WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "The New Deal," the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 premiere.
As it turns out, a real-life U.S. President was involved in founding S.H.I.E.L.D.
In "The New Deal," the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 premiere, Director Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie and his team ran into Franklin D. Roosevelt himself at a moment before he took office. In the process, Agent Phil Coulson revealed FDR was essential to the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- so essential, in fact, they believed he was the Chronicom's target.
As revealed in the Season 6 finale, the Chronicoms have traveled through time to prevent S.H.I.E.L.D. from ever being founded, as S.H.I.E.L.D. is the only thing standing between them and a full-out invasion of Earth. So, the team followed the Chronicoms back through time to 1931, but they weren't sure who the Chronicoms planned to it. However, they got a clue when they ran into Ernest Koenig.
"I'm supplying a party tonight, and we pay the coppers to look the other way. Keep the peace," Koenig revealed to Coulson and Mack after a brief brawl at his speakeasy. "Some political thing. The governor is in from Albany. We can't have him getting pinched for a couple of martinis."
"The Governor of New York?" Coulson repeated. "Isn't that Franklin Delano Roosevelt?"
When Koenig stepped away to resolve an issue at the bar, Coulson turned to Mack. "He's elected president next year, and then a few years later he forms the S.S.R. [Strategic Scientific Reserve]," he explained, for Mack to continue, "Which becomes S.H.I.E.L.D."
"With the Chronicoms running security, they'll be the only ones armed," Coulson pointed out.
"It's easy to assassinate the president when he isn't president yet," Mack agreed.
Although the real target turned out to be Wilfred "Freddy" Malick, Koenig's "political thing" revealed this interesting piece of S.H.I.E.L.D. history. Given the time period, it certainly makes sense. After all, Roosevelt was president during World War II, and the S.S.R. was the World War II program that gave the Marvel Cinematic Universe its Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Agent Peggy Carter also worked for the S.S.R. for some time, as explored in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sister series Agent Carter. She and Howard Stark then went on to transform the organization into S.H.I.E.L.D. as it was introduced in 2008's Iron Man, the first MCU film. Carter was also the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for quite some time after she founded it, which was explored in Avengers: Endgame.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s final season airs Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on ABC. The series stars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons, Iain De Caestecker, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Elizabeth Henstridge and Clark Gregg.