On July 13th, 2024, near Butler Pennsylvania, Former President Donald J. Trump was in the middle of speaking to thousands of people at a campaign rally. Turning slightly as he spoke, shots rang out from Thomas Mathew Crooks, who was quickly shot and killed by law enforcement. Minutes before, Crooks was spotted lying on a roof, as concerned citizens alerted police officials. Trump was shot in the ear, as Crooks almost killed the Republican Party’s nominee for the general election against President Joseph Biden. Over the course of America’s history, there have been many dangerous situations that saw the killing and wounding of our leaders.
The first attempt to kill a President of the United States was experienced by President Andrew Jackson on January 30th, 1835. As he was engulfed in efforts to end the Bank of the United States against the Whigs, Jackson was assaulted by an unemployed painter Richard Lawrence. Jackson was tenacious on the battlefield against the British during the War of 1812 and for partaking in duels, as he fended off Lawrence, who tried to take out a second pistol, but was overwhelmed by this President and his cane. Jackson believed that this attempt against him was a conspiracy by the Whig political party, as Lawrence was placed in a mental facility for the rest of his life.
On April 14th, 1865, an exhausted President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary, were at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. to watch a play. With the war almost over after the Appomattox Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the forces of General Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac. Lincoln asked Grant and his wife Julia to accompany them, but Grant wanted to see his children in New Jersey. As the Grant’s traveled towards Philadelphia, the conspirators that were led by actor John Wilkes Booth, almost killed this victorious Union general.
Lincoln’s aides pleaded with him to stay at the White House out of fears that he would not be secured as a result of security lapses, but the President reasoned that he was not in harm's way. Booth was a well-known actor, received his mail at this theater, and was known by the staff. He vehemently opposed the war time political, military, and emancipation actions of Lincoln. Armed with a single-shot derringer and a dagger, Booth shot Lincoln in the head, jumped from the balcony, and screamed “Thus always to Tyrants” in Latin. Severely wounded and brought across the street, Lincoln died of his wounds, as Booth injured his leg and escaped into the Maryland woods. Booth’s conspirators also targeted Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. Over the next twelve days, the largest manhunt in American history sought the capture of Booth and his followers. As they awaited trial, several of the conspirators were held within the USS Montauk.
Born in 1831 to a poor family, James A. Garfield saved enough money driving canal boat teams to attend college. During the Civil War, Garfield was a decorated officer that was promoted as a major-general. As he fought the Confederates in Kentucky, Garfield was elected to Congress and eventually served for eighteen years, until this “Dark Horse” candidate won the presidency in 1880. On July 2nd, Garfield and Secretary of State James G. Blaine prepared to board a train to visit Williams College with his two sons. Garfield was shot in the back by Charles J. Guiteau, who purchased a .44 British Bulldog, under the notion that his weapon would famously be viewed in a museum. On September 19th, 1881, the doctors were unable to remove the bullet that was lodged in the pancreas of Garfield that caused his death and presidency of Chester A. Arthur.
The twenty-fifth President William McKinley was the last leader who served during the Civil War. A political leader from Ohio, he was a business supporter, who believed in the territorial, military, and economic expansion of the United States. After declaring war against Spain in 1898, America defeated this aging European power and claimed control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. In 1900, McKinley was re-elected with Theodore Roosevelt as his vice president. McKinley was in Buffalo, spoke at the Pan American Exposition, and that evening, McKinley was at the receiving line welcoming people at the Temple of Music. With his hand extended, McKinley was shot in the chest by Leon F. Czolgosz from Detroit, Michigan. This assassin sought the death of this President whom he considered to be an enemy against the “average working class citizens.” On September 14th, 1901, as gangrene settled into the bullet wound, McKinley died, and almost a year later, Czolgosz was executed by the electric chair.
