00:00It was a brisk autumn evening in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 14, 1912, when a growing
00:06and expectant crowd gathered outside the Gilpatrick Hotel to catch a fleeting glimpse of Theodore
00:11Roosevelt. The former President of America was now the leader of the Republican Breakaway
00:16Progressive Party, also known as the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt was in the thick of campaigning
00:21for what would be an historic, unprecedented third term in office. Excitement and curiosity
00:27charged the air. Roosevelt, robust and energized despite his advancing years, descended the
00:33hotel's steps, preparing to greet his supporters before heading to a nearby venue to deliver
00:38a crucial campaign speech. The crowd pressed close, a sea of faces glancing up at the man
00:43who sought to lead their country once again. But not everyone there was a supporter, and
00:48one man in particular, a bar owner named John Schrank, was so against Roosevelt that he was
00:54about to take matters and history into his own hands. Without warning, a crack tore through
01:00the congregation, a sharp punch, greeted at first with a confused hush, and then with sudden
01:06chaos. The surrounding witnesses soon realized that a shot had been fired, and that Roosevelt
01:11had been hit. It was John Schrank behind the revolver, his finger on the trigger, as his target
01:17stumbled, where just seconds before, he had stood, smiling and waving his hat to well-wishers.
01:23Schrank had fired straight at Roosevelt's chest. He was quickly wrestled to the ground by the
01:28furious crowd. But in that moment, it appeared that the worst may well have happened, that
01:33Roosevelt may well have been killed. And yet Theodore, already affectionately known as Teddy,
01:39did not collapse. He staggered, his aides rushed to his side, but he did not fall. Schrank had
01:45made a brazen attempt on Roosevelt's life, but Roosevelt stared him down, characteristically
01:51determined never to be silenced. This is the story of the attempted and failed assassination of Theodore
01:58Roosevelt.
02:09Welcome to It's a Date. In the months leading up to October 14th, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt had been at
02:16the center of one of the most extraordinary presidential campaigns in American history up until
02:21that point. The public were already well aware of who he was, seeing as he'd previously served almost
02:28two terms as President of the United States between 1901 and 1909. Roosevelt had initially been harried
02:35into the White House following the successful assassination of his predecessor, William McKinley.
02:40In 1909, Roosevelt honored a pledge that he'd previously made on more than one occasion not to
02:46stand for a third term. Roosevelt himself is said to have believed that, should anyone be president for
02:52longer than two terms, it could pave the way to tyranny and dictatorship. History shows how he actively
02:59backed and convinced his successor, William Howard Taft, to run for the top job instead. Taft was ultimately
03:06successful and was president for the next four years. This seeming political bromance didn't last
03:12for long, however. By the time of the country's next election in 1912, Roosevelt had grown deeply
03:18disillusioned with the conservative-leaning Taft. Roosevelt labeled Taft utterly unfit for leadership.
03:25Taft bit back by calling Roosevelt a neurotic. The tension ultimately led to the two facing off against
03:31each other for the Republican nomination in the run-up to the 1912 election. Roosevelt was apparently
03:37feeling less ill at ease with a third term so long as he'd had a break in between. Eventually,
03:43though, Roosevelt lost. Taft gained the nomination to stand again, and that might have been that,
03:49were it not for Roosevelt's dogged refusal to back down. When Roosevelt failed in his bid to secure
03:55the Republican nomination, he broke from the Republicans altogether and founded the Progressive Party.
04:01The Progressives were then quickly nicknamed the Bull Moose Party, after Roosevelt famously declared
04:07that, despite his loss to Taft, he felt, quote, as strong as a bull moose.
04:13So here we have someone who, to many Americans, especially the working classes, was a heroic figure
04:19of fearless leadership. But among his critics, Roosevelt was painted as reckless, egotistical,
04:25and even dangerously radical. The eventual emergence of John Schrank as Roosevelt's would-be assassin
04:31isn't quite so straightforward as Schrank simply disliking Roosevelt's policies, however.
04:36And, in fact, Schrank's leading inspiration in trying to kill Roosevelt was altogether more
04:42mysterious and spiritual. In the build-up to the assassination attempt, Schrank, a native of Bavaria,
04:49Germany, who had moved to America as a child, had followed his target all around the country on
04:55the campaign trail. Schrank had long been obsessed with Roosevelt, believing that he had been complicit
05:00in the 1901 murder of former President William McKinley, who Roosevelt had previously been Vice
05:06President to, and again who Roosevelt succeeded as President following McKinley's death in 1901.
05:13Between the years 1901 and 1912, John Schrank claimed to have experienced dreams and visions,
05:20during which the ghost of William McKinley appeared to him, urging him to avenge his death,
05:27and implying that Roosevelt truly had been to blame. In reality, there is no historical suggestion
05:33that Roosevelt was involved, but in Schrank's mind, the case against him was clear. So much so,
05:39that Schrank believed that he was on a mission from God to take Roosevelt out. On September 14th, 1912,
05:46exactly one month before his assassination attempt, Schrank claimed to have had his final major
05:51visitation from McKinley, who allegedly told him not to let a murderer serve as president for a third term.
05:58The winding paths walked by Roosevelt and Schrank do, of course, eventually cross. On October 14th,
06:041912, as Roosevelt appears on the steps of the Gilpatrick Hotel, Schrank is waiting amongst the
06:10crowd, at the bottom of those same steps. But again, Roosevelt doesn't die. No matter the motive
06:17behind the attack on his life, he leaves the scene with his life intact. And it's mostly due to some
06:23extreme good fortune. The bullet fired by Schrank does hit Roosevelt in the chest, but in doing so,
06:30it passes through a thick steel glasses case in Roosevelt's pocket, and then through the folded,
06:3650-page speech that, remember, he was due to deliver later that day. The exact placement of
06:43these two objects slowed Schrank's bullet down just enough that it didn't quite reach nor
06:49penetrate Roosevelt's lung. Instead, it lodged in the surrounding muscle across his chest.
06:55Roosevelt may have been hurt, but remarkably, he carried on. He stayed standing before the crowd,
07:01and even persuaded them not to lynch Schrank there and then, following Schrank's almost immediate
07:07capture. Roosevelt was clearly opposed to violence against his attempted assassin as punishment.
07:13The wounded campaigner did then leave the scene, but only to travel to the auditorium he was due at.
07:20There, Roosevelt spoke for about 50 minutes, with blood all the while seeping through his shirt.
07:27Only after meeting his public commitments did Roosevelt accept medical help. The decision was
07:32made not to extract the bullet from his chest, and so he lived the rest of his life with a constant
07:38reminder. That reminder apparently didn't bother Roosevelt himself, though, as he likened it to simply
07:43having something in his waistcoat pocket. In the end, though, although thankfully alive and safe,
07:49Theodore Roosevelt was unsuccessful in his run for the 1912 election. The Democratic nominee Woodrow
07:55Wilson claimed victory, comfortably defeating both him and Taft. Roosevelt died in his sleep just a few
08:02years later, in January 1919, aged 60. John Schrank lived for decades more, dying in September 1943,
08:11aged 67. But he spent all his remaining time, institutionalized, in hospitals for the criminally
08:17insane. The attempt against Roosevelt's life in the run-up to a then vital election remains a dark
08:24and disturbing moment in US history. At the same time, his insistence that the shooting shouldn't
08:30derail him has become the stuff of legend, as, after literally being shot in the chest, Roosevelt
08:36famously opened his speech to the masses with the iconic line,
08:39Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully
08:44understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose.
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