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50 free Secret Service trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The United States Secret Service was created on the day Abraham Lincoln was shot, but not to guard presidents; its job was catching counterfeiters, and it took another assassination, William McKinley's in 1901, before Congress asked it to protect the President at all. This quiz covers the agency's whole story: the Treasury Department years, the Blair House shootout, the agents who leapt onto Kennedy's limousine and took a bullet for Reagan, the move to Homeland Security, the cybercrime task forces, and the code names for everything from Air Force One to the Situation Room. It is written for history buffs, true-crime readers and anyone who has watched a motorcade go by and wondered what the earpieces are for. Early questions are approachable; later ones ask for dates, names of directors and the odd rule about who is allowed to refuse protection. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the Secret Service and its code names, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was the original mission of the Secret Service when it was founded in 1865?
Suppressing counterfeit currency
After the Civil War fake money was rampant; the new division sat inside the Treasury Department for the next 138 years.
Q 02Which federal department has the Secret Service belonged to since 2003?
Homeland Security
The transfer took effect on March 1, 2003, ending its long tenure at the Treasury.
Q 03Whose assassination prompted Congress to ask the Secret Service to protect the President?
William McKinley
The 1901 request was informal at first; full-time responsibility for presidential protection followed a year later.
Q 04What happened on the same day Abraham Lincoln approved the creation of the Secret Service?
He was shot that evening
The agency itself was formally established a few months later, on July 5, 1865.
Q 05Who was sworn in as the first Chief of the Secret Service in July 1865?
William P. Wood
He was sworn in by Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch in Washington, D.C.
Q 06What is the nickname of the armored Cadillac presidential limousine introduced in 2018?
The Beast
For unofficial events the limousines travel "sterile", stripped of flags and the presidential seal.
Q 07Which agent leapt onto President Kennedy's limousine in Dallas to shield the First Lady?
Clint Hill
He was riding on the running board of the follow-up car and guided Mrs. Kennedy back into the rear seat.
Q 08Which agent threw his body over Vice President Lyndon Johnson when the shots rang out in Dallas?
Rufus Youngblood
Johnson phoned the Secret Service chief that evening to praise him; he later wrote the memoir Twenty Years in the Secret Service.
Q 09Which agent took a bullet in the abdomen while spreading his stance to shield President Reagan in 1981?
Tim McCarthy
He made a full recovery and received the NCAA Award of Valor the following year.
Q 10Where did agent Jerry Parr divert Reagan's motorcade after the 1981 shooting?
George Washington University Hospital
The decision is widely credited with saving Reagan's life; Parr received commendations from Congress.
Q 11In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to assassinate President Truman at which residence?
Blair House
Truman was living across the street from the White House while it underwent renovation.
Q 12Who is the only Secret Service agent killed protecting a president from assassination?
Leslie Coffelt
Mortally wounded, he still shot and killed one of the attackers with a single round.
Q 13How did William Craig, the first agent to die on duty, lose his life in 1902?
A road accident in the presidential carriage
Q 21Which organization actually maintains the list of code names that protectees choose from?
White House Communications Agency
Candidates pick from the list, often choosing a word that resonates with them personally; family members traditionally share a first letter.
Q 22What was Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service code name?
Angler
His wife Lynne was "Author" and his daughters "Apollo" and "Alpine", following the shared-initial tradition.
Q 23Which vice president had the code name "Hoosier"?
Mike Pence
The nickname for an Indiana native fitted the former governor of that state; his wife Karen was "Hummingbird".
The agency had taken on full-time presidential protection only that year.
Q 14Whose 1968 assassination led Congress to authorize protection for major presidential candidates?
Robert F. Kennedy
The same era brought lifetime protection for the spouses of deceased presidents unless they remarry.
Q 15Which two officials may not refuse Secret Service protection under federal law?
The President and Vice President
By custom the agency also guards the Treasury and Homeland Security secretaries, and others the President designates.
Q 16Until what age are the children of former presidents entitled to Secret Service protection?
16
Former presidents and their spouses get protection for life, unless the spouse remarries.
Q 17What is the code name for the White House as a whole?
Castle
"Crown" refers more narrowly to the Executive Mansion; the Situation Room is "Cement Mixer".
Q 18Which two code names are used for Air Force One?
Angel or Cowpuncher
The presidential state car is "Stagecoach" and the follow-up car is "Halfback".
Q 19What is the code name for the presidential retreat Camp David?
Cactus
"Volcano" was Lyndon Johnson's ranch and "Roadhouse" is the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
Q 20Which building carries the Secret Service code name "Punch bowl"?
The Capitol
The Pentagon is "Calico" and FBI headquarters is "Cork".
Q 24What was Kamala Harris's Secret Service code name?
Pioneer
Her husband Doug Emhoff was "Playmaker" and stepdaughter Ella was, delightfully, "Pickle".
Q 25Which entertainer was given the code name "Napoleon" by the Secret Service?
Frank Sinatra
Antonio Banderas got "Zorro" and Pope John Paul II was "Halo".
Q 26What was Queen Elizabeth II's Secret Service code name?
Kittyhawk
King Charles III has been "Principal" or "Unicorn"; Israel's Menachem Begin was "Cedar".
Q 27What is the code name of the Secret Service counter-sniper team?
Hercules
The counterassault team is "Hawkeye" and the motorcade itself is "Bamboo".
Q 28The Uniformed Division was established in 1922 under what name?
White House Police
It became the Executive Protective Service in 1970 and took its current name in 1977.
Q 29Besides the White House complex, what does the Uniformed Division protect throughout Washington, D.C.?
Foreign diplomatic missions
That duty was added in 1970, when the force was renamed the Executive Protective Service.
Q 30Roughly what fraction of special agent applicants did the Secret Service accept in 2011?
Less than 1%
There were 15,600 applicants that year; recruits must be aged 21 to 37 and pass a full-scope polygraph.