Assassins! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Every American remembers where they were at the announcement of John Kennedy assassination. I was teaching my one o'clock class in World History at New Glarus High School in New Glarus, Wisconsin. The loud speaker came on in the room and we were asked to suspend our lesson plans and listen to the radio which was being aired through the PA system. Slowly, the knowledge of what had happened in Dallas became apparent. I will always remember the confused and shocked looks on the faces of the fifteen and sixteen year olds in my class. A message came from the principal that school would be dismissed but to await buses. We had a chance then to discuss the meaning of what had happened. I barely remember what what we talked about but my instinct was to try to put the event into perspective.

There are so many conspiracy theories that it would take up too much space to explore all. In surveys, 65% believe that Oswald did not act alone and that 75% believed that there was a government cover-up. Some believed that it was engineered by Lyndon Johnson as Kennedy was planning to dump him from the ticket in 1964; organized crime did not like the pressure being placed on them by the Kennedy administration; and that Oswald was a patsy and "Manchurian Candidate" of the Castro dictatorship. And the list goes on.

Aside: I had a chance twice to visit Dealy Plaza. I walked to the so called grassy knoll. As I recall, there was a fence that was protecting a 12 to 15 drop to railroad tracks where I saw on both occasions several vehicle, mostly pick-up trucks, and I felt that the setting gave credence to the second gunman theory. Both times I felt a chill as I reviewed the historic event that occurred there.

Answer: John Paul II

Mehmet Ali Agca was a member of a Turkish terrorist group called the Gray Wolves. In 1979 he assassinated Abdi İpekçi, a prominent Turkish journalist. Later he was assigned to a team to kill the Pope. The plot did not quite go on as planned as a diversionary explosion did not occur that was to cover Agca's escape. However, he was able to pump four bullets into John Paul II but was immediately caught. At his trial two months later he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

John Paul II survived his critical wounds and made a public forgiveness of Mehmet Ali Agca. He also visited and corresponded with his assailant and his family. After twenty years, Mehmet was deported to Turkey to face charges there and was again imprisoned. Due to the introduction of a new penal code in Turkey, he was released on parole in 2010 and moved to Poland.

Answer: World War I

Austria-Hungary was a multinational state. It was divided by language, culture, and religion. Part of the country extended into Slavic/Serb territory and those areas wanted independence from Austrian rule. Since the Archduke was the heir-apparent to the throne, he was targeted for assassination. Gavrilo Princip was the leader and was arrested along with 24 others who played a part in the murder. Five were executed, nine were acquitted, and the rest had varying prison terms from three to years to life.

There is still much controversy about the underlying causes of World War I.

Answer: All made attempts or plotted to kill George W. Bush

On February 28th, 2001, Robert Pickett, a West Point drop-out and fired IRS employee was shot on the White House grounds while attempting to enter and do bodily harm to President Bush.

Part of the 9/11 plot included the assassination of George W. Bush but was dropped from plan in favor of more vulnerable targets such as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Rumors persist that the FBI was aware on many of the foreign flight students in Florida who participated in the 9/11 attacks but were covered up. Atta died at the World Trade Center.

On On 10 May 2005, Arutyunian waited in a crowd to hear George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili speak. Arutyunisn threw a hand grenade from 84 feet but hit a another spectator and landed 64 feet from the podium. However the Russian made grenade failed to detonate. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Answer: Pompey

Although Caesar and Pompey had many differences, Pompey was not part of the group that attacked Caesar. The popularity of Caesar was endangering the concept of Roman democracy. Civil war erupted. Mark Anthony and Octavius (Caesar's nephew and heir) and Cleopatra. Militarily they were opposed Brutus and Cassius.

Answer: Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore

Fromme was a former member of the Charles Mason coven. In Sacramento, California Fromme dressed as a nun, about forty feet away from the President, drew a gun and aimed at the President. However, the gun failed to fire as she had not placed a bullet in the chamber, either from oversight or deliberately. She was subdued at the site and later sentenced to life imprisonment. She served 34 years and was released on August 14, 2009 with extra time placed for an escape attempt.

Sara Jane Moore made her attempt 17 days later in San Francisco. Moore was known to the Secret Service because of her membership in revolutionary organizations but was not considered dangerous. She purchased a gun the morning of the event and was not familiar with it, for example, she did not know that the sight was several degrees off. After her arrest she was sentenced to life imprisonment and released after 32 years in 2007.

Answer: Byron De La Beckwith

Evers was wearing a T-shirt that read "Jim Crow Must Go". Byron De La Beckwith (1920-2001) was a racist and fertilizer salesman. He went to trial twice in 1964, but both trials resulted in hung juries (both juries consisted of 12 white males). Thirty years later, new evidence was produced which included the exhuming of Evers' body. Beckwith was tried and convicted in 1994.

He was a member of both the White Citizens' Council and Ku Klux Klan.

Answer: Leon Trotsky

In 1927 Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported to Turkey but eventually found his way to Mexico. There he remained a vocal opponent of Stalin's policies, such as his pact in 1939 with Hitler.

Trotsky's assassin was Ramón Mercader, an undercover Soviet agent. Mercader said this about the murder: "I laid my raincoat on the table in such a way as to be able to remove the ice axe which was in the pocket. I decided not to miss the wonderful opportunity that presented itself. The moment Trotsky began reading the article, he gave me my chance. I took out the ice axe from the raincoat, gripped it in my hand and, with my eyes closed, dealt him a terrible blow on the head."

When Trotsky's bodyguards rushed into the room, Trotsky, still conscious, asked them not to kill Mercader until he could be questioned. Trotsky died in the hospital a day later. Mercader was tried by a Mexican court where he refused to give his real name and his defence was that Trotsky would not let him marry his daughter and a fight ensued. Released in 1960, he migrated to the Soviet Union where he was given the award of "Hero of the Soviet Union", the country's highest decoration.

Answer: Gunned down by her bodyguards

India has a population of 1.2 billion people and has a diverse economy and large gaps between rich and poor. It is a challenge to govern. Gandhi set up Operation Blue Star which was organization to evict militant Sikhs. Her bodyguards were Sikhs.

While walking near her home, Beant Singh shot her with his hand gun. The other assassin, Satwant Singhhen, then emptied thirty rounds of ammunition into her body from his Sten gun. Both surrendered and Singhhen was shot by other bodyguards. Beant Singh was tried and hanged. Afterwards there were three thousand Sihks killed in anti-Sikh riots and many chose to emigrate.

Despite her name, Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru (remember the Nehru jacket?) and he began a series of nepotist appointments to the leadership in India.

Answer: Huey Long

Huey Long was the ultimate in populist politicians. He was called "The Kingfish" and his battle-cries were "Share the wealth" and "Every man a king". At the time he was trying to get the Louisiana Legislature to endorse a redistricting plan, or in plain language, he was trying to gerrymander his opponent out of his political base. This man was Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy, Carl Weiss' father-in-law. Weiss had attempted to meet with Long but was rebuffed each time. According to witnesses, Weiss drew a gun and shot Long in the stomach. Immediately, Long's bodyguards shot Weiss 62 times.

Conspiracy theories abound around this incident. One is that Long was shot by one of his bodyguards and a gun 'planted' on Weiss. Another is that Long stumbled and fell and, as a physician, Weiss rushed to provide aid but the bodyguards took it to be a hostile act and shot first. The preponderance of evidence from eye-witnesses is that Weiss shot Long with a hand gun at about four feet and was immediately killed by the bodyguards.