Failed Assassinations of US Presidents Quiz

Answer: Andrew Jackson

In his early 30s, Richard Lawrence was mentally ill and convinced himself that he was King Richard III of England. Richard III died in 1485, 7 years before Christopher Columbus had even discovered America. He quit his painting job because he no longer had a need for money, since the American government owed him. Lawrence even thought that once he got the money, he could finally become King of England again. He blamed Andrew Jackson for the United States keeping his money from him.

Lawrence decided to kill Jackson at the funeral of Warren Davis, a South Carolina congressman. He bought two pistols, but they were both vulnerable to moisture and the humidity on the day prevented them from firing. The crowd quickly subdued Lawrence, and even Jackson reportedly hit him with his own cane. Lawrence's trial was very fast, as he was found insane after only 5 minutes. He was committed to the Government Hospital for the Insane and stayed there until he died in 1861.

Answer: Baltimore, Maryland

The "Baltimore Plot" was hatched while Abraham Lincoln was on his way to his inauguration in Washington (when the inauguration was held on March 4). Southern sympathizers were less than thrilled with the idea of the new Republican President, and allegedly decided to get a group to stand dispersed in a crowd that was going to greet Lincoln, each armed with a knife. The plan was that Lincoln would get close enough to one of them that he could be stabbed.

Allan Pinkerton caught a whiff of the plan, and convinced Lincoln to pass through Baltimore the night before. Baltimore had a city ordinance that prohibited night-time rail travel downtown, so Lincoln's car had to be drawn by a horse. Pinkerton had all of Baltimore's telegraph lines cut in order to prevent potential conspirators from communicating. Lincoln successfully made it through Baltimore, and the morning after the crowds waiting to meet the President-elect were thoroughly disappointed to hear he had already passed through. The only man accused of contributing to the plot was Cipriano Ferrandini, but he was never indicted.

Answer: He still delivered his speech

Theodore Roosevelt was famous for his toughness, and it showed when he was shot by John Schrank. When Roosevelt was shot, the bullet hit his steel eyeglass case and the copy of the speech he was about to give, which numbered 50 pages. When Roosevelt coughed, he didn't see any blood, so he presumed that it hadn't penetrated a lung. With that knowledge, he continued on and gave his entire speech. Roosevelt reportedly started the speech, "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Roosevelt was running for the Bull Moose Party.

A doctor determined after his 90-minute speech ended that Roosevelt was in fact not seriously injured. Instead of performing a dangerous surgery, he decided that it would be safer to leave the bullet in his chest. When Roosevelt died in 1919, the bullet was still there. Schrank was examined by doctors, and they determined he was insane. He was committed to the Central State Mental Hospital in Wisconsin where he spent 29 of his final 31 years alive.

Answer: Chicago mayor Anton Cermak

On February 15, 1933, Roosevelt gave a speech at Bayfront Park in Miami, Florida. Giuseppe Zangara tried to get a view of him through the crowd, but at only 5 feet tall he could not see Roosevelt. He stood up on a folding chair and got off one shot directly at the car from which Roosevelt was giving his speech. He accidentally hit Anton Cermak, who was shaking hands with Roosevelt at the time. The bullet hit Cermak in the lung, and after 19 days, he died of peritonitis.

While in jail, Zangara confessed of the crime and said, "I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists." After Cermak died, Zangara was given the death penalty, and was sent to the electric chair Old Sparky after only 10 days on death row. Rumors eventually flew that Zangara was working with Al Capone, and the actual target was indeed Cermak because of his promises to clean up Chicago. However, his confession seems to put down that theory.

Answer: Blair House

Torresola and Collazo were incensed that the United States still held control over Puerto Rico, especially following the Ponce Massacre (where 17 civilians were killed) and the failed Jayuya Uprising against the US government. In the Uprising, Torresola's sister had been hurt and Collazo's brother had been arrested. Only two days after the Uprising failed, the two men showed up at Blair House and started their attempt to kill President Truman.

The shootout started badly for Torresola and Collazo, as Collazo's gun misfired when he planned to kill an unsuspecting officer outside the house. Eventually he shot the officer in the knee, but that officer along with another officer and a Secret Service agent all began to open fire. Collazo was injured quickly, but Torresola managed to get inside. There, he shot Officer Leslie Coffelt four times at point blank range. He shot another officer trying to prevent Torresola from entering the building any farther, but the officer managed to get inside the entrance and close the door despite his injury. Their plan all but foiled, Torresola went back outside and reloaded. At that time, Truman had woken up from a nap and actually stuck his head out of the window to see what was going on. Within seconds, Officer Coffelt, near death, shot Torresola in the head, killing him instantly.

