Cross posted from the History forum.
Given the news of the last 24 hours, I went into a deep dive into presidential assassinations, and I've put together a list of perpetrators, their backgrounds and motives. To include a larger sample, I included attempts on candidates as well as elected presidents. I knew some of this stuff, but not all of it, particularly some of the more obscure ones. The list could be longer, but I've left out the very nebulous threats that really had absolutely no chance of happening, like the guy who wanted to flip Biden's limousine with a stolen forklift, but couldn't get out of the parking lott. I also left out foreign plots such as ISIS attempts against Obama, the Georgian guy who threw a grenade at Bush, and others that are basically foreign plots not really domestic assassination attempts. I decided this after including the one against Hoover, but I left it in just because it's interesting.
My point was to answer the question I've seen thrown around about motives. My initial impression before doing the research was that the majority of perpetrators were from the political left, specifically anarchists and followers of extreme socialism. My quck study shows this to be mostly correct. By my count of the below cases, the breakdown is as follows:
1. Causes on the ideological left: 11
2. Causes on the ideological right: 3 (including the anti-monarchical guy)
3. No known political cause: 6
I think it would be oversimplification to say that people on the left are more inherently violent or radicalized. The fact that leftist radicals attack presidents and presidential candidates at a higher rate can also be connected to the fact that most presidents are conservatives or moderates. Truly "leftist" presidents who might therefore be targets of radicals from the right, are relatively rare in history.
The other clear pattern that emerges, which should be unsurprising is individuals who are socially awkward and unstable mentally. Which of course is exactly the nature of the guy in Catcher in the Rye which is the book that many assassins frequently identify with. In fact, the greatest correlations are going to be left-leaning individuals with severe societal alienation and mental illness. Many of these people are also failures in life, but that's hard to dissociate from the alienation and the anti-capitalism, which frequently makes people a failure in a capitalist country (unsurprisingly).
President/Candidate Perpetrator Result
Andrew Jackson (1835) Richard Lawrence Failed
Lawrence was a normal well-adjusted youth born in England, but raised in America, taking a job as a house painter. In this profession, he was exposed to heavy amounts of lead, which some historians suspect caused growing mental illness to display itself in his 30s. He began to have fantasies, and told his family that he was really Richard III of England and the US government owed him a large amount of money and that it couldn't pay him because Jackson opposed the Second National Bank. He believed VP Martin Van Buren would allow the bank and cause him to be paid. Lawrence attempted to shoot Jackson following a funeral for a congressman. He was armed with a brace of pistols, but both misfired. Jackson, seeing this, proceed to beat Lawrence with a cane, before other congressmen in the party, including Davy Crockett, subdued him. At trial, the prosecuting attorney was Francis Scott Key. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of his life in an institution, dying in 1861. Jackson and others believed that there was a conspiracy, and blamed John C. Calhoun, though Calhoun denied any involvement and there is no evidence to support Jackson's claim.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
Abraham Lincoln (1865) John Wilkes Booth Succeeded
Southern sympathizer Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington in an attempt to avenge the defeat of the South in the Civil War.
