On July 13, shots rang out at a Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One of the shots grazed the former president’s right ear but did not seriously injure him. Two people attending the rally were seriously injured, and one died. Secret Service agents shot and killed the gunman.
FBI investigators have yet to release details about what motivated the 20-year-old man to open fire on the former president during a campaign rally. US media reported that the suspect was a Republican, although he had donated money to a Democratic fundraising platform.
The FBI is calling the attack an "assassination attempt." For many Americans, the shooting is reminiscent of similar shootings in U.S. history, such as the assassinations of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and the Kennedy brothers.
1981: Ronald Reagan
Mr. Reagan continued to serve as President after recovering and went on to win re-election. Photo: dpa
A lone gunman shot President Ronald Reagan as he left a speech at the Hilton Hotel in Washington. The gunman, John Hinckley, Jr., opened fire from a crowd surrounding Reagan's limousine. Hinckley, 25, was suffering from an acute psychotic episode. He thought that if he shot Reagan, actress Jodie Foster might notice him. In 1982, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to be committed to a psychiatric hospital.
Mr. Reagan spent nearly two weeks in the hospital after being hit by one of Hinckley's bullets. It grazed his ribs and narrowly missed his heart. Mr. Reagan's public approval ratings rose after the assassination.
Hinckley was released from psychiatric supervision in 2022 and has attempted to establish himself as a folk artist and singer. However, Hinckley is still linked to the assassination and several of his concerts have been canceled.
“I know I’m known for violence,” Hinckley said earlier this year. “But I’m a completely different person than I was in 1981. I’m for peace now.”
The shooting was the last time a sitting or former president was injured in an assassination attempt, until the attack on Mr. Trump on July 13.
1975: Gerald Ford
Mr Ford was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidency. Photo: Bildagentur-online
Two different women attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford on two separate occasions just 17 days apart. They are the only two female attackers to ever attempt to assassinate a US President.
The first attacker was Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the infamous Charles Manson family. On September 5, 1975, Fromme pointed a gun at Mr. Ford as he walked in Sacramento, California. She was immediately tackled to the ground by Secret Service agents. Fromme was released from prison in 2009.
The second attempt on Mr Ford was by Sara Jane Moore, outside a San Francisco hotel on September 22. Moore also tried to shoot Mr Ford, saying she wanted the assassination to spark a violent revolution in America. But Moore missed and was stopped by a passerby.
Moore spent most of her life in prison and when she was released after 32 years, aged 77, she said she had been "blinded by her radical political views".
1972: George Wallace
George Wallace was paralyzed from the waist down after the assassination. Photo: Everett Collection
Alabama Governor George Wallace was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination at a Maryland shopping mall when he was shot five times by Arthur Bremer.
Mr. Wallace was a well-known segregationist. In his speech, he spoke of how white Americans were being “forgotten.” Bremer shot Mr. Wallace after the speech, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
In a diary, Bremer expressed a strong desire to kill Mr. Wallace or President Richard Nixon to become famous. Bremer was released from prison in 2007.
As for Wallace, he continued to participate in state politics and sought forgiveness from black Americans for the division he had caused.
1968: Robert Kennedy
Robert Kennedy's death came just months after the assassination of African-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Photo: JT Vintage
While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Robert Kennedy was shot three times by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5 and died the following day. Sirhan was subdued by several people at the scene of the shooting. Five other people were also shot at the event, but all have since recovered.
The assassination had a major impact on the 1968 presidential race and came just two months after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., adding to the political turmoil of the late 1960s.
Sirhan, a Palestinian, said the conflict in the Middle East motivated him to shoot Robert Kennedy, especially because Kennedy supported Israel and promised to send 50 fighter jets to Israel if elected president. Sirhan was convicted on April 17, 1969, and sentenced to death in the gas chamber. That sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
1963: John F. Kennedy
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy continues to be the subject of many conspiracy theories. Photo: AP
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in downtown Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a motorcade with his wife, Jacqueline. Kennedy was immediately taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died.
Shortly after the assassination, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald after finding his sniper position at the Texas Textbook Depository. Oswald maintained his innocence when arrested, claiming that he was a "double" and was only arrested because he had lived in the Soviet Union.
Two days later, Oswald was taken from the police station to a rural jail and shot dead by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
In 1964, the Warren Commission investigating the assassination concluded that Oswald, a former Marine who had lived in the Soviet Union, had acted alone. The assassination of President Kennedy has spawned a host of conspiracy theories and remains the subject of widespread debate.
Kennedy was the fourth US President to be assassinated and the most recent to die in office. The other three presidents to be assassinated were Abraham Lincoln (1865), James Garfield (1881) and William McKinley (1901).
Ngoc Anh (according to DW)
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