For other versions of this document, see http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS20821 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Order Code RS20821 Updated January 7, 2008 Direct Assaults Against Presidents, Presidents-Elect, and Candidates Frederick M. Kaiser Specialist in American National Government Government and Finance Division Summary Direct assaults against Presidents, Presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on 15 separate occasions, with five resulting in death. Ten incumbents (about 24% of the 42 individuals to serve in the office), including four of the past six Presidents, have been victims or targets. Four of the ten (and one candidate) died as a result of the attacks. This report identifies these incidents and provides information about what happened, when, where, and, if known, why. The report will be updated and revised if developments require. Concerns about the safety of Presidents have existed throughout the history of the Republic, beginning with George Washington in 1794, when he led troops against the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania.1 The intervening years have witnessed a variety of 1 For background information and citations, see U.S. Congress, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Report: Findings and Recommendations, H.Rept. 95-1828, Part 2, 95th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 1979); U.S. Department of the Treasury, Background Information on the White House Security Review (Washington: Department of the Treasury, 1995), pp. 51-101; U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, Final Report (Washington: GPO, 1969), pp. 122-124; James E. Kirkham, et al., Assassination and Political Violence: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (Washington: GPO, 1969), p. 22; U.S. President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Report (Washington; GPO, 1964), pp. 504-515; James W. Clarke, American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982); Frederick M. Kaiser, "Presidential Assassinations and Assaults: Characteristics and Impact on Protective Procedures," Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 11, Fall 1981, pp. 545-558, and "Origins of Secret Service Protection of the President: Personal, Interagency, and Institutional Conflict," Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 18, Winter 1988, pp. 101-128; Philip H. Melanson, The Secret Service (New York: Carroll and Graf, 2002); Facts on File Yearbook, 1994, p. 877, and 1995, p. 361; "Police Shoot Man Near White House," Washington Post, February 8, 2001, pp. A1, A10; extensive press coverage of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, along with the possible targeting of the White House or Capitol, on September 11, 2001, including U.S. News and World Report, Special Report, September 14, 2001, pp. 17-27, and Newsweek, Extra (continued...) CRS-2 incidents of actual and potential harm to Presidents (as well as immediate family members and other high-ranking officials). These situations have included illegal entries onto the White House grounds; incidents of violence and conflict near the President's residence or where he was visiting; unauthorized aircraft flying near the White House and, in one instance, a plane crashing into the building; schemes to use airplanes to attack the White House; other threats of attack, including bombings and armed assaults; feared kidnaping and hostage-taking; assassination plots; as well as immediate, direct assaults against Presidents.2 In addition to incumbents, Presidents-elect and candidates for the office have been subject to assaults or threats.3 This report identifies assassinations of and other direct assaults against Presidents, Presidents-elect, and candidates for the office of President.4 There have been 15 such attacks (against 14 individuals), with five resulting in death. The first incident occurred in 1835, when an attacker's pistol misfired; the most recent occurred in 2005, when a 1 (...continued) Edition [September 12, 2001], p. 32; and press coverage in 2005 and 2006 of an incident involving President George W. Bush in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. 2 Illustrative of these are: apprehension about President Madison (and his wife) being taken hostage, when British troops invaded Washington, DC, in 1814; rocks thrown at President Tyler by an intoxicated painter; fears of kidnaping and assassination of Abraham Lincoln, beginning with his journey to Washington, DC for the inauguration in 1861; shots fired at President Lincoln by Confederate troops, when he was observing a battle between them and Union forces stationed at Fort Stevens, July 11-12, 1864; allegations of a possible kidnaping of President Cleveland's children, along with unknown intruders at his summer vacation property, in 1894, while at the same time he was threatened by Colorado gamblers who had traveled to Washington, and separately, by sympathizers of Coxey's Army, who wanted to "remove" Cleveland from office; stalking