Trump shooting reminder of past assassination attempts against US leaders
Almost everybody is saying that ‘violence has no place in American politics’, but is this statement correct?
The Congressional Research Service says direct assaults against presidents, presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on at least 15 separate occasions, with five resulting in death.
Below is a list of other previous attempts on the lives of American leaders, successful or not.
ASSASSINATIONS
Four U.S. presidents were assassinated while in office.
Abraham Lincoln: Killed in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.
James Garfield: Shot in 1881 in Washington at a train station, and died of his wounds two and a half months later.
William McKinley: Assassinated in 1901 by an anarchist in Buffalo, New York.
John F. Kennedy: Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy in 1963 in Dallas, Texas as the president rode in a motorcade.
LEADERS WHO SURVIVED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS
Three presidents were wounded but survived assassination attempts, while in office or afterwards.
Donald Trump: Trump had just started a campaign speech in Pennsylvania on Saturday, when shots rang out. A bullet appeared to have grazed his ear, which was bleeding. He was rushed by security officials to a black SUV.
Ronald Reagan: He was shot in 1981 outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington but survived the attack. Reagan was wounded when one of the bullets ricocheted off a limousine and struck him under the left armpit.
President Gerald Ford: Survived two attempts on his life in less than three weeks in 1975 without being hurt.
Theodore Roosevelt: He was shot in the chest in 1912 while campaigning for elections in Milwaukee and survived.
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS ON OTHER U.S. LEADERS
Robert F. Kennedy: A U.S. presidential candidate, Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 42 by a gunman in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace: Shot in 1972 and became paralyzed from the waist down.