American Presidents Who Were Assassinated or Faced Assassination Attempts

 

Throughout the political history of the United States, attempts to assassinate American presidents have been a recurring phenomenon. A number of presidents have been subjected to direct attacks while in office or during their election campaigns; in some cases—such as with Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy—these attacks resulted in their deaths. Others survived, sustaining non-fatal injuries—among them Donald Trump, who faced several assassination attempts: one in 2016, two in 2017, and two more in 2024 and 2026.

 

The American presidents who were assassinated are:

 

The 16th President: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Thomas Lincoln was born in 1809 in the state of Kentucky, in the eastern United States; he was the first American president to be assassinated.

 

In 1832, he ran for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly as a member of the right-wing Whig Party—which later evolved into the Republican Party. He went on to win the presidential election representing his party in 1860, thereby becoming the 16th President of the United States.

 

Lincoln is remembered for three major achievements: the Civil War, through which he forcibly brought the secessionist Southern states back under central federal authority; the abolition of slavery throughout the country; and the unification of the banking system—an institution over which the Jewish Rothschild family had previously held dominance.

 

Lincoln was killed in 1865 at Ford's Theatre in the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. He was shot while watching a play alongside his wife and passed away the following day, just as he was beginning his second presidential term. His death was followed by an extensive nationwide manhunt for the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and his accomplices; Booth was killed after refusing to surrender.

The 20th President: James Garfield

James Abram Garfield was born in 1831 in Ohio, in the west-central United States, and was raised by his widowed mother. He attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, graduating in 1856; he later returned as a professor and subsequently became its president.

 

A staunch supporter of the Republican Party, he served in the Civil War before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1863, where he served until his election as president in 1880.

Garfield was assassinated in 1881 after Charles Julius Guiteau shot him twice at close range at a Washington train station, just as the President was en route to New England.

 

Garfield suffered for over two months before succumbing to his wounds; his presidency lasted only six months. Guiteau was subsequently sentenced to death by hanging and was executed in 1882.

 

The 25th President: William McKinley

William McKinley was born in 1843 in Ohio, in the west-central United States. He was working as a schoolteacher when the Civil War broke out; he left his studies to join the Union Army in the fight against the secessionist states.

 

McKinley represented the state of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving for 14 years beginning in 1877. He then served two terms as Governor of Ohio before being elected president in 1897, a role in which he led the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War. McKinley was killed in 1901, early in his second presidential term, while visiting an exposition in New York. After delivering a speech, he insisted on shaking hands with the public, despite the reservations some of his advisors had expressed regarding his attendance at the event.

 

Leon Czolgosz then approached McKinley and shot him twice—once in the abdomen and once in the chest. McKinley died a few days later, while Czolgosz was subsequently executed in the electric chair, and his body was dissolved in sulfuric acid.

The 35th President: John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He served in the military during World War II and represented Massachusetts in Congress—first in the House of Representatives and later in the Senate—from 1947 to 1960.

 

This experience served as the impetus for him to enter the presidential race as the Democratic Party's nominee; he faced Republican candidate Richard Nixon and won the election in 1961.

 

His presidency lasted less than three years; nevertheless, he pioneered the launch of the American space program and navigated several of the most critical international crises of the Cold War era with the Soviet Union.

 

John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, at the age of 46. He was shot while riding in an open-top limousine alongside his wife, Jacqueline, during an official visit to Dallas, Texas. Two days after the incident, as his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was being transferred to prison, Oswald himself was shot and killed. Assassination Attempts: The 7th President, Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 in South Carolina. Educational opportunities were scarce in his region; nevertheless, he applied himself diligently, acquired an education, and became a renowned lawyer in the state of Tennessee.

 

He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives, served briefly in the Senate, and rose to national hero status when he defeated the British at New Orleans in 1812 during the War of Independence.

 

Jackson presided over the White House between 1829 and 1837. He is notably remembered for advocating—during his first annual address—for the abolition of the Electoral College.

