Recent Assassination Attempts on Trump Highlight the Long History of Attempted Killings of U.S. Presidents

Veuer

Recently yet another attempt was made on the life of Donald Trump, a sign of the tumultuous political landscape that persists in the US. Still presidential assassination attempts are nothing new and while only 4 were ever successful, our country has a long history of nearly losing our leaders. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.

Transcript

00:00Recently, yet another attempt was made on the life of Donald Trump, a sign of the tumultuous

00:05political landscape that persists in the US.

00:08Still, presidential assassination attempts are nothing new, and while only four were

00:12ever successful, our country has a long history of nearly losing our leader.

00:16In fact, two presidents who were ultimately killed by assassins, Lincoln and Kennedy,

00:21had another attempt on their lives prior.

00:23A sniper shot off Lincoln's hat, barely missing the president, and a car bomber intended to

00:27ram a vehicle full of explosives into President-elect John F. Kennedy's limo.

00:32He changed his mind once he saw that Kennedy was with his family.

00:35Still, 13 other presidents have had attempts made on their lives, one of the most famous

00:40involving Teddy Roosevelt.

00:41He was shot in the chest while giving a speech in 1912, though his folded up speech notes

00:46slowed the bullet, preventing it from going too deep and saving his life, telling the

00:50audience at the time, quote, The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long

00:55speech, but I will try my best.

00:57In the 40s, President Truman had several attempts on his life as well, including mail bombs

01:01being sent to the White House, and a gunman storming his personal home.

01:06President Nixon's attempted assassination was to involve a hijacked plane ramming into

01:10the White House.

01:11However, after killing a cop and two pilots and boarding a plane, the would-be assassin

01:15was killed before ever taking off.

01:17Other notable recent attempts include the near-fatal shooting of Ronald Reagan, and

01:21a hand grenade being thrown on stage at George W. Bush, and though live, it never went off.

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