[cik2e]

You are kidding right? Of course Lincoln had bodyguard. Maybe they weren't called the Secret Service but he had bodyguards. This was a time of war and the president is going about unprotected? Guarding your most important politician is not a modern invention.

[jhbadger]

No. He had in theory just one unofficial bodyguard, a police officer named John Parker. There is some evidence that Parker was bored by the play and left at intermission to get a drink and didn't come back to the president's box. He wasn't around at the time of the assassination, though, at which point Lincoln was completely unguarded.

[yamtaddle]

We've tightened the security around major US politicians, and especially the President, a ton over the 20th century, especially. It's even increased a bunch since e.g. the 1950s.

Anyone could just walk onto the White House grounds without challenge for a really long time, for example.