 

He was the target of an assassination attempt while attending a funeral in 1835. Following the service, a man attacked him, attempting to shoot him twice using two different pistols; however, the assassination attempt failed. Jackson subsequently accused his political opponents of being behind the plot.

 

The 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was born in 1858 in New York. He was educated at home before enrolling at Harvard University; he then began studying law at Columbia University but soon turned his focus to careers in politics and writing.

He assumed the presidency of the United States in 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley. He revitalized the Republican Party, which had been on the verge of collapse, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his mediation efforts in ending the Russo-Japanese War. He left the presidency in 1909 after serving two terms, but later returned to run for office again in 1912. During his election campaign in Milwaukee, John Schrank shot him; the bullet lodged in his chest but did not prove fatal, thanks to a metal eyeglass case and some folded papers that impeded its impact. Subsequent investigations determined that Schrank was mentally unstable; he was committed to a psychiatric hospital, where he remained until his death in 1943.

The 32nd President: Franklin Roosevelt

Franklin Roosevelt was born in 1882 in New York; he was a cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin was homeschooled until the age of 14, after which he attended Groton School, a preparatory school. He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in just three years, then enrolled in Columbia Law School but left without obtaining a degree.

 

He was elected president in 1932 and served four terms. He successfully confronted the crisis of the Great Depression and worked to reform the financial, agricultural, and industrial sectors. He also enacted laws prohibiting banks from trading in stocks and bonds, and established agencies through which he employed more than three million unemployed young people.

 

On February 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara fired five shots at Roosevelt while the President was delivering a speech from an open-top car. Zangara missed his intended target but struck five other people, including Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who later died from his injuries. The assassin was convicted and executed in 1933.

 

The 33rd President: Harry Truman

Harry Truman was born in 1884 in the state of Missouri. After graduating from high school in 1901, he worked as a bank clerk in Kansas City. He served in the National Guard twice (1905–1911) and was deployed to France, where he served as a field artillery commander. He assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, following the death of Roosevelt. He quickly took steps to convene the San Francisco Conference to draft the United Nations Charter; he also oversaw the conclusion of the war in Europe, laid the groundwork for the final phase of the war against Japan, and ordered the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

Truman was the target of an assassination attempt in November 1950 while residing at Blair House—located directly across the street from the White House—when two gunmen stormed the premises. Truman emerged unharmed; however, one police officer was killed, and two others—as well as one of the attackers—were wounded in the ensuing exchange of gunfire.

 

The perpetrator of the attack, Oscar Collazo, was apprehended and sentenced to death. However, in 1952, Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment; Collazo was subsequently released in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.

 

The 37th President: Richard Nixon

 

Richard Milhous Nixon was born in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. He graduated from Whittier College in California in 1934 before enrolling at Duke University School of Law in Durham.

 

He was elected president in 1969. During his presidency, he faced the crisis of ending the Vietnam War, and his name became associated with what came to be known as the "Nixon Doctrine"—or the "Guam Doctrine"—which centered on shifting the focus of U.S. diplomacy in Asia from military instruments to economic ones.

 

He was the target of two assassination attempts: the first involved a shooting incident in 1972, and the second occurred in 1974, when Samuel Byck hijacked a DC-9 aircraft with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate the President; however, police killed Byck before he could carry out his plan. The 38th President: Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford was born in 1913 in Nebraska. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1941, subsequently joined the Navy during World War II, and was appointed Vice President in 1973.

He took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, and immediately upon assuming the presidency, announced a conditional amnesty program for draft evaders and deserters from the Vietnam War era.

 

He faced several challenges, including the attempt to curb high inflation rates by slowing down the economy. However, this resulted in a severe recession between 1974 and 1975—a move that did succeed in lowering inflation, but at the cost of driving the unemployment rate up to 9%.

