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r3x29yz4a said:
A little anecdote. I forget what year this happenned, probably '72. There was an ongoing protest at the Lincoln Memorial. Late one night Nixon decided to go out and talk to them. He grabbed a few Sec Serv guys and walked the short distance from the White House to the monument and talked about the war to the protesters!

No press conferance, no media, no motorcade. He simply spoke with his opponents and walked back to the White House. Contrast this with the August events this year in Midland, TX.



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the G-man said:
After Hinckley, I don't think the secret service would EVER let a President do that again.



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magicjay38 said:
they didn't seem to mind after JFK was killed, or when Lincoln was killed, or when Garfield was killed, or when Mckinley was killed, or when Theodore Roosevelt was shot at outside his hotel, or when FDR was shot at during a ralley in Chicago.



Not true. The assassinations, attempted assassinations, of previous presidents, or certain attacks on others, have generally led to tightening of security a little more each time.

For example, at the time of Lincoln's assassination, the President did not have secret service protection, only a bodyguard from the local police force.

It wasn't until the assassination of President William McKinley, Congress provided Secret Service Presidential protection.

Following the assassination of President Kennedy, Congress passed legislation for protection of of former Presidents and their spouses during their lifetime and minor children until age 16.

As a result of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Congress authorized protection of major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and nominees.

In 1995, following the Oklahoma city bombing, the Treasury Department shut down the two blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue directly in front of the White House, putting up barricades that, to my knowledge remain to this day.

Furthermore, as noted in Slate magazine (in defense of President Clinton), secret service protection gets stricter with each passing year:

    During the Kennedy era, the Secret Service employed fewer than 500 people and had an annual budget of about $4 million. Then came Lee Harvey Oswald, Squeaky Fromme, and John Hinckley. Now the Secret Service payroll tops 4,500 (most of them agents), and the annual budget exceeds $500 million (up 300 percent just since 1980). At any given time, more than 100 agents guard the president in the White House. Top aides from recent administrations are adamant: The Secret Service never lets the president escape its protection.


So what the Secret Service allowed Presidents to do during the era of Nixon is, in all likelihood, quite different than what is allowed today.