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February 23, 1861: The Baltimore Plot was an alleged conspiracy to assassinate [[President-elect]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] en route to his [[inauguration]]. [[Allan Pinkerton]], eponymous founder of the [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency]], played a key role by managing Lincoln's security throughout the journey. Though scholars debate whether or not the threat was real, clearly Lincoln and his advisors believed that there was a threat and took actions to ensure his safe passage through Baltimore.
February 23, 1861: The Baltimore Plot was an alleged conspiracy to assassinate [[President-elect]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] en route to his [[inauguration]]. [[Allan Pinkerton]], eponymous founder of the [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency]], played a key role by managing Lincoln's security throughout the journey. Though scholars debate whether or not the threat was real, clearly Lincoln and his advisors believed that there was a threat and took actions to ensure his safe passage through Baltimore.


August 1864: A lone rifle shot missed Lincoln's head by inches (passing through his hat) as he rode in the late evening, unguarded, north from the White House three miles to [[President_Lincoln's_Cottage_at_the_Soldiers'_Home|Soldiers' Home]] (his regular retreat where he would work and sleep before returning to the White House the following morning). Near eleven o'clock pm, Private John W. Nichols of the Pennsylvania 150th Volunteers, the sentry on duty at the gated entrance to the Soldiers’ Home grounds, heard the rifle shot and moments later saw the President riding toward him "bareheaded." The President explained "rather unconcernedly" that someone had fired a gun at the foot of the hill, startling his horse and causing him to lose his hat. Nichols, able to retrieve the lost stovepipe, discovered it had a bullet hole through it. When returning it to the President the next morning, Nichols recalled the President making a humorous remark before adding that he wished the incident be "kept quiet". Lincoln did describe the matter to [[Ward_Hill_Lamon|Ward Lamon]], his old friend and loyal bodyguard. Lamon had been frustrated for some time by the lax security as well as Lincoln's casual attitude toward his own safety. On this occasion, despite a bullet having passed just inches above his skull, the President told Lamon: “I can’t bring myself to believe that any one has shot at me or will deliberately shoot at me with the deliberate purpose of killing me." Lincoln suggested that it may have simply been a stray bullet, and in any case that, "no good can come at this time from giving it publicity." Lincoln even joked to Lamon that his horse had come closer to killing him than the would-be assassin: “I was left in doubt whether death was more desirable from being thrown from a runaway federal horse, or as the tragic result of a rifle-ball fired by a disloyal bushwhacker in the middle of the night.”<ref>Flood, Charles Bracelen (2010). 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, pp 266-267. Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library ISBN-10: 1416552286</ref><ref>Sandburg, Carl (1954). Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years One-Volume Edition. pp 599-600. Harcourt ISBN 0-15-602611-2</ref>
August 1864: A lone rifle shot missed Lincoln's head by inches (passing through his hat) as he rode in the late evening, unguarded, north from the White House three miles to [[President_Lincoln's_Cottage_at_the_Soldiers'_Home|Soldiers' Home]] (his regular retreat where he would work and sleep before returning to the White House the following morning). Near eleven o'clock pm, Private John W. Nichols of the Pennsylvania 150th Volunteers, the sentry on duty at the gated entrance to the Soldiers’ Home grounds, heard the rifle shot and moments later saw the President riding toward him "bareheaded." The President explained "rather unconcernedly" that someone had fired a gun at the foot of the hill, startling his horse and causing him to lose his hat. Nichols, able to retrieve the lost stovepipe, discovered it had a bullet hole through it. When returning it to the President the next morning, Nichols recalled the President making a humorous remark before adding that he wished the incident be "kept quiet". Lincoln did describe the matter to [[Ward_Hill_Lamon|Ward Lamon]], his old friend and loyal bodyguard. Lamon had been frustrated for some time by the lax security as well as Lincoln's casual attitude toward his own safety. On this occasion, despite a bullet having passed just inches above his skull, the President told Lamon: “I can’t bring myself to believe that any one has shot at me or will deliberately shoot at me with the deliberate purpose of killing me." Lincoln suggested that it may have simply been a stray bullet, and in any case that, "no good can come at this time from giving it publicity." Lincoln even joked to Lamon that his horse had come closer to killing him than the w haveeeeeeould-be assassin: “I was left in doubt whether death was more desirable from being thrown from a runaway federal horse, or as the tragic result of a rifle-ball fired by a disloyal bushwhacker in the middle of the night.”<ref>Flood, Charles Bracelen (2010). 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, pp 266-267. Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library ISBN-10: 1416552286</ref><ref>Sandburg, Carl (1954). Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years One-Volume Edition. pp 599-600. Harcourt ISBN 0-15-602611-2</ref>


