Secret Service didn't like African Americans in 1963. Ask Agent Abraham Bolden.

[Octafish]

44. Meeting President Kennedy

EXCERPT...

President Kennedy met Bolden at the door of the men's room at McCormick Place, Chicago's convention center that borders Lake Michigan.

Bolden was guarding the men's restroom on April 28, 1961, so it could only be used by top political officials. It was a job normally assigned to a uniformed Chicago policeman, but his fellow Secret Service agents wanted to demean Bolden by assigning him the task.

"It was very difficult because I was African American. I wasn't wearing a uniform and many people did not believe I was a Secret Service agent," he said.

Bolden was standing at his assigned post when he heard a rumble of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Leading the group was President Kennedy, followed by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner and Ill. Sen. Paul Douglas and Chicago Congressman William L. Dawson.

"I stepped aside. I didn't say hello, Mr. President," Bolden recalled. But President Kennedy followed Bolden and asked him if he was a Chicago police officer or a Secret Service agent.

Bolden told the president he was a Secret Service agent. "Has there been a (negro) Secret Service agent assigned on the White House detail?" President Kennedy asked. "Not to my knowledge," Bolden answered. The President asked Bolden if he would like to be the first. The president shook Bolden's hand and cameramen snapped photographs, but those photos have since disappeared. "The Secret Service did not want me to be seen with the President," he said.

President Kennedy arranged for Bolden to be assigned to the White House Secret Service detail. The President told Pierre Salinger, White House press secretary, that Bolden was the Jackie Robinson of the U.S. Secret Service.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thenorthstarnews.com/fullstory/story/abraham-bolden-the-first-black-secret-service-agent-assigned-to-the-white-house-tells-the-story-of-racism-in-the-us-secrect-service