Number of assassinations and attempts to assassinate U.S. presidents 1835-2024

July 2024 saw an incredibly close assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was on the campaign trail for the 2024 presidential election. While speaking to his audience, a bullet whizzed past Trump's head, nicking him on the ear and drawing blood in the process, before the Secret Service escorted him to safety. One spectator was killed while shielding family members from the gunfire, and two more were shot but survived, before the perpetrator was shot and killed by security services.Throughout U.S. history, there have been numerous plots and attempts to assassinate U.S. presidents. The first known case was a failed attempt on Andrew Jackson's life in 1835, where both the assassin's guns misfired due to moisture in the air and Jackson then beat the culprit into submission with his cane. More recent attempts include separate, high-profile cases in October 2018, where sixteen bombs were sent via mail to prominent Democrats (including presidents Obama and Clinton), Trump critics, and news outlets, while another culprit sent letters laced with ricin to President Trump and senior U.S. military figures. Throughout history, the majority of these plots have been uncovered or prevented, however several have come close to achieving their aims and four have resulted in the successful assassination of a sitting president.Successful attemptsThe first successful assassination occurred in 1865, when Confederate sympathizers and spies plotted to kill the three highest-ranking figures in the Union, in an effort to re-ignite the American Civil War. Of the three targets, only Lincoln was assassinated after being shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died within 12 hours of being shot, which was much sooner than the second presidential assassination, where James Garfield took almost four months to eventually die from his wounds after being shot in a train station in 1881. The third U.S. president to be assassinated was William McKinley, who was shot twice while meeting members of the public just six months into his second term. The attempt was not immediately fatal and McKinley was even able to dissuade bystanders from killing his attacker, however, one of the bullets was never found and McKinley passed away one week after the attack. The most recent U.S. president to have been assassinated was John F. Kennedy, who was shot by former marine and defector to the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald shot Kennedy from the sixth floor of a nearby warehouse during a public motorcade in Dallas, Texas in 1963, and Kennedy died almost immediately. Although official investigations, forensic tests and eyewitness accounts corroborate the official story that Oswald acted alone, a high number of conspiracy theories surround the event, and a large share of the U.S. population believes that the assassination is part of a larger plot or cover-up, orchestrated by either the CIA, mafia, or foreign entities (among other theories). Close callsWhile on the 1912 campaign trail, former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest before giving a speech. Roosevelt knew that the injury was not fatal, and proceeded to deliver an 84 minute speech before seeking medical attention. In 1981, a gunman shot six bullets at Ronald Reagan as he was meeting a crowd outside a Washington hotel, injuring the president and three others in the attack. One bullet had ricocheted off the side of a car, punctured the president's lung, and caused severe internal bleeding. The president almost died en route to the hospital, but doctors were able to stabilize him and remove the bullet; Reagan returned to the White House less than two weeks later. Another close call was where a gunman fired shots at President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt's car in 1933, missing the President but killing the Mayor of Chicago in the attack. Coincidentally, the only female culprits in these attempts both tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford, in two unrelated attacks in California in September, 1975. The first (who was a member of the Manson Family) was stopped before she could get a shot off at the president, while the second was restrained after shooting twice and injuring one bystander -Ford was unharmed in both attacks. Another near miss was an unsuccessful attempt on Abraham Lincoln's life nine months before his successful assassination; the bullet went through his distinctive, stovepipe hat as he was riding to his summer cottage one evening. The only attempt included here that did not involve a firearm and did not take place in the United States was when a grenade was thrown on stage in Tbilisi, Georgia, as George W. Bush was making a speech there in 2005. Although the pin had been removed, the handkerchief used to conceal the grenade was wrapped too tightly around it for the lever for it to detach; nobody was injured in this attempt; however, the culprit did kill one agent as he was being arrested two months later.

