Treasury Building
The Treasury Building at 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, next to the White House,
is shown in the movie. For the first 40 years, the principal duty of the Secret Service was
to combat counterfeiting. In a turn-of-the-century cover-up, the Cleveland
administration hid its unauthorized use of the Secret Service to protect the president.
During William McKinley's first administration (1897-1901), the Secret
Service's protection became more regular and more public. Even so, in 1901,
McKinley was fatally shot. Since the Secret Service was authorized by Congress
to protect presidents in 1906, only one has been killed under its watch --
John F. Kennedy. However, there have been six potentially deadly
assaults, on Franklin Roosevelt (1933), Harry Truman (1950),
presidential candidate George Wallace (in Laurel, Md.), Gerald
Ford (twice in 1975), Ronald Reagan (1981). Secret Service Agent
Tim McCarthy took a bullet for Reagan. The wound was not fatal.
