Victims of Actual and Planned Domestic Assassinations of Presidents, Candidates, Elected Officials and Public Figures (* represents successful assassinations)
President Andrew Jackson (1835)
President Abraham Lincoln (1865)*
President James A. Garfield (1881)*
President William McKinley (1901)*
Presidential candidate and former president Theodore Roosevelt (1912)
President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933)
President Harry S. Truman (1950)
Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers (1963)*
President John F. Kennedy (1963)*
Civil Rights Activist Malcolm X (1965)*
Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King (1968)*
Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy (1968)
Governor and presidential candidate George Wallace (1972)
President Gerald Ford (1975 and 1975)
Politician Harvey Milk (1978)*
Beatle John Lennon (1980)*
President Ronald Reagan (1981)
President Bill Clinton (1994)
President George W. Bush (2005)
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (2011)
President Barack Obama (2011 and 2018)
Congressman Steve Scalise (2017)
Governor Gretchen Whitmer (2020)
Presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump (2017 and 2024)
It’s a formidable list, no doubt incomplete. But even so, a depressingly long refutation to the bromide many politicians and commentators have spouted since Thomas Crooks tried to kill Trump during a Saturday rally in Butler, PA, that American values are the antithesis of an assassination culture.
I prefer the following from one of my favorite observers of today’s America:
“An election cycle in a democracy is always a necessary cauldron of disunity because that is when we argue about political beliefs. The election itself is what unifies us. If Trump is elected, I will feel an enormous disappointment in the American people and a profound embarrassment for our country. But I will not question the legitimacy of his office. That is how we unite.
“I don’t want Trump killed. I want him to stand trial for his crimes. I want America to resoundingly reject him at the polls to announce to the world—and ourselves—that we have political and moral values that cannot be overturned by a criminal conman and a mob of self-righteous cultists. I want America to be the America we are capable of becoming rather than a huddle of fear that feeds off nostalgia and hate.
“An unbalanced 20-year-old kid shooting at the president doesn’t define America, it’s our reaction that defines us.”
Those words were from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar whose writings on Substack about the intersection of sports, politics and popular culture define a persona far beyond his accomplishments as one of basketball’s greatest players.
Imperial Presidency? Now that the Supreme Court has in effect made our next president the equivalent of a king, I can imagine imperial accoutrements to the White House if Trump takes up residence there once more.
Older readers might recall Richard Nixon’s beleaguered attempt to turn White House security guards into a version of a Victor Herbert operetta chorus.
According to the the web site wearethemighty.com, in January 1970 Nixon sought to emulate foreign uniforms he saw during his travels abroad.
“The new Secret Service uniforms included a white double-breasted tunic with golden shoulder trim and a thin-brimmed firm shako hat with a peaked front. It also featured black leather belts to match the hat, with a matching black leather holster for the Secret Service issue sidearm. The tunic was topped off with a gold ceremonial shoulder braid, black pants with a white stripe down the legs and black leather shoes” (https://images.app.goo.gl/GUALUUwZxT2jxdvj9).
Incessant mockery foiled the transformation. The uniforms were mothballed shortly after their introduction.
“The Secret Service wasn’t the last group to use the uniforms, however. After a decade of sitting in storage, the U.S. government decided to remove them and put them up for sale (at a deep, deep discount) to a school district marching band in Iowa who was having trouble procuring uniforms of their own. For around $5, the Iowa high schoolers were now able to wear the finest in government-made uniforms.”
Don’t expect Trump to capitulate if he and Melania (if she deigns to return to the White House) decide to renovate their surroundings more to their imperial liking, critics be damned.
