From as early as the 19th century, there have been numerous assassination attempts and plots targeting presidents of the United States of America, a trend that continues to this day.
Donald Trump, the former president of the US, became the latest victim of such attempts on Saturday, July 13, 2024. He narrowly escaped death when a bullet grazed his right ear while delivering a speech at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Reports indicate that the former president is now out of danger, thanks in part to the swift actions of the Secret Service in apprehending the shooter.
Conversations have already begun regarding gun ownership in a nation where the constitution guarantees citizens the right to bear arms.
In response to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, this report explores the extensive history of such incidents involving US presidents dating back to the 19th century.
The following excerpt is drawn from the Wikipedia page titled “List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots.”
Presidents assassinated
Abraham Lincoln
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, occurred on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., around 10:15 PM. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer from Maryland, planned initially to kidnap Lincoln but later decided to assassinate him after attending one of Lincoln’s speeches on April 11, 1865, advocating for voting rights for Black people.
Booth and his co-conspirators planned to attack Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, as well as Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward at their homes.
On the night of April 14, Lincoln attended the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre with his wife Mary and guests Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. Booth entered the president’s state box and shot Lincoln with a .44-caliber Derringer pistol, fatally injuring him.
Despite a brief struggle in which Booth stabbed Major Rathbone, Booth managed to escape. Lincoln, unconscious, was quickly taken to the Petersen House across the street. Despite the efforts of doctors, Lincoln succumbed to his injuries at 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865, after remaining in a coma for nine hours.
As Abraham Lincoln passed away, accounts describe his breathing growing quieter and his face becoming serene. According to some reports, as he drew his last breath the morning after the assassination, he even smiled broadly before peacefully expiring. Historians, like author Lee Davis, have highlighted Lincoln’s tranquil demeanor at the moment of his death, noting it was a rare peaceful expression after years of turmoil.
Eyewitnesses, such as journalist Noah Brooks, observed that Lincoln’s passing was devoid of suffering or struggle, describing it as a gentle cessation of breathing. John Hay, Lincoln’s secretary, remarked on the peacefulness that settled upon Lincoln’s features.
Despite the tragic loss of Lincoln, the broader conspiracy failed in its goals: Secretary of State William H. Seward survived his wounds, and Vice President Andrew Johnson was spared an attack.
John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, evaded capture for twelve days before Union soldiers found him on April 26, 1865, at a farm in Virginia.
Refusing to surrender, Booth was fatally shot by Union cavalryman Boston Corbett. Additionally, four other conspirators involved in the plot were later hanged for their roles.
James A. Garfield
The assassination of James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, unfolded at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2, 1881, less than four months into his presidency. As Garfield arrived at the station, Charles J. Guiteau, a writer and lawyer, fired two shots from a .442 Webley British Bull Dog revolver. One bullet grazed Garfield’s shoulder while the other penetrated his back.
Despite the medical care Garfield received, which included relentless probing of his wound with unsterilized instruments, he endured suffering for eleven weeks before succumbing on September 19, 1881, at 10:35 PM.
His death resulted from complications caused by iatrogenic infections.
Guiteau was promptly arrested and stood trial from November 1881 to January 1882. Found guilty, he was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on June 30, 1882, in the District of Columbia, just two days before the first anniversary of the assassination attempt.
Guiteau was assessed as mentally unstable or suffering from neurosyphilis during his trial and autopsy.
He claimed his motive for the assassination was disappointment at not being appointed Ambassador to France and believed Garfield’s election victory was due to a speech he had written in support of him.
William McKinley
The assassination of President William McKinley occurred on September 6, 1901, at 4:07 PM, during his visit to the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot McKinley twice in the abdomen at close range with a concealed .32-caliber revolver. The first bullet was deflected by a button or medal on McKinley’s jacket, lodging in his sleeve, while the second bullet pierced his stomach. Initially showing signs of recovery, McKinley’s condition deteriorated due to gangrene, leading to his death on September 14, 1901, at 2:15 AM.
James Benjamin Parker and others in the crowd subdued Czolgosz after the shooting. Despite being beaten severely following his capture, Czolgosz survived and was swiftly convicted after a brief trial where he refused to mount a defense. He was sentenced to death and executed via electric chair at Auburn Prison on October 29, 1901. Czolgosz’s motives were politically driven, although his specific goals remain unclear.
In response to McKinley’s assassination, Congress mandated that the Secret Service provide protection to the president of the United States.
