The Secret Service was created on the very day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It was created by Lincoln himself, and he created it for the purpose of... investigating counterfeiters.
You of course more associate it with protecting the president (not its original goal, hence Lincoln’s disappointing night at the theater). But these attempts to keep assassins from storming the president’s house, storming the president’s plane and storming the president’s secret castle aren’t always serious affairs. Life guarding the president can also get very silly.
5. Jimmy Carter Mistook a Panic Button for a Toilet Flush
Presidents first get Secret Service protection before they’re even elected. The agency protects candidates, and in 1976, they had to protect some guy named Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter didn’t like spending money, and when he campaigned in New Hampshire, he didn’t like paying for a hotel. He instead found a private house that would have him, and when the Secret Service showed up to make sure he was okay, they found him asleep in his car. To get over the nearby ice and get him to bed, two agents had to carry him, like an oversize baby.
