Which US presidents have suffered attacks against them?

Throughout the history of the United States, there have been several attacks and attempted attacks against presidents and presidential candidates that have changed the history of that country.

Among the most notable ones highlighted by the American television network NBC are those suffered by President Andrew Jackson in 1835; Theoodore Roosevelt in 1912; Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933; Harry Truman, 1950; Gerald Ford, 1975; and Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The first and first failed attack in US history

The first known assassination attempt on an American president, according to the U.S. Senate, occurred on January 30, 1835, when an unemployed house painter named Richard Lawrence shot President Jackson twice as he attended a funeral, missing each time. Bystanders took advantage of the opportunity to secure him, and at his trial it was determined that Lawrence was insane.

The assassination of Theodore Roosevelt

Less than a century later, on October 14, 1912, the second failed attempt was against President Theodore Roosevelt, who was leaving a hotel when he was shot by a poet named John Flammang Schrank, who, according to historians, had visions.

In a letter written in September, Flammang Schrank supposedly opposed a third presidential term, but also mentioned a dream in which President McKinley blamed Roosevelt for his death and told him to avenge him.

The attack on Franklin D. Roosevelt

A relative of former President Roosevelt, he was elected to the first of four terms in 1932. The Franklin Museum details that the assassination attempt on him occurred on February 15, 1933, when he was shot after a rally by an unemployed bricklayer named Guiseppe Zangara.

Despite firing five shots close to the president-elect, he wounded four people and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.

When questioned, Zangara said that he “hated all politicians and anyone who was rich.”

Puerto Rican separatists attempt to assassinate Harry Truman

Roosevelt’s successor, under whose rule the Second World War ended, Truman was the victim of an attack at Blair House, the President’s guest house for official visits, by Puerto Rican nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola on November 1, 1950.

Both were members of a political and militant party seeking the island’s independence. The two attackers died during a confrontation with Secret Service agents, but the attack changed presidential security.

The following year, in 1951, the United States Congress passed legislation to provide Secret Service protection to the president himself, his family, the president-elect, and the vice president.

Gerald Ford, of the attacks in a month

Former President Gerald Ford’s Foundation documented that in a matter of weeks in 1975, he suffered two attacks, the first by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of murderer Charles Manson, on September 5 in Sacramento, California.

The second also occurred in California, but on September 22 by a woman named Sara Jane Moore, with radical leftist ties, in San Francisco.

Ronald Reagan

President Reagan was attacked as he left a hotel in Washington, DC on March 30, 1981 by recently released John Hinckley Jr.

Hinckley shot him with a .22-caliber pistol, hitting him when the bullet ricocheted off the limousine he was riding in and into his left armpit.

The attack wounded spokesman James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a police officer. He was hospitalized for 12 days before returning to the White House.

The assassinations achieved in the USA

Assassinated presidents

1. Abraham Lincoln (1865): Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC

2. James A. Garfield (1881): Killed by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington DC train station

3. William McKinley (1901): Assassinated by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

4. John F. Kennedy (1963): Assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in an open car in Dallas, Texas.

The total number of presidents who were attacked

Presidents who suffered assassination attempts

1. Andrew Jackson (1835): A man named Richard Lawrence tried to shoot him, but both guns misfired.

2. Theodore Roosevelt (1912): Shot by John Schrank during his campaign as a Progressive Party candidate; the bullet was stopped by a spectacle case and a manuscript in his pocket.

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933): Giuseppe Zangara attempted to shoot him in Miami, Florida, but missed and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.

4. Harry S. Truman (1950): Two Puerto Ricans, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, tried to assassinate him at Blair House.

5. Richard Nixon (1974): Samuel Byck attempted to hijack a plane with the intention of crashing it into the White House.

6. Gerald Ford (1975): He suffered two assassination attempts, one by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and another by Sara Jane Moore.

7. Jimmy Carter (1979): Raymond Lee Harvey was arrested with a gun near a Carter rally.

8. Ronald Reagan (1981): He was shot and seriously wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington DC

9. George HW Bush (1993): A plot to assassinate him in Kuwait was foiled; Iraqi agents were blamed.

10. Bill Clinton (1994 and 1996): He suffered two attempts; in one, Francisco Duran fired at the White House, and in another, a light plane was crashed into the White House.

11. George W. Bush (2001): A man threw a grenade at him during a visit to Georgia (the country).

12. Barack Obama (2011): A man fired several shots at the White House; he was later arrested.

Attacks against presidential candidates in the USA

Presidential candidates who suffered assassination attempts

1. Robert F. Kennedy (1968): Assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles during his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

2. George Wallace (1972): Shot and paralyzed by Arthur Bremer during his presidential campaign.