John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated at 12:30 PM on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, during a motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Accompanied by his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally’s wife Nellie, Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine and American defector, from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Kennedy suffered wounds to his back and head, with Governor Connally also seriously injured and a bystander, James Tague, receiving a minor facial injury from bullet fragments.
The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 PM. Oswald was swiftly apprehended and charged by the Dallas Police Department not only for Kennedy’s assassination but also for the murder of Dallas policeman J. D. Tippit, who Oswald shot dead in the Oak Cliff neighborhood later that day.
On Sunday, November 24, while being transferred between jails, Oswald was fatally shot in the basement of Dallas Police Department Headquarters by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner.
Ruby was convicted of Oswald’s murder, but his conviction was overturned on appeal. He died in prison in 1967 while awaiting a new trial.
In September 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in both the assassination of Kennedy and the murder of Officer Tippit, and that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.
Despite this official finding, public opinion polls from 1966 to 2004 revealed that up to 80% of Americans suspected there was a plot or cover-up regarding Kennedy’s assassination. Conspiracy theories surrounding the events of that day continue to persist.
Presidents wounded
Theodore Roosevelt
Three and a half years after leaving office, Theodore Roosevelt entered the 1912 presidential election as a candidate for the Progressive Party. While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 14, 1912, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by John Schrank, a saloon-keeper from New York who had been stalking him for weeks. Fortunately, the bullet was slowed by a 50-page speech folded over twice and a metal glasses case in Roosevelt’s breast pocket, preventing it from penetrating deeply. Roosevelt, showing remarkable composure, reassured the crowd and ordered that Schrank be unharmed and taken into custody.
Despite being wounded, Roosevelt declined immediate medical attention, correctly deducing that the bullet had not reached his lung as he was not coughing blood. Instead, he delivered an 84-minute speech with blood seeping into his shirt, opening with the memorable line: “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” Subsequent examination showed the bullet lodged in Roosevelt’s chest muscle, where doctors decided it safer to leave it than to attempt removal.
After two weeks of recovery, Roosevelt resumed campaigning but ultimately lost the election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson. John Schrank, who claimed McKinley had appeared to him in a dream instructing him to avenge his assassination by killing Roosevelt, was found legally insane. He spent the remainder of his life institutionalized until his death in 1943.
Ronald Reagan
On March 30, 1981, as Ronald Reagan left the Washington Hilton hotel after delivering a speech, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate him by firing six gunshots. One of the bullets ricocheted off the presidential limousine, striking Reagan in the left underarm, causing a broken rib, a punctured lung, and serious internal bleeding. Rushed to George Washington University Hospital, Reagan arrived in critical condition but was stabilized in the emergency room and underwent immediate surgery. He recovered and left the hospital on April 11. Alongside Reagan, White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and police officer Thomas Delahanty were also injured. Brady suffered brain damage and later died in 2014, with his death ruled a homicide due to complications from his injuries.
Hinckley, arrested immediately, later confessed he had intended to impress actress Jodie Foster by killing Reagan.
Found mentally ill, he was confined to psychiatric care. Released on September 10, 2016, 35 years after the incident and 12 years after Reagan’s death from pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer’s disease, Hinckley’s release drew significant attention and debate.
Donald Trump
On July 13, 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump sustained a gunshot wound to his upper right ear inflicted by Thomas Crooks. Despite the attack, Trump displayed resilience by briefly ducking and then rising to pump his fist amid chants of “USA” from the crowd.
He was swiftly surrounded by Secret Service personnel and evacuated to safety, later receiving medical treatment at a hospital. Trump was released in stable condition and subsequently departed for New Jersey by plane. Tragically, the shooter and one attendee lost their lives, with two others critically injured.
Assassination attempts and plots
Andrew Jackson
On January 30, 1835, near the Capitol Building, a house painter named Richard Lawrence attempted to assassinate President Andrew Jackson using two pistols, both of which misfired. Interestingly, later tests showed the pistols were functional. Jackson responded by striking Lawrence with his cane until he was subdued. Lawrence was later deemed not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the remainder of his life in a mental institution, passing away in 1861.
Abraham Lincoln
In February 1861, as President-elect Abraham Lincoln traveled through Baltimore amid threats of the alleged Baltimore Plot—an attempt by Confederate sympathizers to assassinate him en route to his inauguration—his security was managed by Allan Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency. Despite debate among scholars about the plot’s validity, Lincoln and his advisors took precautions to ensure his safe passage through the city.
