1. The Original Mission: Chasing Counterfeiters, Not Assassins
One of the most enduring myths about the Secret Service is that it was created in direct response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The timing is so poetically tragic that it has become a staple of historical trivia: the legislation to create the agency was reportedly on Lincoln’s desk the night he was killed in April 1865. While the timing is roughly correct, the agency’s purpose was entirely different. The Secret Service was not founded to protect the president; it was founded to protect the nation’s money.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the American economy was in a fragile state. The federal government had introduced a national currency, but the system was plagued by a massive problem: counterfeiting. By some estimates, as much as one-third to one-half of all currency in circulation was fake. This wasn’t just a matter of petty crime; it was a threat to the economic stability of the entire country. To combat this, the Secret Service Division was officially created within the Department of the Treasury on July 5, 1865. Its sole mission was to investigate and suppress the rampant production of counterfeit money.
These first agents were not bodyguards. They were detectives, tasked with infiltrating counterfeiting rings and bringing criminals to justice. They were remarkably effective, and their mandate soon expanded to include investigating other federal crimes, from mail robbery to land fraud. For decades, they served as the nation’s primary federal investigation agency, long before the establishment of what would later become the FBI.
So when did the protective mission begin? It wasn’t until after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901—the third presidential assassination in just 36 years. Congress, recognizing a pattern of deadly threats against the nation’s leader, formally requested that the Secret Service provide presidential protection. The agency, with its reputation for professionalism and discretion, was the logical choice. But it was a part-time duty at first, and only in the years that followed did the protective mission grow to become the agency’s most visible and defining role. This origin story is crucial; it reminds us that the Secret Service is, at its core, a law enforcement agency with deep investigative roots, a fact that remains central to its modern-day operations.