Conspiracy: Yes
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Southern Nationalist
-------------------------------------------
James A. Garfield (1881) Charles Guiteau Succeeded
Although most histories claim he was a "disappointed office seeker" that does not capture the full nature of his motivations. He had Joined Oneida religious cult, which believed in a perfectionist view of man, free love (complex marriage everyone belonged to everyone else) and proto-communism. Members were subjected to "mutual criticism" similar to Maoist struggle sessions, minus the physical violence. Children were removed from their parents and raised communally. Guiteau was rejected by this community and expelled. He was socially awkward and likely insane.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist religious extremist
-------------------------------------------
William McKinley (1901) Leon Czolgosz Succeeded
Czolgosz was a Polish-American (2nd generation) born in Detroit, who gravitated towards anarchist poltics following his involvement in a strike at a steel mill. He joined the radical Sila Club and then a follower of anarchist Emma Goldman. He was a socially-awkward recluse who was rejected by some anarchists who thought him a spy or plant. Czolgosz believed in a radical socialist view that the rich were exploiting the poor and were enabled by government, which it was his duty to bring down to free the working man.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Anarcho-Socialist
-------------------------------------------
William Howard Taft (1909) Julius Bergerson Failed
Bergerson attempted to assassinate President Taft at a first-ever summit between US and Mexican presidents, held in El Paso, Texas. Before he could approach the president, Bergerson was captured by a private security guard hired for the event, alongside a Texas Ranger. Taft, the fattest US president, said of the attempt that if anyone had actually tried to shoot him, he couldn't have possibly missed. Bergerson's motives are unknown, but he was found to be insane.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Unknown
Insane: Yes
Politics: Unknown
-------------------------------------------
Theodore Roosevelt (1912) John Schrank Failed
Schrank was a mentally-insane saloon keeper originally born in Bavaria. He has been described as being shy and reserved. His only friend was the daughter of the family he lodged with, who he claimed was his girlfriend, but who apparently barely knew him. She was killed in a steamship accident and this greatly affected Shrank. Shrank had been raised a Catholic but rejected the church. He idolized the founding fathers and Lincoln. He claimed he shot Roosevelt after the ghost of William McKinley came to him in a dream and pointed to Roosevelt as responsible for his assassination. Schrank believed by shooting Roosevelt (who was running for a third term), he was preventing him from violating Washington's 2-term precedent and setting himself up as a king. He was imprisoned for 31 years and never received a single visitor or letter in that time.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Anti-monarchical
-------------------------------------------
Herbert Hoover (1928) Alejandro Scarf Failed
Scarf was an anarchist foot soldier of Severino Di Giovanni. The latter, Italian-born had settled in Argentina, where he became involved in anarchist politics. He supported anti-fascist causes, including support of the infamous anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. He orchestrated a bombing of the US embassy in Buenos Aires in 1926. He was arrested and tortured for 5 days, providing no evidence, and was eventually released. The next year, he blew up a statue of George Washington in Buenos Aires and bombed a Ford Motor factory. Afterward he tried to assassinate an Argentine federal police officer. Little is known of Scarf specifically, but Di Ginovanni's history is well-documented.
Conspiracy: Yes
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Anarchist
-------------------------------------------
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933) Giuseppe Zangara Failed
Zangara was an former Italian soldier in World War I who had immigrated to the US in 1923. He was working at a laborer when he attempted to kill Roosevelt (then the president-elect) at an impromptu speech in Miami. He fired several shots, wounding 4 people and killing the mayor of Chicago, who died in Roosevelt's arms. Some have attempted to connect the shooting to the mob, but there is no evidence. He was tried and sentenced to 80 years in prison, but died of peritonitis not long into his sentence. He stated in trial, "I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists."
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: No
Politics: Socialist/anti-capitalist
-------------------------------------------
Harry S. Truman (1950) Oscar Collazo & Griselio Torresola Failed
Two Puerto Rican Nationalists attempted to kill President Truman while he was living in Blair House (while the White House was being renovated). They were confronted by Secret Service and in a gunfight, Collazo was killed while one White House police officer was killed. Torresola was captured. The attack came two days after an attempted overthrow of the Puerto Rican government by nationalists had failed, partly due to US military forces. (Truman subsequently supported a plebicite the following year, in which over 80 percent of Puerto Ricans supported remaining a part of the United States). The two perpetrators only planned the attack on the spur of the moment after the failed uprising, and there is no evidence of a broader conspiracy. Collazo, the survivor, was sentenced to death, but Truman, his intended target, commuted the sentence to life in prison. President Carter commuted his sentence in 1979 and he was released, dying in 1994.
