any persons perpetrating frauds against the government. Following Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, presidential security was no longer a major priority, despite the successful attempt upon the life of President James A. Garfield in 1881. It was not until the beginning of the Spanish American War in 1898, when President McKinley’s life was threatened by groups opposed to the war, that presidential security once again became a focus. The Secret Service’s protection duties began unofficially in 1894. The Secret Service’s protection duties began unofficially in 1894, when it took on the responsibility for the part-time protection of President Grover Cleveland. This was provided largely at Cleveland’s request, due to a number of personal threats against him and his family, but not as an official duty required by any type of legislation. It was not until the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 that the Secret Service took on full-time responsibility for guarding the president on an unofficial basis. The following year, the Service officially assumed this duty, assigning two agents to the White House detail. In 1915 the Service took on a new role when President Woodrow Wilson directed that the Secret Service was to investigate domestic espionage in the U.S. Due to