Bloody History of Assassination Attempts to Kill Presidents and Presidential Candidates in the US
 Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks: Biography, Personality, Education, Family Thomas Matthew Crooks was named by the FBI as "the person involved in the attempt to kill Donald Trump." What is the name, age, personality, ... |
The history of political assassinations in the US is dark and lengthy.
Prior to the night of July 13, 2024, when former President Donald Trump was attempted to be assassinated, US presidents, former presidents, and presidential candidates were the targets of numerous political attacks.
It is hardly surprising that shootings are the most common way to kill or attempt to kill political office holders in a nation where there are more guns than people.
Similar to Trump, the majority of political assassination attempts happen when the targets are in public areas with large populations in the vicinity. Politicians have a long history of pressing for events that put their safety in danger, defying the advice of their security advisors. Trump had the extreme good fortune to escape with only minor wounds.
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| A history of political assassination in the US: President John F. Kennedy waves from his car in a motorcade just before he was shot in Dallas, texas, in 1961 |
Jan. 30, 1835 - President Andrew Jackson
Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot President Andrew Jackson at the Capitol. Both of his pistols misfire.
April 14, 1865 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President
Lincoln was the first president to be killed. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, were at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., to see a special performance of the comedy Our American Cousin.
After being shot in the back of the head, Lincoln was taken to a house across the street from the theater to get medical care. The next morning, he died. People say that he was killed because he fought for black rights.
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| An illustration of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln |
During the Civil War, which was fought over slavery, two years before the assassination, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Confederacy.
Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's vice president, took over after him.
Booth was killed by being shot on April 26, 1865, after being found in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.
July 2, 1881 - James Garfield, 20th President
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| An illustration of James A Garfield being shot in 1881 CREDIT: BETTMANN |
Six months after taking office, Garfield was the second president to be killed. Charles Guiteau shot him as he walked through a Washington, D.C., train station on July 2, 1881, to get to a train going to New England.
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, used a device he made just for President Garfield but failed to find the bullet stuck in his chest.
The president was badly hurt and laid out at the White House for a few weeks. He died in September after being taken to the shore of New Jersey. He had been in charge for six months.
Vice President Chester Arthur took over after Garfield.
Guiteau was found guilty and put to death in June 1882.
Sept. 6, 1901 - William McKinley, 25th President
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| The assassination of President William McKinley (Illustration) |
On September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York. At point-blank range, a man shot him twice in the chest while he was shaking hands with people going through a receiving line. Doctors thought McKinley would get better, but gangrene started to grow around the bullet holes.
It was six months after the start of his second term when McKinley died on September 14, 1901.
Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took over after him.
Leon F. Czolgosz, a 28-year-old Detroit resident who is unemployed, admitted to shooting the man. Czolgosz was put to death in the electric chair on October 29, 1901, after being found guilty in court.
Oct. 14, 1912 - Former President Theodore Roosevelt
John Schrank shoots and hurts former President Theodore Roosevelt while he is campaigning in Milwaukee. Roosevelt is running for office again. Roosevelt speaks to the crowd even though he has a bullet in his chest—the bullet went through a copy of the speech he was going to give. He then goes to get medical help.
Feb. 15, 1933 - President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt
In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara tries to shoot Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is going to be president. His first shot misses Roosevelt, but during the fight over his gun, Zangara fires more shots, killing Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.
Sept. 8, 1935 - Huey P. Long, a senator who is expected to run for president
A Louisiana senator named Huey P. Long is shot and killed at the State Capitol in Louisiana. Long was planning to run for president in 1936. Carl Weiss shot at Long, but most people think that Long was killed by his bodyguards' return fire.
Nov. 1, 1950 - President Harry Truman
Puerto Rican nationalists try to kill President Harry Truman, who is staying at Blair House in Washington, D.C., while the White House is being fixed up. Leslie Coffelt, a police officer at the White House, is seriously hurt but still manages to kill Griselio Torresola before he can get inside. Oscar Collazo, the other killer-to-be, is also stopped before he can get into Blair House.
Dec. 11, 1960 - President-elect John F. Kennedy
Richard Paul Pavlick was going to use dynamite to blow up President-elect John F. Kennedy's car by crashing into it, but he changes his mind when he sees the president's wife and children with him. Although Pavlick still plans to carry out the plan later, he is caught before he can do so.
Nov. 22, 1963 - President Kennedy is shot and killed
Kennedy is shot and killed in downtown Dallas while riding in a motorcade. Texas Gov. John Connally is also hurt. Two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby kills Lee Harvey Oswald while he is being taken by police. Oswald was arrested and is thought to have killed President Kennedy. After that, a commission led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren will say that Oswald was the only person who killed President Kennedy.
