Did President Nixon have black security guards

[G2309]

I'm watching the Impossible Astronaut again and the main security guard is black. This is 1969 it seems unlikely he'd be able to get such a high position. I know the civil rights bill passed in 1964 but still.

 

[Maurice]

There were black secret service agents before then. Here's an article about the first. I just Googled "first black secret service agent" and voila.

 

[Skywalker]

Charles Gittens, the first African American Secret Service agent, joined the agency in 1956, during the Eisenhower administration. He protected Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and in 1971 he became the Special Agent in Charge of the Washington field office.

Abraham Bolden joined the Secret Service in 1959, also during the Eisenhower administration, and in 1961 he became the first African American to be appointed to the White House protection detail.

So, no, the African American agent in "The Impossible Astronaut" wasn't at all unlikely or unrealistic.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Dwight Eisenhower appointed the first black Secret Service agent in 1959. That agent went on to serve on John F. Kennedy's protection details. So, yes, there could have been a black agent protecting Nixon in 1969.

 

[G2309]

Thanks guys I did the wrong google search then. Was looking at black security for President Nixon. Also looking at the first people in certain jobs then thought I'd just ask

 

[Sci]

Thanks guys I did the wrong google search then. Was looking at black security for President Nixon. Also looking at the first people in certain jobs then thought I'd just ask

I suspect that your search terminology might have been at fault for your difficulty finding information. United States Presidents are not protected by mere "security guards;" they're protected by the United States Secret Service, a very prestigious and elite special agency. It's important to understand the difference in prestige between a "security guard" (which is typically an unarmed, untrained, civilian employee of a private company) and a Secret Service agent.

 

[G2309]

Its a good article thanks. Its amazing what people accomplished despite discrimination. The manager of that resteraunt must have been a bit uh oh when he found he worked for the president.