Burns, Paul A. Papers

Special Agent in Charge, Truman Protective Division, U.S. Secret Service, 1968-1973

The papers of Paul A. Burns contain activity reports and other items that mostly document Burns's work as a U.S. Secret Service Agent assigned to help protect former President Harry S. Truman and Mrs. Bess Truman in Independence, Missouri.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 5 linear inches (800 pages).
Access: Open, with the exception of one document that was partially closed by statute or by the originating agency.
Copyright: No donation of copyright was received with this collection. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by:
Updated by: Annali Cler (2016) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1933 (July 20)		Born Paul A. Burns in Columbus, Ohio
1955		B.S., Ohio State University
1961 (April)		Appointed Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service
1962-1966		Agent, Presidential Protective Division
1966-1968		Agent, Kansas City Field Office
1968-1973		Special Agent in Charge, Truman Protective Division
1983		Retired from the U.S. Secret Service
2005 (April 5)		Died, Texas

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Paul A. Burns contain activity reports and other items that mostly document Burns's work as a U.S. Secret Service Agent assigned to help protect former President Harry S. Truman and Mrs. Bess Truman in Independence, Missouri. The papers consist of photocopies of original documents that were not donated to the Truman Library. They are arranged in a single series, the Subject File.

The Subject File mostly contains activity reports on Burns's daily work as a Special Agent at the Kansas City Field Office and later as Special Agent in Charge of the Truman Protective Division. Burns's activity reports include references to his work on counterfeiting cases as well as his involvement in providing security services to the former President. The reports list the hours that he devoted to each assignment. From 1968 to 1973, Burns devoted almost all of his time at work to protecting Mr. and Mrs. Truman, except for special assignments, such as service at the 1968 Republican National Convention. The series also includes a few pages of administrative and biographical information, and photocopies of photographs from Burns's service with the Truman Protective Division.

The Truman Library also has Records of the U.S. Secret Service (Record Group 87) relating to the protection of President Truman.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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