When Treasury Secretary Lyman Gage asked John E. Wilkie to be Chief of the Secret Service, Wilkie at first refused. Wilkie, an investigative journalist from Chicago, felt unqualified for the position. But Gage was persuasive and on February 28, 1898, John E. Wilkie became the eighth Chief of the Secret Service.
Wilkie's first task was to bring to a close the investigation of the "Monroe Head Hundred" case. In New York and Philadelphia, agents placed help wanted advertisements for photoetching experts. Arthur Taylor and Baldwin S. Bredell were two of the men who responded to the Philadelphia ad. The Secret Service determined that they owned an engraving shop but had no visible clients.
Then counterfeit bills began appearing in Atlantic City and the Secret Service went looking for Taylor and Bredell. The men, however, had left for Europe. Agents used photographs of the men to get confirmation that they had indeed passed some of the counterfeit bills. When the men returned months later, Chief Wilkie instructed they not be arrested immediately.
Instead, the Secret Service followed the men and were eventually led to a Cigar warehouse. With a search warrant in hand, agents entered the warehouse and found Taylor and Bredell's plant, complete with plates, presses and paper. The criminals were each sentenced to 12 years in prison. Later, Taylor and Bredell were found guilty of making counterfeit bills in their prison cells and they each received an additional seven year sentence.
The capture of the "Monroe Head Hundred" counterfeiters created favorable publicity for the Secret Service. In 1899, Congress appropriated $100,000 for the Service and never again was its budget reduced below this level.
Assassination of President McKinley & Presidential Protection
In 1901, President William McKinley went to Buffalo New York to attend the Pan American Exposition. Part of his visit included a reception. Twelve Buffalo police officers were stationed outside the reception. Eighteen uniformed officers, 11 Coast Guard soldiers, and several plain-clothed guards kept posts inside the reception. As a courtesy to the President, Chief Wilkie assigned three Secret Service operatives to the reception. Their job was to keep the reception line moving and prevent crowding around President McKinley.
But this protection did not prove to be enough. McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who believed all rulers should be killed. Czolgosz had managed to hide his weapon in a handkerchief around his hand, making it appear as though his hand were wounded. Two shots went into McKinley's body but only one bullet was located during surgery. He died on September 14, 1901.
The United States had an embarrassing record for having its rulers assassinated. No country in Europe experienced as many assassinations of heads of state in the same time period, but then those heads of state were provided protection. It became clear that official presidential protection was needed, although Congress could not agree how it should be provided.
Seventeen bills were introduced in Congress but not one passed. At some point during these discussions, the Secretary of the President and the Secretary of the Treasury decided the Secret Service should protect the President until Congress was able to pass appropriate legislation. The expense for this came out of the Secret Service's appropriation intended for use in suppressing counterfeiting and other crimes. Finally, Congress did enact legislation in 1906 that legalized the use of the appropriated funds for presidential protection.
Land Fraud Investigation & Formation of the FBI
Under the Homestead Act of 1862, Western sections of the United States were offered for settlement. Settlers were required to build houses and cultivate the land. However, thousands of acres fell victim to land fraud criminals.
Cattle barons desired the land for grazing. Others wanted the land for its timber or the coal that lay beneath its soil. These criminals would arrange for "legitimate" claimants to obtain the paperwork, pay them off, and then use the land for their own purposes.
The situation was grave and President Theodore Roosevelt ordered an investigation by the Secret Service. Approximately 32 operatives were temporarily assigned to the Justice Department to complete this investigation.
Secret Service Operatives followed trails that led to several politicians in Idaho and Oregon. Operatives indicted a United States Senator from Idaho, a former Idaho Governor, and two Oregonian Congressmen. Bribed and prejudiced juries, however, resulted in acquittals.
Back in the District of Colombia, meanwhile, Congress was not keen on the Secret Service investigating its members. They made the argument that the Secret Service was handling investigations that had nothing to do with the Treasury Department. In its next appropriation, Congress specified that the money be used only for the suppression of counterfeiting and other matters relating to the Treasury Department. Furthermore, it directed that Secret Service agents could not be paid from the appropriation intended for any other agency. Congress effectively eliminated the practice of the Secret Service "loaning" its operatives to other government divisions.
This did not sit well with President Roosevelt. Congress, he felt, was attempting to place its members above the law. Roosevelt was unable to persuade Congress otherwise, however, and began looking for another method of detecting and prosecuting crimes against the United States.
Upon Roosevelt's instigation, eight Secret Service men were permanently assigned to the Department of Justice. Together with 14 others, they formed the Bureau of Investigation, renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935.
Chief William J. Flynn
Chief Wilkie retired in 1912 to become a public utilities president in Chicago. He recommended William J. Flynn as his successor, and Flynn was promoted from Operative in Charge of the New York District on December 18.
Flynn's time as Chief was marked by changes in the Secret Service's duties. Counterfeiting slowed considerably, but the Secret Service's Presidential protection duties expanded.
In 1913, the expense of providing protection during Woodrow Wilson's Inauguration greatly reduced the Secret Service's operating funds. By June, the end of its fiscal year, the Secret Service did not have enough money to meet its payroll. Operatives were asked to work six days without pay. Eventually, once the Secret Service had met all other obligations, the men were paid for 1-1/2 of those days.
Dr. Heinrich Albert's Briefcase
On special occasions, the Secret Service has been called upon to investigate matters that do not concern the Treasury Department. During World War I, by order of President Wilson, the Secret Service investigated espionage cases. At the time, the United States was still a neutral power; trade continued with both Germany and the Allied powers.
