Member-only story
Politics Series: US Presidential Assassinations
History of US Presidential Assassinations
Political Violence in America
Dion‘s 1968 hit song “Abraham, Martin, and John” tells of the well-known assassinations of three American leaders.
Then it ends with a last verse:
“Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin, and John.”
… referring to the assassination of Robert Kennedy, a Democratic candidate for president in the 1968 election.
I write this just days after the attempted assassination of the former president and now the official Republican candidate for president in the 2024 election, Donald Trump, while he spoke at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania.
How is this like other American assassination attempts, and how does it differ?
CONTENTS
- Why Is This So Startling?
- First Attempted Assassination of an American President
- Presidents Injured by Assassination Attempts
- Unsuccessful Assassination Attempts
- Historical Perspective
- Uniqueness of This Assassination Attempt
- How Can We Be Better Informed?
Why Is This So Startling?
Whether it’s an actual assassination or an attempted one, it is a terrifying and disorienting wound to the American psyche.
American citizens place so much confidence in their president or even their presidential candidate. They represent their hero, leadership personified in a single individual.
Other countries may replace their current government with assassinations, but it’s supposed to be different in a representative democracy like the United States of America, where we have the peaceful transition of power from one administration to the next.
