No one will take on Obama, and the Washington establishment, like Newt Gingrich
Fantastic: Obama would like to replicate Detroit’s foibles elsewhere
New York Times scandalized as NYPD is trained on Muslim-perpetrated violence
Detroit boldly choosing to crackdown on the innocent
South Carolina stopped Romney. For now
Cartoon: Down and out
In which I praise Mitt (but explain why I won’t vote for him)
Bernero the gambler sells Main Street for a shot at the slots
The Emergency Financial Manager law is undemocratic, but opponents need an alternative to guard against local fiscal calamities
Memo to Snyder: Don’t stop the radical reforms now!Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents
October 14th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Jamie Weinstein
In his In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents they Protect, journalist Ronald Kessler gives us a peek inside the intimate lives of our presidents. Through interviews with over 100 secret service agents from the past and present—dating all the way back to John F. Kennedy—Kessler paints a picture of what our presidents are like when no one is looking.
They're always watching.
We learn from the agents Kessler interviews that John F. Kennedy was a serial adulterer (big surprise) and that Lyndon Johnson was essentially a serial adulterer and a lunatic. “If Johnson weren’t president, he’d be in an insane asylum,” said one former secret agent who sometimes was on Johnson’s detail. Secret Service agents found Richard Nixon strange and unsociable. Agents described Gerald Ford as friendly but cheap, often tipping caddies at exclusive country clubs a dollar if anything at all. But the president subject to the greatest scorn is Jimmy Carter.
Carter is portrayed as a phony according to the agents interviewed by Kessler. Carter would put on a show for the public to convey himself as a common man, but it was never anymore than an act. For instance, we are told that when Carter would make a point of carrying his own luggage in front of the press, he was really carrying empty bags. He expected others to carry his real luggage. Unfriendly, Carter “didn’t want the police officers and agents looking at him or speaking to him when he went to the [Oval] office,” explained an assistant White House usher. “The only time I saw a smile on Carter’s face was when the cameras were going,” one former agent told Kessler.
After his presidency, Kessler reports that when Carter would stay at a townhouse maintained for former presidents in D.C., he would take down pictures of other presidents and put up more pictures of himself! “The Carters were the biggest liars in the world,” one agent told Kessler of the Carter era.
Carter, not surprisingly, denied to Kessler through a lawyer many of the allegations in the book.
The man who sent Carter packing from the White House could not have been more different according to accounts from agents. Ronald Reagan would constantly interact with his secret service agents and other staffers who worked for him. He was apologetic when he would take secret service agents away from their families on holidays. While Carter would make secret service agents pay for any leftover food they consumed after White House parties, we are told Reagan would insist the secret service eat leftover food (without charge, of course).
George H.W. Bush also comes across as eminently decent. The Bushes, for instance, would stay home on Christmas Eve so that the agents could spend at least some time with their families. “Both [President Bush] and Mrs. Bush are very thoughtful, and they think outside their own little world. They think of other people,” one agent commented to Kessler.
Bush’s successor President Clinton comes across fairly well if sometimes inconsiderate, while Hillary Clinton is depicted as a monster. “Hillary did not speak to us,” one agent told Kessler. “We spent years with her. She never said thank you.”
Vice President Al Gore was exceedingly obnoxious to his agents according to Kessler. When scolding his son for not doing well in school, Gore chastised him by warning that “if you don’t straighten up, you won’t get into the right schools, and if you don’t get into the right schools you could end up like these guys.” The “guys” Gore was referring to were his secret service agents!
President George W. Bush is painted as an affable character behind the scenes. “He does not look comfortable in front of a microphone,” one agent explained to Kessler. “With us, he doesn’t talk like that, doesn’t sound like that. He’s funny as hell.” Bush 43 was also depicted as “down to earth” and “caring.”
While many conservatives may bristle at the domestic and foreign policies of current President Barack Obama, judged by the way he treats his secret service agents it is fair to conclude that Obama is personally a decent man. One agent who protected Obama on the campaign trail says that Obama twice invited agents to dinner at his home.
