In the history of the U.S., four sitting presidents have been assassinated, while two have been wounded by assassination attempts.
The history of assassinations in the U.S. is largely a history of anti-Republican and leftist violence; all of the victims were Republicans except for John F. Kennedy, who was killed by a communist.
Before Donald Trump survived the attack on his life Saturday, two presidents were wounded in assassination attempts. One was Theodore Roosevelt, who, like Trump, ran for office again four years after leaving the White House. In 1912, Roosevelt, a progressive who was running as a third-party candidate, was shot but gave an 84-minute speech while the bullet was lodged in him.
The other was Ronald Reagan, who was shot in 1981 by John Hinckley Jr, who also wounded three others.
The first president to be killed by assassination was Abraham Lincoln in 1865. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was later shot.
The second was James Garfield in 1881. Garfield survived for nearly three months before perishing. His killer was hung.
The third was William McKinley in 1901. McKinley died eight days later. The assassination led to the Secret Service being assigned to protect presidents.
The only Democrat president to be killed was John F. Kennedy in 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald, his killer, was then shot by a vigilante. Oswald had lived in the Soviet Union and asked to be represented by a lawyer for the Communist Party. A congressional probe said Oswald had likely previously shot an anti-communist military officer who he considered “fascist.”
In 1968, Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, was killed while he was a candidate for president. His killer was a Palestinian terrorist, Sirhan Sirhan, who objected to Kennedy’s support for Israel. That led to the Secret Service extending protection to presidential candidates.
Today, the FBI’s list of “most wanted” domestic terrorists is dominated by leftists, including black nationalists, communists, and eco-terrorists.
