Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump gestures with a bloodied face while he is assisted by US Secret Service personnel after he was shot in the right ear during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, US, July 13, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Donald Trump escaped an assassination attempt during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. While the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks who fired gunshots injuring Trump, was killed by the US Secret Service agents, one attendee also died in the incident.
The FBI is investigating the shooting incident that rocked America.
This is not the first time that a Presidential candidate or a President serving the office in America was under such an attack. There have been at least 10 such assassination attempts.
Let us take a brief look at the many such assassination attempts that jolted the US.
Andrew Jackson
Jackson served as the 7th President of America and is said to be the first ever US President to be a witness to an assassination attempt. He took charge as the President on January 30, 1835.
It was in the same year when an unemployed painter named Richard Lawrence moved towards Jackson and attempted shooting at him, but his gun misfired. This happened when Jackson had just stepped out of a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building.
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Jackson at 67 then is said to have confronted Lawrence while hitting the latter with his walking cane. The shooter was then taken away by Jackson's aides and he survived the assassination attempt.
Theodore Roosevelt
In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt contested the US Presidential elections. He served as the 26th President of America. He was shot in Milwaukee while he was campaigning. He was running to secure a third term in the White House.
As per media reports, Theodore Roosevelt had some papers and a metal glass case in his pocket that is said to have lowered the impact of the bullet, and he survived the assassination attempt. One John Flammang Schrank was arrested for the attack.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
He served as the 32nd President of the US. In 1933, he was in Miami where he had delivered a speech and was in the rear of his car when gunshots were heard. It is said to be an assassination attempt by an Italian immigrant Giuseppe Zangara.
Franklin escaped the assassination attempt, however, Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago, was killed in the attack. Zangara was convicted in the case and sentenced to death.
Harry S. Truman
Truman served as the 33rd President of the US. In 1950, he was at Blair House, which is near the White House, when two gunmen broke in to the stay. Truman was not injured, but a White House policeman and one of the assailants were killed in an exchange of gunfire.
One Oscar Callazo was arrested for the assassination attempt and was sentenced to death. However, two years later in 1952, Truman commuted Callazo's sentence to life imprisonment and he was later released in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.
Richard Nixon
He served as the 37th US President. Two attempts were made to kill Nixon. The first was in 1972 when one Arthur Bremer tried to assassinate President Nixon, but failed as the bullet missed him.
In 1974, one Samuel Byck plotted to crash a plane into the White House in an attempt to kill Nixon. Byck hijacked an airplane at Baltimore-Washington International Airport after shooting two pilots.
However, an officer shot Byck before he could take off, and Byck later killed himself.
Gerald Ford
Ford was the 38th President of America and faced two assassination attempts within weeks in 1975. He was enroute a meeting with California's Governor in Sacramento in the first assassination attempt when Charles Manson disciple Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme attacked Ford.
Fromme is said to have rushed through the crowd while drawing a semi-automatic pistol which he pointed at Ford. However, the gun did not fire and Ford survived. Fromme was sentenced to prison and released in 2009.
Mere 17 days after Fromme's attack, a woman named Sara Jane Moore attacked Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco. She fired one shot but missed it, and then a bystander grabbed her arm as a second shot was attempted.
Moore was sent to prison and released in 2007.
Jimmy Carter
He served as the 39th President of the US. He survived an assassination attempt by one Raymond Lee Harvey on May 5, 1979.
Ronald Regan
The 40th US President, Reagan in 1981 was exiting a venue in Washington after delivering a speech and was stepping towards his vehicle when one John Hinckley Jr. fired a bullet at Reagan from the crowd. He, however, survived the attack. Hinckley was arrested and confined to a mental hospital after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in shooting Reagan. He was in 2022 released from the prison.
Bill Clinton
Clinton served as the 42nd President of the US. He was inside the White House in 1994 when one Francisco Martin Duran shot at the building using a semiautomatic rifle. Clinton escaped unharmed while the shooter was convicted for assassination attempt and sentenced to 40 years in jail.
George W. Bush
He served as the 43rd President of the US. Bush was attending a rally in Tbilisi in 2005 with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili when a grenade was thrown towards him.
Bush and Saakashvli, both escaped the attack as the bomb did not explode. One Vladimir Arutyunian was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.