Conspiracy: Yes (2 people)
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Anti-imperialist
-------------------------------------------
John F. Kennedy (1963) Lee Harvey Oswald Succeeded
Oswald had been diagnosed as emotionally disturbed at age 12. He was described as withdrawn and temperamental. He came from a broken home, was in and out of school, and joined the marines where he was court martialed twice and jailed. During his time of service, he repeatedly espoused pro-Soviet views. After leaving the service, he defected to the Soviet Union, where he was rejected by the communists. He returned to the US and settled in Dallas. Before shooting Kennedy, he had attempted to assassinate a right-wing former US Army general at his home, but missed. Oswald's wife later claimed the shooting targeted the general because he led a "fascist" organization. As for the motivations behind the Kennedy shooting, these cannot be inferred beyond the above information due to Oswald's shooting by Jack Ruby.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist/Communist
-------------------------------------------
Robert F. Kennedy (1968) Sirhan Sirhan Succeeded
Sirhan Sirhan was born in Palestine and grew up amid violence related to the Palestinian-Jewish conflict, including seeing his brother run over by an armored vehicle. Although insanity was cited in his trial defense, there is no evidence for it and his diary shows a deliberate fixation on Rober F. Kennedy for his support of Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and his statement during the campaign that he would send 50 advanced fighter jets to Israel. He was sentenced to death in the gas chamber, but a decision by the California Supreme Court to abolish the death penalty meant the sentence was commuted to life. He is still alive and still in prison 56 years after the attack.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Anti-Zionist
-------------------------------------------
George Wallace (1972) Arthur Bremer Partial success*
Bremer grew up in an abusive home and was socially awkward in school. Was demoted from his job as a busboy at a restaurant because he talked to himself. A psychiatrist judged him mentally ill in 1971, but not a danger to society. He planned an assassination of president Richard Nixon. He kept a diary of his plot, and noted his decision to abandon the attempt on Nixon due to the difficulty of penetrating secret service protection, and the decision to focus on George Wallace instead. Although his diary does not note a motive and simply says he wanted to shoot a politician, in a 1996 parole hearing, he stated that shooting a "segregationist dinosaur" was not the same as shooting a mainstream politician. Bremer was released in 2007 after serving 35 years. His parole ends next year.
* Failed because Wallace survived, but he was paralyzed for the rest of his life.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Anti-segregationist
-------------------------------------------
Richard Nixon (1974) Samuel Byck Failed
Byck had a history of depression and financial failures. He was turned down for a Small Business Association loan and threatened President Nixon, who he blamed for his failures. Byck, who was Jewish sent rambling audiotapes to liberal Jewish figures trying to enlist them in his crusade, but they ignored him. He also tried to join the Black Panthers. In 1974, he used a stolen pistol to hijack an airliner, which he intended to fly into the White House to kill Nixon. The plane was still on the ground and the ground crew refused to remove the chocks, keeping it from flying. After a standoff, police began to storm the plane and Byck shot himself.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist
-------------------------------------------
Gerald Ford (1975) Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme Failed
Fromme was a young girl who had become addicted to drugs and embracing the 1960s counterculture. She was kicked out of her home and became a member of the Charles Manson "family" or cult that believed in Manson's leftist-pro-drug anarchist philosophy. After Manson and others were arrested following the murder of actress Sharon Tate, Fromme attended a Ford event, claiming she was there to speak to him about environmental causes, about which she was passionate. She pulled a Colt 1911 and aimed it at the President. She pulled the trigger, but although the gun was loaded, there was not a round in the chamber. She was arrested immediately. In 1997, she escaped from prison, but was recaptured. She was released from prison in 2009.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist
-------------------------------------------
Jimmy Carter (1979) Raymond Lee Harvey and "Umberto Camacho" Failed
Camacho likely not a real name was an alias used by a man who allegedly planned to assassinate President Carter. The only man actually arrested in the attempt was Raymond Lee Harvey, a mentally-ill drifter who claimed he was approached by two Latino men to participate in a conspiracy to kill the president. Harvey was arrested with a starter pistol, with which he was supposed to fire blank rounds to distract Carter's Secret Service escort while two Latino men including Camacho would kill Carter. Harvey had signs of mental illness and his claims were initially rejected, but police later found evidence of Camacho's presence in a nearby hotel, along with weapon cases. Harvey was eventually released.