===Theodore Roosevelt===
===Theodore Roosevelt===

Revision as of 19:52, 5 December 2012

There have been many assassination attempts and plots on Presidents of the United States; there have been over 20 known attempts to kill sitting and former Presidents as well as Presidents-elect. Four attempts have resulted in sitting Presidents being killed: Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President), James A. Garfield (the 20th President), William McKinley (the 25th President) and John F. Kennedy (the 35th President). Two other Presidents were injured in attempted assassinations: former President Theodore Roosevelt (the 26th President), and then sitting President Ronald Reagan (the 40th President).

Although attempts have been made to prove that most American assassinations were politically motivated actions, carried out by rational men,[1] not all such assassinations and attempts have been undertaken for truly political reasons.[2] Some have been perpetrated by people of questionable mental stability, and a few were judged legally insane.[3][4] Since the successor to the presidency, the Vice President of the United States, has usually been, and now always is of the same political party as the President, the assassination of the President is unlikely to result in major policy changes. This may explain why political groups typically do not make such attacks.[5]

Successful assassinations

Abraham Lincoln

Main article: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, at approximately 10:15 p.m. Lincoln was shot by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and two guests. Soon after being shot, Lincoln's wound was declared to be mortal. Lincoln died the following day at 7:22 a.m.[6]

Booth was tracked down by Union soldiers and was shot and killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26, 1865. This is an example of a politically motivated assassination, since Booth believed that killing Lincoln would radically change U.S. policy toward the South.

James A. Garfield

Main article: Assassination of James A. Garfield

The assassination of James A. Garfield took place in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 2, 1881, fewer than four months after Garfield took office. Charles J. Guiteau shot him with a .442 Webley British Bulldog revolver. Garfield died 11 weeks later, on Monday, September 19, 1881, at 10:35 p.m., due to complications caused by infections.

Guiteau was immediately arrested. He was tried and found guilty. He appealed, but his appeal was rejected, and he was hanged on June 30, 1882 in the District of Columbia, just two days before the first anniversary of the attempt. Guiteau was certainly mentally unbalanced and the shooting was committed because of Guiteau's belief that he deserved to be made ambassador to France because he believed Garfield's presidential victory was due to a speech he wrote for Garfield (originally written for U.S. Grant). [clarification needed]

William McKinley

Main article: Assassination of William McKinley

The assassination of William McKinley took place at 4:07 p.m. on Friday, September 6, 1901, at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. McKinley, attending the Pan-American Exposition, was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, a self-proclaimed anarchist. McKinley died eight days later, on September 14, 1901, at 2:15 a.m.

Members of the crowd immediately subdued Czolgosz after he shot McKinley. Afterwards, the 4th Brigade, National Guard Signal Corps, and police intervened and beat him so severely it was initially thought he might not live to stand trial. Czolgosz did survive and was convicted and sentenced to death on September 23. Czolgosz was electrocuted by three jolts, each of 1800 volts, in Auburn Prison on October 29, 1901. Czolgosz's actions were politically motivated, although it is unclear what outcome he believed the shooting would yield.

