The United States Secret Service uses code names for U.S. presidents, first ladies, and other prominent persons and locations. [1] The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition. [2] [3] The Secret Service does not choose these names, however. The White House Communications Agency maintains a list that candidates choose from, often choosing ones that resonate with them personally. [4] [5]
According to an established protocol, good codewords are unambiguous words that can be easily pronounced and readily understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language. Traditionally, all family members' code names start with the same letter. [4]
The codenames change over time for security purposes, but are often publicly known. For security, codenames are generally picked from a list of such 'good' words, but avoiding the use of common words which could likely be intended to mean their normal definitions.
U.S. Secret Service codenames are often given to high-profile political candidates (such as presidential and vice presidential candidates), and their respective families and spouses who are assigned U.S. Secret Service protection. These codenames often differ from those held if they are elected or those from prior periods if they held positions needing codenames.
U.S. Secret Service codenames are not only given to people; they are often given to places, locations and even objects, such as aircraft like Air Force One, and vehicles such as the Presidential State Car.
In popular culture, the practice of assigning codenames is often used to provide additional verisimilitude in fictional works about the executive branch, or high-ranking governmental figures.
James Earl Carter Jr. is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter was the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, and a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. At age 99, he is both the oldest living former U.S. president and the longest-lived president in U.S. history.
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976, he was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 1984 presidential election, but lost to incumbent Ronald Reagan in an Electoral College and popular vote landslide.
The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a cabinet position in the federal government of the United States.
Elliott Abrams is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He is currently a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela from 2019 to 2021 and as the U.S. Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021.
The President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is an advisory body to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. According to its self-description, it "provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities."
The nuclear football is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the president of the United States to communicate and authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Functioning as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States, the football is carried by a military aide when the President is traveling.
In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.
In the politics of the United States, an October surprise is a news event that may influence the outcome of an upcoming November election, whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. Because the date for national elections is in early November, events that take place in October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters and allow less time to take remedial action; thus, relatively last-minute news stories could either change the course of an election or reinforce the inevitable. The term "October surprise" was coined by William Casey when he served as campaign manager of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. However, there were October election-upending events that predated the coining of the term.
Counselor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States and senior members of the White House Office.
The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978, 44 U.S.C. §§ 2201–2209, is an Act of the United States Congress governing the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents created or received after January 20, 1981, and mandating the preservation of all presidential records. Enacted November 4, 1978, the PRA changed the legal ownership of the President's official records from private to public, and established a new statutory structure under which Presidents must manage their records. The PRA was amended in 2014, to include the prohibition of sending electronic records through non-official accounts unless an official account is copied on the transmission, or a copy is forwarded to an official account shortly after creation.
The Office of Presidential Correspondence is one of the largest and oldest offices in the White House, and is a component of the Office of the White House Staff Secretary. In the administration of Joe Biden, the Office of Presidential Correspondence was led by Director Eva Kemp. Kemp left the office in September 2021 to become Vice President at Precision Strategies. Deputy Director Garrett Lamm was promoted to take over for Kemp after her departure.
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, commonly known as the Al Smith Dinner, is an annual white tie dinner in New York City to raise funds for Catholic charities supporting children of various needs in the Archdiocese of New York. Held at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on the third Thursday of October, it is hosted by the Archbishop of New York. It is organized by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in honor of Al Smith, who grew up in poverty and later became the Governor of New York four times and the first Catholic nominated as the Democratic candidate for the 1928 United States presidential election.
The presidential transition of Barack Obama began when he won the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008, and became the president-elect. Obama was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 15, 2008. The results were certified by a joint session of Congress on January 8, 2009, and the transition ended when Obama was inaugurated at noon EST on January 20, 2009.
Thomas Edward Donilon is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. Donilon also worked in the Carter and Clinton administrations, including as chief of staff of the U.S. State Department. He is now Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute, the firm's global think tank.
The White House staff position of liaison to the American Jewish community is a role charged with serving as a presidential administration's voice to the community and gathering the community's consensus viewpoint on issues affecting it for the benefit of White House policymakers. It has existed at least as early as the Carter Administration.
The Reagan era or the Age of Reagan is a periodization of recent American history used by historians and political observers to emphasize that the conservative "Reagan Revolution" led by President Ronald Reagan in domestic and foreign policy had a lasting impact. It overlaps with what political scientists call the Sixth Party System. Definitions of the Reagan era universally include the 1980s, while more extensive definitions may also include the late 1970s, the 1990s, and even the 2000s. In his 2008 book, The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008, historian and journalist Sean Wilentz argues that Reagan dominated this stretch of American history in the same way that Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal legacy dominated the four decades that preceded it.
Gallup was the first polling organization to conduct accurate opinion polling for United States presidential elections. Gallup polling has often been accurate in predicting the outcome of presidential elections and the margin of victory for the winner. However, it missed some close elections: 1948, 1976 and 2004, the popular vote in 2000, and the likely-voter numbers in 2012. The month section in the tables represents the month in which the opinion poll was conducted. D represents the Democratic Party, and R represents the Republican Party. Third parties, such as the Dixiecrats and the Reform Party, were included in some polls.
The post-presidency of Jimmy Carter began on January 20, 1981, following the end of Jimmy Carter's term as president. Carter was the 39th president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. Carter's post-presidency is widely considered by historians and political analysts to be one of the most accomplished of any former U.S. president. After leaving office, Carter remained engaged in political and social projects, establishing the Carter Center, building his presidential library, teaching at Emory University in Atlanta, and writing numerous books, ranging from political memoirs to poetry. He also contributed to the expansion of the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.
The presidential transition of Ronald Reagan began when he won the 1980 United States presidential election, becoming the president-elect, and ended when Reagan was inaugurated at noon EST on January 20, 1981.
Eleanor Roosevelt hurled herself into the war effort with all the energy that she had brought to the New Deal. During the course of the war, she traveled the world, visiting American soldiers everywhere. The Secret Service gave her the code name "Rover."