{"id":37424,"date":"2024-09-17T22:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T22:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=37424"},"modified":"2024-09-28T12:02:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-28T12:02:39","slug":"trumps-second-assassination-attempt-is-shocking-but-attempts-on-presidents-lives-are-not-rare-in-us-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/trumps-second-assassination-attempt-is-shocking-but-attempts-on-presidents-lives-are-not-rare-in-us-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s second assassination attempt is shocking, but attempts on presidents\u2019 lives are not rare in US history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shannon Bow O’Brien<\/a>, The University of Texas at Austin<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former President Donald Trump survived his second assassination<\/a> attempt on Sept. 15, 2024, marking the latest chapter in a long history book. Presidential assassination attempts, whether successful or not, are fairly commonplace in American history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been 45 men elected president since the country\u2019s founding. And 40% of them have experienced known attempts on their lives. Four presidents \u2013 Abraham Lincoln<\/a>, James A. Garfield<\/a>, William McKinley<\/a> and John F. Kennedy<\/a> \u2013 have been assassinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Trump and Theodore Roosevelt<\/a> were both former presidents when they were shot, Ronald Reagan was injured while in office, with a would-be assassin almost ending Reagan\u2019s life in 1981<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirteen others \u2013 Andrew Jackson, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden \u2013 have had known plots or failed attempts to end their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many were subject to multiple attempts, and it is likely the public was never informed of other attempts upon them or other presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidents symbolize the ideals of ourselves as Americans. They often act as the physical embodiment of our country, their political party and its values. When individuals are unhappy with the United States or its policies, some choose to express their opinions in violent ways. Those who choose to assassinate a president inadvertently humanize the very presidents they want to kill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/a>
Law enforcement personnel on Sept. 17, 2024, investigate the area where the Secret Service discovered a would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump. Joe Raedle\/Getty Image<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A common thread<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every presidential assassination or attempt has been made with a firearm. With the exception of Gerald Ford\u2019s two attempted assassins<\/a>, all the perpetrators have been male.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes Trump\u2019s two assailants, men who were once enthralled by<\/a> but seemingly grew disenchanted with aspects of modern politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Secret Service thwarted an armed man hiding at a Trump golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15. The Secret Service fired at the person, who fled in a car<\/a> before he was apprehended and arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This came just two months after Trump was wounded<\/a> at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13 by a young man who attempted to kill Trump with a gunshot to the head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many presidential assassination attempts seem incoherent to anyone except the perpetrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man named Charles Guiteau killed Garfield in 1881<\/a> because he wanted to be awarded a patronage position in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln as part of a larger plot attempting to create chaos to help reignite the \u201cSouthern cause\u201d and support for slavery<\/a>. On the same night Lincoln was killed in 1865, his secretary of state, William Seward, was attacked<\/a> but survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the plot was for then-Vice President Andrew Johnson to also be killed<\/a> by another man, George Atzerodt, who instead got drunk and threw the knife<\/a> in a gutter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booth and his co-conspirators hoped that these politicians\u2019 almost simultaneous deaths would throw the Union into disarray, with an unclear path of succession. Their plan fell apart, and with Johnson alive, the nation\u2019s clear path of presidential succession remained intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Men<\/a>
Secret Service officers and police rush to protect President Gerald Ford during an assassination attempt in September 1975. Corbis via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A near miss<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Half a century later, while former President Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for a third presidential term in 1912, he was shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he was shot at almost point-blank range, Roosevelt was, in a way, saved by his poor eyesight<\/a> and long-winded nature. Roosevelt had a 50-page speech folded in his pocket, as well as his steel eyeglass case. Both items slowed the bullet enough that it just entered his chest but not deeper than the muscle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roosevelt famously proceeded to give a 90-minute speech before leaving for the hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the closest comparisons to Trump\u2019s two recent assassination attempts is when two women tried to kill President Gerald Ford in September 1975.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Trump and Ford were the targets of well-publicized assassination attempts within a short period of time, and both were targeted by individuals with logically unclear motives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynnette \u201cSqueaky\u201d Fromme, a one-time member of the Manson family<\/a>, a well-known cult in the 1970s, attempted to kill Ford in order, she claimed, to save California redwood trees<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the Environmental Protection Agency was warning people about worsening smog\u2019s effects on the environment, leading her to believe assassination was the only way to preserve the trees. Fromme dressed entirely in red, went to Sacramento where the president was visiting, aimed and fired at him<\/a> within a 2-foot range<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except the gun didn\u2019t fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bystanders heard a click, since she had not put a round in the chamber, likely because she did not know much about guns. After that first attempted shot, Secret Service intervened. Later, Fromme claimed she did not want to shoot the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventeen days later, on Sept. 22 in San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore shot at Ford from about 40 feet away and missed. Her second shot missed as well, this time because a bystander, Oliver Sipple, grabbed the gun, forcing the shot to go wide, injuring a taxi driver<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Reagan survived an assassination attempt<\/a> by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981. Hinckley was obsessed with the popular film \u201cTaxi Driver\u201d and, in particular, the character played by actress Jodie Foster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believed that if he could impress Foster, she would date him<\/a>. As Reagan left the Washington Hilton hotel, Hinckley fired six shots in two seconds. One shot deflected off the car and into the president\u2019s left side, hitting his lung. One of the funnier lines Reagan would later repeat was born that day, when he looked at doctors prepping for surgery and said, \u201cI just hope you\u2019re Republicans<\/a>.\u201d One doctor replied, \u201cToday, Mr. President, we\u2019re all Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
An illustration shows the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The best and worst of us<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Throughout history, American presidents and occasionally candidates have been targeted by gunmen and other potential attackers to express their unhappiness about the government. The rationales for these assassins\u2019 actions vary from simply chaos to delusions anointing the assassin, or would-be assassin, a heroic main character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidential assassinations reflect the best and the worst of people simultaneously. The violence itself shows the worst of society, but Americans often seem at their best in the aftermath. Like Reagan\u2019s surgeons once recognized, politics should never supplant humanity or be more valued than a person\u2019s health and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon Bow O’Brien<\/a>, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shannon Bow O’Brien, The University of Texas at Austin Former President Donald Trump survived his second assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024, marking the latest chapter in a long history book. Presidential assassination attempts, whether successful or not, are fairly commonplace in American history. There have been 45 men elected president since the country\u2019s founding. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":37425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46,36,4],"tags":[3592,479,885,891,886,860,9644,13832,4819],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37424"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37610,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37424\/revisions\/37610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}