Monday Maniacs - Presidential Assassins

February 18, 2008

Let me first start by saying, “Happy President’s Day.” However, for the Presidents on this list, it wasn’t such a happy day when they were assassinated. This weeks installment of Monday Maniacs will cover the four assassins who killed Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy.

John Wilkes Booth - Abraham Lincoln

Out of the four assassins in today’s article two names will stand out to any American, the first is John Wilkes Booth. Booth assassinated the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. However, both Booth and his family name were well known in the nineteenth century. Mentioning the Booth name in the 1800’s would be like walking down Hollywood Boulevard and saying Cruise, Ford, or Brando.

John Wilkes Booth got his stage acting career started at the Weatley’s Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia. He would eventually become the lead act for his theatre group, but was always living up to his father’s legacy. Booth would also be seen with many women and was very popular in his day.

Booth would later become involved with the Southern way of life and eventually found his interests leading toward Southern politics. This would play a crucial role leading up to the Civil War. While Booth did not join the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he did support their cause any way he could.

Only a few days after the Confederacy fell, Booth was to star in Our American Cousin in Washington, D.C.’s Fords Theatre. Booth entered the theatre that evening and went up to the presidential box. He then snuck up behind Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head. One of the men with the President attempted to restrain Booth, but Booth stabbed him and made his famous leap. However, Booth’s foot would get caught on a flag and caused his broken leg.

It would take Union soldiers twelve days to finally track down Booth at farm in Port Royal, Virginia. Booth was shot while attempting to escape the soldiers and died on the farm house porch. Ironically enough, what is left of this historically significant location is now a highway median.

Up next: Garfield and Guietau

Charles J. Guiteau - James Garfield

Charles J. Guiteau tried out many things in life, and was never really successful at any of them. He inherited some money from his Grandfather and attempted to go to the University of Michigan, however his lack of an academic upbringing caused him to fail his entrance exams. He would then go on to the religious community of Oneida, New York where he would leave and come back a few times. One of these times he tried to start a newspaper in New Jersey based on the religion.

Guiteau would eventually get a license to practice law in Chicago. It is said that he was a horrible lawyer, and may have actually argued one case. He, instead, spent his time as a bill collector. Guiteau’s interests would soon turn to politics and he wrote a speech in firm defense of James Garfield. He believed that his speech was what got Garfield elected and that he deserved an office for this. However, much as in earlier years, he would fail many times to gain a public office from it.

Charles J. Guiteau would turn his attentions instead to staling the President. He bought a revolver and continued following the President around. On the morning of July 2, 1881 Garfield was on his way to deliver a speech at Williams College, his alma mater. As was customary at the time, Garfield was only escorted by some of his Cabinet members. When Garfield entered the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington, Guiteau came up behind him and shot him point-blank in the back.

Unfortunately for President Garfield, the bullet did not kill him instantly. That would take another 11 days. James Garfield would eventually die from infection, caused by his own doctors looking for the bullet in his back.

Up next: McKinley and Czolgosz

Leon Czolgosz - William McKinley

Leon Czolgosz was the son of Polish immigrants born in Michigan. He was sent to work in a factory in Pennsylvania at the age of 16 but moved home a few years later. Leon witnessed many factory strikes in his life, and this pushed him towards anarchism. His involvement with the anarchist movement convinced him that American society had done him wrong and he would get his revenge.

President McKinley was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in September 1901. Czolgosz, upon hearing that McKinley would be there, took a train to Buffalo and rented a room. On the morning of September 6, 1901, McKinley was in a receiving line at the Exposition. Leon approached, as McKinley reached out to shake his hand, Czolgosz fired his gun twice. One of the shots hit a rib, and bounced off, not a life-threatening wound. However, the second went into the abdomen, hit several organs and became lodged in McKinley’s muscle.

Because of the bullet’s placement, doctors could not immediately find it. But, they could have been aided by one of the items on exhibit, an X-ray machine. Because the doctors could not find the bullet, they simply left President McKinley’s wound open. As with Garfield, this would prove to be fatal.

McKinley survived for a few more days, and his condition seemed to be improving. He was alert and talking with his wife. On September 14, 1901 President McKinley succumbed to infection and gangrene.

This assassination would not be in vain for the U.S., however. Afterwards Congress gave the Secret Service, formed in 1865, made the of protecting the President of the United States part of their duties along with deterring counterfeiting.

Up next: Kennedy and Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald - John F. Kennedy

Lee Harvey Oswald was born to a single mother in Louisiana, his father having died two months before he was born. He was raised by his mother with his two older brothers. Oswald would lead a troubled youth, often throwing temper tantrums and getting in trouble. This would lead him to leave school in ninth grade without a high school diploma.

Oswald would later join the Marines, where he scored 2 points over the required score for sharpshooter. His career in the Marines would be mostly uneventful, he had been trained as a Radar operator and finished out his tour doing simple labor.

Lee would emigrate to the Soviet Union when he was only 19. He would renounce his U.S. citizenship and the Marines change his discharge to a Section 8. Things didn’t go as planned for Oswald in the Soviet Union, he had wanted to study at Moscow University, but was instead given a job as a lathe operator in Minsk. After two and a half years in the Soviet Union, Oswald would make his return to the U.S. and gained some popularity due to renouncing his citizenship and then returning home.

After his return from the Soviet Union, Oswald spent time in Dallas, New Orleans, and Mexico. During this two year period he continually debated returning to the Soviet Union. He was fed up with the anti-Communism movement in America. Oswald would eventually return to Dallas.

On the morning of November 22, 1963 Oswald entered the Texas School Book Depository. In his possession was an Italian Carcano rifle. He would wait until 12:30 p.m. CST for the President’s motorcade to pass the Book Depository before firing three shots (according to witnesses). President Kennedy was struck in the back by the first bullet, which exited his throat. This bullet would go on the strike the Governor of Texas, John Connally in the back.

A second bullet would deliver the fatal blow to President Kennedy’s head. After the first shot, the President’s limo raced from the scene and left for Parkland Memorial Hospital, where they would pronounce the President dead at 1:00 p.m. CST.

Lee Harvey Oswald would eventually be captured in a movie theatre and taken for questioning. As he was being moved two days later, Jack Ruby would deliver a fatal gunshot to Lee Harvey Oswald in the parking garage of the Dallas Police headquarters.

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