Since we watched the John F. Kennedy Assassination documentary in class last week, I decided to do research on 2 other presidents who were assassinated. The assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy seem to be much more talked about than the assassinations of President James A. Garfield and President William McKinley, so I decided to so some research to see what I could find on the assassinations of President Garfield and McKinley.
President James A. Garfield
President Garfield was assassinated on July 2, 1881 in Washington D.C. Garfield was killed by a man named Charles Guiteau who believed that Garfield's political decisions were going to destroy the republican party. Garfield was killed at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station while he was leaving to go on vacation. He had been president for only four months when Guiteau pulled the trigger and shot the president in the shoulder and lumbar vertebra. Garfield did not die right away and he was able to hang on for a few months but finally passed away on September 19th of 1881. Guiteau was of course arrested and his trial began in November of that year. He had been a supporter of the President in the beginning and wrote a speech encouraging the ideas of Garfield. Although the speech was never given, Guiteau believed that Garfield's success was because of his speech. Guiteau stated the he was "commanded by God" to kill President Garfield because the President was ungrateful for Guiteau's actions. Charles Guiteau was found guilty and was sentenced to death. On June 30, 1882, he was hung in the District of Columbia.
President William McKinley
President McKinley was another President of the United States who was unfortunately assassinate during his second term. McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz on on September 6, 1901. McKinley was fatally wounded in the Temple of Music which is part of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The President had very high popularity at the time and was doing a meet and greet with the public at the Temple of Music. Czolgosz, who was an anarchist, stood in line for two hours outside the temple with the rest of the public and waited until the doors of the Temple were finally open. Czolgosz had lost his job during the Panic of 1893 and even though McKinley was trying to help the American economy recover, Czolgosz blamed all the economic troubles on the President and believed it was his "duty as an anarchist to kill him". Once Czolgosz entered the Temple and was able to meet the President, Charles shot McKinely in his abdomen and he immediately fell to the ground. The public was shocked and many citizens, who were waiting inline as well, started to beat Czolgosz up. He was eventually arrested and put on trial where he was found guilty and sentenced to death by an electric chair. Many doctors were hopeful that McKinley was going to make it because he seemed to be on the way towards recovery. However, the President took a turn for the worse on September 13th when the doctors realized McKinley's wounds were infected and he unfortunately died the next day.
Fantastic post! I've always wondered why these two assassinations never got the publicity and the notoriety that the attempt on Reagan's life or the Kennedy assassination.
ReplyDeleteGreat research, but I think in one of these assassinations the murderer said something during the shooting. I don't remember the details, but I digress. Great post
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of horrifying that both of them claimed that they assassinated the president because it was their "duty." Just proves the mental instability of these individuals.
ReplyDeletePeople who find themselves in positions of power are always going to have enemies. Unfortunately, some of these enemies turn out to be those radical enough to carry out their own form of social justice through their assassination attempts. We are often told to fight for what we believe in. For example, very few Americans debate the American Revolution as being an inappropriate act even though several tens of thousands of lives were loss. I am not justifying the murders of these presidents, instead I am trying to point out the vagueness of this line: when is it acceptable to fight for what you believe in?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that so three presidents were assassinated in four decades, from the 1860's to 1900. I wonder if this was simply due to a lack in efficient security for the president or due to instability in this time period. I doubt it was due to instability because this era was the "gilded age", but I can't think of another reason why so many presidents were shot in this time period.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! Just as Dylan mentioned, the "radicals" do carry out the assassinations and they still remain in the modern society. Throughout history, Presidents Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, and even Ronald Reagan had attempted assassinations. When the Americans already figured out the lack of tight security with the Kennedy assassination, why do you think assassination attempts were made during Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan's terms, which was a decade or two later?
ReplyDeleteIts really interesting to read about these incidents, and one thing that I noticed was that the perpetrators of these two assassinations seem a lot more mentally unstable than those of Kennedy and Lincoln. This makes a lot of sense, since neither Garfield nor McKinley was as controversial a president as Lincoln or JFK.
ReplyDeleteWhen we saw the documentary on the Kennedy assassination, it was really interesting. But it did not leave me wondering about the assassinations of other presidents. Although I knew about Garfield and McKinley, I did not know the specifics and find it to be an interesting read. As an addition, you should have brought in Lincoln, just a suggestion.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I wonder why these two assassinations are not as widely known as the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. I guess these two, forgive how I word it, more "anticlimatic", just caused by people who can be deemed mentally unstable. It also makes me wonder, as with all assassinations, how could history have changed had these presidents served their full term(s)?
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