Terry Oden reflects on life before being 'Mr. Mayor'

Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden might not be the first to speak up in a crowded room, but if he does, it’s wise to listen. Soft-spoken and seemingly always contemplative, Oden is one who studies a room more than he is at the center of it. 

Have a conversation with him, however, and you’ll quickly understand the reason. Oden served as a United States Secret Service agent for 25 years.

As the anniversary of his 20th year in the mayoral office approaches, Oden’s memories of the years remain crisp. 

Long before he served the residents of Mountain Brook, Oden served presidents, dignitaries and was among the very first Air Marshals in what was then a top-secret operation.

To this day, Oden remembers the exact address of one of his very first assignments, providing personal protection to former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis following the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. 

“1040 5th Ave.,” Oden recalled, while sitting inside his office at Mountain Brook City Hall more than 50 years after he was assigned to protect her. “Her apartment was on the 17th floor.”

Oden said he first came into contact with Secret Service agents while serving in the U.S. Army in Japan during the 1950s, and was instantly intrigued. 

“The Secret Service was a big secret back then,” said Oden. “There was a lot of mystery associated with agents and I liked that. I was a young man then and the idea of airplanes, guns and secrecy was exciting.”

Rather than being recruited as most agents are nowadays, Oden sought out employment with the agency himself. Following his graduation from Auburn University and a yearlong background screening process, the Secret Service commissioned Oden. In Jan. 1964, he headed to the Secret Service’s Atlanta field office for his first posting. It wasn’t long before he was asked to pack his bags and move to New York City, where he worked alongside Jackie—Ms. Kennedy, as he still refers to her—and her children. 

“An agent would always be assigned to each child and Ms. Kennedy if they left the apartment,” said Oden. “An agent drove the car, another rode in the car with her and yet another went ahead of the group to scout her destination. 

Ms. Kennedy, he said, was “very nice and very proper.”

“She always called us ‘Mr.,”’ said Oden, “and she was never demanding. She was always good about telling us what she planned to do each day.”

The assignment, explained Oden, was among the first of its kind. Following the assassination of President Kennedy, the government passed a law mandating that widows of former presidents and their children receive the protection of the Secret Service. 

The driving force behind the law, he said, was the uncertainty left behind in the wake of Kennedy’s assassination.

“We didn’t know what was behind Oswald,” Oden said of Kennedy’s assassin. “No one knew if there was a big plot to assassinate the whole family or what else was planned.”

Despite the tension and around-the-clock requirements, Oden said the job was still enjoyable.

“Back then, New York was a great place,” he said. “It was truly a glamorous job.”

A handful of times, Oden even had the distinct honor of being Jackie’s “walker.”

“If a woman was unmarried at that time and didn’t have a boyfriend, it was custom that a man escort her to evening activities,” said Oden. “The man was referred to as the ‘walker.”’

For the first year following Kennedy’s death, Oden said Jackie adhered to mourning etiquette pretty religiously. For that reason, he often accompanied her during the evenings to places like Carnegie Hall.

It wasn’t until Jackie met her second husband, Aristotle Onassis, that she turned down the Secret Service protection, though it continued for her children.

Oden then received orders that he was reassigned to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s detail at the White House. Eventually, Oden became part of the president’s personal detail, traveling with him to more countries than Oden can remember. Along with the formal gatherings, he was there for much of the president’s personal memories. 

“I was there for his daughter Luci’s wedding, honeymoon and delivery of her first child,” said Oden. 

Following the presidency, Oden relocated to the LBJ Ranch in Texas along with the family, providing the lifelong security that former presidents are guaranteed. After two years there, and with his own family to think about, Oden applied to a job posting in the Birmingham field office. 

Along with his wife, Sandra, Oden moved back to the Magic City where he worked an assortment of assignments, including protection supplement, counterfeit and theft of government check investigations. All throughout, Oden traveled constantly, filling roles around the country when agents were needed to provide foreign dignitary protection.

Just as he was adjusting to his new routine, Oden received the teletype of a lifetime. 

“Sept. 11, 1970,” recalled Oden. “All it said was ‘be in New York Sunday morning.”’ 

Questions flooded his mind. Oden made a call in search of some clarity, but got little more. 

“Catch ‘such and such’ an airplane,’ they said. ‘Someone will meet you at the airport,’” said Oden of his instructions.

“What do I pack? Warm clothes or cold-weather clothes?” Oden asked. “Both,” they said.

“Will I need money?” he asked. “Bring a lot,” they said.

“What do I tell my wife?” Oden implored. “Tell her goodbye,” they said.

It wasn’t until he arrived that the mission became clear.

“You are here to become sky marshals,” he was told. 

During a time when airplanes were being hijacked and flown to Cuba, the United States was desperate for a solution, said Oden. After a day of training, Oden boarded a TWA aircraft and began flying around the world. He had to remain awake the whole time, he said, even on flights across the ocean. He couldn’t allow himself to get too caught up in conversation, but had a cover story anytime someone asked where he was headed. 

“My cover story was that I was an international photographer,” said Oden.

That story worked for quite some time, he said, until he was on a plane to Africa and sat down next to an actual professional photographer.

“He started asking me what type of film I used, what types of lenses,” said Oden with a laugh. “Thankfully, I knew just enough to avoid suspicion.”

Oden flew countless hours for five months while the government organized its air marshal program. 

“We were very successful at it,” said Oden. “Nothing happened.” 

After he returned to Birmingham, Oden followed the opportunity to open a field office in Montgomery and a later move to Kansas City. Oden, his wife and daughters returned to Birmingham a few years later, only to immediately be called to San Francisco to act as campaign protection during Ronald Reagan’s presidential run.

“My wife, Sandra, made all of this possible,” said Oden. “If she hadn’t been so understanding of all my travel and all the moves we made as a family, it would have been a miserable existence.”

Reagan, Oden recalled, called him “Terry Boy.” Oden worked with Reagan throughout his campaign. Several pictures with the former president are still scattered around his office.

Oden’s job took his family to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco and four years in Paris to serve as special agent in charge of international operations and attaché. 

“We liked living over there,” said Oden, recalling memories of his wife taking classes at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and becoming a “great cook.”

When Oden neared 51, known as the unofficial retirement age of Secret Service agents, he knew he’d be in need of a job. The opportunity to return to Birmingham presented itself during an International Bankers Conference, where Oden met former AmSouth chairman and CEO John Woods.

“He told me if I found him a scotch and soda I’d have a job,” said Oden.

Oden served 10 years as senior vice president and director of corporate security for AmSouth. He was on the Mountain Brook City Council at that time, before filling his current role as mayor in 1996. 

As a new election cycle looms in November, Oden admits he has thought about whether or not he will retire.

“But I’m not going to tell you,” he said with a wink, still a man of mystery.