Urbanus Edmund Baughman (21 May 1905
[Papers of Urbanus E. Baughman]
/ref> – 6 November 1978[Smith, J. Y. "Urbanus Baughman Jr. 73, Dies; Chief Of Secret Service for 3 Presidents". ''The Washington Post'', 07 November 1978: Metro; C4.]) was the chief of the United States Secret Service between 1948 and 1961, under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy
Kennedy may refer to:
People
* John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States
* John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana
* Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...
.
Baughman was the first Secret Service Chief to pen a memoir concerning the office he held. Entitled ''Secret Service Chief'', it was a veritable tell-all on the intricacies and inner workings of the Secret Service and its evolution from a counterfeit
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
detection department to the presidential protection unit.
Baughman was appointed to head the Secret Service by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
shortly after the 1948 election. According to the book ''American Gunfight'', by Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge Jr., Truman dismissed Baughman's predecessor James J. Maloney in part because he had dispatched most of Truman's Secret Service detail to New York to prepare to guard New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...
. Dewey was widely expected to be elected president but was beaten by Truman in one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history.
Personal statements
Life of the president
Baughman gave a description of the job of the president to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
he President
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
cannot have what is considered a normal life, home or family relationship. He has no choice as to where he lives. He is a focal point for public and world attention. He is a slave to his office, being obliged to serve his country without cease at all hours and every day of the year. He can have very little privacy. If he has young children, they are largely governed by protocol and cannot enjoy the freedom of the White House as they would a normal home.
Threats to the president
Baughman was interviewed by ''Time'' magazine and in an article dated April 20, 1953 he described the Secret Service's biggest fear as, "escaped mental patients who bear grudges against the President or the Government."
Organized crime
In an interview with '' The Washington Post'' published on July 26, 1961, the day after his retirement was announced, Baughman emphatically stated that there had been no mafia in the United States for 40 years. He further denied the existence of a national crime syndicate based on talks with other law enforcement officials.["Interview with U.E. Baughman". ''The Washington Post'', 06 July 1961.]
Kennedy assassination
Baughman was immediately critical of the methods used by the Secret Service following the assassination of President Kennedy. He wanted to know why, after the first shot was fired, the Secret Service did not immediately pepper the window with machine gun fire to prevent any further shots from being fired. He was also curious as to why, with an entire Secret Service detail and the Dallas Police Force on hand, the only shots that were fired were from the assassin. He claimed it was basic training for all Secret Service agents that unauthorized people should be kept out of buildings.[Joesten, Joachim. ''How Kennedy was Killed: The Full Appalling Story''. Universal-Tandem Publishing Co., 1968.]
Media appearances
A private person for much of his life, Baughman appeared on the show '' What's My Line?'' on November 27, 1955, the week before he was to be honored by the White House and would appear in ''Look'' magazine. He also appeared on '' To Tell The Truth'' on April 9, 1957.
Death
A resident of Pine Beach, New Jersey since 1965, Baughman died on November 6, 1978, from arteriosclerotic heart disease at the Community Memorial Hospital in Toms River, New Jersey.[Staff]
"Urbanus E. Baughman Jr. Dies At 73"
'' The New York Times'', November 9, 1978. Accessed November 6, 2016. "In 1965, Mr. Baughman and his family moved from Arlington, Va. to Pine Beach, New Jersey." He is buried in Arlington Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania along with his parents and wife Ruth, who died in 2004.[U.E. Baughman at Arlington Cemetery]
/ref>
References
External links
* ttp://www.worldstatesmen.org/USA_govt.html United States Government*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baughman, Urbanus Edmund
1905 births
1978 deaths
Burials at Arlington Cemetery (Pennsylvania)
United States Secret Service agents
People from Camden, New Jersey
People from Pine Beach, New Jersey
Directors of the United States Secret Service