 

In 1975, he was the target of two assassination attempts within weeks of each other, yet he emerged unharmed from both incidents. During the first attempt, he was en route to a meeting with the Governor of California in Sacramento when Lynette Fromme—one of Charles Manson's followers—rushed through a crowd on the street and pointed a pistol at him. She failed to fire the weapon; she was subsequently sentenced to prison and released in 2009.

 

Seventeen days after the first attempt, another woman—identified as Sara Jane Moore—confronted Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco and fired a shot at him, but missed her target. A bystander managed to grab her arm before she could fire a second round. She was sentenced to prison and was released in 2007.

 

The 39th President: Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter was born in 1924 in the U.S. state of Georgia. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 and served in the deep-sea fleet for seven years before resigning following his father's death to take over the management of a peanut farm.

 

He began his political career after being elected to the Georgia State Senate in 1962. He subsequently served as Governor of the state before becoming President of the United States—representing the Democratic Party—in 1977. During his presidency, he oversaw the signing of the Camp David Accords, formally recognized the People's Republic of China, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; he also publicly denounced the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the Israeli war against Lebanon.

 

Carter was the target of two assassination attempts. The first occurred in 1979 at the hands of Raymond Lee Harvey, who planned to assassinate the President while he was delivering a speech outside a shopping mall; however, police apprehended Harvey just ten minutes prior to the event. The second attempt was made by a student named John Hinckley in 1980, while Carter was preparing for his second presidential campaign; Hinckley had, in fact, attempted to assassinate him on several previous occasions.

 

The 40th President: Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in 1911 in the U.S. state of Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1932 with a degree in Economics and Sociology. Prior to entering the political arena—during which he served as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975—he worked as a sports commentator and a film actor. He entered the race for the White House and defeated his opponent, President Jimmy Carter, subsequently serving two terms as president from 1981 to 1989. During this period, he became known for launching the "Star Wars" program, entangling the United States in the 1982 Lebanon War, and secretly selling American weapons to Iran.

 

In 1981, Reagan survived an assassination attempt carried out by John Hinckley—the very same young man who had previously attempted to assassinate Carter—sustaining only minor injuries. He passed away in 2004 following a battle with Alzheimer's disease.

The 41st President: George Bush Sr.

George Herbert Walker Bush was born in 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts. He studied at Yale University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history. He subsequently joined the U.S. Navy, served in World War II, and was wounded by Japanese forces in 1944.

 

In 1966, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He went on to represent his country as Ambassador to the United Nations from 1971 to 1972, after which he became Chairman of the Republican Party and, subsequently, Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in China. In 1977, he became Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); during his tenure, he worked to ensure that the agency's activities did not exceed the authority of Congress. Following Jimmy Carter's assumption of the presidency, Bush resigned from his position at the agency.

 

In 1979, Bush was appointed Vice President under President Reagan. In 1989, he became the 41st President of the United States. During his presidency, he ordered the deployment of U.S. troops to Panama to apprehend its leader. His administration also led the international coalition against Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait in 1991, and he signed a treaty with the Soviet Union to bring an end to the historic hostility between the two nations.

 

During a visit by Bush Sr. to Kuwait in 1993—after the conclusion of his presidential term—to be honored for his leadership of the international coalition against Iraq, Kuwaiti authorities arrested 16 individuals on charges of attempting to assassinate the former U.S. President using a car bomb. The United States accused Iraqi intelligence of orchestrating the plot and responded by launching 23 cruise missiles against Iraq. The 42nd President: Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was born in 1946 in the U.S. state of Arkansas. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1968 with a degree in International Relations, and subsequently from Yale University with a degree in Law. He worked in the legal field—serving as a law professor at the University of Arkansas and as a practicing attorney—until he was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1978, becoming the youngest governor in the state's history.

The "New Democrat" assumed the U.S. presidency in 1992 and was elected to a second term in 1996, becoming the first Democratic president to be elected to a second term since the era of Franklin Roosevelt. During his tenure, he ushered in a period of significant economic prosperity for his country; his administration called for the ousting of the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and played a key role in brokering the Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Throughout his presidency, Clinton was plagued by sex scandals that nearly cost him his office. In 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives attempted to remove him from office on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; however, he was acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999, and went on to complete his full term.

