# When did the Secret Service begin providing lifetime protection for ex-Presidents?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-secret-service-begin-providing-lifetime-protection-for-ex-presidents/371754>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 7, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-secret-service-begin-providing-lifetime-protection-for-ex-presidents/371754 "2006-09-07T05:39:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-secret-service-begin-providing-lifetime-protection-for-ex-presidents/371754/1 "2006-09-07T05:39:30Z")

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I think it might have been for Truman, when he left office in 1953, but I can’t find it anywhere. I summon the mighty power of the SDMB!

I understand that the law changed not long ago and that Clinton and subsequent ex-Presidents will only have a decade of post-White House protection, but I suspect that it will be extended, particularly if the War on Terror or its equivalent drags on…

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-secret-service-begin-providing-lifetime-protection-for-ex-presidents/371754/2 "2006-09-07T05:52:25Z")

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Nope. Cliton was grandfathered in. Bush will be the first ex-president not to have lifetime protection.

Lifetime protection of ex-presidents and their spouses began with an act of Congress in 1965. [More here.](http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/history.shtml)

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-secret-service-begin-providing-lifetime-protection-for-ex-presidents/371754/3 "2006-09-07T14:47:38Z")

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Thanks. In 1965, the only former presidents still alive would have been Truman and Eisenhower.