The U.S. Secret Service began in a time of national crisis. Each new duty that it encountered during the course of its history would be in response to a critical situation, a national need, and in some instances, a tragedy. Although people associate the Secret Service with presidential protection, that was not the reason it was created. It was counterfeiting, the monetary crime universal to all ages, that brought about the Service's beginnings (Moments 4).
During the time of the Civil War, as much as one-third to one-half of U.S. currency was counterfeit. The situation was overwhelming when Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch approached President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. McCulloch has permission to do something to combat the bogus bills, and Lincoln agreed. That was the day the that the Secret Service came into being--ironically, that was also the day that John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln. However, as yet, presidents were not protected by the Secret Service. That would come later (Moments 4).
The Secret Service Division of the Treasury began on July 5, 1865, as Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Hugh McCulloch. In a year's time, operatives captured more than 200 counterfeiters, and they destroyed many counterfeit plants. The Service also established national headquarters in Washington, D.C. and field offices in 11 cities (Moments 4).
In its history, the Service has undertaken many different types of assignments which were outside of their regular duties. For example, only early investigation that the Service was asked to perform was the Louisiana Lottery case from 1902 to 1908. This scam affected people from all over the country. The organizers of the lottery were crooks and nobody was winning anything. However, the organizers were not easy to catch because they moved the lottery to Honduras and other locations--where new victims, not believing the bad publicity the lottery was gettin...