John F. Kennedy

Main article: Assassination of John F. Kennedy

The assassination of John F. Kennedy took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m. CST (18:30 UTC). Kennedy was fatally wounded by a sniper's bullet while riding with his wife Jacqueline in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Although Kennedy was not formally declared dead until a half-hour after the shooting, he effectively died instantly.

Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, was arrested shortly after at the Texas Theater. At 11:21 a.m. Sunday, November 24, 1963, while he was handcuffed to Detective Jim Leavelle and as he was about to be taken to the Dallas County Jail, Oswald was shot and fatally wounded before live television cameras in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub operator who said that he had been distraught over the Kennedy assassination.

The ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963–1964 concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Oswald. This decision has been subject to much dispute.

Failed assassination attempts

Andrew Jackson

Illustration of Jackson's attempted assassination

January 30, 1835: Just outside the Capitol Building, a house painter named Richard Lawrence aimed two percussion pistols at the President, but both misfired, one while Lawrence stood within 13 feet (4 m) of Jackson, and the other at point-blank range. Lawrence was apprehended after Jackson beat him down with a cane. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1861. Authorities determined that the percussion caps in Lawrence's pistols exploded creating, in each case, the sound of a blast but with each bullet failing to discharge from its gun barrel. When later tested by police, both pistols fired perfectly.[7]

Abraham Lincoln

Main article: Baltimore Plot

February 23, 1861: The Baltimore Plot was an alleged conspiracy to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln en route to his inauguration. Allan Pinkerton, eponymous founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, played a key role by managing Lincoln's security throughout the journey. Though scholars debate whether or not the threat was real, clearly Lincoln and his advisors believed that there was a threat and took actions to ensure his safe passage through Baltimore.

August 1864: A lone rifle shot missed Lincoln's head by inches (passing through his hat) as he rode in the late evening, unguarded, north from the White House three miles to Soldiers' Home (his regular retreat where he would work and sleep before returning to the White House the following morning). Near eleven o'clock pm, Private John W. Nichols of the Pennsylvania 150th Volunteers, the sentry on duty at the gated entrance to the Soldiers’ Home grounds, heard the rifle shot and moments later saw the President riding toward him "bareheaded." The President explained "rather unconcernedly" that someone had fired a gun at the foot of the hill, startling his horse and causing him to lose his hat. Nichols, able to retrieve the lost stovepipe, discovered it had a bullet hole through it. When returning it to the President the next morning, Nichols recalled the President making a humorous remark before adding that he wished the incident be "kept quiet". Lincoln did describe the matter to Ward Lamon, his old friend and loyal bodyguard. Lamon had been frustrated for some time by the lax security as well as Lincoln's casual attitude toward his own safety. On this occasion, despite a bullet having passed just inches above his skull, the President told Lamon: “I can’t bring myself to believe that any one has shot at me or will deliberately shoot at me with the deliberate purpose of killing me." Lincoln suggested that it may have simply been a stray bullet, and in any case that, "no good can come at this time from giving it publicity." Lincoln even joked to Lamon that his horse had come closer to killing him than the w haveeeeeeould-be assassin: “I was left in doubt whether death was more desirable from being thrown from a runaway federal horse, or as the tragic result of a rifle-ball fired by a disloyal bushwhacker in the middle of the night.”[8][9]

Theodore Roosevelt

Main article: John Flammang Schrank

October 14, 1912: Three and a half years after he left office, Roosevelt was running for President as a member of the Progressive Party established in 1912 by Roosevelt and other political free thinkers, after he split from the Republican Party which he had served as a member of during his Presidency. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, John F. Schrank, a saloon-keeper from New York, shot Roosevelt once with a .38 caliber revolver. A 50-page speech folded over twice in Roosevelt's breast pocket and a metal glasses case slowed the bullet. Amidst the commotion, Roosevelt yelled out, "Quiet! I've been shot." Roosevelt insisted on giving his speech with the bullet still lodged inside him. During his speech Roosevelt stated, "It takes more than one bullet to bring down a Bull Moose" thus further perpetuating Roosevelt's image as a larger than life President and the nickname of the Progressive Party, the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt responded to reporters questioning his health stating, "I am as strong as a Bull Moose". He later went to the hospital, but the bullet was never removed. Roosevelt, remembering that William McKinley died after operations to remove his bullet, chose to have his remain. The bullet remained in his body until his death in 1919. Schrank said that McKinley's ghost had told him to avenge his assassination. Schrank was found legally insane and was institutionalized until his death in 1943.[10]