Oscar Collazo was sentenced to death but Truman lessened it to a life sentence. Jimmy Carter pardoned him in 1979, and after he was released he went back to live in Puerto Rico. A plaque outside Blair House celebrates Officer Coffelt's sacrifice, and a room inside is named for him as well.

Answer: Crashing his car (full of dynamite) into Kennedy's car

Richard Pavlick was 73 years old when he decided to kill John F. Kennedy. He was known as an eccentric man in Belmont, New Hampshire, especially after he sold or gave away most of his property following Kennedy's election in the close 1960 election. During his trip from Belmont to Palm Beach, Florida (where Kennedy lived), Pavlick bought dynamite, blasting caps, detonators, and cans of gasoline. On December 11, 1960, he finally made it to Palm Beach, and waited in his car for Kennedy to come out. Fortunately, JFK often traveled with his family, and Pavlick had no intention of hurting any other member of the Kennedy family, so he postponed the assassination.

For the next 4 days, Pavlick stayed parked outside the Kennedy home without the Secret Service noticing him there. According to some reports, Pavlick was caught for a minor traffic violation, but others say that the policeman that found Pavlick's car was looking for it after the Secret Service was tipped off by the Belmont Postmaster for postcards sent to him from Pavlick announcing they'd hear from him "in a big way" soon, with all of the dates coinciding with public appearances by JFK. Either way, Pavlick was caught with the explosives in his car, and was sent to the United States Public Health Service mental hospital. Ten days after Kennedy was assassinated by Oswald, the charges against Pavlick were dropped because of insanity.

Answer: Flying a plane into the White House

Samuel Byck began suffering from depression after his wife divorced him, and even though he admitted himself to a psychiatric ward, it was not enough to heal his mind. Byck resented the government ever since he was turned down for a loan, and he finally decided in early 1974 that it was time to make them pay. After watching Robert Preston fly a stolen Army helicopter around the White House and land it on the White House lawn on February 17, 1974, he decided he could fly a plane into the White House.

Five days after Preston's stunt, Byck shot an officer in order to break into the Baltimore/Washington International Airport, boarded the nearest plane, and ordered them to take off. The pilots tried to explain that the wheel blocks were still in place, so Byck shot both of them (mortally wounding one) and ordered a passenger to fly the plane or else he would blow up the plane with a homemade gasoline bomb. After a standoff with the police, Byck was shot through the door of the plane with the revolver from the officer he had killed before boarding the plane. Injured, Byck decided to shoot himself to end the ordeal.

Answer: She intentionally removed the bullet from the firing chamber

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme's pistol had 4 bullets loaded into the magazine, but there was no bullet in the firing chamber. While she was being subdued by the Secret Service, she reportedly emphasized that the gun did not go off. She later told "The Sacramento Bee" that "I was not determined to kill the guy, obviously, because I didn't do it." Authorities found a cartridge in her bathroom, which may back up her story. At her trial, Fromme did not work with her own defense team. She even threw an apple at US Attorney Duane Keyes, knocking off his glasses, when he claimed she was "full of hate and violence."

Fromme continued her violent streak in prison, where she attacked an inmate with the claw end of a hammer. At a different prison, she escaped when she heard that Charles Manson had testicular cancer. Fromme's affection towards Manson remained unchanged, as she said she considered herself married to him. Fromme was first eligible for parole in 1985, but never showed up to the parole hearing.

Answer: San Francisco

Sara Jane Moore was working with People in Need, a group dedicated to help the poor, when she began getting immersed in radical politics. Because of her work with them, she actually became an FBI informant to keep an eye on them. Due to her work with the FBI, the Secret Service evaluated her, and she was found to not be a threat.

The day before the shooting, she was arrested (and released soon after) for carrying an illegal handgun. The next day, armed with a different gun, she tried to kill President Ford from across the street of his hotel as he was getting into a limo. Oliver Sipple was standing next to her, and instinctively hit her.

The bullet ended up hitting taxi driver John Ludwig, but he survived. Moore was given a life sentence, but was released on parole in 2007, just over a year after Ford died of natural causes.

Answer: He was going to create a distraction so Carter could be assassinated by others

Raymond Lee Harvey claimed that he was approached by three Latino men, and they wanted him to participate in their attempt to assassinate President Carter. He was given a starter pistol in order to create a distraction so that they could shoot Carter. Police investigated a room in the Alan Hotel where Harvey supposedly stayed for a night, and found a shotgun with three rounds in it, but the occupant of the room had already checked out.

