List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots
In U.S. history, there have been 12 times when someone has attempted to assassinate the president. (4 of those times resulted in the president dying in office.) This is a list of instances in which people have tried and failed to assassinate the President of the United States.
- Andrew Jackson:
- January 30, 1835: At the Capitol Building, Richard Lawrence misfired twice, once within 13 feet and once at point-blank range. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1861.
- Theodore Roosevelt:
- October 13, 1912: No longer president, Roosevelt was running for the Progressives. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, John Schrank shot Roosevelt once with a revolver. A thick, folded, prepared speech in Roosevelt's breast pocket slowed the bullet. Roosevelt insisted on giving his speech with the bullet still lodged inside him. He later went to the hospital, but the bullet was never removed. Schrank said that the ghost of William McKinley had told him to avenge his assassination. Schrank was found legally insane and was institutionalized until his death in 1943.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt:
- February 15, 1933 (one month before being sworn in): In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara fired 5 shots at Roosevelt's motorcade. Four people were wounded and the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, was killed. Zangara was found guilty of murder and executed March 20.
- Harry S. Truman:
- November 1, 1950: In Washington, D.C., Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola ambushed the Blair House where Truman was residing temporarily. Torresola was killed by guards and Collazo was wounded. Collazo was found guilty of murder, assault and attempted assassination of the president. He was sentenced to death. Truman reduced the sentence to life in prison. Jimmy Carter freed Collazo in 1979.
- Richard Nixon:
- February 22, 1974: Samuel S. Byck planned to kill Nixon by crashing a commercial airliner into the White House. Once on the plane, he was informed that it could not take off with the wheel blocks still in place. He shot the pilot and copilot before killing himself.
- Gerald Ford:
- September 5, 1975: In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, drew a revolver on Ford when he reached to shake her hand in a crowd. There were no bullets in the gun. Fromme was sentenced to life in prison, where she remains.
- September 22, 1975: In San Francisco, California, Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at Ford from 40 feet away. The shot missed Ford because a bystander grabbed Moore's arm. Moore was sentenced to life in prison.
- Ronald Reagan:
- March 30, 1981: John Hinckley, Jr., fired six shots at Reagan in Washington, D.C. One bullet ruptured Reagan's lung and lodged close to his heart. Another bullet entered the brain of press secretary James Brady. A policeman and an secret service agent were also critically wounded. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He remains in St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington.