Just thinking about the magnituted of the possible election of Barack Obama. I hear there have been death threats already. I did not realize that there had been an assasination attempt on almost every president since Truman. What do you think the likely hood of someone trying something if Obama is elected? Or if McCain is elected do you think he would be at as much risk?
Harry S. Truman
Main article: Truman assassination attemptIn 1950, two Puerto Ricanpro-independence activists attempted to kill Truman, resulting in the murder of one White House police officer and the death of one assassin; Truman was not harmed.
[edit] 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.[5] 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.
[edit] Richard Nixon
[edit] First assassination attempt
April 14, 1972: Milwaukee, Wisconsin native Arthur Bremer arrived in Ottawa, Ontario on April 10 and spent five days in Canada's national capital in an effort to shoot and kill President Nixon, who was visiting the country during this time. On April 14, Nixon made a public appearance in a limousine at Parliament Hill, which Bremer attended, carrying a loaded revolver in his pocket. The presence of Vietnam War protesters and Canadian nationalists, however, led to increased security surrounding the President, and Bremer had great difficulty getting within firing range of Nixon. He did manage finally to get close enough, but the President was traveling by in his limousine with the windows closed, and Bremer was unsure whether any bullets would go through the glass of Nixon's limo. As a result, he didn't open fire and the President sped past unharmed. The following month Bremer shot U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate George Wallace, lodging a bullet in his spine and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for life.
[edit] Second assassination attempt
February 22, 1974: Samuel Byck, planned to kill Nixon by crashing a commercial airliner into the White House.[6] 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. The events surrounding this assassination attempt were portrayed in the film The Assassination of Richard Nixon.
[edit] Gerald Ford
[edit] First assassination attempt
September 5, 1975: In Sacramento, California, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, drew a Colt .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 a Secret Service agent. Fromme was sentenced to life in prison.[7]
[edit] Second assassination attempt
September 22, 1975: In San Francisco, California, Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at Ford from 40 feet (12 m) away.[8] A bystander, Oliver Sipple, grabbed Moore's arm and the shot missed Ford.[9] Moore was sentenced to life in prison.[10] She was later paroled on Monday, December 31, 2007 from a federal prison after serving more than 30 years.
[edit] Jimmy Carter
May 5, 1979: Ten minutes before Carter was about to speak at the civic center mall in Los Angeles, Raymond Lee Harvey was arrested carrying a pistol.[11] He later told authorities that he and another man were hired to create a diversion so that Mexican hit men armed with sniper rifles could kill Carter. Charges against him were dismissed for lack of evidence.[12]
[edit] Ronald Reagan
Main article: Reagan assassination attemptOn March 30, 1981, following a speaking engagement in Washington, D.C., Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr. as Reagan was returning to his limousine. He recovered quickly due to prompt medical attention.
[edit] George H. W. Bush
April 13, 1993: Sixteen men, in the alleged employment of Saddam Hussein'sIraq, smuggled a car bomb into Kuwait with the intent of killing Bush as he spoke at Kuwait University. The plot was foiled when Kuwaiti officials found the bomb and arrested the suspected assassins.[13] Bush had left office in January 1993. On June 26, 1993, the U.S. launched a missile attack targeting Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for the attempted attack against Bush.[14] The Iraqi Intelligence Service, particularly Directorate 14, was accused of being behind the plot.[15]
[edit] Bill Clinton
[edit] First assassination attempt
September 12, 1994: Frank Eugene Corder flew a single engine Cessna into the White House lawn, apparently trying to hit the White House. The President and First Family were not home at the time. Corder was the only casualty.[16]
[edit] Second assassination attempt
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 in the White House Residence watching a football game). A tourist named Harry Rakosky 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.[17]
[edit] George W. Bush
[edit] First assassination attempt
February 7, 2001: While President George W. Bush was occupied in the White House Residence, Washington, DC, Robert Pickett, standing outside the perimeter fence, discharged a number of shots from a weapon in the direction of the White House. Eileen O'Connor, CNN Correspondent, reported: 'the U.S. Park Police said that the type of handgun that was - that was confiscated, if it was an unobstructed view to the White House, could - a bullet could have reached the White House. But there are a lot of trees, a lot of bushes between this sidewalk, where the suspect was, Robert Pickett, and the White House, so that there was obstructions, mainly trees and bushes'[18]. Following a standoff of about ten minutes, the incident ended when a Secret Service officer shot Pickett, resulting in an injury which required hospital surgery. Pickett was found to have a history of emotional problems and employment grievances. Lacking conclusive evidence that Mr. Bush was a personal target (although the accused had indeed written to the President on the subject of his grievances), a court in July 2001 sentenced Pickett to three years in jail in connection with the incident.[19]
[edit] Second assassination attempt
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-5hand grenade towards the podium where he was standing and where Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and their two wives 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. [20]
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.[21][22]
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