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Since the early 1900s presidents, vice presidents, first ladies, and prominent persons have been bestowed with a Secret Service codename.
Once, their purpose was to add a layer of security when communicating over insecure technology. However, today they play a more ceremonial, logistical role.
A Secret Service spokesperson once told The Washington Post that the names shouldn’t be scrutinised too closely as they are collated on “sheer whim” by the White House for a candidate to pick from.
Now, JD Vance has been given a secret codename of his own after he was announced as Trump’s running mate for his 2024 presidential campaign on 15 July – just two days after the former president was almost assassinated.
According to the Daily Mail, the Ohio senator has been known to the agents protecting him as “Bobcat.”
Candidates can choose their codename from the White House Communications Agency’s list.
The names are unambiguous and easily pronounced so that they can be clearly transmitted over the radio. Often, they’re personal and symbolic of the candidate’s personality.
Take “Mogul” and “Muse” (Trump and his wife Melania), “Celtic” and “Capri” (Joe Biden and first lady Jill) or “Pioneer” (vice president Kamala Harris), for example.
Members of the same family are designated codenames that start with the same letter.
In his short time as Trump’s running mate, Vance has already faced flak for making numerous turbulent comments including calling Democrat women a “bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives” who are making “the country miserable too.”
Bobcats, however, are “naturally shy of humans,” according to the government website of the Canadian province of Alberta, where the animals roam freely. The medium-sized cat is native to Ohio, where Vance is from.
The former Marine is also a long-time Ohio football fan, and he attended Ohio State University, where the football team is known colloquially as the Bobcats.
The 39-year-old’s family are originally from Jackson, Kentucky, home to the high school sports team: Breathitt County Bobcats.
Mike Pence, who hails from Indiana, chose “Hoosier” – the name for an Indiana native – for his four years as vice president to Trump between 2017 and 2021.
Sometimes the codenames are less flattering but equally as personal.
Roger Clinton, former president Bill Clinton’s younger half-brother, served more than a year in prison on drug charges. He was known to the Secret Service as “Headache”.
“I don’t have a choice of being first brother,” he told The New York Times.
Ted Kennedy, John F Kennedy’s brother and a former Massachusetts senator, had pale skin and spent summers playing flag football in Hyannis Port. His codename was “Sunburn”.
