Secret Service revealed to author and NY Daily News journalist Brad Meltzer former President Ronald Reagan’s biggest secret:
That he carried a .38 in his briefcase.
The thriller novelist learned about Reagan’s secret while researching for his book The President’s Shadow.
Meltzer writes,
“So there I was, on my tour of Secret Service headquarters. The agents had taken me into a small museum they have on the premises. It’s a room lined with photos of Presidents and archival exhibit cases filled with Secret Service artifacts. A newspaper with a “Kennedy Dead” headline. A replica of Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle. The pistol used to try to kill President Gerald Ford. They even have the actual car door from the limo when Reagan was shot.
“It was an eerie keepsake for sure. But not nearly as eerie as the next detail they told me. We were talking about Reagan and that day he was shot. Then one of the agents offered this secret: When Reagan was President, he carried his own gun.
“I couldn’t believe it.
“’It’s true,’ they said. A .38. Reagan used to hide it in his briefcase and take it on Air Force One.”
He adds,
“Whatever you think of Reagan, you have to admit, he had a black belt in badassery."
If Reagan carried a gun with him in his briefcase and onto Air Force One as the sitting U.S. President, then what have other former Commanders-in-Chief kept on their person? Meltzer set out for answers:
George H.W. Bush said that he carried a driver’s license, which is especially interesting seeing as though a sitting President isn't allowed to drive himself.
Bill Clinton carried a billfold with cash and credit cards, a small prayer, and pictures of Mrs. Clinton and their daughter Chelsea.
George W. Bush carried the NYPD badge of George Howard, a first responder killed on 9/11.
Howard’s mother Arlene gave Bush her son’s shield.
As for President Obama, he apparently carries with him a variety of “knickknacks.”
“He carries his famous BlackBerry, sometimes a small journal, and then loads of items that people give him: military challenge coins, poker chips, lots of knickknacks,” Meltzer says. “His pockets can become a presidential junk drawer. But in the end, no wallet, which is why he’s been known to say, ‘Where’s my money?’”
One thing that the presidents share in common:
They carry “a small card with the nuclear launch codes on them,” writes Meltzer.
H/T NY Daily News