In August 1864, an unknown sniper narrowly missed Lincoln’s head by inches with a lone rifle shot while he traveled unguarded from the White House to the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C. Lincoln continued his journey, stating to his friend and bodyguard, Ward Lamon, that “it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”
William Howard Taft
In 1909, President William Howard Taft and Mexican President Porfirio Díaz planned a historic summit in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Amid serious security concerns, including assassination threats related to the disputed Chamizal strip, a substantial security detail ensured their safety during the event.
In 1910, while visiting his aunt in Massachusetts, Taft’s family reported a stranger who allegedly overheard an assassination plot in Boston. The incident was reported to local police and the Secret Service, though the identity of the stranger was never determined.
Herbert Hoover
During a goodwill tour of Central and South America in 1928, President-elect Herbert Hoover narrowly escaped an assassination plot by Argentine anarchists. The plotters planned to bomb his train, but were intercepted before they could carry out the attack.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
In February 1933, Giuseppe Zangara fired shots at President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami, Florida. While Roosevelt was unharmed, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in the attack. Zangara was executed for Cermak’s murder.
Harry S. Truman
In November 1950, Puerto Rican pro-independence activists attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at the Blair House in Washington, D.C., where he was residing during renovations at the White House. The attempt resulted in the death of one White House policeman, while Truman himself escaped unscathed.
John F. Kennedy
In December 1960, Richard Paul Pavlick, driven by anti-Catholic sentiments, planned to assassinate President-elect John F. Kennedy in Palm Beach, Florida. Pavlick was arrested before he could carry out his plan and was later committed to a mental hospital.
Richard Nixon
In April 1972, Arthur Bremer attempted to shoot President Richard Nixon during a motorcade in Ottawa, Canada, but was unsuccessful due to the fast-moving nature of the event. Bremer later shot and seriously wounded Governor George Wallace of Alabama.
In February 1974, Samuel Byck attempted to hijack a commercial airliner with the intention of crashing it into the White House to kill Nixon. Byck’s attempt failed, and he ultimately committed suicide during the incident.
These rewritten accounts provide a concise overview of the various assassination attempts and plots involving U.S. presidents throughout history.
Gerald Ford
In mid-August 1974, Muharem Kurbegovic, known as The Alphabet Bomber, threatened to throw a nerve gas bomb at President Gerald Ford in Washington, D.C., just ten days into his presidency. The CIA, U.S. Secret Service, and other agencies swiftly identified and arrested Kurbegovic within a day using voice analysis and court records. His Yugoslav origins were pivotal in his identification and subsequent apprehension.
On September 5, 1975, at the northern grounds of the California State Capitol, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, aimed a Colt M1911 .45-caliber pistol at Ford. The pistol malfunctioned, as it had no cartridge in the firing chamber, and Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf swiftly apprehended her. Fromme was sentenced to life in prison and released on parole in 2009, after Ford’s death in 2006.
Just 17 days later, on September 22, 1975, in San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at Ford from a distance of 40 feet (12 m). Her shot missed, hitting a building wall and slightly injuring a bystander. Oliver Sipple, another bystander, intervened and subdued Moore. She received a life sentence but was paroled in 2007, after serving over 30 years in prison.
Jimmy Carter
On May 5, 1979, Raymond Lee Harvey was arrested by the Secret Service in Los Angeles, carrying a starter pistol with blank rounds just before President Jimmy Carter was scheduled to give a speech. Harvey claimed involvement in a plot to assassinate Carter and fired blank rounds from a hotel roof the previous night as a test. He was later released due to insufficient evidence, and charges against him and his associate, Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz, were dropped.
George H. W. Bush
On April 13, 1993, Kuwaiti authorities claimed to have foiled an alleged plot to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush with a car bomb during his visit to Kuwait University. Fourteen Kuwaiti and Iraqi men, suspected of working for Saddam Hussein, were arrested. The plot, believed to be directed by the Iraqi Intelligence Service, led to a cruise missile attack on an Iraqi intelligence building in Baghdad by then-President Bill Clinton. Later assessments suggested the plot might have been fabricated by Kuwaiti authorities to justify actions against Iraq.
This revision provides a concise summary of the attempted assassinations involving Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush.
Bill Clinton
January 21, 1994: Ronald Gene Barbour, a retired military officer and freelance writer, planned an assassination attempt on President Clinton while he was jogging. Barbour, who was in Florida during Clinton’s state visit to Russia, did not carry out the attack. He was later sentenced to five years in prison and released in 1998.
