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.
