November 22: Assassins

On 22 November 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was riding in a motorcade with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Conally’s wife Nellie. Governor Connally was wounded as was Jim Tague, a spectator who was hit in the cheek by a ricocheting bullet. Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin, was himself assassinated by Jack Ruby.

Besides Kennedy, three other presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln (14 April 1865), James A. Garfield (2 July 1881), and William McKinley (6 September 1901).

On 30 January 1835, President Andrew Jackson was the target of an assassination attempt when Richard Lawrence fired two shots—from different pistols—at him; one from 13 feet and one at point blank range. Both pistols misfired and Jackson used his cane to beat Lawrence.

On 5 September 1975, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme fired a pistol at President Gerald Ford. There were four bullets in the magazine of Fromme’s pistol, but the firing chamber was empty. A few weeks later, on September 22, Sarah Jane Moore fired a pistol at President Ford, but a bystander deflected the shot so that it missed Ford. On 30 March 1981, John Hinckley did not miss when he fired a shot President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was seriously injured but survived the attempted assassination.

On 15 February 1933, three weeks before he was to be inaugurated for his first term, five shots were fired at President elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt was unhurt, but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was killed and three other people were wounded. Twenty one year’s earlier, former President and current Presidential candidate Teddy Roosevelt was shot while preparing to give a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because “it takes more than one bullet to bring down a Bull Moose,” Roosevelt insisted on giving his speech prior to be taken to the hospital.

In 1990, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman in their musical Assassins dramatized “the unpopular thesis that the most notorious killers in our culture are as much a product of that culture as the famous leaders they attempt to murder” by focusing on the individuals who assassinated or attempted to assassinate a President of the United States. Before the end of the play, “each presidential assassin is made to confront the fact that his or her act of meaningless violence failed to bring about the desired results.”
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–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Photo Caption: Screen capture from Assassins: A Conversationpiece in which Sondheim and Weidman discuss their collaboration.

Editorial Note: At 8:30pm on 22 November 2012, this memorable moment was modified to include the information on President Ronald Reagan.


Although Today in History is primarily student written, there are some days when we do not have a student author. You will enjoy another student entry on November 25.

Posted on by stevenlberg
Categories: American History: Modern, American History: Nineteenth Century
Tags: , , , , ,

25 Responses

  1. The Rev. David Grant Smith says:
    22 November 2012 at 2:11 pm

    Another notable assassination attempt took place on 30 March 1981 when John Hinckley, Jr., tried to kill Ronald Reagan at the beginning of his presidency.

    Reply
  2. Mohamed says:
    23 November 2012 at 12:12 am

    JFK’s was known for many great things. One of the most controversial things he did while in office was issuing Executive Order 11110. Controversial yet not very popular what the order essentially did was strip the federal reserve bank of its power to issue currency and constitutionally give it back to the treasury for a short period of time.. The intent was to allow the treasury to issue money based on the amount of silver in the treasury. These dollars being backed by silver were essentially debt free considering they were issued on the basis that the silver was in the treasury. This order is often made bigger than it really was it was permission being given to the treasury to print silver certificates without presidential approval it was simply a convenience order. Some see this as a pro fed move to liquidate the United States treasury’s silver supply where others see it as an anti-fed move. Many conspiracy theorists use Executive Order 11110 as a reason JFK was killed but if you look deeper into the facts you’ll see its not what it seems. Though I have not taken a particular stance on this I find the issue interesting because I have one of those treasury notes issued in 1963.

    -Mohamed Shuman

    Reply
  3. Mikhala Ruonavaara says:
    24 November 2012 at 2:43 am

    Assassinations have been taking place for centuries, one of the most famous ancient assassinations being that of the Roman Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Sixty senatorial members, led by Gaius Longinus and Marcus Brutus, conspired against their dictator and stabbed him in fear of his increasing power and strong army. Many of the members had lost their authority because of Caesar’s role in Rome, which he had obtained by breaking many of Rome’s rules and traditions. On March 15, about a month after he named himself the dictator for life, he was brutally murdered by those he had ruled. This date later became known as “The Ides of March.”

    Reply
    • Olivia Reed says:
      4 December 2012 at 7:11 pm

      There were several Roman Emperors who were assassinated, another one of the notable ones being Caligula. After several failed attempts to assassinate Caligula, a successful plan was eventually carried out on the 24th of January in the year 41 AD, led by Cassius Chaerea. Many members of the Senate, the army, and the equestrian order were also involved. Although some members of Caligula’s guard remained loyal to him, they were outnumbered. Details of the assassination are slightly different depending on the source, but most of them agree that Chaerea was the first to stab Caligula. The assassins also killed Caligula’s wife and their one-year-old daughter.

