Trump rally shooting: America's long history of political assassinations and attempts

Former president Donald Trump - who is currently campaigning for a second term - had his ear pierced by a bullet on Saturday (13 July), as he gave a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania. One person in the crowd was killed and another injured, and the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, has also died.

The Saturday incident was not actually the first attempt on Trump’s life. During his 2016 presidential campaign, British national Michael Sandford - who had illegally overstayed on a tourist visa - was sentenced to one year behind bars after he attempted to grab a police officer’s gun at a rally in Las Vegas. He claimed he had wanted to “to shoot and kill” Trump, the Guardian reports.

Sandford had earlier taken a shooting course while in the US, and has approached the officer claiming he wanted Trump’s autograph. The 20-year-old had autism and suffered from mental health issues, and was found to have been suffering a psychotic episode at the time. He was returned to the UK after serving five months of his sentence.

Here are some of the other most infamous and deadly assassinations and attempts on political figures in US history:

Presidents killed

John F. Kennedy, 1963

Perhaps the most infamous presidential assassination worldwide, Kennedy - often known as JFK - was fatally shot in the head while in a motorcade driving through Dallas, Texas - in front of his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. His killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was caught hours later after police discovered the sniper’s hidden perch in the nearby Texas School Book Depository building. Oswald was also assassinated, shot dead by a nightclub owner as he was being transported by police.

William McKinley, 1901

William McKinley was shot after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901. He was shaking hands with people passing through a receiving line when Leon Czolgosz - an unemployed man from Detroit - fired two shots into his chest at point-blank range. Doctors had expected McKinley to recover, PA reports, but unfortunately gangrene set in around his bullet wounds and he died eight days after the shooting.

James Garfield, 1881

James Garfield was the second president to be assassinated, only six months after taking office. He was walking through a railway station in Washington on 2 July, 1881 to catch a train to New England when he was shot by Charles Guiteau.

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet lodged in Mr Garfield’s chest using a device he had designed specifically for the president. A mortally-wounded Garfield rested in the white house for weeks, but ultimately died of his injuries.

Abraham Lincoln, 1865

Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be assassinated, shot by John Wilkes Booth on 14 April 1865, as he and his wife watched a performance at a Washington theatre. He was hit in the back of the head, and passed away the next morning. Lincoln’s support for black rights has often been cited as a motive behind his killing, PA reports, as two years before he was killed he issued the Emancipation Proclamation - which granted freedom to slaves within the Confederate states during the US civil war.

Infamous attempts

There have been near countless plots against US presidents and presidential candidates over the years, including some - like this week’s incident with Trump - that have culminated in actual attempts and close calls, with presidents being injured.

Ronald Reagan was almost killed in 1981 after being shot by John Hinckley Jr after a speech, with the bullet puncturing his lung. Hinckley claimed he had wanted to impress actress Jodie Foster. Three others including Reagan’s press secretary James Brady were also hit, and he suffered permanent brain damage. Although he didn’t die until 2014, Brady’s death was ruled a homicide as it was due to his injuries.

Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt was also famously shot in the chest in 1912 in Milwaukee during his presidential campaign. He was able to tell that the bullet had not reached his lung, and went on to give his speech before going to the hospital. It was determined to be safer to leave the bullet where it was, and it stayed in his chest for the rest of his life.

The year before his assassination, Abraham Lincoln was shot at - with the bullet passing through his signature hat. Franklin Roosevelt was also shot at days before his presidential inauguration, with four others injured and one - the then-mayor of Chicago - killed.

Also before Kennedy’s eventual assassination, a postal worker who filled his car with dynamite was arrested, and revealed he had planned to crash it into the president’s motorcade - but had changed his mind. In 1974, Samuel Byck hijacked a plane which he planned to crash into the White House to kill Richard Nixon, but it was unable to take off. He ended up killing two people, including one of the pilots, then himself after being wounded by police.

There were at least four plots on the lives of Bill Clinton, including two masterminded by terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. His wife Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were a number of Democrats to have pipe bombs mailed to them in 2018. Obama had a number of other attempts on his life, as hid his predecessor George W. Bush - who at one point had a live hand grenade thrown at him while overseas. It luckily didn’t detonate.

Across the world

Of course, political assassinations are not a uniquely American phenomenon. The assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand is widely attributed as being the main catalyst for World War 1.

In more recent years, prominent attacks and assassination attempts have included the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, after he was shot with a homemade gun. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was also shot in both legs in 2022, and a man pointed a gun at Argentinian ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s head - which did not go off, the Telegraph reports.

Slovakia’s current Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot in May 2024 and left with critical injuries, although he ultimately survived.