Previous assassinations and other political violence targeting US presidents

Before Saturday’s apparent attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, there have been multiple instances of political violence targeting US presidents, former presidents and major party presidential candidates.

Here is a look at some of the assassinations and attempted assassinations that have occurred since the United States of America was founded in 1776:

– Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president

Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14 1865 as he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a special performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.

Mr Lincoln was taken to a house across the street from the theatre for medical treatment after he was shot in the back of the head. He died the next morning.

His support for black rights has been cited as a motive behind his killing. Two years before the assassination, during the Civil War, which was fought over slavery, Mr Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation granting freedom to slaves within the Confederacy.

He was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Booth was shot dead on April 26 1865 after he was found hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.

– James Garfield, the 20th president

James Garfield was the second president to be assassinated, six months after taking office. He was walking through a railway station in Washington on July 2 1881 to catch a train to New England when he was shot by Charles Guiteau.

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet lodged in Mr Garfield’s chest using a device he had designed specifically for the president.

The mortally-wounded president lay at the White House for several weeks but died in September after he was taken to the New Jersey shore. He had held office for six months.

Mr Garfield was succeeded by Vice President Chester Arthur.

Guiteau was found guilty and executed in June 1882.

– William McKinley, the 25th president

William McKinley was shot after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York, on September 6 1901. He was shaking hands with people passing through a receiving line when a man fired two shots into his chest at point-blank range.

Doctors had expected Mr McKinley to recover but gangrene then set in around the bullet wounds and he died on September 14 1901, six months after beginning his second term.

He was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.

Leon F Czolgosz, an unemployed 28-year-old Detroit resident, admitted shooting Mr McKinley. He was found guilty at trial and put to death in the electric chair on October 29 1901.

– Franklin D Roosevelt, the 32nd president

Franklin D Roosevelt, at the time the president-elect, had just given a speech in Miami from the back of an open car in February 1933 when gunshots rang out.

Mr Roosevelt was not injured in the shooting, which killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.

Giuseppe Zangara was convicted over the shooting and sentenced to death.

– Harry S Truman, the 33rd president

Harry S Truman was staying at Blair House, across the street from the White House, in November 1950 when two gunmen broke in.

Mr Truman was not injured, but a White House policeman and one of the attackers were killed in an exchange of gunfire. Two other White House police officers were wounded.

Oscar Callazo was arrested and sentenced to death. In 1952, Mr Truman commuted the sentence to life in prison, and Callazo was released in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.

– John F Kennedy, the 35th president

John F Kennedy was fatally shot by a hidden assassin armed with a high-powered rifle as he visited Dallas in November 1963 with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Shots rang out as the president’s motorcade rolled through Dealey Plaza in central Dallas.

Mr Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died soon afterwards.

He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B Johnson, who was sworn into office in a conference room on board Air Force One. He is the only president to take the oath of office on an aeroplane.

Hours after the assassination, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald after finding a sniper’s perch in a nearby building, the Texas School Book Depository.

Two days later, Oswald was being taken from police headquarters to the county jail when Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby rushed forward and fatally shot Oswald.

– Gerald Ford, the 38th president

Gerald Ford faced two assassination attempts within weeks in 1975 but was not hurt in either incident.

In the first attempt, Mr Ford was on his way to a meeting with California’s governor in Sacramento when Charles Manson disciple Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme pushed through a crowd on the street, drew a semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at the president. The gun was not fired.

Fromme was sentenced to prison and released in 2009.

Seventeen days later, another woman, Sara Jane Moore, confronted Mr Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco. She fired one shot and missed. A bystander grabbed her arm as a second shot was attempted.

Moore was sent to prison and released in 2007.

– Ronald Reagan, the 40th president

Ronald Reagan was walking to his motorcade in Washington DC after making a speech in March 1981 when he was shot by John Hinckley Jr, who was in the crowd.

The president recovered from the March 1981 shooting. Three other people were shot, including Mr Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, who was partially paralysed as a result.

Hinckley was arrested and confined to a mental hospital after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in shooting Mr Reagan.

In 2022, Hinckley was freed from court oversight after a judge determined he was “no longer a danger to himself or others”.

– George W Bush, the 43rd president

George W Bush was attending a rally in Tbilisi in 2005 with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili when a hand grenade was thrown toward him.

Both men were behind a bulletproof barrier when the grenade, wrapped in cloth, landed about 100 feet away. The grenade did not explode, and no-one was hurt.

Vladimir Arutyunian was convicted over the attack and sentenced to life in prison.

– Theodore Roosevelt, presidential candidate

Former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot in Milwaukee in 1912 while campaigning to return to the White House.

He had previously served two terms as president and was running again as a third-party candidate.

Folded papers and a metal glasses case in his pocket apparently blunted the bullet’s impact and he was not seriously hurt.

John Schrank was arrested and spent the rest of his life in mental hospitals.

– Robert F Kennedy, presidential candidate

Robert F Kennedy was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination when he was killed at a Los Angeles hotel – moments after giving his victory speech for winning the 1968 California primary.

Mr Kennedy was a US senator from New York and the brother of President John F Kennedy, who had been assassinated five years earlier.

Five other people were injured in the shooting.

Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. That was commuted to life in prison, where he remains after his latest petition for release was denied last year.

– George C Wallace, presidential candidate

George C Wallace was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination when he was shot during a campaign stop in Maryland in 1972, an incident that left him paralysed from the waist down.

The governor of Alabama was known for his segregationist views, which he later renounced.

Arthur Bremer was convicted over the shooting and sentenced to prison. He was released in 2007.