of President Nixon, by the same person who later, in 1972, shot presidential candidate George Wallace; a planned airplane attack on the White House, which literally never got off the ground, because the pilot (and would-be assassin) was killed before the craft was airborne, in 1974; a car, driven by a man wired with explosives, crashing through the White House gates, also in 1974; discovery of a truck containing explosives outside a building that was being used as the "mobile White House," when President Clinton was visiting Belfast, Northern Ireland's capital; a shooting incident outside the White House fence on February 7, 2001, in which the assailant, who was wounded, was charged with assaulting a federal officer; and on September 11, 2001, an aborted attempt to use a hijacked commercial airliner possibly to crash into the White House or the Capitol, as three other airplanes had been used to attack the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York; along with hundreds of threats yearly against the President, his family members, and high-ranking officials. 3 Protection of these individuals, along with others, falls to the US Secret Service (18 U.S.C. 3056). It began the duty in 1894 with President Cleveland and his family; other specific assignments have been added since then to include vice presidents, immediate family members, former presidents, and persons serving as representatives of the president abroad. 4 Speculation had long existed that President Zachary Taylor, who was a foe of extending slavery, was poisoned by pro-slavery conspirators in 1850, a suspicion arising in part because his symptoms at the time of his death resembled those of arsenic poisoning. A 1991 laboratory analysis of Taylor's remains, however, found only minuscule levels of arsenic, which could not have caused illness, let alone death. A forensic anthropologist concluded that President Taylor died of natural causes, perhaps from contaminated food he had eaten or possibly from the treatments -- cathartics and laxatives -- for gastroenteritis and acute diarrhea. William R. Maples and Michael Browning, Dead Men Do Tell Tales (New York: Doubleday, 1994). CRS-3 would-be assassin in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, tossed a grenade (which did not explode) at the platform where President George W. Bush and the Georgian President were speaking. The tally of victims reveals the following: ! Of the 42 individuals serving as President, ten (or about 24%) have been subject to actual or attempted assassinations. Four of these ten incumbents -- Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy -- were killed. ! Four of the past six Presidents have been targets of assaults: Gerald R. Ford (twice in 1975), Ronald W. Reagan (in a near-fatal shooting in 1981), William J. Clinton (when the White House was fired upon in 1994), and George W. Bush (when an attacker tossed a grenade, which did not explode, towards him and the President of Georgia at a public gathering in Tbilisi, in 2005). ! Two others who served as President were attacked, either as a President- elect (Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933) or as a presidential candidate (Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, when he was seeking the presidency after being out of office for nearly four years). ! Two other presidential candidates -- Robert F. Kennedy, who was killed in 1968, and George C. Wallace, who was seriously wounded in 1972 -- were also victims, during the primaries. ! In only one of these 15 incidents (the Lincoln assassination) was a broad conspiracy proven, although such contentions have arisen on other occasions.5 Only one other incident involved more than one participant (the 1950 assault on Blair House, the temporary residence of President Harry S Truman); but no evidence of other conspirators emerged from the subsequent investigation or prosecution. ! Of the 15 direct assaults, 11 relied upon pistols, two on automatic weapons, one on a rifle, and one on a grenade. All but two of the attacks (both against Gerald Ford) were committed by men. ! All but one of the 15 assaults occurred within the United States. The following table identifies the direct assaults on Presidents, Presidents-elect, and candidates for the office of President. It specifies the date when the assault occurred, the victim, his political party affiliation, the length of his administration at the time of the attack or whether he was then a candidate or President-elect, the location of the attack, its method and result, and the name of the assailant, along with the professed or alleged reason for the attack. 