Reagan, JFK – and now Trump. American history is marked by shootings against both sitting presidents and those who try to reach the White House.
The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was injured and received bloody help off the stage during a campaign meeting. Two people died during the shooting, one of whom is the suspected shooter.
It is far from the first shooting that affects an American president or presidential candidate. Here are some examples:
President Ronald Reagan was the target of an assassination attempt when he left the Hilton hotel in Washington in 1981. He was seriously injured by the shots and was hospitalized for twelve days. Reagan's popularity increased after the incident, which is linked to him showing humor and resilience during his recovery.
President Gerald Ford was the target of two separate assassination attempts in California in 1975, with only 17 days in between. He escaped unharmed both times.
George Wallace was shot in a shopping center in Maryland in 1972 when he tried to become the Democratic presidential candidate. He was paralyzed from the waist down and had to abandon his campaign.
Robert Kennedy was shot to death during his campaign to become the Democratic presidential candidate in 1968. It happened only a few months after the murder of civil rights activist Martin Luther King and had a significant impact on the presidential election that year.
A few years earlier, in 1963, the whole world was shaken when his brother, President John F Kennedy, "JFK", was murdered. He was shot during a car ride through Dallas, sitting next to his wife Jackie Kennedy.
In 1933, the incoming President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt but survived. The Mayor of Chicago was killed in the attack, however.
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was shot during a campaign meeting when he ran for president in 1912. Despite this, Roosevelt decided to hold his speech as planned. The bullet remained in his chest for the rest of his life.
President William McKinley was shot to death in New York in 1901.
President Abraham Lincoln was murdered while watching a play in Washington in 1865. The murder turned out to be part of a larger conspiracy aimed at killing several government officials.