Kessler’s book does raise a serious question. Should those charged with protecting the president be chatting about what they saw behind the scenes, especially when the protectee is still alive, or worse, still in office? If presidents have to worry about their secret service agents squealing about them to the press at every turn, it will make our presidents want to put as much distance as possible between them and their agents and thus ultimately compromise presidential security. This is not a desirable outcome to say the least.
On the other hand, secret service agents have a unique view of history and there is something to be learned about our presidents from the stories agents tell. It may be argued that the agents owe a duty to history to tell us what they saw on their watch so we can get a fuller understanding of those who lead us, foibles and all. This argument is especially compelling after a president has passed away, or at the very least, left office.
These are difficult issues to wrestle with, but the fact is that the book has been written. What’s done is done. Might as well take a peek inside.
Posted in 
Tags: 68 Responses to “Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents”
Leave a Reply
- Listen to compelling 911 tape of 2-year-old trying to help authorities save her great-grandmother's life (AUDIO)
- 'Simpsons' joke about Sharia threat in Dearborn
- Fire Marshal: Too soon to say whether fatal fire at 230 Myrtle in Muskegon is arson; investigation continues
- Electrical problems likely cause of Strong Avenue fire in Muskegon; Investigation ongoing
- WXYZ asks a blogger with no law enforcement experience to weigh in on escort murders
- By the numbers: Detroit has spent $20 million demolishing homes since 2009
- 'Simpsons' joke about Sharia threat in Dearborn
- Age-shy Warren Mayor Jim is officially 69, two years older than he claimed, so let's all move on
Uh, you should read the review of Kessler’s book at http://www.fromwhereistand.info
I read once, where SS agents were asked about GW, and responded that on numerous occasions, he had many invited to his ranch in Texas, not only knew them, but referred to them by their first names, knew their wives and kids names, and was really a great guy to be around. Can’t be said about Shrillary or Gore-bachov. Seems to be a recurring theme here, that dems are dix behind closed doors, where repub’s are generally nice, cordial individuals. Doesn’t suprise me a bit.
Does this show you much of a drastic difference between Republican and Democrat presidents. On the whole, Republicans come off as decent, polite, gentile, and likable. The Dems are arrogant snobs, or womanizers, or narcissists. This is very telling about our former leaders and the present one. I just knew Reagan and Bush were exactly what they professed to be. The only problem with George Bush was he was uncomfortable in front of a mike. Obama never met a mike he didn’t like and you can’t get him away from one.
*sigh*
Read the review, now I’ll have to order the book.
Until I read the review “Sal” pointed to I thought “Eh. If I didn’t have a 12-book backlog, I might order it”. Now I will have to order it as soon as my wife is not watching closely.
She has this thing about reading the books I buy before buying any more.
I think the agents owe it to history. I helps to form a picture of the real person, not the one set up for display.
My father-in-law worked on Nixon’s security detail. When he practiced putting at the Western White house, the agents would be on their radios making bets as to whether he’d sink the putt or not.
I can verify this story about Gore. About nine years ago, a Secret Service agent told me all about the incident.
“If presidents have to worry about their secret service agents squealing about them to the press at every turn, it will make our presidents want to put as much distance as possible between them and their agents and thus ultimately compromise presidential security.”
Perhaps, instead of compromising their own safety, the more arrogant of our Presidents might choose to behave in a manner more fitting of a President. It wouldn’t hurt to be a little more appreciative and less condescending if they expect that Agent to say nice things about them when they retire. Not to mention, the Agent might not second guess his actions to step between them and that bullet if they’re treated with a little more respect.
I wonder, though, if that’s what they think of the people tasked with protecting their lives and those of their families, what might they think of us?
If you listened to Jimmy Carter’s Christmas story, he was surrounded with servants when he was young. No wonder he thinks people around him were his servants.
Kennedy and Camelot. What a laugh. The news media promotes the Kennedy Legend. Legend of what? Dishonesty, drug abuse and debauchery. Disgusting people unworthy of our admiration.
I had a secret service agent tell me long ago what Carter and Reagan were like. This book is accurate.