Germany, however, did not want the Allies to receive supplies from the United States. Since the Allies controlled the seas, Germany planned to sabotage manufacturing plants in the United States, stopping the supplies at their sources.
One of the most famous cases handled by the Secret Service counterespionage unit involved a publisher, a financial agent, and a briefcase.
G. S. Viereck was the publisher of a German-oriented periodical called "The Fatherland." Two Secret Service operatives followed Viereck and another man into a train. When Viereck left the train, one of the officers left with him. The other continued on with the man Viereck had been talking to. This unknown man almost missed his stop and forgot his briefcase in his rush to leave the train. Secret Service Operative Frank Burke was alert, grabbed the briefcase, and escaped out another door.
The man was Dr. Heinrich Albert, chief financial agent for the German Empire in the United States. The briefcase contained evidence showing that Albert and his cohorts were responsible for many economic sabotages, including longshoremen's strikes and slow-downs at munitions' plants.
An investigation revealed that Albert's group was trying to drive the United States into war. They also were plotting a German military occupation of the United States.
Chief William H. Moran
Chief Flynn voluntarily resigned on December 31, 1917. His successor was William Herman Moran, a man with a long history in the Secret Service. In 1882, Moran began his career at 18 as a messenger in Chief Brooks' office. He was thereafter promoted to Clerk, then to Chief Clerk, Assistant Chief, and finally Chief. In the early days, Moran spent nights and weekends learning investigative methods and studying criminal files. He became an expert in engraving, counterfeiting techniques, genuine currency manufacture, and banking and commerce.
Counterfeit-related cases during Moran's first year were few. They increased dramatically during his second through fourth years, however.
One of the more noted Secret Service investigations during Moran's time did not involve counterfeiting. It involved oil.
The Teapot Dome
The United States had three oil fields reserved for the Navy to be used in times of crisis. Two were in California and one, the Teapot Dome, was in Wyoming.
These reserves had been established by President Taft in 1909. Taft closed the public land to private developers, saving the resource for emergency purposes, but angering oil barons who had begun drilling there.
Some convinced the government that if drilling were not allowed on the land, the oil underneath would simply drain into active areas adjoining private land. Leasing the land to private drillers would, they argued, at least allow the government a profit. During Wilson's administration, the Navy did lease to a few small operators, but no large drilling projects were undertaken.
Then, under Warren G. Harding, the land was placed under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary of the Interior then fraudulently leased the Teapot Dome oil field to Harry F. Sinclair, a petroleum tycoon.
In 1924, Secret Service operatives were assigned to investigate the lease. Their investigation eventually led to the conviction of the Secretary of the Interior.
White House Police Force
In 1922, upon the urging of President Warren G. Harding, the White House Police Force was created and placed under the supervision of Lt. Col. Clarence O. Sherrill, U.S. Army, Chief Military Aide, Director of Public Building and Grounds.
In 1930, during President Herbert Hoover's administration, the Force was placed under the supervision of the Chief of the Secret Service. Today, this force is called the Secret Service Uniformed Division and it is composed of three branches. The White House Branch protects the Executive Offices, which includes the mansion, Naval Observatory, Treasury Buildings, and the Executive Offices Buildings. The Foreign Missions Branch protects the diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. The Program Support Division provides administrative support to the Uniformed Division. It also provides protective support to the Secret Service, providing, for example, Firearms training.
Protecting President-Elect Roosevelt
In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt took a vacation cruise shortly before his inauguration. As the President-elect, the Secret Service was by his side providing protection.
Roosevelt landed in Miami and a crowed turned out to greet him. Among the well-wishers was Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago. Roosevelt noticed Cermak in the crowd and beckoned him forward. When he had finished speaking to the crowd, Roosevelt leaned forward to shake Mayor Cermak's hand. Then shots rang out, one striking Cermak, others striking four bystanders. The President was quickly whisked away in his car. He ordered the car to stop, however, so the injured Chicago Mayor could be placed inside. Mayor Cermak died 15 days later as a result of his wounds; four people in the crowed were injured.
The assassin, Giuseppe Zangara, was convicted and electrocuted.
Chief Frank J. Wilson
Just before his retirement, Chief Moran became ill and was instructed by his doctor to take a month-long vacation. As there was no Assistant Chief at the time, the Secretary of the Treasury appointed Frank J. Wilson to serve as Acting Assistant Chief. Wilson was brought up from the Internal Revenue's Intelligence Unit.
When Moran officially retired, Wilson was made Chief of the Secret Service on January 1, 1937.
Chief Wilson brought the Secret Service out of its days of secrecy by instigating a radical program, the "Know Your Money" campaign.
Know Your Money
Chief Wilson's "Know Your Money" campaign was intended to educate the public. The program started in New York City, and quickly caught on in other areas. The campaign was featured on radios, in newspapers and in magazines. And it worked. The counterfeit currency seized by the Secret Service dropped by half in the first year of the program.
For each of the next two years, the Secret Service received $300,000 from the Emergency Relief Fund to continue the educational program. At the time, the Service's appropriation averaged between $600,000 and $800,000 annually.
World War II
Counterfeiting plummeted during World War II (1939-1945) but the Secret Service was kept very busy with other work.
Norwegian Crown Princess Martha and her children lived in the United States during the German occupation of Norway. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Madame Chiang Kai-shek of China, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands all visited the United States during this time. The Secret Service protected them all.
Presidential protection took on new meaning during the war. Agents surveyed the White House and the Treasury building to make bomb shelters and maximum security areas available in case of a crisis.
Also, the President traveled to Casablanca, Cairo, Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam, creating significant Security challenges.
