g--poured money into their scheme. Finally, in 1902, 23 operatives began searching and investigating to gather all the evidence and culprits from all over the country. It took them six years, but they stopped the lottery (Moments 8).
In 1871, when the Service was called to investigate the Ku Klux Klan's violence against former slaves, eight operatives arrested over 1,000 offenders and the violence was stopped. Other assignments have included ridding the country of enemy agents during the War with Spain (1898) and investigating fraudulent land claims in the West (1907). The eight operatives who investigated the land claims found that two Oregon congressmen were involved in the illegal claims. That exposure brought a halt to Service investigations into matters other than those dealing with Treasury violations. Congress passed a law prohibiting the Justice Department from borrowing Secret Service operatives. President Theodore Roosevelt, who had tried to reverse Congress' decision but failed, in 1908, sent those eight Secret Service operatives to the Justice Department to join its newly organized investigative bureau--in what is now known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Moments 9).
Official presidential protection did not begin until 1901--although the Service had, in the past, protected presidents. With the death of President McKinley, the third president to be assassinated, president's from then on were protected by the Service--although no law was passed for six more years. By 1917, however, threats against the president became a felony and the president's family received protection as well (Moments 10).
In 1922, the White House Police Force was formed. In 1930, this force joined the Secret Service. Congress gave the supervision of the White House Police to the Chief of the Secret Service. In 1970, the White House Police was changed to the Executive Protective Service and its duties enlarged to include th...