It goes without saying that being President of the United States can have its perks.
You have the FBI and US Army at your fingertips while possessing extraordinary powers, all while living in the White House and getting to fly around in your own specially-chartered private jet. But being the leader of the free world also comes with a lot of security implications.
And while you cannot walk around unaided any longer, you do however get your very own Secret Service code name. Much as the Royals have their own names, for decades US Presidents and their family members have had their own monikers.
Elected officials get to choose their names from a list produced by the White House Communications Agency, while their relatives are then given names of the same letter. Here are some of the most renowned Presidents over the years and what their names were – and still are to this day.
As Donald Trump is set to take office again as the 47th President, we take a look at some of the Presidential Hall of Fame’s code names over the years, including Trump’s himself.
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During his eight-year tenure, Obama was codenamed ‘Renegade’. Somewhat antithetical to the word’s meaning of an agent betraying their own side, the word was reportedly picked from a list of other words beginning with ‘R’. As for what the other choices were, the jury’s still out on that one.
Custom dictates the President’s family members are given alliterative codenames, With First Lady Michelle’s having been a much more complimentary ‘Renaissance’, while their daughters Malia and Sasha were known as ‘Radiance’ and ‘Rosebud’.
JFK was known as ‘Lancer’ to the SS during his time as President, which was tragically cut short by his assassination in 1963. The name was derived from the Arthurian legend of knight Sir Lancelot, due to his administration often being compared with Camelot.
As a result, Jackie Kennedy was known as ‘Lace’.
Continuing with his same codename from when he served as Vice President, Biden’s was ‘Celtic’, in reference to his Irish heritage. Kamala Harris’, while serving as part of his administration, was ‘Pioneer’.
Serving between 1989 and 1993, the late Republican President George H W Bush chose ‘Timberwolf’ as his code name. Quite why he chose to name himself after the largest member of the canine family, it’s unknown.
In a possible reference to his appearance in Westerns before his political career, Reagan picked the same name as the popular US series. Ronald Reagan famously starred in 69 Westerns, although only six as a cowboy.
Whether a reference to the American bird of prey or his association with Boy Scouts – in which an Eagle Scout is the organisation’s top rank – Bill Clinton picked this as his code name. First Lady Hilary Clinton was given the name ‘Evergreen’, while their daughter Chelsea has ‘Energy’.
Carter’s name while President was ‘Deacon’, reflecting his strong faith. Jimmy Carter was known for his positions in the Baptist church, and even continued to teach Sunday school classes after becoming president.
Perhaps Nixon is more closely associated today with the name ‘Watergate’, but the 37th President during his administration was known – perhaps somewhat ironically given his attempts at covering his tracks – as ‘Searchlight’.
Trump once claimed he would select ‘Humble’ as his SS code name, despite being perhaps as far from humble as a politician could be. His actual name – ‘Mogul’ – was far more reflective of that.
In turn, Melania’s code name was ‘Muse’, while children Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric and Jared were respectively named ‘Mountaineer’, ‘Marvel’ ‘Marksman’ and ‘Mechanic’.
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