      Reply
      • Adam Rababeh says:
        6 December 2012 at 12:09 pm

        Another emperor, or in this case Czar had many assassination attempts against him, and eventually was assassinated, and that is Alexander the 2nd of Russia. He survived so many attempts of assassination by luck. But in March 1st, 1881, he fell victim to an assassin in St. Petersburg. Two Assassin bombers from an opposing party threw a bomb at the Czar’s carriage on a bridge, which halted the carriage and injured the Czar. As the Czar got out, a second assassin threw a bomb at the Czar’s feet, and blew him up.

        Reply
  4. James Key says:
    25 November 2012 at 8:21 pm

    For some reason, many conspiracy theories surround the assassination of JFK. After the Warren Commission ruled there was no conspiracy, some groups and individuals criticized the government for allegedly withholding important information from the investigation. 13 years later, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Kennedy assassinated was most likely the result of a conspiracy, and that there probably were two shooters involved. The group was formed to delve deeper into the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. While scientific acoustic evidence led them to this conclusion, other scientific evidence rules out parts of the conspiracy claim. It is intriguing that these antithetical conclusions came from groups within the United States Government, and that there are still many different views on the Kennedy assassination today.
    In 2009, Muammar al-Gaddafi addressed the United Nations General Council. Part of his 100 minute speech called for a re-examination of Kennedy’s assassination, to be spearheaded by the U.S. Gaddafi claimed that the truth had not come out and that “we” need to know the truth (he used the term “we’ extensively). He said that tensions had been high between the former President and one of Israel’s founders and Prime Minister David Ben-Guiron. Gaddafi went on the say that Kennedy wanted information about Israel’s Dimona nuclear facility, and that Ben-Guiron would not give any details about the plant’s capabilities. Gaddafi suggests that the Israeli intelligence agency, or the Mossad, was involved in the assassination of JFK. Whether this tidbit of info reflects on a privy world leaders access to classified documents, or just the words of a dictator trying to maintain control and distract from his own doings, we may never know.

    Reply
    • James Key says:
      25 November 2012 at 8:27 pm

      *”…the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Kennedy’s assassination was most likely the result of a conspiracy…” (sorry for not proofreading)

      Reply
  5. Sarah Lloyd says:
    2 December 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Carrying on the theme of assassinations, I found Charlotte Corday a female figure from the French Revolution who is known for the assassination of Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat. Marat was a key figure in the French Revolution and was part responsible, through his role as a politician and journalist, for the more radical course the Revolution had taken. His support of the September Massacres and hand in starting The Reign of Terror tarnished his reputation and he was seen as something of a revolutionary monster in the Second Empire. More specifically, he played a substantial role in the political purge of the Girondins, with whom Corday sympathized. For her part, Corday was generally reviled for murdering Marat, although during the Second Empire she was seen as a heroine of France.
    Marat suffered from an unknown skin disease (possibly dermatitis herpetiformis) from which the only relief he found was sitting in a cold bath. He spent the last three years of his life conducting the majority of his business from his bathtub. Charlotte Corday went to Marat’s home on the evening of July 13, 1793 claiming to have knowledge of a planned Girondist uprising in Caen. Marat was doing business in his bathtub as he usually did. Corday told Marat what she knew and he wrote down the names of the Girondists, then she pulled out a kitchen knife and plunged it into his chest, piercing his lung, aorta and left ventricle. He called out, Aidez-moi, ma chère amie (“Help me, my dear friend!”) then died. On 17 July 1793, four days after Marat was killed, Corday was executed under the guillotine (decapitated) and her corpse was disposed of in the Madeleine Cemetery.

    Reply
  6. Chris Hernandez says:
    2 December 2012 at 5:55 pm

    Assassination attempts have been for thousands of years, and whether it be a ruthless dictator or a civil rights leader. Whether it be good or for evil assassination attempts will still happen over time. One leader that had several assassination attempts on him was King Ramses III a Egyptian Pharaoh. One of his assassination attempts that he survived was from his own wife who plotted against King Ramses III in order to get her son Pentaur to become leader. She had the backing of many high up Representatives to take his life. the method she used was magic, in today’s culture that sounds silly but around there time it wasn’t that crazy to do that. This assassination attempt failed and King Ramses III continued as Egypt leader.