2024年7月，美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普在竞选2024年总统大选的过程中遭遇了一次令人震惊的暗杀未遂事件。在向听众发表讲话时，一颗子弹从特朗普头顶飞过，擦伤了他的耳朵并导致出血，随后特工处将他护送至安全地带。在保护家庭成员免受枪击的过程中，一名观众被击毙，另有两人被击中但幸存，最终行凶者被安全人员击毙。在美国历史上，曾多次出现针对美国总统的暗杀阴谋和企图。最早的已知案例是1835年对安德鲁·杰克逊生命的未遂袭击，当时刺客的枪支因空气中的湿气而走火，而杰克逊随后用拐杖将凶手制服。近年来的企图包括2018年10月发生的几起高调案件，当时有16枚炸弹通过邮寄发送给杰出的民主党人（包括奥巴马和克林顿总统）、特朗普的批评者和新闻机构，而另一名嫌疑人向特朗普总统和高级美国军事人物发送了含有肉毒杆菌的信件。历史上，这些阴谋中的大多数都被揭露或阻止，然而有几起几乎得逞，四起则导致了在任总统的暗杀成功。

成功的暗杀首次发生在1865年，当时南方同情者和间谍密谋杀害联邦最高三位官员，试图重新点燃美国内战。在这三个目标中，只有林肯在被约翰·威尔克斯·布斯从头部射中后遭到暗杀。林肯在被射中后12小时内死亡，这比第二次总统暗杀事件要早得多，当时詹姆斯·加菲尔德在1881年被射中后，在火车站附近经过四个月才因伤势最终死亡。第三位遭到暗杀的美国总统是威廉·麦金利，他在第二任期的六个月内被射中两次，在会见公众时遭到射击。这次袭击并非立即致命，麦金利甚至设法说服旁观者不要杀死他的袭击者，然而，其中一颗子弹始终未找到，麦金利在袭击后一周去世。最近遭到暗杀的美国总统是约翰·F·肯尼迪，他被前海军陆战队员和苏联叛逃者李·哈维·奥斯瓦尔德所射杀。奥斯瓦尔德在1963年德克萨斯州达拉斯的一次公开车队中，从附近仓库的第六层向肯尼迪射击，肯尼迪几乎立即死亡。尽管官方调查、法医测试和目击者证词证实了奥斯瓦尔德单独行动的官方故事，但围绕这一事件有许多阴谋论，大量美国民众认为暗杀是更大阴谋或掩盖行动的一部分，由CIA、黑手党或外国实体（以及其他理论）策划。

险些得逞的事件包括1912年竞选过程中，前总统西奥多·罗斯福在发表演讲前胸部中弹。罗斯福知道他的伤势并非致命，并在寻求医疗援助之前发表了长达84分钟的演讲。1981年，一名枪手向在华盛顿一家酒店外会见人群的罗纳德·里根射击了六发子弹，袭击中总统受伤，三人受伤。一颗子弹从汽车侧面反弹，刺穿了总统的肺部，并导致严重内出血。总统在送往医院的途中几乎死亡，但医生设法稳定了他的病情并取出了子弹；里根在不到两周后返回白宫。另一起险些得逞的事件是1933年，一名枪手向即将就任的总统富兰克林·D·罗斯福的汽车射击，虽然总统幸免于难，但袭击中芝加哥市市长被杀。巧合的是，这两起企图中唯一的女性罪犯都试图暗杀总统杰拉尔德·福特，分别在1975年9月在加利福尼亚州发生的两次无关事件中。第一个（是曼森家族的一员）在向总统开枪前被阻止，而第二个在射击两次并击伤一名旁观者后被制服——福特在这两次袭击中都安然无恙。另一起未遂事件是亚伯拉罕·林肯在成功暗杀前九个月的一次未遂袭击；子弹穿过他标志性的烟囱帽，当时他正骑马前往夏季别墅。唯一没有涉及枪支和未发生在美国的企图是，2005年乔治·W·布什在格鲁吉亚第比利斯发表演讲时，一枚手榴弹被扔到了舞台上。尽管已经拔去了保险销，但用来掩盖手榴弹的手帕绕得太紧，以至于无法使引信脱离；没有人在这起企图中受伤；然而，罪犯在两个月后被逮捕时杀害了一名特工。