Conspiracy: Yes
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
-------------------------------------------
Ronald Reagan (1981) John Hinkley, Jr. Failed
Hinkley grew up in the Dallas area the son of well-to-do oil executives. He was socially awkward and had a pretend girlfriend in college. He showed signs of mental instability as a youth and was prescribed anti-depressants to deal with his problems. He developed an infatuation with actress Jody Foster, which included fantasizing about a fictional character in one of her movies who tried to assassinate a president. He stalked Jimmy Carter during the 1980 campaign and at one point was arrested at an airport with firearms in his luggage. He served 35 years in prison and was released in 2016.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
-------------------------------------------
Bill Clinton (1994) Frank Eugene Corder Failed
Corder crashed a Cessna on the lawn of the White House, but it is likely this was not an assassination attempt but a stunt to try to land the plane. Corder had a history of drug and alcohol problems and at the time of the attack was drunk. For that reason, I don't consider it an actual assassination attempt.
Bill Clinton (1994) Francisco Martin Duran Failed
Duran was a former US army soldier who had been court martialed for drunken behavior. He served two years in Fort Leavenworth. He traveled to Washington and, using an SKS semi-automatic assault rifle, fired dozens of shots at men on the White House lawn, one of whom he thought might be Clinton (it was not). He was tackled by bystanders, who held him for police. He claimed insanity at trial, but this was rejected. He was assessed to be angry at the government and Clinton, possibly for his personal failings.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: None
-------------------------------------------
Barack Obama (2011) Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez Failed
Ortega-Hernandez fired multiple rounds from a semi-automatic rifle at the White House, though President Obama was not there. Ortega-Hernandez had shown signs of mental instability, believing in conspiracy theories that Obama was planting tracking devices in children and that the world would end in 2012. He also believed he was Jesus and sent a video to Oprah Winfrey telling her this. After the shooting, he crashed his car and fled on foot. He was later arrested and his sentence will end in 2033. Ortega-Hernandez had no known political affiliations and other than believing Obama was the antichrist, made no comments about other motives.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
Barack Obama (2013) James Everett Dutschke Failed
Dutschke was convicted of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Obama. His neighbors described him as "a little different" and "odd" and say he had allegedly molested several young girls. He ran for office both as a Republican and a Democrat. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Though sources do not specifically identify a political motive.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Possibly
Politics: Possibly conservative
Given the news of the last 24 hours, I went into a deep dive into presidential assassinations, and I've put together a list of perpetrators, their backgrounds and motives. To include a larger sample, I included attempts on candidates as well as elected presidents. I knew some of this stuff, but not all of it, particularly some of the more obscure ones. The list could be longer, but I've left out the very nebulous threats that really had absolutely no chance of happening, like the guy who wanted to flip Biden's limousine with a stolen forklift, but couldn't get out of the parking lott. I also left out foreign plots such as ISIS attempts against Obama, the Georgian guy who threw a grenade at Bush, and others that are basically foreign plots not really domestic assassination attempts. I decided this after including the one against Hoover, but I left it in just because it's interesting.
My point was to answer the question I've seen thrown around about motives. My initial impression before doing the research was that the majority of perpetrators were from the political left, specifically anarchists and followers of extreme socialism. My quck study shows this to be mostly correct. By my count of the below cases, the breakdown is as follows:
1. Causes on the ideological left: 11
2. Causes on the ideological right: 3 (including the anti-monarchical guy)
3. No known political cause: 6
I think it would be oversimplification to say that people on the left are more inherently violent or radicalized. The fact that leftist radicals attack presidents and presidential candidates at a higher rate can also be connected to the fact that most presidents are conservatives or moderates. Truly "leftist" presidents who might therefore be targets of radicals from the right, are relatively rare in history.
The other clear pattern that emerges, which should be unsurprising is individuals who are socially awkward and unstable mentally. Which of course is exactly the nature of the guy in Catcher in the Rye which is the book that many assassins frequently identify with. In fact, the greatest correlations are going to be left-leaning individuals with severe societal alienation and mental illness. Many of these people are also failures in life, but that's hard to dissociate from the alienation and the anti-capitalism, which frequently makes people a failure in a capitalist country (unsurprisingly).