    Reply
  7. Aaron Dowd says:
    3 December 2012 at 11:44 am

    There are many conspiracies associated with JFK’s assassination. Numerous people have re-created the shooting and believe that the shot actually came from Kennedy’s front side. With a knowledge of bullets, one could infer that the way his head moved, and the direction of his wound, that the bullet did indeed enter through his forehead and exit through the back of his head. Bullets make small holes on entry and larger wounds when they exit the flesh. A section of the back of Kennedy’s head was blown off while he only had a small entry wound of the front of his head.

    Reply
  8. Allie Coleman says:
    3 December 2012 at 5:21 pm

    Along with the many theories on WHO killed JFK there are also a few on WHY he was killed. One of the top being because he and his brother tried to expose the mafia and organized crime, along with the rumor that they were working together! Another theory being they killed him after he refused to attack the Cubans after the Bay of Pigs. Many more have been thought of. No one will ever know the truth behind who killed JFK and why.

    Reply
  9. Adam Clark says:
    4 December 2012 at 2:35 pm

    The attempted assassination of President Reagan by John Hinckley produced some good from the bad. Hinckley shot at the president and injured him as well as shooting James Scott Brady, the President’s Press Secretary and paralyzing him. Because of the attack of Brady and the president, on November 30, 1993 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, or the Brady Bill. The Brady Bill requires a background check to be conducted on an person before they can purchase a firearm from any licensed dealer. This law prevents people with criminal backgrounds, mental problems, addictions to illegal substances, domestic abusers, felons, and illegal aliens from easily acquiring a firearm in the United States.

    Reply
  10. fishface273 says:
    5 December 2012 at 8:47 am

    Even thought we might have heard about it when it happened we do not always remember the almost assassination. There have been eleven presidents and thirteen assassination attempts, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were both attacked twice. Some of them were misses, like in the case of Jimmy Carter were the shooter missed by seven inches or a president’s guard and the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, being shot instead of Harry S. Truman or Franklin Roosevelt and ending with the Ronald Reagan, who was shot and hit in the lung. Three others were also hit two probable died from the wounds but Ronald Reagan made it to the hospital and was fine.

    Reply
  11. Heather Daugherty says:
    5 December 2012 at 11:50 am

    A few days before I read this Today in History, my boyfriend had showed me a post that he had found online. After reading what was on the post, and then reading this, I feel this is very appropriate to post as a comment. The post went like this:
    Weird Lincoln and Kennedy Similarities:
    1) Lincoln was elected into congress in 1846, Kennedy in 1946.
    2) Lincoln was elected as president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.
    3) The names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain 7 letters.
    4) Both men were mostly concerned with civil rights.
    5) Both lost a child while living in the White House.
    6) Both were shot on a Friday.
    7) Both were assassination by Southerns.
    8) Andrew Johnson who succeeded Lincoln was born in 1808, Lyndon Johnson who succeeded Kennedy was born in 1908.
    9) Both assassins were known by three names.
    10) Lincoln was shot in a theater named “Kennedy.” Kennedy was shot in a car named “Lincoln.”
    I’m not usually one to get into weird conspiracy theories or anything like that, but I found this really interesting, and it fit in with this Today in History rather well.
    Plus you really can’t argue with facts and history. :)
    http://www.joe-ks.com/archives/Lincoln_Kennedy.htm

    Reply
  12. Breana Damron says:
    5 December 2012 at 12:02 pm

    One assassination which I did not notice anyone talking about was the infamous assassination of Julius Caesar. Assassinations of leaders usually have the same gist to them, the assassin did not like where the leader was going with things. In Caesar’s case, once he was declared dictator of Rome, many in the Senate was fearful he was going to turn Rome into a tyranny.

    Although most people think tyranny and dictatorships are synonymous, there are differences. Most important include the fact that all tyrants are dictators, however, a person is not necessarily a tyrant if they are a dictator. Traditionally, tyrants act in ways that harm the people, however gives benefit to themselves. Dictators do not always act in these ways. Especially in times of the Romans, dictatorship was mostly a figure head title in which today is thought of as a bad thing, however, dictator in their time was just like our President, but with more power of his followers.

    In any case, Caesar was plotted against by the infamous Brutus, as well as the lesser known Longinus. Caesar was stabbed to death. This assassination led to a civil war.

    Reply
  13. William Khleif says:
    6 December 2012 at 5:57 pm

    John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States, and the youngest to ever become president. His assassination was very sad and still to this day sparks some controversy. While President Kennedy was assassinated, we can’t forget him for leading America while he was in office. John F. Kennedy was the only catholic president. In the 1940’s president Kennedy joined the U.S. Navy. He was in the Navy and witnessed that attack on Pearl Harbor. John F. Kennedy will always be remembered as a man who loved his country.