Herbert Hoover

On November 19, 1928, President-elect Hoover embarked on a seven-week goodwill tour of several Latin American countries to explain his economic and trade policies to the other nations in the Western hemisphere. While in Argentina, he escaped an assassination attempt by Argentine anarchists led by Severino Di Giovanni, who attempted to blow up the railroad car in which he was traveling. The plotters had an itinerary of Hoover's rail journey, complete with dates and times of arrival, but the bomber was arrested before he could place the explosives on the rails. Hoover himself never mentioned the incident, and his complimentary remarks on Argentina were well received in both the host country and in the press.[11]

Franklin D. Roosevelt

On February 15, 1933 in Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara fired five shots at Roosevelt. The assassination attempt occurred less than three weeks before Roosevelt was sworn in for his first term in office. Although the President-elect was not hurt, four other people were wounded and Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was killed. Zangara was found guilty of murder and was executed March 20, 1933. It has been suggested but not proven that Cermak, not Roosevelt, was the intended target that day, as the mayor was a staunch foe of Al Capone's Chicago mob organization.[12][13]

Harry S. Truman

Main article: Truman assassination attempt

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, attempted to kill Truman by trying to force their way into Blair House where Truman was staying while the nearby White House was undergoing renovation. A violent gun battle ensued between the assassins and the Secret Service, resulting in the death of White House Policeman Leslie Coffelt. Coffelt was able to kill Torresola before blacking out and soon dying. Collazo survived with serious injuries. Truman's life was in direct danger although he was not harmed. Collazo's death sentence was commuted to life in prison by the ungrateful Truman, and was further commuted to time served by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.[14]

Previously, in the summer of 1947, the Zionist Stern Gang sent a number of letter bombs to President Truman in the White House, but they were intercepted by mail room workers who were on alert because Zionist terrorists had made similar attempts on the lives of high British government officials.[15]

John F. Kennedy

December 11, 1960: While vacationing in Palm Beach, Florida, President-elect John F. Kennedy's life was threatened by Richard Paul Pavlick, a 73-year-old former postal worker. Pavlick's plan was to serve as a suicide bomber by crashing his dynamite-laden 1950 Buick into Kennedy's vehicle, but the plan was disrupted when Pavlick saw Kennedy's wife and daughter bidding him goodbye.[16] That attack of conscience foiled the opportunity, with Pavlick's arrest by the Secret Service coming three days later after he was stopped for a driving violation, with the dynamite still in his car. Pavlick spent the next six years in both federal prison and mental institutions before being released in December 1966.

Richard Nixon

1972: Arthur Bremer turned up with a firearm at an event attended by Nixon intending to shoot him, but he never opened fire as security was too tight. A few weeks later Bremer shot and seriously injured Governor George Wallace.

February 22, 1974: Samuel Byck apparently planned to kill Nixon by crashing a commercial airliner into the White House.[17] Once he had hijacked the plane on the ground, he was informed that it could not take off with the wheel blocks still in place. He shot the pilot and copilot, then was shot by an officer through the plane's door window before killing himself. The events surrounding this assassination attempt were depicted in the film The Assassination of Richard Nixon.