President/Candidate Perpetrator Result
Andrew Jackson (1835) Richard Lawrence Failed
Lawrence was a normal well-adjusted youth born in England, but raised in America, taking a job as a house painter. In this profession, he was exposed to heavy amounts of lead, which some historians suspect caused growing mental illness to display itself in his 30s. He began to have fantasies, and told his family that he was really Richard III of England and the US government owed him a large amount of money and that it couldn't pay him because Jackson opposed the Second National Bank. He believed VP Martin Van Buren would allow the bank and cause him to be paid. Lawrence attempted to shoot Jackson following a funeral for a congressman. He was armed with a brace of pistols, but both misfired. Jackson, seeing this, proceed to beat Lawrence with a cane, before other congressmen in the party, including Davy Crockett, subdued him. At trial, the prosecuting attorney was Francis Scott Key. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of his life in an institution, dying in 1861. Jackson and others believed that there was a conspiracy, and blamed John C. Calhoun, though Calhoun denied any involvement and there is no evidence to support Jackson's claim.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
Abraham Lincoln (1865) John Wilkes Booth Succeeded
Southern sympathizer Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington in an attempt to avenge the defeat of the South in the Civil War.
Conspiracy: Yes
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Southern Nationalist
-------------------------------------------
James A. Garfield (1881) Charles Guiteau Succeeded
Although most histories claim he was a "disappointed office seeker" that does not capture the full nature of his motivations. He had Joined Oneida religious cult, which believed in a perfectionist view of man, free love (complex marriage everyone belonged to everyone else) and proto-communism. Members were subjected to "mutual criticism" similar to Maoist struggle sessions, minus the physical violence. Children were removed from their parents and raised communally. Guiteau was rejected by this community and expelled. He was socially awkward and likely insane.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist religious extremist
-------------------------------------------
William McKinley (1901) Leon Czolgosz Succeeded
Czolgosz was a Polish-American (2nd generation) born in Detroit, who gravitated towards anarchist poltics following his involvement in a strike at a steel mill. He joined the radical Sila Club and then a follower of anarchist Emma Goldman. He was a socially-awkward recluse who was rejected by some anarchists who thought him a spy or plant. Czolgosz believed in a radical socialist view that the rich were exploiting the poor and were enabled by government, which it was his duty to bring down to free the working man.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Anarcho-Socialist
-------------------------------------------
William Howard Taft (1909) Julius Bergerson Failed
Bergerson attempted to assassinate President Taft at a first-ever summit between US and Mexican presidents, held in El Paso, Texas. Before he could approach the president, Bergerson was captured by a private security guard hired for the event, alongside a Texas Ranger. Taft, the fattest US president, said of the attempt that if anyone had actually tried to shoot him, he couldn't have possibly missed. Bergerson's motives are unknown, but he was found to be insane.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Unknown
Insane: Yes
Politics: Unknown
-------------------------------------------
Theodore Roosevelt (1912) John Schrank Failed
Schrank was a mentally-insane saloon keeper originally born in Bavaria. He has been described as being shy and reserved. His only friend was the daughter of the family he lodged with, who he claimed was his girlfriend, but who apparently barely knew him. She was killed in a steamship accident and this greatly affected Shrank. Shrank had been raised a Catholic but rejected the church. He idolized the founding fathers and Lincoln. He claimed he shot Roosevelt after the ghost of William McKinley came to him in a dream and pointed to Roosevelt as responsible for his assassination. Schrank believed by shooting Roosevelt (who was running for a third term), he was preventing him from violating Washington's 2-term precedent and setting himself up as a king. He was imprisoned for 31 years and never received a single visitor or letter in that time.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Anti-monarchical
-------------------------------------------
Herbert Hoover (1928) Alejandro Scarf Failed
Scarf was an anarchist foot soldier of Severino Di Giovanni. The latter, Italian-born had settled in Argentina, where he became involved in anarchist politics. He supported anti-fascist causes, including support of the infamous anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. He orchestrated a bombing of the US embassy in Buenos Aires in 1926. He was arrested and tortured for 5 days, providing no evidence, and was eventually released. The next year, he blew up a statue of George Washington in Buenos Aires and bombed a Ford Motor factory. Afterward he tried to assassinate an Argentine federal police officer. Little is known of Scarf specifically, but Di Ginovanni's history is well-documented.