    Reply
  14. Jessica Linderman says:
    8 December 2012 at 3:20 pm

    Assassinations are an interesting topic, and as several other commenters have mentioned, Rome had many. One of the famous Roman assassins is often overlooked. Agrippina the Younger is a decedent of the great Augustus and part of the reason she is overlooked is that she is a woman. Agrippina is suspected to have murdered 17 people throughout her life, most if not all by poisoning. The most famous of her victims being emperor Claudius. At the time, she was married to Claudius. Agrippina was known to be power-hungry and had the goal of seeing her son as the leader of Rome. Agrippina was a deadly assassin in the effect that she was never taken to trail in Rome, but unfortunately her blood thirsty ways backfired when her own son killed her.

    Reply
  15. Hannah Weaver says:
    8 December 2012 at 6:47 pm

    Over hundreds and hundreds of years, historical assassinations have taken place. In ancient history, one of the most famous assassinations was one of Julius Caesar. Caesar was a general in Rome who declared himself dictator of Rome. This act was not favored by many of Rome’s other political leaders. The plan, then, was to put an end to his reign. He was assassinated by a group of senators lead by Marcus Junius Brutus in 44 BC. Brutus was not the only man involved in this murder; around sixty men were involved. His violent murder was said to foreshadow many other historical assassinations.

    Reply
  16. Nik Stavreski says:
    8 December 2012 at 8:56 pm

    All the way back in ancient history Philip II of Macedon (Macedonia) was King of Macedon starting at 359 BCE until the Assassination in 336 BCE. He’s Successor and son was none other than “Alexander the Great” who was an extreamly sucessful ruler! As a child Philip was a hostage in Thebes. As a “Captive” he accumulated military and diplomatic knowladge from Epaminodas. After the Death of he’s brothers and no other sucessor, Philip became king in 359 BCE. Thanks to he’s early training he became a great ruler and was able to expand Macedonia Militarly. Great sucess came from a new infantry called the Phalanx which had Sarissa’s (extreamly long spear). With more great sucess from his time of rule, followed his Assassination in 336 BCE. In Aegae the ancient capital of Macedon he was killed at his daughters wedding! He was quickly killed by Pausanias, one of his seven body guards. Just another thing in mankinds history that will always happen as long as humans exist. Assassinations.

    Reply
  17. Matthew Brooks says:
    9 December 2012 at 6:58 pm

    its actually pretty interesting to see that most assassins in history are very controversial and have a lot of conspiracy to them. But what i think is where is that if a person never read about assassins before and the person decided to play the Assassins creed video game and follow the story line you see that there is a whole different look at assassins than in real life history

    Reply
  18. Justin Ghannam says:
    9 December 2012 at 8:35 pm

    I feel as if I’m beating a dead horse here by stating the obvious but yeah, assassins have been around since the beginning of time and will most certainly not go away anytime in history. From the murder of the King of Poland Przemysł II in 1295 to even four listed on President Obama which is realistically as modern as it gets. I wish there was some research showing if there was some psychological idea in the brain that makes one become that way

    Reply
  19. Cedrick Cole says:
    9 December 2012 at 9:50 pm

    Its surprising on how many assassination attempts and executions have been committed due to poor secret service security around the president. Up until 1981 when assassination was attempted on Reagan, security wasn’t as tight as it is currently, Before it was possible for large crowds of people to approach the president this in turn caused the president to become a wide open target to assassination attempts and other unseen threats. Now in current time its almost impossible to find an opening in the presidents secret service security, Secret service now are trained to blend in their current surrounding. Majority of the time it looks as if the president is walking with 5 or more secret service around him when in actuality their could be more than 20 that are unseen. examples of this is when president Obama went to Virginia to go shopping with his daughters. In the photos taken if you aren’t looking you wouldn’t notice 7 secret service blended into the background of the store president Obama visited. It just surprises me that after almost 50 years security in the president has only been recently updated since 1981.

    Reply
  20. jtaylor says:
    9 December 2012 at 11:14 pm

    Definition according to Google.
    Assassin-A murderer of an important person in a surprise attack for political or religious reasons.

    In a way, assassins can be viewed as either cowards or heros. I think it comes down to who’s side you’re on, the assassin, or the person assassinated. If you favor the one being assassinated, then you will most likely view the assassin a coward who took a cheap shot. On the other hand, take for example Lincoln and Booth. If there was a person who opposed everything that Lincoln stood for, that person probably considered Booth a hero.

    Reply

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