Modern history has seen at least three US Presidents, one President-elect and one former US president attempted to be assassinated as well as dozens of foiled plots.
The apparent attempt on former President Donald Trump's life this morning was the latest.
Other presidents have also been objects of assassination plots that were not carried out, usually because the would-be assassins' plans were identified before they were able to be carried out.
Of the presidents and former presidents targeted, four (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy) were killed.
Donald Trump is now one of many sitting and former US presidents to have been targeted in an assassination attempt. (Source: 1News)
Assassination attempts
January 30, 1835 — Andrew Jackson
In 1835, an unemployed painter named Richard Lawrence hid and waited as the President arrived at a congressional funeral in Washington DC. He attempted to shoot President Jackson with two different pistols, but both misfired. He became the first person to be charged with an assassination attempt of a US President.
October 14, 1912 — Theodore Roosevelt
In 1912, saloonkeeper John Flammang Schrank shot President Roosevelt in the chest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while he was on the campaign trail for a third term in office. However, Roosevelt survived the assassination attempt. A steel case for his glasses and his 50-page speech saw the bullet lodge in his chest and stop short of vital organs.
February 15, 1933 – Franklin D Roosevelt
In 1933, unemployed bricklayer Giuseppe Zangara fired five bullets at the President-elect Roosevelt during a speech to a crowd in Miami's Bay Front Park, Florida. However, he missed Roosevelt and instead the bullets saw four people wounded and killed including Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.
November 1, 1950 – Harry S Truman
In 1950, two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempted to assassinate the 35th president of the United States at Blair House in Washington DC, where he was staying while the White House was being renovated.
They were stopped before entering the house – and a gunfight ensured – but the attempted assassination ultimately failed and one of the attackers was killed, while the other was captured. A White House police officer Leslie Coffelt died in the attack.
September 5 and 22, 1975 - Gerald Ford
In 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to shoot President Ford in Sacramento, California. However, she was stopped by Secret Service agents before she could fire her gun. Weeks later, another woman Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot the 38th President of the United States in San Francisco, California. Like Fromme, she was stopped by Secret Service agents before she could fire.
March 30, 1981 – Ronald Reagan
In 1981, John Hinckley Jr fired several shots at President Reagan and his security team while he was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. Reagan was wounded when one of the bullets bounced off his limo and spent 12 days in hospital, but he survived the assassination attempt.
Assassinations
There have been four US Presidents who were assassinated while in office – all were shot.
April 14, 1865 - Abraham Lincoln
In 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated the 16th president of the United States while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. Booth slipped into the presidential box and shot him in the head.
The shooting happened at the end of America's Civil War, as Booth and his co-conspirators saw Lincoln as a tyrant who had overstepped and violated the constitution.
July 2, 1881 - James A Garfield
In 1881, Charles J Guiteau shot President Garfield as he entered a train station in Washington, DC en route to Massachusetts for an Independence Day speech. Garfield died two months later after the wound got infected.
Guiteau was deemed mentally unstable, and the reasons for the assassination were said to be a mix of personal grievances and political disillusionment.
September 6, 1901 – William McKinley
In 1901, Leon Czolgosz shot President McKinley in the stomach at close range at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died eight days later from his wounds. Czolgosz is said to have been an anarchist, whose radical views fuelled his hatred for government and authority figures.
The assassination is said to be what led to the creation of the modern day Secret Service.
November 22, 1963 - John F Kennedy
In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas while he was travelling with his wife Jacqueline in an open convertible. Oswald was on the 6th floor of a nearby building when he fired three shots – two of which hit John F Kennedy in the head which killed him the same day.
Oswald's reasons were said to be a mix of personal grievances and political disillusionment.
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