Conspiracy: Yes
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Anarchist
-------------------------------------------
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933) Giuseppe Zangara Failed
Zangara was an former Italian soldier in World War I who had immigrated to the US in 1923. He was working at a laborer when he attempted to kill Roosevelt (then the president-elect) at an impromptu speech in Miami. He fired several shots, wounding 4 people and killing the mayor of Chicago, who died in Roosevelt's arms. Some have attempted to connect the shooting to the mob, but there is no evidence. He was tried and sentenced to 80 years in prison, but died of peritonitis not long into his sentence. He stated in trial, "I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists."
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: No
Politics: Socialist/anti-capitalist
-------------------------------------------
Harry S. Truman (1950) Oscar Collazo & Griselio Torresola Failed
Two Puerto Rican Nationalists attempted to kill President Truman while he was living in Blair House (while the White House was being renovated). They were confronted by Secret Service and in a gunfight, Collazo was killed while one White House police officer was killed. Torresola was captured. The attack came two days after an attempted overthrow of the Puerto Rican government by nationalists had failed, partly due to US military forces. (Truman subsequently supported a plebicite the following year, in which over 80 percent of Puerto Ricans supported remaining a part of the United States). The two perpetrators only planned the attack on the spur of the moment after the failed uprising, and there is no evidence of a broader conspiracy. Collazo, the survivor, was sentenced to death, but Truman, his intended target, commuted the sentence to life in prison. President Carter commuted his sentence in 1979 and he was released, dying in 1994.
Conspiracy: Yes (2 people)
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Anti-imperialist
-------------------------------------------
John F. Kennedy (1963) Lee Harvey Oswald Succeeded
Oswald had been diagnosed as emotionally disturbed at age 12. He was described as withdrawn and temperamental. He came from a broken home, was in and out of school, and joined the marines where he was court martialed twice and jailed. During his time of service, he repeatedly espoused pro-Soviet views. After leaving the service, he defected to the Soviet Union, where he was rejected by the communists. He returned to the US and settled in Dallas. Before shooting Kennedy, he had attempted to assassinate a right-wing former US Army general at his home, but missed. Oswald's wife later claimed the shooting targeted the general because he led a "fascist" organization. As for the motivations behind the Kennedy shooting, these cannot be inferred beyond the above information due to Oswald's shooting by Jack Ruby.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist/Communist
-------------------------------------------
Robert F. Kennedy (1968) Sirhan Sirhan Succeeded
Sirhan Sirhan was born in Palestine and grew up amid violence related to the Palestinian-Jewish conflict, including seeing his brother run over by an armored vehicle. Although insanity was cited in his trial defense, there is no evidence for it and his diary shows a deliberate fixation on Rober F. Kennedy for his support of Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and his statement during the campaign that he would send 50 advanced fighter jets to Israel. He was sentenced to death in the gas chamber, but a decision by the California Supreme Court to abolish the death penalty meant the sentence was commuted to life. He is still alive and still in prison 56 years after the attack.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: Anti-Zionist
-------------------------------------------
George Wallace (1972) Arthur Bremer Partial success*
Bremer grew up in an abusive home and was socially awkward in school. Was demoted from his job as a busboy at a restaurant because he talked to himself. A psychiatrist judged him mentally ill in 1971, but not a danger to society. He planned an assassination of president Richard Nixon. He kept a diary of his plot, and noted his decision to abandon the attempt on Nixon due to the difficulty of penetrating secret service protection, and the decision to focus on George Wallace instead. Although his diary does not note a motive and simply says he wanted to shoot a politician, in a 1996 parole hearing, he stated that shooting a "segregationist dinosaur" was not the same as shooting a mainstream politician. Bremer was released in 2007 after serving 35 years. His parole ends next year.