Harvey identified an illegal alien, Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz, as the man who had initially contacted him. Investigators began to wonder how airtight the story was, since he had a history of mental illness and his name Raymond Lee Harvey along with Osvaldo created a combination very close to Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy's assassin. Eventually, all charges were dismissed because of a lack of evidence.

Answer: Jodie Foster

After watching "Taxi Driver" several times, Hinckley grew to love Jodie Foster. His first attempt to gain her attention was by stalking her at Yale University, slipping poetry under her door and calling her room. After thinking of several ways to gain her attention (most of which ended with his death), he decided that she would definitely notice if he killed a President. He was arrested in Tennessee for firearm charges while following President Carter around the country, and was committed for treatment for his depression.

In 1981, he resumed his plan, except now with President Reagan. He got off 6 shots as Reagan was leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel, but none of them hit Reagan directly. However, one bullet ricocheted off of the Presidential limousine (being bulletproof) and hit Reagan in the chest. He also hit the Press Secretary (James Brady), a police officer (Thomas Delahanty), and a Secret Service agent (Timothy McCarthy).

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and during treatment things grew worse when he found out that Jodie Foster was apparently not impressed by the shooting. In 1999, he was allowed to take visits outside the hospital to his family, but those were revoked in 2000 when he began smuggling in Foster-related material.

Answer: Sleeping at Blair House

Frank Corder stole his Cessna late at night on September 11, 1994, and crashed the plane into the South Lawn at 1:49 AM. At the time, the White House was undergoing renovations and Clinton was sleeping at Blair House instead of staying at the White House. Corder's wife had just left him a few weeks before the incident, and the combination of depression and alcohol was enough to send him over. Since he died on impact, no one can actually tell what his true motives were, but his friends claim he was only doing it for publicity and did not actually dislike President Clinton.

Answer: Nobody was injured nor killed

President Clinton was watching TV inside the White House when Duran opened fire on the North Lawn, and was never in any actual danger during the attack. Though Duran shot off at least 29 rounds from his rifle, not a single person was injured. After his first magazine emptied, three civilians - Harry Rakosky, Kenneth Davis, and Robert Haines - tackled Duran and held him until two Secret Service agents came over to arrest him. Afterwards, Duran's vehicle was searched and he had notes in his truck that reportedly said "Kill the Pres!"

Duran attempted to get off of jail time by claiming he was insane. He said that he was trying to save the planet from aliens that were in Colorado, where he lived. Instead, he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to forty years.

Answer: Tbilisi, Georgia

While President Bush was in Georgia making a speech at Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Vladimir Arutyunian lobbed a grenade at him, but it landed well short of his target. According to Arutyunian, his plan was to throw the grenade over the bulletproof glass that protected Bush, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and their wives. Georgian authorities originally reported it was an inert grenade and that Bush was never actually in danger, but later on it was deemed that the grenade was in fact live, but simply never went off.

Two months after throwing the grenade, Arutyunian was apprehended, and during the shootout he killed a Georgian police officer. The charges of attempting to assassinate Bush, Saakashvili, and killing the officer all compounded and Arutyunian received a life sentence. He never publicly announced what his rationale was for throwing the grenade.

Answer: Denver, Colorado

In August 2008, Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell, and Nathan Dwaine Johnson planned on shooting Senator Barack Obama at the 2008 DNC. All were reportedly white supremacists and could not stand the idea of an African-American being elected President. They fashioned their planned assassination after the movie "The Bodyguard," where they would hide a rifle inside a hollowed-out TV camera. An unidentified woman was with the three men as they were taking drugs and discussing the assassination, and quickly informed police.

Gartrell was the first to be arrested, when he was stopped for driving erratically in the early morning hours of August 24, the day before the DNC was going to start. They found 2 rifles in his car (one with a silencer), 2 wigs, 3 fake IDs, camouflage, a bulletproof vest, 2 walkie-talkies, and a small amount of methamphetamine. Gartrell told police the rifles belonged to Adolf. Police found Adolf and Johnson, though Adolf tried to run by jumping out of a 6th-story window (on to a 2nd-story roof) and eventually tried to run away with a broken ankle. Adolf and Johnson were both charged with drug-related counts, since an assassination plot could not be proven, and Johnson was given a small amount of time in prison and 6 months at a halfway house for his drug use.