June 5,1968 - Robert F. Kennedy
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
March 15, 1972 - George Wallace
Arthur Bremer shoots Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace in Laurel, Marylan leaving Wallace paralyzed. (Bremer had previously sought to shoot President Richard Nixon but was unable to do so.)
Feb. 22, 1974 - President Nixon
Samuel Byck takes over a DC-9 and plans to crash it into the White House to kill Nixon. But before he can do that, he is shot and killed by police.
Sept. 5, 1975 - Gerald Ford, the 38th President
Ford faced two assassination attempts within weeks in 1975 and was not hurt in either incident.
Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pushed through a crowd on the street, pulled out a semiautomatic pistol, and pointed it at Ford. This was the first time someone tried to kill Ford. He was on his way to a meeting with California's governor in Sacramento. The gun did not go off
Fromme got a prison sentence and got out in 2009.
Sept. 22, 1975 - President Gerald Ford
After 17 days, another woman named Sara Jane Moore confronted Ford outside of a San Francisco hotel. Moore took a shot, but it missed. Someone else grabbed her arm as a second shot was fired.
Moore went to prison and got out in 2007.
March 30, 1981 - Ronald Reagan, the 40th President
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| The assassination of President Reagan |
President Ronald Reagan is seriously hurt when John Hinckley Jr. shoots him as he leaves the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. James Brady, the press secretary, is also hurt. His death would be ruled a murder 33 years later.
Reagan got better after being shot in March 1981. Three other people, including his press secretary, James Brady, who was shot and hurt, were also hurt.
After a jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity for killing Reagan, he was arrested and put in a mental hospital. A judge said in 2022 that Hinckley was "no longer a danger to himself or others" and the court could no longer keep an eye on him.
Bill Clinton
At least five people have tried to kill Bill Clinton, including someone who sent a pipe bomb to his wife Hillary and someone who fired long-range shots at the White House.
1993 - President George H.W. Bush
In Kuwait, a plan to use a car bomb to kill President George H.W. Bush is stopped. The killers worked for Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq.
A recent plot to kill George W. Bush was caught in May 2022 when an Iraqi citizen was arrested for putting together a group of ISIS supporters to kill the man who started the War on Terror. He said the plot was caused by anger over the Iraq War.
2018 - Pipe bombs
Cesar Sayoc Jr. mails pipe bombs to several prominent Democrats, such as Obama, Hillary Clinton, the previous Democratic nominee, and Joe Biden, the future president. None cause damage to their intended target.
Assassination attempts of Barack Obama
The first black president of the United States, Obama, was the target of multiple assassination plots by far-right and white supremacist organizations. After letters laced with the poison ricin were sent to Obama in 2013, a Mississippian Elvis impersonator was arrested; however, he was later freed after police acknowledged he had nothing to do with the case. Later on, he declared, "I don't even like rice."
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| Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, a 21-year-old conspiracy theorist, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2011 for firing rounds at the White House that were intended to kill Obama |
Conspiracy theorist Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, was given a 25-year prison term in 2011 for firing bullets at the White House with the intent to kill President Obama.
2023 - Joe Biden
A 19-year-old man was taken into custody in May 2023 after crashing a hired van into a White House barricade. Subsequently, he declared his support for Nazism and declared his readiness to "seize power" and "kill the president."
He admitted to damaging federal property and now faces a ten-year prison sentence. He hasn't received a sentence yet.
A man who made threats to kill Joe Biden in August 2023 was shot and killed by the FBI in Utah, just hours before the president visited the state. Craig Deleeuw Robertson, 75, passed away in Provo, a city south of Salt Lake City, when special agents raided his house to take him into custody.
July 13, 2024 - The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump
Donald Trump, the former president, is shot and hurt while attending a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. There is one fatal rally attendee. After the shooter is killed by the Secret Service, Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin, is identified by the FBI.
Secret Service Provides ProtectionThe U.S. Secret Service was tasked with protecting presidents full-time following McKinley's assassination. Ronald Reagan was the last American president to be shot; in 1981, he suffered severe injuries that necessitated immediate surgery. Following his speech, Reagan was leaving a hotel in Washington when gunman John Hinckley Jr. opened fire with a.22 caliber handgun. The president was struck by a bullet that bounced off his limo and struck him beneath his left armpit. Before going back to the White House, Reagan stayed in the hospital for twelve days. A monochrome image of Reagan being pushed into a limousine President Ronald Reagan, center, is pictured on March 30, 1981, being pushed by secret service agents into his limousine following a shooting outside a hotel in Washington. (File/AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) Fortunately, no presidents have been shot and injured. Five shots were fired at then-President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt's car in 1933. Although Roosevelt was unharmed, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who was addressing Roosevelt following the newly elected president's brief remarks to the public, was hurt and ultimately passed away 19 days later. |
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