The youngest President at this time to ascend to the presidency was Theodore Roosevelt who worked for the growth of the nation, but not at the expense of the people. Roosevelt strengthened the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere, orchestrated the Panamanian revolt against the Columbians that later secured land for a canal, and wanted better working and living conditions for Americans. Roosevelt considered Sagamore Hill in Cove Neck to be the Summer White House and he loved everything about Long Island. He emerged as a savvy figure who was given the Nobel Peace Prize and years later, the Medal of Honor for his military heroics in Cuba. Retiring from public office in 1909, Roosevelt decided to run in 1912 against President William H. Taft and Woodrow Wilson under the “Bull Moose” political party. On October 14th, 1912, John Flammang Schrank suffered from hallucinations and shot Roosevelt at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Reaching into the former President’s shirt, the Secret Service felt blood, as the fifty-page speech and his metal glasses holder possibly prevented his death. He told the crowd that he was wounded and still addressed them as it “takes more to kill a bull moose.”
Years later, Roosevelt’s famous cousin and the Great Depression and World War II leader Franklin faced an assassination attempt by an Italian immigrant Giuseppe Zangara. Two weeks before his inauguration, Roosevelt spoke to a crowd in Miami, as Zangara fired his pistol at his open car. He killed the mayor of Chicago and hit five people with fire, and this deranged bricklayer, Zangara, reasoned that he did not resent FDR, but his wealthy government officials. A year later, he was retried and died in the electric chair. Taking over the government after the death of FDR in 1945, President Harry S. Truman guided the nation at the end of World War II in Europe, the Pacific, and later during the Korean War. As the White House was being rebuilt, the Truman’s stayed in the Blair House Hotel in Washington D.C. Two Puerto Rican nationalists who wanted independence from America, approached the front door, and opened fire. Truman was not at this hotel, but he kept his schedule, and later he commuted the death sentence of the surviving assassin.
By 1960, John F. Kennedy was a younger politician who became a driving force to win a close election against former two term Vice President Richard M. Nixon. A somewhat in-experienced leader, Kennedy navigated through the dangerous waters of the Cuban Missile Crisis and handled the Civil Rights Movement. On November 22nd, 1963, Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas with his wife Jacqueline. Driving in an open car, three shots were fired at Kennedy, as he waved to the crowd by Lee Harvey Oswald. While some of these documents have been declassified, there are still many pages of information that are still top secret about the death of this President. Five years later, JFK’s brother and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan who was taken down by Olympic Decathlon Rafer Johnson and former New York Giant and Los Angeles Ram Roosevelt Grier. Receiving the death penalty that was later overturned to life imprisonment, five innocent bystanders were wounded, as Sirhan blamed Kennedy for hurting Palestinians in the Middle East.
On March 30th, 1981, newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Junior who was only fifteen feet away from him. At seventy years, Reagan was severely wounded, placed in a limousine by the Secret Service and taken to the hospital. Before going under for surgery, Reagan enquired if his doctors were all “Republicans,” he was told at this “moment” they were all “Republicans.” Hinckley suffered from mental illness and was obsessed with actress Jodi Foster’s performance in the movie Taxi Driver. After sending numerous love letters to Foster and attempting to see her at Yale University, at first, Hinckley tried to impress Foster by attacking President Jimmy Carter in Nashville in 1980. He was arrested when it was discovered that he had three guns in his bag. In court Hinckley won his case, claiming that he was innocent by way of insanity. For several years, there were efforts by Hinckley to gain unsupervised visits to see his parents’ home in Virginia. In 2016, Hinckley was able to permanently live with his mother under certain conditions. He was ordered to stay away from Foster and government officials and the Secret Service placed a tracking system on his phone to determine his whereabouts.
On March 23rd, 2022, there were threats made against President George W. Bush by Iraqi nationals who blamed him for the destruction of their country. This threat was ended by a search warrant by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that halted an effort by members of ISIS to kill Bush. The government discovered that these assailants were former Iraqi intelligent agents who were going to cross into Texas from Mexico. Government agents watched the residence of Bush and videotaped the surveillance of these assassins that watched Bush’s movements at his home and nearby learning center. As there was a recent claim that the Iranian government threatened Trump, the arrest against Bush clearly shows that powerful outside forces may be determined enough to target our former political leaders. As it looks as if Trump was the target of domestic terrorism, American Presidents from all decades and political parties have faced serious threats towards their own security.