PROTECTING THE PRESIDENT
On this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater. The Secret Service was created that year but was not assigned to protect the president until 1894. Today we look at other threats to presidents and the origins of the U.S. Secret Service.
15 NOTABLE PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS
Jan. 30, 1835 Washington, D.C. Andrew Jackson
During a funeral procession for a congressman, an unemployed house painter named Richard Lawrence fired a pistol at the president. The pistol misfired — as did a second weapon. By that time, Jackson had counterattacked with his cane. Bystanders had to pull the 67-year-old president away before he beat his attacker to death.
August 1864 Washington, D.C. Abraham Lincoln
During his presidency, Lincoln spent summer nights at a cottage 3 miles north of the White House. One evening, his bodyguard reported, Lincoln returned to the cottage without his hat, saying a loud noise had spooked his horse. The bodyguard found Lincoln's famous stovepipe hat up the road with a bullet hole in it.
April 14, 1865 Washington, D.C. Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln became the first U.S. president to be assassinated when actor John Wilkes Booth shot the unguarded Lincoln from behind during a play at Ford's Theater in Washington. Wounded in the head, Lincoln never regained consciousness. He was taken across the street to the Petersen family boarding house. He died the next morning.
July 2, 1881 Washington, D.C. James Garfield
Convinced the president had divided the Republican Party, unemployed political appointment seeker Charles Guiteau ambushed Garfield at a railroad station and shot two bullets into his back and arm. The president languished under the poor medical care of the day for more than two months before succumbing from his wounds.
Sept. 6, 1901 Buffalo, N.Y. William Mckinley
Despite Mckinley's protection by the Secret Service and other guards, self-described anarchist Leon Czolgosz joined a receiving line at the Pan-american Exposition in Buffalo and shot the 58-year-old president twice at point-blank range. Mckinley begged assistants to take care in how they informed his wife. Mckinley died a week later.
Oct. 14, 1912 Milwaukee Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt's attacker, John N. Shrank, was an unemployed bartender from New York who had stalked the former president for weeks. Shrank didn't believe any man should have a third term as president. Shrank fired at Roosevelt from 5 feet away and wounded him. Roosevelt wound up delivering a speech before being treated.
Feb. 15, 1933 Miami Franklin D. Roosevelt
An Italian immigrant, Giuseppe Zangara, fired five shots at the president-elect during a motorcade through Miami. Roosevelt was unharmed, but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, a Secret Service agent and four bystanders were hit. Roosevelt had Cermak put into his car for fast transport to a hospital, but the mayor died shortly after.
Nov. 1, 1950 Washington, D.C. Harry S. Truman
While the White House underwent renovation, Truman and his family lived across the street at Blair House. Two Puerto Rican separatists were killed while trying to shoot their way past guards. A curious president, investigating the noise, had to be ordered away from his bedroom window. One guard was killed and another injured.
Nov. 22, 1963 Dallas John F. Kennedy
The 46-year-old president was killed during a motorcade in downtown Dallas. Texas Gov. John Connally was injured. The accused shooter, communist sympathizer Lee Harvey Oswald, was in turn killed by a nightclub owner three days later. To this day, conspiracy theories abound as to who really killed Kennedy and why.
Sept. 5, 1975 Sacramento Gerald R. Ford
En route to a meeting at the state Capitol, Ford was attacked by 26-year-old Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, already notorious as a follower of convicted celebrity murderer Charles Manson. Fromme's .45-caliber automatic pistol failed to fire. She was wrestled to the ground by a Secret Service agent.
Sept. 22, 1975 San Francisco Gerald R. Ford
Just 21/2 weeks later, Ford was greeting bystanders in San Francisco when 45-year-old political activist Sara Jane Moore fired a .44-caliber pistol at him. A bystander saw Moore take aim and hit her arm as she fired. The bullet ricocheted off a wall and struck a cab driver, who was not seriously injured.
March 30, 1981 Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan
John Hinckley fired six shots at Reagan as the president departed an appearance at the Washington Hilton. Press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a policeman were wounded. One bullet ricocheted off Reagan's limousine and lodged in his lung. The 70-year-old president recovered over several weeks.
April 13, 1993 Kuwait George H.W. Bush
Kuwaiti authorities foiled a plot to kill the former president with a car bomb when they arrested 17 Iraqi sympathizers involved in the plot. After an investigation by the FBI, President Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on the Iraqi Intelligence Service on June 27 as retaliation.
Feb. 7, 2001 Washington, D.C. George W. Bush
A former IRS accountant with a history of mental illness fired shots at the White House from outside the fence with a .38-caliber handgun until Secret Service agents disabled him by shooting him in the knee. Robert Pickett had bought the gun from an Indiana pawn shop and passed an instant background check
Booth and his group of Confederate conspirators had planned to kidnap Lincoln, but after two failed attempts, Booth, 26, ordered his team to murder the president, vice president and secretary of state on the same night. Only Lincoln was killed.
Booth wasn't caught until April 26, when Union troops surrounded the Virginia barn he was hiding in. One of his conspirators surrendered, but Booth did not. Troops set the barn on fire and shot Booth in the neck, killing him.
New show: Last month, Appletv released a series called
“Manhunt” — a dramatization of the hunt for Booth.