October 29, 1994: Francisco Martin Duran fired at least 29 shots from a semi-automatic rifle at the White House, aiming at figures he mistook for President Clinton among men in dark suits on the North Lawn. Tourists Harry Rakosky, Ken Davis, and Robert Haines subdued Duran, who had a suicide note. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
November 1994: Osama bin Laden enlisted Ramzi Yousef, known for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, to target President Clinton. Yousef opted not to proceed, citing formidable security, and instead planned an attack on Pope John Paul II.
November 24, 1996: During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Manila, President Clinton’s motorcade was redirected due to intercepted intelligence indicating an imminent attack. Secret Service Director Lewis Merletti ordered the change, leading to the discovery of a bomb under a bridge. U.S. investigators later linked the plot to Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden, residing in Afghanistan at the time.
October 2018: A pipe bomb addressed to Hillary Clinton was intercepted at their home in Chappaqua, New York, during a wave of similar packages sent to Democratic leaders including Barack Obama. Bill Clinton was present in Chappaqua when the package was discovered, while Hillary was campaigning in Florida. Fingerprint DNA identified the sender as Florida resident Cesar Sayoc, who was apprehended two days later. Sayoc received a 20-year prison sentence after prosecutors sought life imprisonment.
George W. Bush
May 10, 2005: During a speech in Freedom Square, Tbilisi, Georgia, President Bush narrowly escaped harm when Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live Soviet-made hand grenade toward the podium. The grenade’s explosion was prevented by a tightly wrapped red tartan handkerchief, which blocked the safety lever. Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005 after a subsequent incident in which he killed an Interior Ministry agent during his apprehension. He received a life sentence in January 2006.
On May 24, 2022, Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, an Iraqi resident of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested for his involvement in a plot to assassinate President George W. Bush. The arrest followed conversations he had with undercover FBI informants, during which he discussed illegal immigration activities and plans to smuggle Iraqi nationals into the U.S. from Mexico to aid in the plot. Shihab also claimed connections to former ISIS members, including Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and sought to launder money from a former ISIS financial chief into the U.S. through a car dealership in Columbus.
In February of that year, Shihab and an informant conducted surveillance on Bush’s residence in Dallas, Texas, and the George W. Bush Institute. Shihab had entered the country illegally in September 2020 using false identification. He admitted to collaborating with Iraqi terrorists during the Iraq War, targeting American servicemen from 2003 to 2006, citing anger over the conflict as motivation for the assassination plot.
Barack Obama
December 2008: Kody Brittingham, a U.S. Marine, plotted to assassinate President-elect Obama, whom he labeled a “domestic enemy”. Found with white supremacist material, Brittingham was sentenced to 100 months in federal prison.
April 2009: A Syrian man with forged press credentials planned to assassinate Obama with a knife at an Istanbul summit. He confessed, implicating three accomplices.
November 2011: Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired shots at the White House due to fringe beliefs, receiving a 25-year prison sentence.
2011–2012: The far-right group FEAR plotted attacks including Obama’s assassination, foiled by arrests.
October 2012: A ricin-laced letter aimed at Obama was intercepted.
June 2013: White supremacists planned to use a homemade “radiation gun” against Obama, among others.
October 2018: A pipe bomb sent to Obama’s D.C. home was intercepted.
Donald Trump
June 16, 2016: Michael Steven Sandford attempted to grab a police officer’s gun at a Trump rally in Las Vegas to assassinate Trump, sentenced to prison and deported.
September 6, 2017: Gregory Lee Leingang attempted to use a forklift to attack Trump’s motorcade in North Dakota, sentenced to 20 years.
November 2017: An ISIL-affiliated man was arrested in the Philippines for planning to assassinate Trump.
July 13, 2024: Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump during a rally near Butler, PA, resulting in injuries and fatalities before being killed by Secret Service agents.
Joe Biden
May 23, 2023: Sai Varshith Kandula attempted to breach the White House grounds with intent to “kill the president”, arrested with Nazi paraphernalia.
Deaths Rumored as Assassinations
Zachary Taylor
July 9, 1850: President Zachary Taylor’s death was initially rumored to be from poisoning due to political motives, but modern analyses found no evidence to support this theory.
Warren G. Harding
August 2, 1923: President Warren G. Harding’s sudden death led to speculation of poisoning, but it was officially attributed to a stroke. His wife’s refusal of an autopsy fueled conspiracy theories, although medical experts later concluded he likely suffered a heart attack.
