Donald Trump Shooting: A look back at US Presidential assassination attempts

Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be assassinated, while former President Donald Trump was the most recent to face an attempted attack.

Former President Donald Trump collapsed to the ground at a Pennsylvania event on July 13 amidst the chaos of apparent gunfire, clutching his face as blood streamed down. The Secret Service swiftly whisked him away, his face covered in blood, as the crowd stood in stunned silence.

This horrifying incident is a stark reminder of the persistent danger faced by American leaders, echoing the long, grim history of assassination attempts and plots against US presidents and presidential candidates. From the early 19th century to today, the shadow of violence continues to haunt the highest office in the land.

Here's an overview of past attempts on the lives of US presidents and presidential candidates:

Four US presidents have been assassinated by gunfire throughout American history.

This April 1865 photo provided by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater, the site of his assassination. (Image: AP)

• Abraham Lincoln, the first president to be assassinated, was shot in the back of the head in 1865 while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, by John Wilkes Booth, an actor sympathetic to the Southern cause. After eluding capture for 12 days, Booth was finally located on April 26, 1865, by Union Army soldiers at a farm in Virginia, approximately 70 miles (110 km) south of Washington, D.C. Boston Corbett, a Union cavalryman, fatally shot Booth after he refused to surrender.

• James Garfield was shot at a Washington, DC train station in July 1881, less than four months after he took office, and succumbed to his wounds in New Jersey two months later. His assailant, Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled former supporter suffering from mental illness, was convicted and executed within the year.

• William McKinley was shot in September 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. McKinley fought for days before succumbing to his injuries, and Czolgosz was subsequently electrocuted. Political motivation drove Czolgosz's actions, however it's unclear what kind of result, if any, he thought the shooting would have.

On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 PM, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. (Image: AP)

• John F. Kennedy was assassinated by sniper Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas in November 1963 while riding in an open-top limousine during a parade. Kennedy passed away shortly after being taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took over as his successor after being sworn in in an Air Force One conference room. As far as presidents go, he is the only one who did it while flying. Oswald, with sympathies toward the Soviet Union, was arrested days later and later killed by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas police station. In this June 5, 1968 file photo, Hotel busboy Juan Romero, right, comes to the aid of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, as he lies on the floor of the Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles moments after he was shot. (Image: AP)
• Robert F. Kennedy, JFK’s brother and a senator from New York, was fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968 on the night of his victory in the California Democratic primary while campaigning for president. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, remains incarcerated in California, recently denied parole. Kennedy’s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is running as an independent presidential candidate in 2024.

• Theodore Roosevelt: Three and a half years after leaving the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt ran for president again in the 1912 election as a member of the Progressive Party. During a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 14, 1912, he was shot in the chest by John Schrank, a New York saloon keeper who had been stalking him for weeks. Fortunately, Roosevelt's thick 50-page speech manuscript titled "Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual", folded twice in his breast pocket, and a metal glasses case slowed down the bullet, preventing it from reaching his lung and saving his life. Despite bleeding from his wound, Roosevelt, relying on his knowledge as a hunter and anatomist, decided against immediate hospitalization after confirming he wasn't coughing blood. Instead, he proceeded to deliver his scheduled speech with blood staining his shirt. In this Monday, March 30, 1981 combination file photos, President Reagan waves, then looks up before being shoved into Presidential limousine by Secret Service agents after being shot outside a Washington hotel. (Image: AP)
• Ronald Reagan and three other people were hit by six bullets fired by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981, as Reagen was making their way back to his vehicle following his speech at the Washington Hilton hotel. A gunshot that hit the side of the presidential limousine and bounced off gravely injured Reagan. Reagan was stabilised in the emergency department and subsequently had emergency exploratory surgery, even though he was "close to death" when he arrived at George Washington University Hospital. On April 11, after his recuperation, he was allowed to leave the hospital.

Andrew Jackson: A house painter called Richard Lawrence tried to kill President Andrew Jackson just outside the Capitol Building, but both of his guns were missed. Subsequently, both guns were tested and found to be operational. Jackson severely thrashed Lawrence with his cane before he was captured. Lawrence was sent to a mental hospital until his death in 1861 after being declared not guilty because of insanity.

Herbert Hoover: On November 19, 1928, President-elect Hoover embarked on a goodwill tour of ten Central and South American nations. While travelling through the Andes Mountains from Chile, an attempted assassination plot by Argentine anarchists was foiled. Led by Severino Di Giovanni, the group planned to sabotage Hoover's train as it crossed Argentina's central plain. However, the bomber was apprehended before he could place explosives on the rails. Despite the incident, Hoover remained composed, casually dismissing concerns and shielding his wife from news of the plot.

Franklin D. Roosevelt:  In Miami, Florida, on February 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara opened fire on President Roosevelt five times, only seventeen days before his first presidential inauguration. Although Zangara's gunfire did not hit the president-elect, Anton Cermak of Chicago was severely wounded, along with four other persons. March 20, 1933, saw Zangara's electric chair execution after he entered a guilty plea to the murder of Cermak.

Giuseppe Zangara after his arrest. (Image: Wikipedia)

Harry S. Truman: On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican pro-independence activists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at the Blair House while the White House was undergoing renovations. The assailants were intercepted before they could enter the residence. During the shootout, Torresola fatally wounded White House Police Officer Leslie Coffelt, who then returned fire and killed Torresola. Collazo was wounded by Secret Service agents. Fortunately, Truman, who was inside the house at the time, was unharmed.

George C. Wallace: When Wallace was wounded in 1972 during a campaign visit in Maryland, he was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination. The tragedy left Wallace paralysed from the waist down. Wallace was the governor of Alabama and was well-known for his views on segregation, which he eventually repented of.

President Ford ducks behind his limousine and is hustled into the vehicle after a shot was fired as he left the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, on Sept. 22, The President was rushed to the airport to return to Washington. (Image: AP)

Gerald Ford faced two assassination attempts in September 1975. Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, associated with cult leader Charles Manson, tried to shoot Ford in Sacramento, California. Shortly after, Sara Jane Moore fired another shot at Ford in San Francisco. These incidents marked them as the most notable female would-be assassins in US history.

George W. Bush: On May 10, 2005, during a visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, President George W. Bush survived an assassination attempt when a hand grenade was thrown towards him during a speech in Freedom Square. The grenade landed approximately 60 feet from where Bush was speaking but did not detonate due to a malfunction in its triggering mechanism.

President Barack Obama faced an assassination attempt in November 2011 when Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired a semiautomatic rifle at the White House from a vehicle on Constitution Avenue. Fortunately, the bullets did not penetrate the reinforced windows, and no one was injured. Ortega-Hernandez was arrested days later and sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to assassinate the president.

(With inputs from Wikipedia & agency reports)