 

Clinton was the target of several assassination attempts, three of which occurred in 1994. The first was carried out by Ronald Gene Barbour, who attempted to assassinate him while he was out jogging. The second involved Frank Eugene Corder, who crashed his plane into the White House in an attempt to kill Clinton. The third attempt was made by Francisco Martin Duran, who opened fire toward the White House; however, tourists present at the scene tackled and subdued him until police arrived to make the arrest. The 43rd President: George W. Bush

George W. Bush was born in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut. He completed his undergraduate studies in history in 1968, after which he joined the Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Field. He was subsequently assigned as a pilot for an F-102 fighter jet. Later, he entered the business sector, where he founded and led the Bush Exploration Company—an oil and gas firm—for 11 years; this experience provided him with extensive expertise and a wide network of contacts within the petrochemical industry.

 

Bush Jr. became President of the United States in 2000. During his tenure, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and a section of the Pentagon were struck on September 11, 2001. The Bush administration accused Al-Qaeda of orchestrating these attacks and subsequently directed its military apparatus toward Afghanistan. Following this, several Arab and Islamic organizations—as well as nations such as Iraq and Iran—were placed on the U.S. list of terrorist entities.

 

In 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of President Saddam Hussein, citing Baghdad's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction as the justification. This premise, however, was soon proven to be unfounded, leading to a wave of widespread global criticism directed at both Bush and his Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

 

In 2006, Bush Jr. was the target of an assassination attempt while accompanying Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. A nationalist named Vladimir Arutyunian threw a hand grenade in their direction, but it failed to detonate.

 

The 44th President: Barack Obama

Barack Obama was born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He majored in Political Science and International Relations at Columbia University, and subsequently pursued a degree in Law. He graduated from Harvard University in 1991, after which he became active in the Democratic Party in the state of Illinois. In 1996, he was elected as a member of the Illinois State Senate. In 2004, he won the congressional election representing the same state, thereby becoming the first African American to win a seat in Congress.

 

In 2008, he was elected President of the United States, becoming the nation's first African American president. In 2012, he won a second term. During this period, he sought to improve the image of the United States within the Arab and Islamic worlds following the "War on Terror" campaign launched by his country; however, this did not alter his administration's stance or its unwavering support for Israel. He also announced the withdrawal of his country's troops from Iraq and the conclusion of its military presence in Afghanistan in 2014.

 

Obama was the target of several assassination attempts, the most notable of which occurred in 2011, when Oscar Hernandez fired at least eight shots toward the White House—which, at the time, was unoccupied by the President or his family. The perpetrator was already known for his animosity toward Obama and Washington, as he viewed the President as "Satan" and the "Antichrist," while regarding himself as the "New Age Jesus" and a "Knight of God."

The 45th President: Donald Trump

Donald Trump was born in 1946 in New York City. His father was a wealthy businessman engaged in the construction of residential apartments and housing for U.S. military personnel. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, after which he joined the real estate firm managed by his father.

 

The Republican Trump won the 2016 presidential election—despite having no prior experience in political office—and served a single, highly controversial term.

 

One of his key policies involved banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States. During his presidency, he faced accusations of racism and was widely characterized as a "populist" leader due to his stances and views.

 

Trump was the target of several assassination attempts: one in 2016, and two in 2017. He also survived an assassination attempt in July 2024, when a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to shoot him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

 

On April 26, 2026, the Washington Hilton hotel went into lockdown during the White House Correspondents' Dinner following an attempt by an armed individual to open fire inside the venue while Trump was present; the Secret Service quickly intervened to neutralize the threat.

 

The Metropolitan Police Department stated that the suspect was armed with a hunting rifle, a handgun, and several knives. According to the Associated Press, the perpetrator was a 31-year-old man named Cole Thomas Allen.