Gerald Ford

Main article: Ford assassination attempt in Sacramento

September 5, 1975: On the northern grounds of the California State Capitol, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, drew a Colt M1911 .45 caliber pistol on Ford when he reached to shake her hand in a crowd. There were four cartridges in the pistol's magazine but the firing chamber was empty. She was soon restrained by Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf. Fromme was sentenced to life in prison, but was released from custody on August 14, 2009 (2 years and 8 months after Ford's death).[18]

September 22, 1975: In San Francisco, California, Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at Ford from 40 feet (12 m) away.[19] A bystander, Oliver Sipple, grabbed Moore's arm and the shot missed Ford.[20] Moore was sentenced to life in prison.[21] She was later paroled from a federal prison on Monday, December 31, 2007 (2 years and 5 days after Ford's death) after serving more than 30 years.

Jimmy Carter

Main article: Raymond Lee Harvey

Raymond Lee Harvey was an Ohio-born unemployed American drifter. He was arrested by the Secret Service after being found carrying a starter pistol with blank rounds, ten minutes before President Jimmy Carter was to give a speech at the Civic Center Mall in Los Angeles on May 5, 1979.

Although he had a history of mental illness,[22] police investigated his claims that he was part of a four-man operation to assassinate the president. He claimed that he had been approached by three Latino men staying at the Alan Hotel who gave him the starter pistol, and asked him to shoot it into the ground to create a diversion, so they could then shoot the president from their hotel room during the distraction.[23] According to Harvey, he fired seven blank rounds from the starter pistol on the hotel roof on the night of May 4, to test how much noise it would make, and then spent the night with[clarification needed] one of the men he knew as "Julio", later identified as a 21-year-old illegal Mexican who gave the name Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz.[22] At the time of his arrest, Harvey had eight spent rounds in his pocket, as well as 70 unspent blank rounds for the gun.[24]

Harvey was jailed on a $50,000 bond, given his transient status, and Ortiz was alternately reported as being held on a $100,000 bond as a material witness[22] or held on a $50,000 bond being charged with burglary from a car.[24] Charges against the pair were ultimately dismissed for a lack of evidence.[25]

Ronald Reagan

Main article: Reagan assassination attempt

On March 30, 1981, as he returned to his limousine following a speaking engagement at the Hilton Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C., Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr., who hoped to impress teen actress Jodie Foster. The others that were shot were White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty, all of whom survived, though Brady, the most seriously wounded, was permanently disabled. Reagan survived and recovered after emergency surgery at nearby George Washington University Hospital.

George H. W. Bush

April 13, 1993: Fourteen men believed to be in the employ of Saddam Hussein smuggled bombs into Kuwait with the intent of planting car bombs to assassinate Bush during his visit to Kuwait University.[26] Two of the suspects Wali Abdelhadi Ghazali and Raad Abdel-Amir al-Assadi retracted their confessions at the trial claiming that they were coerced. The plot was foiled when Kuwaiti officials found the bomb and arrested the suspected assassins.[27] Bush had left office in January 1993. The Iraqi Intelligence Service, particularly Directorate 14, was proven to be behind the plot.[28]

On June 27, 1993 President Bill Clinton responded to the assassination attempt as part of Operation Southern Watch by firing 23 Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Iraqi Intelligence Headquarters. Clinton was convinced to attack by three compelling pieces of evidence. First, suspects in the plot confessed to FBI agents in Kuwait. Second, FBI bomb experts firmly linked the captured car bombs to the same explosives made in Iraq, including a 175-pound car bomb found in Kuwait City on April 14. Third, intelligence reports confirmed that Saddam had been plotting to assassinate the former President for some time. Leaders from both parties supported Clinton's attack.[29]

Bill Clinton

September 12, 1994: Frank Eugene Corder flew a single-engine Cessna into the White House lawn, allegedly trying to hit the White House. The President and First Family were not home at the time, thus the actual motive behind the crash landing is inconclusive. Corder was the only casualty.[30]

October 29, 1994: Francisco Martin Duran fired at least 29 shots with a semi-automatic rifle at the White House from a fence overlooking the north lawn, thinking that Clinton was among the men in dark suits standing there (Clinton was inside the White House Residence watching a football game and was never in any danger during the incident). Three tourists, Harry Rakosky, Ken Davis and Robert Haines, tackled Duran before he could injure anyone. Duran was found to have a suicide note in his pocket and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.[31]

