In interviews during his presidency, Ronald Reagan called this movie, "the worst picture I ever made" and also said, "never has an egg of such dimensions been laid". He recalled that a movie usher who had seen the film once told him, "You should be ashamed." However, the film did have one positive effect for Reagan. After seeing the movie, a young man named Jerry Parr was inspired to enter the Secret Service. On March 30, 1981, Parr was the agent who quickly pushed Ronald Reagan into his limousine when John W. Hinckley Jr. fired six shots at the President outside the Washington D.C. Hilton. Parr's quick reaction, and his decision to take the wounded Reagan immediately to George Washington University Hospital, were credited with saving the President's life.
Forty-two years later, this movie saved President Ronald Reagan's life. Jerry Parr, Ronald Reagan's top Secret Service agent, credits Ronald Reagan's portrayal of Brass Bancroft in this movie (which he saw when he was 12 years old) with his decision to become a Secret Service Agent.
When would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr., opened fire on President Reagan, Agent Parr immediately pushed President Reagan headfirst into his limousine. Moments later, Agent Parr made the split-second decision to redirect the limousine, which was heading to the White House, to George Washington Hospital even though it wasn't at all clear that Reagan had been shot. Agent Parr's decision to redirect the limousine to the hospital is credited with saving the life of President Reagan. According to the doctors who treated the President after the assassination attempt, President Reagan, who had been shot with a .22 caliber bullet and was bleeding profusely internally, would have died had he not been brought to the hospital immediately.
Agent Parr later told President Reagan that seeing his portrayal of Brass Bancroft in "Code of the Secret Service" had caused him to become a Secret Service agent. President Reagan told him "Code of the Secret Service" was the cheapest movie he ever made, and Agent Parr agrees that it is a terrible movie.
Because Ronald Reagan did not believe a book in his breast pocket could stop a bullet, it was tested by firing into the book with an ashtray behind it. The ashtray did not break.
Ronald Reagan, as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves and a superb horseman, insisted on doing his own riding and stunts.
Eddie Foy Jr. ran as fast as he could in the scene in which he was slightly undressed, because it was cold and Mexican women and children were taunting him.