People With Secrets

I just finished reading “In the President’s Secret Service” by Ronald Kessler. I almost feel like a Royal Watcher when I read a book like this, but I have always been fascinated by the people behind the politics.

I once dated a woman whose brother was a Secret Service agent. We drove to New York one morning to pick him up from the Waldorf where he was guarding some dignitaries. On the drive back to New Jersey I got to ask him all sorts of questions about his job. He had been on all sorts of details all around the world. He worked with just about every famous political person you’d ever heard of in places like the White House and palaces everywhere. All in all I came away with the impression that to him it was just a job. He had a very rank and file attitude about his work.

Back to the book, this book exposes impressions that agents have had regarding those who they were willing to take a bullet for. There are some surprises.
The agents seemed to love Reagan, George HW Bush, Barbara Bush, George W and Laura Bush, Tipper Gore, Bill Clinton and the Obamas. These people were always respectful to agents.

On the other hand Gerald Ford, Hillary Clinton, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Nancy Reagan, Jimmy Carter, the twins Jenna and Barbara Bush, Amy Carter and Al Gore were total douche bags. They weren’t douchie once in a while; they were full-time 24/7/365 douche bags.

It’s an easy read, but I’d suggest waiting for the paperback, though I did get it really cheap used on Amazon.