1996: During his visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Manila in 1996, he was saved shortly before his car was due to drive over a bridge where a bomb had been planted. Clinton was scheduled to visit a local politician in central Manila, when Secret Service officers intercepted a message suggesting that an attack was imminent. A transmission used the words "bridge" and "wedding", a terrorist's code words for assassination. Lewis Merletti, the director of the Secret Service, ordered that the motorcade be re-routed. An intelligence team later discovered that a bomb had been planted under the bridge. Subsequent U.S. investigation into the plot "revealed that it was masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden".[32]

George W. Bush

Further information: 2001 White House shooting

February 7, 2001: While President George W. Bush was in the White House Residence, in Washington, DC, Robert Pickett, standing outside the perimeter fence, discharged a number of shots from a weapon towards the White House. The U.S. Park Police stated, according to CNN correspondent Eileen O'Connor, that the type of handgun that was confiscated was of a sophisticated type and had the shooter not been shooting from an obstructed angle view, the bullets would have reached the White House. Following a stand-off of about ten minutes, the incident ended when a Secret Service officer shot Pickett, resulting in an injury which required immediate hospital surgery. Pickett was found to have emotional problems and employment grievances. Pickett had previously written letters to the President about these grievances. A court in July 2001 sentenced Pickett to three years imprisonment in connection with the incident.

September 11, 2001: On the morning of 9/11, President George W. Bush was at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, Florida.[33] He woke up around 6:00 AM and prepared for his morning jog.[34][35] A van occupied by men of Middle Eastern descent arrived at the Colony Beach Resort and claimed they had a "poolside" interview with the President. They did not have an appointment and were turned away.[36] It is possible this was an assassination attempt modeled on the one used on anti-Taliban fighter and Northern Alliance military leader Ahmed Massoud two days earlier. The previous April, Massoud addressed the European Parliament and warned of the possibility of al-Qaeda attacking in the West.[37][38] Longboat Key Fire Marshal Carroll Mooneyhan was reported to have overheard the conversation between the men and the Secret Service, but he later denied the report. The newspaper that reported this, the Longboat Observer, stands by its story.[39] Both Mooneyhan and the Observer reporter were questioned by the Secret Service, but the agency has not commented further.[39] Witnesses have recalled seeing 9/11 hijacker ringleader Mohamed Atta in the Longboat Key Holiday Inn a short distance from where Bush was staying as recently as September 7, the day Bush’s Sarasota appearance was publicly announced.[39][40]

May 10, 2005: While President George W. Bush was giving a speech in the Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live Soviet-made RGD-5 hand grenade towards the podium where Bush was standing and where Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the First Lady of the United States Laura Bush, the First Lady of Georgia Sandra Roelofs, and officials were seated. The grenade was live and had its pin pulled, but did not explode because a red tartan handkerchief wrapped tightly around the grenade kept the firing pin from deploying quickly enough.[41] Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005 and killed an Interior Ministry agent while resisting arrest. He was convicted in January 2006 and was given a life sentence.[42][43]

Presidential deaths rumored to be assassinations

Zachary Taylor

On July 4, 1850, President Zachary Taylor was diagnosed by his physicians with cholera morbus, a term that included diarrhea and dysentery but not true cholera. Cholera, typhoid fever, and food poisoning have all been indicated as the source of the president's ultimately fatal gastroenteritis. More specifically, a hasty snack of iced milk, cold cherries and pickled cucumbers (pickles) consumed at an Independence Day celebration might have been the culprit.[44] On July 9, Taylor was dead.