I saw a video of GW Bush pulling one of his Secret Service Agents out of a crowd when some unrelated security agent wouldn’t let that agent to accompany Bush. Bush reached into the crowd and pulled out one of his agents:
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/president_bush_aids_secret_service_agent_/
Obama seems like a nice guy too. Don’t like his politics, but he seems like a caring man.
As for everything else written, makes sense.
Larry, et al,
If you liked the write up on this book from http://www.fromwhereistand.info, you should also checkout his movie reviews. He doesn’t catch all of them, but the ones he does are interesting to read. Far from the normal, politically correct, versions you read alot in papers that have to push the movie ads as well.
I just sub to his RSS feed via email and catch them as they’re posted. It’s worth the time.
[...] Secret Service agents dish on the personalities of the presidents. [...]
Re: ‘Saving’ his security guard. Noooooooo. You’re president in a foreign country where they have lots of reasons to hate you. Now they’re peeling away your bodyguards.
No. He didn’t save the secret service agents, he was saving his own hide. Of course he looked miffed. Forcibly removing a visiting dignitary’s bodyguards is a really, really rude thing to do, and is an immanent threat to life.
I think he was a great guy who compromised with the left way too much, but I sure miss him now. It’s just that you shouldn’t be mistaking what was happening.
Sal, Rima just posted a hilarious but very good and pointed comment on Obama’s Nobel award. Go back and read it. This guy’s got some depth and talent.
I always suspected Carter of being an A-hole.
My husband had an encounter with Pres. Carter after he had left the WH. He was in Liberia for the elections that the Carter Center was observing. My husband and a military colleague were on the tarmac when Carter’s plane arrived. Carter headed over in their direction and my husband thought he was going to shake their hands and maybe find out about them and why they were there, etc. After all, he’s a Navy vet and my husband is Navy. So Carter strides across the tarmac to them and they greet him and all he say to them is “Where’s the head?” (bathroom in Navy-ese) No – “Hello” or “How are you guys, could you tell me where the bathroom is”. Just “Where’s the head?” and then they pointed him in that direction and he walked off. He came off as a total jerk.
[...] PDRTJS_settings_548669_post_1713 = { "id" : "548669", "unique_id" : "wp-post-1713", "title" : "Former+Secret+Service+agent+opens+window+into+private+lives+of+presidents", "item_id" : "_post_1713", "permalink" : "http%3A%2F%2Finzax.us%2F2009%2F10%2F16%2Fformer-secret-service-agent-opens-window-into-private-lives-of-presidents%2F" } Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents | The North Star National. [...]
I don’t think it is wise to be mistreating the people whose job it is to take a bullet for you.
Your true character is revealed by how you treat those who serve you.
As a Law Enforcement Officer here in Texas I had had the pleasure of working with the Secret Service during a Presidential visit a few years back. I can attest to some the comments in the article as the agents I worked with had experience from the Ford years to then BushII administration. I especially recall Gore’s assinine comment.
Regardless of how they were treated these men and women are true professionals, dedicated to the protection of the President, Vice president and their families, with their lives if necessary.
[...] Newsalert. The views represented do not necessarily represent those of the Chicago Daily Observer.] The North Star National reports:In his In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of [...]
[...] personalities Posted in Flotsam and/or Jetsam by Mike Oct 16 2009 TrackBack Address. No surprises here, really, but telling all the same: In his In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes [...]
[...] Long story short: Reagan, Clinton, Bush 41 and 43, and Obama are/were decent sorts. Johnson, Carter, and Hillary Clinton? Not so much. Although none of the paragraphs jumped out at me more than this one, which exposes Al Gore for the ignoramus we always thought he was: Vice President Al Gore was exceedingly obnoxious to his agents according to Kessler. When scolding his son for not doing well in school, Gore chastised him by warning that “if you don’t straighten up, you won’t get into the right schools, and if you don’t get into the right schools you could end up like these guys.” The “guys” Gore was referring to were his secret service agents! (H/T – The North Star National) [...]
No real shock about Carter. It would seem he treats everyone equally. Equally bad.
This may sound rather odd but I prefer to judge our presidents by what they got done as leaders of our nation rather than if they were good tippers and\/or smiled a lot etc…Now is the time to have former presidents spill the beans on the guards.
