Secret Museum That Visitors Will Never See
2022-12-17
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1The capital city of Washington, D.C. is home to many famous museums in the United States.
2But there is one museum in the city that visitors will never get to see: the U.S. Secret Service Museum.
3Placed inside the agency's headquarters, the one-room museum shows objects from the agency's history.
4It also honors the 40 men and women of the service who have died while performing their duty.
5Mike Sampson is a historian and archivist at the U.S. Secret Service.
6He said the museum is only open to agency workers, their families, and some special guests.
7He added that concerns about security and lack of resources are the reasons the museum is closed to other visitors.
8The Secret Service is probably best known for protecting U.S. presidents.
9But its first mission was to fight financial crime.
10Jason Kendrick is another historian and archivist at the U.S. Secret Service.
11He said that on April 14, 1865, the treasury secretary at the time, Hugh McCulloch, suggested to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to create an agency to fight counterfeit, or fake money.
12"At the time, one-third of all the currency in the U.S. during and post-Civil War was counterfeit," said Kendrick.
13So, on the same day that Lincoln approved the creation of the Secret Service, he was killed a few hours later at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
14It was not until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley, that the Secret Service added the job of protecting the president.
15But the service's work had expanded before then to fighting other kinds of crime.
16One reason is that other agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, did not yet exist.
17The Secret Service fought against activities such as illegal trade, crimes relating to land ownership, and spying.
18Kendrick explained that beginning in 1868, the Secret Service was permitted to fight any crime against the federal government.
19Some exhibits in the museum show examples of counterfeiting.
20Others show the dangers of presidential life, such as the gun used during the 1975 assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in San Francisco, California.
21Now, the service also protects candidates for president, visiting heads of state, important foreign visitors, and special events related to national security.
22It also continues to fight financial crime and fight against school violence and other attacks.
23Working those duties sometimes comes at a price for Secret Service members.
24On display at the museum are objects from terrorist attacks in which Secret Service members were killed.
25These include the bombing of a government building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.
26Sampson says this part of the museum is a way to respectfully honor those Service members.
27The museum, Sampson said, "gives us an opportunity to reflect on the history of our agency, and also to show what we're doing these days."
28I'm Andrew Smith.
1The capital city of Washington, D.C. is home to many famous museums in the United States. But there is one museum in the city that visitors will never get to see: the U.S. Secret Service Museum. 2Placed inside the agency's headquarters, the one-room museum shows objects from the agency's history. It also honors the 40 men and women of the service who have died while performing their duty. 3Mike Sampson is a historian and archivist at the U.S. Secret Service. He said the museum is only open to agency workers, their families, and some special guests. He added that concerns about security and lack of resources are the reasons the museum is closed to other visitors. 4The Secret Service is probably best known for protecting U.S. presidents. But its first mission was to fight financial crime. 5Jason Kendrick is another historian and archivist at the U.S. Secret Service. He said that on April 14, 1865, the treasury secretary at the time, Hugh McCulloch, suggested to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to create an agency to fight counterfeit, or fake money. 6"At the time, one-third of all the currency in the U.S. during and post-Civil War was counterfeit," said Kendrick. So, on the same day that Lincoln approved the creation of the Secret Service, he was killed a few hours later at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. 7It was not until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley, that the Secret Service added the job of protecting the president. But the service's work had expanded before then to fighting other kinds of crime. One reason is that other agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, did not yet exist. 8The Secret Service fought against activities such as illegal trade, crimes relating to land ownership, and spying. Kendrick explained that beginning in 1868, the Secret Service was permitted to fight any crime against the federal government. 9Some exhibits in the museum show examples of counterfeiting. Others show the dangers of presidential life, such as the gun used during the 1975 assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in San Francisco, California. 10Now, the service also protects candidates for president, visiting heads of state, important foreign visitors, and special events related to national security. It also continues to fight financial crime and fight against school violence and other attacks. 11Working those duties sometimes comes at a price for Secret Service members. 12On display at the museum are objects from terrorist attacks in which Secret Service members were killed. These include the bombing of a government building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Sampson says this part of the museum is a way to respectfully honor those Service members. 13The museum, Sampson said, "gives us an opportunity to reflect on the history of our agency, and also to show what we're doing these days." 14I'm Andrew Smith. 15Dora Mekouar wrote this story for Voice of America. Andrew Smith adapted this story for VOA Learning English. 16______________________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18museum -n. a building where objects of historical, artistic, or interesting value are kept and displayed 19archivist -n. a person whose job it is to collect, organize, and take care of historical objects and records 20assassination -n. the murder of an individual, usually political, by surprise attack 21display -n. the showing of objects, such as in a museum, or the showing of skill, such as in a performance 22opportunity -n. an occasion or possibility for doing something 23reflect on -v. to think deeply about something 24_____________________________________________________________ 25We want to hear from you. 26We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 27Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.