Today is a grim anniversary, marking 44 years since President John F. Kennedy was gunned down while in a motorcade to a speaking engagement in Dallas, TX. The event is singularly memorable in American history, the kind of gruesome reminder that terrible things can happen anywhere, to anyone.
Some people get the notion that this is old news, that the day when assassinating a President should be worried about is long gone. The actual record since that horrible day in 1963, however, is not promising:
April 14, 1972 - Arthur Bremer traveled to Ottawa (where he believed security would be looser) to attempt to assassinate President Richard Nixon. The security proved tighter than he expected, and he abandoned that attempt,. Choosing instead to try to kill Governor and Presidential candidate George Wallace.
February 22, 1974 - Samuel Byck hijacked a DC-9 at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, with the intention of crashing the plane into the White House to kill President Nixon. He shot three people, killing two of them, but committed suicide when police stormed the plane.
September 5, 1975 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of serial murderer Charles Manson, attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford.
September 22, 1975 - Sarah Jane Moore, also a member of Manson's "family", shot at President Ford. Oliver Sipple, a bystander, grabbed her arm, which caused her to miss.
March 30, 1981 - John Hinkley, Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan in front of the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
October 29, 1994: Francisco Duran shot at the White House from the outside fence with a semi-automatic rifle. He fired at least 29 shots.
May 10, 2005 - Vladimir Arutyunian threw an RGD-5 hand grenade at the podium in Tbilisi, Georgia, where President George W. Bush is giving a speech. A malfunction kept the grenade from detonating.
It must also be noted that attempts, successful or not, were also made on Presidents Jackson, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.
There are also unconfirmed reports that attempts have been made on the life of every President since Kennedy, but that the Secret Service does not release information which might compromise its procedures or which might promote interest in an assassination attempt. One example is the reported attempt by a group of Middle Eastern men to "interview" President George W. Bush at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort early on the morning of September 11th. They were turned away, but later were witnessed close to the motorcade.
Controversy continues to surround the JFK assassination, but it's by no means old history.
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Comments (8)
[ no lunatic conspiracy the... (Below threshold)1. Posted by GianiD | November 22, 2007 2:03 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
[ no lunatic conspiracy theories, please ]
1. Posted by GianiD | November 22, 2007 2:03 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 14:03
2. Posted by THIRDWAVEDAVE | November 22, 2007 4:56 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Thanks for remembering this day...few do anymore.
2. Posted by THIRDWAVEDAVE | November 22, 2007 4:56 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 16:56
3. Posted by Steve Crickmore | November 22, 2007 5:49 PM | Score: -1 (3 votes cast)
Giani. Where have you been the last 44 years? It is precisely because that day in 1963 in Dallas was so important, so memorable so shocking that we owe to history to find out what happened ..Those were innocent times we lived in at that era of sanitized history. Presidents didn't have affairs with girl friends of Mafia chieftians or famous actreesses. The FBI led by straight Hoover didn't wire tap and black mail poltical opponents. The CIA didn't have family jewels. The word cover-up wasn't in wide use. Both agencies got along as did the President and Vice-President.
Everything important was smoothed over by the MSM including...because they thought the public would get upset and their careers, maybe even lives would be at risk. The Kennedy assassination was no different, only the stakes were higher so they had to surround it with more establishment figures.. Yeah it by no means not old history but it would be harder to do today because the press is freeer and politicians are little less believing of the 'official versions'.
3. Posted by Steve Crickmore | November 22, 2007 5:49 PM |
Score: -1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 17:49
4. Posted by Scrapiron | November 22, 2007 5:54 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
GianiD, you mean I can't say that todays democrats are a strange lot and their attitude of 'win at all cost', including the destruction of the country, is the only thing they know. Look at the current leadership of congress and the dhimmi Presidential hopefuls to find all the proof you need. Trying to destroy the economy and lose another war. Not a patriot in the flock of buzzards.
4. Posted by Scrapiron | November 22, 2007 5:54 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 17:54
5. Posted by Neo | November 22, 2007 10:00 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
What happened to the September 12, 1994 plane crash on the White House grounds by Frank Eugene Corder ?
The fact that he spent September 11, 1994 tanking up on alcohol and smoking crack cocaine doesn't make him any less a threat.
5. Posted by Neo | November 22, 2007 10:00 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 22:00
6. Posted by GianiD | November 22, 2007 10:23 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Wonder if the dems harken back to the days of the Klinton's in power, when they were the predator, and not the prey?
6. Posted by GianiD | November 22, 2007 10:23 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 22:23
7. Posted by Spurwing Plover | November 22, 2007 10:47 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
ws gng t 2nd r 3rd grd t th tm nd rmmbr bt t bcs th nnncd t vr r schls P. sstm nd r nghtbrs clld m mm nd tld hr t ws tm f grt cncrn nd th stll hvnt slvd t nd LL STNS mv JFK ws cmplt frd s r wth ll f hs mvs
7. Posted by Spurwing Plover | November 22, 2007 10:47 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2007 22:47
8. Posted by astigafa | November 23, 2007 8:06 PM | Score: -3 (3 votes cast)
The world is full of nutty people, as witness this blog.
8. Posted by astigafa | November 23, 2007 8:06 PM |
Score: -3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on November 23, 2007 20:06