[...] Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents [...]
I have a close friend who is a retired agent and he says same about Carter and Bush 41. Carter hateful and full of himself, and 41 thoughtful both on and off camera.
Has anyone read Coston’s “Ask the animals”??
It got OK comments at http://www.fromwhereistand.info and since his comments on Kessler were accurate I’m curious if anyone’s read Coston.
TIA
“Uh, you should read the review of Kessler’s book at http://www.fromwhereistand.info”
Yes, you should read this random IT dude’s blog at a DOT INFO page because that is going to be a more valid review than any other random schmuck.
I find it interesting that you are so intent on riding this guys jock, and dropping the site link so prolifically. Considering the level of self-serving text on the blog page, I wouldn’t doubt that you (and probably Larry) are Don Rima. =(
Funny how the interactions between the elected officials and their protectors goes right down party lines.
You guys are so funny. Unbelievably funny, actually.
I’ve known many extreme conservatives and liberals in my life.
The liberals often have some problems relating to people.
The conservatives tend to be people persons and are often affable but underneath lurks a mean-spiritedness. The most extreme example was a really great guy who wanted to bring back lynching.
Go for the middle of the road people.
I love this data presented and it has given me some sort of commitment to succeed for some reason, so keep up the good work.
Hello. Great job. I did not expect this on a Wednesday. This is a great story. Thanks!
Awesome article which has got me considering about the potential of this concept. Truly truly wonderful.
I became therefore aggravated beacuse I couldn`t resolve this matter. Browsing discovered your blog in the search engines in addition to issue is fixed. Thanks!
Finally, I proven the expertise I was seeking out for. We’ve got been holding out assignments on this subject, and for 4 days I preserve obtaining web-sites that are supposed to have what I am hunting for, only to become disappointed employing the deficiency of what I wished. I wish I could have located your web-site sooner! I had about 25% of what I utilized to become in need of and your website has that, plus the remainder of what I vital to finish my researching. We now have activated to this website proper here I like that you simply will observe authentic report information that you’ll be able to hardly learn elsewhere. One particular excellent factor, you perhaps can acquire nevertheless these sorts of blogs, ensure you go on! I can no longer see the well-known media. It can be there lots rubbish printed, I bear it no a lot much more swiftly. A actually pleasant website and beneficial write-up. I shell out nights inside of the planet vast internet studying blogs, about tons of many subjects. I ought to preliminary of all give kudos to whoever established your internet websites and second of all to you for composing what i can only describe as an submit. I honestly believe there’s a capacity to writing articles or blog posts or web site discussions that only a few posses and frankly you may have it. The combination of enlightening and exceptional written content is unquestionably remarkably scarce working with the large volume of website around the on the net world.Constantly preserve a quite great give excellent results!
Best you could make changes to the webpage title Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents to something more specific for your blog post you create. I enjoyed the the writing however.
You’re awesome thanks for the post friend.
I really enjoyed the post, I’ll be back!
This is a great site. It has nice info, that can be implimented in my site. I will come back.
Hello fellow blogger! I’m new to blogs but I just wanted to say that I like your blog here on big bear ca newspaper. It kept me reading all the way to the end… And then I went and searched for some more posts after that.
Keep up the good work, I’m always looking to learn more about Big Bear California, in particular.
You’re making lots of good points during this posting however its tough in my situation to concentrate on the article because of the broken layout!
I can’t believe that both Al Gore & Jimmy Carter acted so arrogantly!
First of all, allow my family value a person’s command during this matter. Even though this is certainly brand new , nevertheless soon after registering your site, this intellect has exploded extensively. Allow all of us to take hold of one’s rss to help keep in touch with at all probable messages Sincere understand but will pass it on to help admirers and my personalized are living members
the autoblow truly is one of mans best friends
I just wanted to comment your blog and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I?ll be back to read more in the future?-
Finde nette Chats ab 50
I was really impressed by the high quality of the resources. Thanks alot. Can i follow the Feed?
Maintain up the beneficial perform mate. This weblog article exhibits how properly you recognize and know this subject.