The man who is most in the public eye at the moment - President Hoover - is probably the most carefully guarded person in the world.
I am told that a regular cardindex history of over 50,000 people who might harm the President is kept at the White House rogues' gallery, and an army of detectives, agents and picked men is on duty there at all hours. It is never forgotten in Washington that three Presidents have died at the hands of assassins.
Yet it is no more difficult, I am told, to get into the White House than into a country club. No armed soldiers guard the portals; but, after passing through the main entrance, the executive offices portion may appear to be carelessly watched, a stranger finds himself challenged at every few steps. If he shows the slightest sign of aggressive eccentricity, he will find himself "bounced" in a jiffy, wondering at the magic appearance from nowhere of a score of well-dressed, but hefty, custodians.
The Secret Service has another job - that of examining the suspicious-looking packages that are sent to the White House almost daily. Of course, it is infernal machines that are feared, but 999 times out of a thousand the packages are found to contain nothing more deadly than a mince-pie "from an admirer", a pair of hunting boots, a case of fishermen's flies, a book, a full-masted ship in a bottle, or, most frequently of all, a petition signed by 10,000 indignant somebodies.
The Irish Times, July10th, 1931.