Little-known facts about people 'willing to take bullets' for the US President

The people who always stay by the US president's side, ready to sacrifice themselves for the safety of the head of government, are the US secret agents, who are well-trained.

US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on the day he proposed the creation of the Secret Service. Photo: People

US President assassinated shortly after proposing the creation of the Secret Service

The idea of ​​establishing the US Secret Service was proposed by President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. However, on that same day, he was assassinated while watching the play Our American Cousin in the context of the American Civil War coming to an end. In July 1865, the US Secret Service was established at the proposal of Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch with the initial purpose of combating counterfeiting and financial fraud.

There has never been a "double agent"

The US Secret Service has never had a double agent. Illustration photo: Politico

In 2003, the US Secret Service was transferred to the US Department of Homeland Security and was responsible for protecting the President and the President's family.

In its more than 110-year history, the US Secret Service has never recorded any cases of "double agents" even though they were planted by foreign spies.

Ready to take the bullet for the president

Secret Service agents have only one mission: to ensure the president's life and evacuate as quickly as possible in case of an incident. Illustration photo: AFP

The United States Secret Service is responsible not only for protecting the lives of the sitting president, but also for the vice president, former presidents, presidential candidates, former vice presidents, vice presidential candidates and their families, as well as foreign heads of state visiting the United States.

The principle of the US Secret Service is to always stay by the president's side. Although they are not obliged to sacrifice their lives for the president, they have long been known as the people who are "ready to take a bullet" for the president.

Dan Bongino, a 12-year veteran of the Secret Service who protected former President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, said he and his colleagues were trained to literally “get bigger.” That means that when a shooting occurs and everyone is crouching down, the agent will spread out as wide as possible to catch the bullet.

According to this former secret agent, when a shooting actually occurs, secret service agents have only one mission: to ensure the president's life and evacuate as quickly as possible.

The only Secret Service agent killed while protecting the president

Leslie Coffelt (left) was the only Secret Service agent killed while on duty protecting the president. Photo: Getty

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationals attempted to assassinate US President Harry Truman. At the time, Truman was staying at the Presidential Guest House because the White House was undergoing renovations. The two gunmen broke in and shot Secret Service agent Leslie Coffelt in the abdomen and chest. Although wounded, the agent fought back and killed one of the two men. Coffelt was the first Secret Service agent to die protecting the president from an assassination attempt.

The Secret Service assigns a unique nickname to each president.

Every US president has his own nickname. Photo: Getty

People protected by the Secret Service are assigned nicknames. For example, former President Bill Clinton was nicknamed Eagle, former President George W. Bush was nicknamed Acrobat, and former President Barack Obama was nicknamed Renegade.

According to Dan Tri