Show presidential residential lo travel Is major project chief executive zealously guarded by secret service by BAUKHAGE news analyst and nd commentator washington when president truman finally announced that he wag was going to B brazil he was immediately asked if he contemplated any trips across continental united states he answered in the negative A reporter piped up this year or next year THIS year the president replied that gave the white house press cress and radio conference a short interlude tt of laughter for the reason that whenever a president Is forced to drop his role of chief executive to assume the functions of candidate it Is I 1 tunny funny frequently it tunny funny lor for the candidate especially when he haj bag been used to the respect spontaneously and except in election years universally tendered his office A presidential trip may be ln many cases fun for or the president but it much fun tor for a lot of other people not that an all presidents have had easy aay traveling it was an ordeal for the early head beads of the nation just to get home in the stagecoach and tavern days president garfield ww was shot in a rall railroad road station mckinley mckenley was wa killed by a half mad anarchist on a trip to the pan american exposition in buffalo harding died in san francisco on his big way back from rom a swing around that had bad taken laken him to baukhage Bauk bage Vair vancouver couver canada wilson suffered a stroke in his pullman theodore roosevelt was wounded while he addressed a meeting on a visit to milwaukee furthermore it has been recently revealed by the head of the secret service mike reilly la in his book reilly of the white house that hat franklin roosevelt who disliked air travel dearly cracked up in malta and might have been assassinated in a park in miami had he be not leaned out of his car to take a telegram mayor anton acton cermak of chicago was killed and four other persons wounded stayed within nations nation borders up to franklin Roosevel ts time tatt taft was the most traveled of presidents and in 1901 2901 worried all the constitutionalists unfamiliar with the constitution by visiting the canal zone however he was scrupulously pulou sly careful to stay on board the american warship which touched only american soil it had bad been considered an unwritten law since george time he had refused to enter rhode island until edw it was admitted to the union that a president in office leave the country when woodrow went to paris and vice president ident thomas marshall had to preside at cabinet meetings the vice president made it clear be was officiating ficia Acia ting only at the request of signal corp photo president truman receives teletype message aboard the presidential radio car standing by the president are lt clinton G CoI connover nover left maintenance officer of the army security agency and lt harvard E dudley cryptographic officer white noose signal detachment wilson and that he consider wilsons Wil sons leaving the country vacated the ibe presidency travel his baa become a president must and mr Tr trip to south sooth america Is just jost routine but bat it to Is complicated routine IT for a whole army of people what these people do Is little known know to the public especially the secret service one out of every 10 of ow car presidents has been assassinated up to the time congress turned the job of protecting the chief executive over to the secret service since then no president has bas been assassinated theirs the secret service Is a heartbreaking job and never have the details been so thoroughly revealed to the discomfiture of some of his former colleagues as by mike reilly in the book I 1 mentioned 0 of course in wartime the job was vastly more complicated and the army and navy worked closely with the secret service A special air raid alert system was designed reilly says to protect anywhere in the united states when a spotter or watcher either civilian military or spots spot led an airplane be or she was unable to identify any place from greenland to the straits of cf magellan the information was radioed immediately to the army air force headquarters at mitchell Ml field N Y the information was immediately eva evaluated bated and conveyed by radio and land line to the secret service communication system where men were standing a 24 hour watch this system tied together mitchell field B boiling field the homes offices and automobiles ot of various secret service agents field offices throughout the country all secret service mobile units the presidents train shangri la and the presidents room at hyde park president kept informed constantly but keeping the president alive Is only one activity keeping him in touch with his job Is another once when a bullying congress demanded of president grant which if any of his duties he performed in washington he replied that his business and where he did it was his bis own affair now a presidents out of town business Is a lot of peoples affairs in wartime this signal corps detail had the mission of speeding the presidents Vs top secret communications from the highest level conference tables to installations in the field 11 today roday as major mcnally puts pats it wherever the president travels the white house signal detachment continues conti its task of weaving deftly an intricate communications net which enables the commander ln in calef and he might have added a travel ling line candidate to keep himself constantly con standly informed and in touch with the nation this work of weaving this communications net is an exciting story too long to recount here but let roe me quote major mcnally briefly to show how continuous communication ni was maintained when president roosevelt made one ot of his frequent trips to hyde park A 50 watt frequency modulation station was modified and installed on the secret service car attached to the presidential train army vehicles radio equipped were spotted at strategically plotted points along the route between washington and poughkeepsie so that the train was in constant touch with the white house an all the way another FM radio link was installed in the old stable on the presidents Vs estate at hyde park by means of a direct telephone line to washington and frequency modulation radio the white house was kept informed of the presidents whereabouts at all times the speed with which messages could be dispatched and answers received was astounding when wm win ston churchill was making his second visit to hyde park he and the president who were keen competitors as well as close collaborators decided to make a speed test on the communications facilities each sent identical messages to australia over the respective british and united states facilities the president had an answer in less than two hours the prime minister got his the next day |