* Failed because Wallace survived, but he was paralyzed for the rest of his life.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Anti-segregationist
-------------------------------------------
Richard Nixon (1974) Samuel Byck Failed
Byck had a history of depression and financial failures. He was turned down for a Small Business Association loan and threatened President Nixon, who he blamed for his failures. Byck, who was Jewish sent rambling audiotapes to liberal Jewish figures trying to enlist them in his crusade, but they ignored him. He also tried to join the Black Panthers. In 1974, he used a stolen pistol to hijack an airliner, which he intended to fly into the White House to kill Nixon. The plane was still on the ground and the ground crew refused to remove the chocks, keeping it from flying. After a standoff, police began to storm the plane and Byck shot himself.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist
-------------------------------------------
Gerald Ford (1975) Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme Failed
Fromme was a young girl who had become addicted to drugs and embracing the 1960s counterculture. She was kicked out of her home and became a member of the Charles Manson "family" or cult that believed in Manson's leftist-pro-drug anarchist philosophy. After Manson and others were arrested following the murder of actress Sharon Tate, Fromme attended a Ford event, claiming she was there to speak to him about environmental causes, about which she was passionate. She pulled a Colt 1911 and aimed it at the President. She pulled the trigger, but although the gun was loaded, there was not a round in the chamber. She was arrested immediately. In 1997, she escaped from prison, but was recaptured. She was released from prison in 2009.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: Socialist
-------------------------------------------
Jimmy Carter (1979) Raymond Lee Harvey and "Umberto Camacho" Failed
Camacho likely not a real name was an alias used by a man who allegedly planned to assassinate President Carter. The only man actually arrested in the attempt was Raymond Lee Harvey, a mentally-ill drifter who claimed he was approached by two Latino men to participate in a conspiracy to kill the president. Harvey was arrested with a starter pistol, with which he was supposed to fire blank rounds to distract Carter's Secret Service escort while two Latino men including Camacho would kill Carter. Harvey had signs of mental illness and his claims were initially rejected, but police later found evidence of Camacho's presence in a nearby hotel, along with weapon cases. Harvey was eventually released.
Conspiracy: Yes
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
-------------------------------------------
Ronald Reagan (1981) John Hinkley, Jr. Failed
Hinkley grew up in the Dallas area the son of well-to-do oil executives. He was socially awkward and had a pretend girlfriend in college. He showed signs of mental instability as a youth and was prescribed anti-depressants to deal with his problems. He developed an infatuation with actress Jody Foster, which included fantasizing about a fictional character in one of her movies who tried to assassinate a president. He stalked Jimmy Carter during the 1980 campaign and at one point was arrested at an airport with firearms in his luggage. He served 35 years in prison and was released in 2016.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
-------------------------------------------
Bill Clinton (1994) Frank Eugene Corder Failed
Corder crashed a Cessna on the lawn of the White House, but it is likely this was not an assassination attempt but a stunt to try to land the plane. Corder had a history of drug and alcohol problems and at the time of the attack was drunk. For that reason, I don't consider it an actual assassination attempt.
Bill Clinton (1994) Francisco Martin Duran Failed
Duran was a former US army soldier who had been court martialed for drunken behavior. He served two years in Fort Leavenworth. He traveled to Washington and, using an SKS semi-automatic assault rifle, fired dozens of shots at men on the White House lawn, one of whom he thought might be Clinton (it was not). He was tackled by bystanders, who held him for police. He claimed insanity at trial, but this was rejected. He was assessed to be angry at the government and Clinton, possibly for his personal failings.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: No
Politics: None
-------------------------------------------
Barack Obama (2011) Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez Failed
Ortega-Hernandez fired multiple rounds from a semi-automatic rifle at the White House, though President Obama was not there. Ortega-Hernandez had shown signs of mental instability, believing in conspiracy theories that Obama was planting tracking devices in children and that the world would end in 2012. He also believed he was Jesus and sent a video to Oprah Winfrey telling her this. After the shooting, he crashed his car and fled on foot. He was later arrested and his sentence will end in 2033. Ortega-Hernandez had no known political affiliations and other than believing Obama was the antichrist, made no comments about other motives.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: No
Insane: Yes
Politics: None
Barack Obama (2013) James Everett Dutschke Failed
Dutschke was convicted of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Obama. His neighbors described him as "a little different" and "odd" and say he had allegedly molested several young girls. He ran for office both as a Republican and a Democrat. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Though sources do not specifically identify a political motive.
Conspiracy: No
Socially awkward: Yes
Insane: Possibly
Politics: Possibly conservative
