Editing United States Secret Service (section)

==Attacks on presidents==
{{Main|List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots}}
[[File:Reagan assassination attempt 4 crop.jpg|thumb|Secret Service agents responding to the assassination attempt of [[Ronald Reagan]] by [[John Hinckley Jr.]] on March 30, 1981]]

Since the 1960s, presidents [[John F. Kennedy]] (killed), [[Gerald Ford]] (twice attacked, but uninjured) and [[Ronald Reagan]] (seriously wounded) have been attacked while appearing in public.<ref>{{cite web|first=Elaine |last=Quijano |url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/10/bush.georgia/index.html|title=Secret Service told grenade landed near Bush|publisher=CNN.com |date=May 10, 2005|access-date=August 9, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Chilcote|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/11/georgia.grenade/index.html|title=Bush grenade attacker gets life|publisher=CNN|date=January 11, 2006|access-date=January 3, 2007|archive-date=July 4, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704105908/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/11/georgia.grenade/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Agents on scene, though not injured, during attacks on presidents include [[William Greer]] and [[Roy Kellerman]]. One of the agents was [[Robert DeProspero]], the Special Agent In Charge (SAIC) of Reagan's Presidential Protective Division (PPD) from January 1982 to April 1985. DeProspero was deputy to [[Jerry Parr]], the SAIC of PPD during the Reagan assassination attempt on March 30, 1981.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Petro|first1=Joseph|first2=Jeffrey|last2=Robinson|author2-link=Jeffrey Robinson|title=Standing Next to History, An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|year=2005|pages=[https://archive.org/details/standingnexttohi00petr/page/140 140–141 & 202–204]|isbn=978-0-312-33221-1|url=https://archive.org/details/standingnexttohi00petr/page/140}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://alumni.wvu.edu/awards/academy/1995/robert_deprospero/ |title=Robert L. DeProspero |year=2005 |website=WVUAlumni |publisher=West Virginia University Alumni Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013212453/http://alumni.wvu.edu/awards/academy/1995/robert_deprospero/ |archive-date=October 13, 2007 |access-date=August 12, 2013}}</ref>

[[File:President George W. Bush greets troops guarded by Secret Service.jpg|thumb|left|Secret Service agents guard President [[George W. Bush]] in 2008]]
The [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy assassination]] spotlighted the bravery of two Secret Service agents. First, an agent protecting Mrs. Kennedy, [[Clint Hill (Secret Service)|Clint Hill]], was riding in the car directly behind the presidential limousine when the attack began. While the shooting continued, Hill leaped from the running board of the car he was riding on and jumped onto the back of the president's moving car and guided Mrs. Kennedy from the trunk back into the rear seat of the car. He then shielded the president and the first lady with his body until the car arrived at the hospital.

[[Rufus Youngblood]] was riding in the vice-presidential car. When the shots were fired, he vaulted over the front seat and threw his body over Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Johnson Praises Agent's Bravery: Honors Guard Who Shielded Him in Dallas Shooting 'Courage' Is Cited|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 5, 1963|page=32|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> That evening, Johnson called Secret Service Chief [[James J. Rowley]] and cited Youngblood's bravery.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,875362-2,00.html|title=The Transfer of Power|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=November 29, 1963|access-date=June 25, 2007|archive-date=September 30, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930115642/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,875362-2,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Johnson Says Agent in Dallas Screened Him With His Body |newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 27, 1963|page=21}}</ref> Youngblood would later recall some of this in his memoir, ''Twenty Years in the Secret Service''.

The period following the Kennedy assassination was the most difficult in the modern history of the agency. Press reports indicated that morale among the agents was "low" for months following the assassination.<ref>{{cite book|title=Twenty Years in the Secret Service|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=New York |year=1973 |first=Rufus |last=Youngblood |pages=147–149}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v4n1.html|title=Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service and the Failure to Protect the President|access-date=June 29, 2007|archive-date=June 29, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629215728/http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v4n1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The agency overhauled its procedures in the wake of the Kennedy killing. Training, which until that time had been confined largely to "on-the-job" efforts, was systematized and regularized.

The [[Reagan assassination attempt]] also involved several Secret Service agents, particularly agent [[Tim McCarthy]], who spread his stance to protect Reagan as six bullets were being fired by the would-be assassin, [[John Hinckley Jr.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/he-took-a-bullet-for-reagan/|title=He Took a Bullet for Reagan|quote='In the Secret Service,' [McCarthy] continued, 'we're trained to cover and evacuate the president. And to cover the president, you have to get as large as you can, rather than hitting the deck.'|date=June 11, 2004|publisher=CBS News|access-date=November 10, 2008|archive-date=May 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522150713/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/11/earlyshow/main622527.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> McCarthy survived a .22-caliber round in the abdomen. For his bravery, McCarthy received the [[NCAA Award of Valor]] in 1982.<ref>By means of the [[NCAA Award of Valor]], the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] recognizes "courageous action or noteworthy bravery" by persons involved with intercollegiate athletics. McCarthy had played [[NCAA football]] at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]].</ref> [[Jerry Parr]], the agent who pushed President Reagan into the limousine, and made the critical decision to divert the presidential motorcade to George Washington University Hospital instead of returning to the White House, was also honored with U.S. Congress commendations for his actions that day.<ref>Wilber, Del Quentin (2011). ''Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan''. Macmillan. 
{{ISBN|0-8050-9346-X}}.</ref>