The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service
When President William McKinley was killed at a campaign rally in 1901, he became the third US president to be assassinated in 36 years. Congress was both shocked and humiliated – shocked at how easy it had been to take down the president, and humiliated by how frequent these assassinations were becoming. Casting about for a solution, they turned to the Secret Service, an organization set up decades earlier to rein in the out-of-control counterfeiting industry. Protecting the president was now part of its remit, but the Service had no cohesive strategy for the new job.
The key message here is: The chaos around the Kennedy assassination reflects the Secret Service’s haphazard founding.
For more than half a century, it seemed that the Secret Service was coping just fine. And then Kennedy came to power. He was a new breed of president. He was rock-star popular; he drew massive crowds wherever he went; he was up close and personal. But not everyone was a fan. In Kennedy’s first six weeks in office, the White House received three times the average number of threats.
Kennedy’s divisive personality, and his constant public exposure, called for a new kind of protection – one that the Secret Service could not provide. So its officers began to cut corners. They worked double shifts, they racked up overtime, they were exhausted and on edge.
In the fall of 1963, Kennedy was on the campaign trail. This was his busiest week since entering the White House. Of course, the Secret Service followed him everywhere he went. On November 21, in Ft. Worth, Texas, some off-duty agents decided to blow off steam at a local bar. Drinking was against regulation, but few cared. It was a late night: some agents didn’t get back to the hotel until 5:00 am.
The next morning, many of them were on only a few hours sleep – and almost all were nursing hangovers. As Kennedy’s motorcade crawled through Dallas, there was an explosive crack. Instead of speeding away, the driver slowed down. Agents raced toward the president’s car, and then another shot rang out. This second bullet hit Kennedy in the head. An hour later, the president was pronounced dead.
Nothing like this had happened in America for decades. The Secret Service failed in its main responsibility, its only job. For years, guilt troubled many of its agents. They dissected that day – and the night before it – minute by minute. This was a failure of historic proportions.
But, as we’ll learn in the next blink, the Secret Service’s troubles were only just beginning.
Zero Fail (2021) is a no-nonsense account of the ineptitude and recklessness that have plagued the US Secret Service in recent decades. From Kennedy to Trump, the Service has continually covered up for, and even promoted, agents who made impulsive, ill-considered and simply bad decisions.
Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.
Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.
Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll
Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.
Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.
Hol dir mit Blinkist die besten Erkenntnisse aus mehr als 5.500 Sachbüchern und Podcasts. In 15 Minuten lesen oder anhören!
Jetzt kostenlos testen
Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
