A shooting at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday this hurt former President Donald Trump has heightened concern about political violence and increased awareness of past attacks and assassination attempts against presidents and candidates.
In a social media post shared Saturday night, Trump thanked law enforcement for their quick actions after he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear.”
The Butler County District Attorney confirms to CBS Pittsburgh station KDKA two people have died — the gunman and a member of the public. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that the gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Two other assistants are in critical condition.
Reporters heard numerous gunshots and the Secret Service rushed to the scene. Video captured by CBS News shows Trump touching his ear and then crouching on the ground. You could see some blood on his face.
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Past direct attacks on presidents and candidates
Direct assaults on presidents, presidents-elect and candidates have occurred on 15 separate occasions, and five resulted in death, according to a 2008 report compiled by the Congressional Research Service. Of the 45 people who serve as president, 13 (or about 29%) have been the subject of actual or attempted assassination. That number does not include the latest Trump-related incident.
At least seven of the last nine presidents have been the target of assaults, attacks or assassination attempts. The Congressional Research Service report says presidents who survived attacks include Gerald R. Ford (twice in 1975), Ronald W. Reagan (a near-fatal shooting in 1981), Bill Clinton (when he shooting at the White House in 1994) and George W. Bush (when an attacker threw an unexploded grenade at him and the president of Georgia during an event in Tbilisi in 2005), and the latest report by the Congressional investigation, citing the Secret Service as a source, also says that there have been attempts against former President Barack Obama, Trump and President Biden.
Two other serving presidents were attacked, either as president-elect (Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933) or as a presidential candidate (Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, when he was seeking the presidency after being out of office for almost four years).
Two other presidential candidates — Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968, and George C. Wallace, who was seriously wounded in 1972 — were also victims of direct assaults, according to the report prepared by the Investigative Service of Congress
Presidents who were assassinated
Four presidents—Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy—have been assassinated.
Of the 15 attacks listed in the report, only Lincoln's assassination was the result of a broad conspiracy, the report said. But conspiracy theories still surround many of these events.
In only one incident, the assassination of Lincoln, was a broad conspiracy demonstrated, although such arguments have arisen on other occasions. Only one other incident involved more than one participant: the 1950 assault on Blair House, the temporary residence of President Harry S Truman. But no evidence of other conspirators emerged from the subsequent investigation or prosecution.
Of the 18 attacks or assassination attempts against presidents or presidential candidates, all but two involved firearms. All but two of the attacks, both against Ford, were committed by men. All but one of the 15 attacks occurred in the United States
First documented attack against a president
According to the Congressional Research Service, the first attack occurred in 1835, when an attacker's gun misfired against President Andrew Jackson. The attacker, Richard Lawrence, was declared insane. He said that “Jackson was preventing him from getting large sums of money and was ruining the country,” the report said.
Source: Congressional Research Service, 2008 and 2024
– Jake Miller and John Kelly contributed reporting.