In the late 1980s, author Clara Rising theorized that Taylor was murdered by poison and was able to convince Taylor's closest living relative, as well as the Jefferson County, Kentucky Coroner, Dr. Richard Greathouse, to order an exhumation. On June 17, 1991 Taylor's remains were exhumed from the vault at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, in Louisville, Kentucky. The remains were then transported to the Office of the Kentucky Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. George Nichols. Nichols, joined by Dr. William Maples, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, removed the top of the lead coffin liner to reveal remarkably well preserved remains which were immediately recognizable as those of President Taylor. Radiological studies were conducted of the remains before small samples of hair, fingernail and other tissues were removed. Thomas Secoy of the Department of Veterans Affairs (and a direct descendant of Taylor's Democratic presidential opponent Lewis Cass), ensured that only those samples required for testing were removed and that the coffin was resealed. The remains were then returned to the cemetery and received appropriate honors at reinterment. The samples were sent to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where neutron activation analysis revealed traces of arsenic at levels less than one one-hundredth of the level expected in a death by poisoning.[45]

Warren G. Harding

In June 1923, President Warren G. Harding set out on a cross-country "Voyage of Understanding," planning to meet ordinary people and explain his policies. During this trip, he became the first president to visit Alaska.[46] Rumors of corruption in his administration were beginning to circulate in Washington by this time, and Harding was profoundly shocked by a long message he received while in Alaska, apparently detailing illegal activities previously unknown to him. At the end of July, while traveling south from Alaska through British Columbia, he developed what was thought to be a severe case of food poisoning. He gave the final speech of his life to a large crowd at the University of Washington Stadium (now Husky Stadium) at the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. A scheduled speech in Portland, Oregon was canceled. The President's train proceeded south to San Francisco. Upon arriving at the Palace Hotel, he developed pneumonia. Harding died of either a heart attack or a stroke at 7:35 p.m. on August 2, 1923. The formal announcement, printed in the New York Times of that day, stated that "A stroke of apoplexy was the cause of death." He had been ill exactly one week.[47]

