Jesse Jackson on Monday became the first Democratic presidential candidate to receive Secret Service protection, just in time for a tour of the Persian Gulf.
Jackson said the security was necessary because of the “growing danger and preciseness of the threats” against his life.
“We must be able to have in our country open, free and fair elections without the threat or actual occurrence of terrorism,” said Jackson, the only one of six declared Democratic candidates to receive Secret Service protection so far.
Vice President George Bush has protection because of his office but none of the other Republican candidates do.
Jackson, citing several threats, sought the early protection Oct. 8 and was notified Saturday the request was granted. Jackson spokesman Frank Watkins cited revelations of an alleged “Black November” plot by Ku Klux Klan members in South Carolina to kill Jackson, a civil rights leader and the only black candidate.
The 24-hour-a-day protection began at 8 a.m. Monday when Secret Service agents appeared at Jackson’s Washington hotel. A full Secret Service detail and motorcade accompanied Jackson to the State Department for a series of meetings related to his weeklong foreign trip.
Secret Service protection does not normally begin for major candidates until January of the election year. A special board headed by Treasury Secretary James Baker and including congressional leaders decides such cases. Jackson also received early protection in 1983, when he ran for president the first time. Federal bodyguards accompanied him on three foreign trips.
Jackson told reporters at the State Department he will leave Tuesday on a “humanitarian mission” to Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and possibly Jordan and Ethiopia. Jackson said he would meet heads of state, U.S. ambassadors and U.S. servicemen and their families while in the Persian Gulf region.
