From Jackson’s failed assassination to Trump, which US presidents escaped death?
New US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday (Feb. 24) requiring US officials to release some documents related to the assassination of US officials, including the case of John F. Kennedy, the 35th US President.
After Trump’s ruling, the question has arisen in the public mind: Apart from the four presidents in US history who were assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy, who survived the same fate as Trump?
1. Attempted assassination of Andrew Jackson; the first attempt on a US president.
Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, was assassinated on January 30, 1835, in the first recorded assassination attempt on a president. The incident occurred as Jackson was leaving the Capitol in Washington after attending the funeral of former Congressman Warner Lewis.
The assailant, a mentally ill house painter named Richard Lawrence, was lying in wait for Jackson. Upon seeing the president, he attempted to shoot him with a pistol, but the gun misfired. Lawrence immediately pulled out a second gun and tried again, but this time it also failed to fire.
Surprisingly, both guns malfunctioned on that wet, rainy day, an event that experts later considered highly unlikely. After his arrest, Lawrence claimed that he was the rightful heir to the British throne and that Jackson had prevented him from achieving his “natural right.” Later medical examinations revealed that he was suffering from severe hallucinations, and he was eventually committed to a mental hospital rather than face criminal charges.
The assassination had far-reaching effects, prompting increased security measures to protect the president; although no permanent presidential bodyguard was established until years later. Politically, many of Jackson’s opponents, particularly the Whig Party, saw the incident as a symbol of the turbulent period of his presidency. Some of the president’s supporters also believed that the attack on him was an organized conspiracy, although no evidence was presented for this claim.
2. Theodore Roosevelt’s miraculous escape from death.
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States and the Progressive Party nominee, was assassinated on October 14, 1912, while campaigning for the presidency. The incident occurred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as Roosevelt was preparing to address a public meeting.
The assailant, a mentally ill German immigrant named John Schrank, shot him at close range with a .38 caliber pistol. Miraculously, the bullet passed through Roosevelt’s coat, struck first a pair of folding metal glasses, and then a 50-page copy of his speech, which softened the blow. The bullet eventually entered Roosevelt’s chest, but because it slowed down, it did not reach a critical depth. After the speech, Roosevelt was taken to the hospital. Doctors decided not to remove the bullet because of its sensitive location, as removing it would have caused more harm. He lived the rest of his life with the bullet in his body.
The assassin claimed during interrogations that the ghost of President William McKinley, who had been assassinated in 1901, had inspired him to believe that Roosevelt should not run for president again. He was ultimately found not guilty due to mental illness and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital. Roosevelt lost the 1912 election, but the incident remains one of the most remarkable assassination attempts in American history.
On November 1, 1950, an assassination attempt was made on Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, in front of the Blair House in Washington, D.C., which was the temporary residence of the President at the time, as the White House was being renovated. The attack was carried out by two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Coliazo and Gracilio Torsola, who were seeking to draw attention to the movement for Puerto Rico’s independence from the United States. The assailants, armed with handguns, stormed the entrance to the building and engaged Secret Service agents.
A fierce gunfight between the assailants and security forces resulted in the death of Torsola and the wounding of several security officers. Leslie Coflet, one of the President’s bodyguards, was seriously injured in the attack and died hours later. Coliazo, who was captured alive, was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and in 1979, he was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter and returned to Puerto Rico.
The assassination attempt was intended to draw international attention to the issue of Puerto Rican independence, which had been under U.S. control since the Spanish-American War in 1898 and was opposed by many Puerto Rican nationalists. The incident led to increased security at the presidency and increased surveillance of domestic threats. Truman, who was on the second floor of the guesthouse at the time of the attack, survived.