Naval physicians surmised that he had suffered a heart attack. The Hardings' personal medical advisor, homeopath and Surgeon General Charles E. Sawyer, disagreed with the diagnosis. Mrs. Harding refused permission for an autopsy which soon led to speculation that the President had been the victim of a plot, possibly carried out by his wife, as Harding apparently had been unfaithful to the First Lady. Gaston B. Means, an amateur historian and gadfly, noted in his book The Strange Death of President Harding (1930) that the circumstances surrounding his death lent themselves to some suspecting he had been poisoned. Several individuals attached to him, personally and politically, would have welcomed Harding's death, as they would have been disgraced in association by Means' assertion of Harding's "imminent impeachment." Means was later discredited for publicly accusing Mrs. Harding of the purported murder.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Clarke, J.W. (1982). American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics. Princeton University Press.
  2. ^ E.g., Assassinations, presidential. Answers.com. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  3. ^ E.g., Ben Dennison, The 6 Most Utterly Insane Attempts to Kill a US President. Oct 21, 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  4. ^ TFN Insider, Praying for God to Kill the President. Texas Freedom Network. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  5. ^ Lawrence Zelic Freedman (Mar. 1983), The Politics of Insanity: Law, Crime, and Human Responsibility, vol. 4, Political Psychology, pp. 171–178, JSTOR 3791182 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrintr.html
  7. ^ "Trying to Assassinate President Jackson". American Heritage. January 30, 2007. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  8. ^ Flood, Charles Bracelen (2010). 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, pp 266-267. Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library ISBN-10: 1416552286
  9. ^ Sandburg, Carl (1954). Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years One-Volume Edition. pp 599-600. Harcourt ISBN 0-15-602611-2
  10. ^ "John Schrank". Classic Wisconsin. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  11. ^ "National Affairs: Hoover Progress". Time. December 24, 1928.
  12. ^ Tuohy, John William. When Capone Murdered Roger Touhy: The Strange Case of Touhy, "Jake the Barber" and the Kidnapping That Never Happened. Barricade Books. ISBN 978-1-56980-174-1.
  13. ^ "Sam 'Momo' Giancana - Live and Die by the Sword". Crime Library. Archived from the original on February 8, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
  14. ^ Hibbits, Bernard. "Presidential Pardons". Jurist: The Legal Education Network. University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
  15. ^ "'Jews' Tried to Kill Truman in 1947" , David Martin, May 17, 2012
  16. ^ "Kennedy presidency almost ended before he was inaugurated". The Blade. November 21, 2003. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  17. ^ "9/11 report notes". 9/11 Commission. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  18. ^ "1975 : Ford assassination attempt thwarted". History Channel. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  19. ^ "1975 : President Ford survives second assassination attempt". History Channel. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
  20. ^ "The Imperial Presidency 1972-1980". Retrieved May 8, 2007.
  21. ^ "Ten O'Clock News broadcast". WGBH. January 15, 1976. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
  22. ^ a b c "Skid Row Plot: A scheme to kill Carter?" Time May 21, 1979.
  23. ^ "The Plot to Kill Carter." Newsweek May 21, 1979.
  24. ^ a b "Alleged Carter death plot: man charged." Sydney Morning Herald May 10, 1979.
  25. ^ Harvey / Carter Assassination Plot CBS News broadcast from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive
  26. ^ Von Drehle, David; Smith, R. Jeffrey (June 27, 1993). "U.S. Strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |separator= ignored (help)
  27. ^ "The Bush assassination attempt". Department of Justice/FBI Laboratory report. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  28. ^ Duelfer, Charles (September 30, 2004). "IIS Undeclared Research on Poisons and Toxins for Assassination". Iraq Study Group Final Report. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  29. ^ David Von Drehle and R. Jeffrey Smith (June 27, 1993). "U.S. Strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush". WashingtonPost.com.
  30. ^ Dowd, Maureen (September 14, 1994). "Crash at the White House: The Overview". The New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
  31. ^ "Summary Statement of Facts (The September 12, 1994 Plane Crash and The October 29, 1994 Shooting) Background Information on the White House Security Review". Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  32. ^ Malanowski, Jamie (December 21, 2009). "Did Osama Try to Kill Bill Clinton?". True/Slant. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  33. ^ Bayles, Tom (September 10, 2002). "The Day Before Everything Changed, President Bush Touched Locals' Lives". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  34. ^ Kevin Sack, "Saudi May Have Been Suspected in Error, Officials Say," New York Times, September 16, 2001
  35. ^ William Langley, "Revealed: What really went on during Bush's 'missing hours'," Daily Telegraph, December 16, 2001
  36. ^ Shay Sullivan, "Possible Longboat Terrorist Incident: Is it a clue or is it a coincidence?" Longboat Observer, September 26, 2001
  37. ^ Shadama Islam, "European MPs Back Masood," Dawn (Karachi), Apr 7, 2001
  38. ^ Michael Elliot, "They Had A Plan," Time, August 4, 2002
  39. ^ a b c Susan Taylor Martin, "Of fact, fiction: Bush on 9/11," St. Petersburg Times, July 4, 2004
  40. ^ Shay Sullivan, "Two hijackers on Longboat?" Longboat Observer, November 21, 2001
  41. ^ US FBI report into the attack and investigation.
  42. ^ "Bush grenade attacker gets life". CNN. January 11, 2006. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  43. ^ "The case of the failed hand grenade attack". FBI Press Room. January 11, 2006. Archived from the original on April 11, 2007. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  44. ^ Historynet.com Magazine Publisher: Picture of the Day
  45. ^ "President Zachary Taylor and the Laboratory: Presidential Visit from the Grave" from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  46. ^ President Harding's 1923 Visit to Utah by W. Paul Reeve History Blazer July 1995
  47. ^ "Harding a Farm Boy Who Rose by Work". New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2007. Nominated for the Presidency as a compromise candidate and elected by a tremendous majority because of a reaction against the policies of his predecessor, Warren Gamaliel Harding, twenty-ninth President of the United States, owed his political elevation largely to his engaging personal traits, his ability to work in harmony with the leaders of his party and the fact that he typified in himself the average prosperous American citizen. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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