5 Regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the 1964 Warren Commission inquiry concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. U.S. President's Commission, Report, p. 22. A 1979 congressional investigation determined, however, that the President "was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The Committee is unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy." House Select Committee on Assassinations, Report, p. 1. In addition, a conspiracy was initially suspected in President McKinley's murder, in 1901, because his assailant was a self-described "anarchist," a designation applied to assassins of European leaders in the same time period. Extensive investigations by the U.S. Secret Service, as well as Buffalo and New York State law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, however, found no evidence that McKinley's assailant was aided by anyone else. CRS-4 Direct Assaults on Presidents, Presidents-Elect, and Presidential Candidates Length of Administration at Method of Attack and Assailant and Professed or Date Victim Political Party Time of Attack, or Location Result Alleged Reason Candidate or President-elect 01/30/1835 Andrew Jackson Democrat 5 years, 11 months Washington, DC Pistol, misfired Richard Lawrence, declared insane; said Jackson was preventing him from obtaining large sums of money and was ruining the country 04/14/1865 Abraham Lincoln Republican 4 years, 1 month Washington, DC Pistol, killed John Wilkes Booth, killed before being captured; loyalty to the Confederacy; revenge for its defeat; pro-slavery stand 07/02/1881 James A. Garfield Republican 6 months Washington, DC Pistol, killed Charles Guiteau, convicted; disgruntled office-seeker and supporter of opposition faction in Republican Party 09/06/1901 William McKinley Republican 4 years, 6 months Buffalo, NY Pistol, killed Leon F. Czolgosz, convicted; anarchist ideology and class antagonism 10/14/1912 Theodore Roosevelt Progressive Candidate (had been Milwaukee, WI Pistol, wounded John Schrank, declared insane; (Bull Moose) President from 1901- had vision that McKinley 1909) wanted him to avenge his death CRS-5 Length of Administration at Method of Attack and Assailant and Professed or Date Victim Political Party Time of Attack, or Location Result Alleged Reason Candidate or President-elect 02/15/1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt Democrat President-elect, Miami, FL Pistol, bullets missed the Giuseppe Zangara, convicted of 3 weeks prior to President-elect (but murdering Cermak; hated rulers inauguration fatally wounded and capitalists Chicago mayor Anton Cermak standing nearby) 11/01/1950 Harry S Truman Democrat 5 years, 6½ months Washington, DC Automatic weapons, Oscar Collazo, convicted of the shots fired at Blair murder of the police officer and House, then the attempted murder of the temporary residence of President and the two wounded the President, who was policemen, and Griselio inside and unharmed Torresola, killed at the scene; (but a White House both espoused Puerto Rican police officer was killed independence and two others wounded) 11/22/1963 John F. Kennedy Democrat 2 years, 10 months Dallas, TX Rifle, killed Lee Harvey Oswald, killed before trial; motive unknown 06/05/1968 Robert F. Kennedy Democrat Candidate and Los Angeles, CA Pistol, killed Sirhan Sirhan, convicted; U.S. Senator opposed candidate's stand on Israeli-Arab conflict 05/15/1972 George C. Wallace Democrat Candidate and Laurel, MD Pistol, wounded Arthur Bremer, convicted and Governor of Alabama candidate along with imprisoned in Maryland three others (maximum sentence to 2025); motive not clearly established; released from prison on Nov. 9, 2007, to remain under supervision until 2025 CRS-6 Length of Administration at Method of Attack and Assailant and Professed or Date Victim Political Party Time of Attack, or Location Result Alleged Reason Candidate or President-elect 09/05/1975 Gerald R. Ford Republican 1 year, 1 month Sacramento, CA Pistol, misfired Lynette Alice Fromme, convicted and imprisoned; member of extremist "Manson family" 09/22/1975 Gerald R. Ford Republican 1 year, 1½ months San Francisco, CA Pistol, missed target Sara Jane Moore, convict, asserted goal of bringing about "the upheaval of needed change," revolutionary ideology; imprisoned; released on Dec. 31, 2007 03/30/1981 Ronald W. Reagan Republican 2½ months Washington, DC Pistol, wounded John W. Hinkley, Jr., found not guilty by reason of insanity; committed to a mental institution 10/29/1994 William J. Clinton Democrat 1 year, 9 months Washington, DC Semi-automatic assault Francisco M. Duran, convicted rifle, shot at White of attempted assassination on House while President April 4, 1995; imprisoned was inside 05/10/2005 George W. Bush Republican 4 years, 4 months Tbilisi, Republic of Grenade, which did not Attacker convicted of attempted Georgia explode, thrown at assassination and of killing a President Bush and police officer when the attacker Republic of Georgia was arrested later; motive President at a public unknown gathering Sources: Kirkham, et al., Assassination and Political Violence, p. 22; Kaiser, "Presidential Assassinations and Assaults," p. 547; Facts on File Yearbook, 1994, p. 877, and 1995, p. 361; and 2005-2006 press coverage of the incident in Tblisi. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For other versions of this document, see http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS20821