Last Sunday’s near assassination of former President Donald Trump shed an unfortunate spotlight on the fact that acting Presidents — or even former Presidents — are high-profile targets of enemies both home and abroad.
Four acting Presidents have been killed while in office: John F. Kennedy, William McKinley, James Garfield, and Abraham Lincoln.
But there have been dozens of other attempts on the lives of other American presidents throughout the years — including the most recent attack on Trump.
John Hinckley Jr’s thwarted gun shot at Ronald Reagan, a malfunctioned grenade aimed at George W. Bush, and even shot fired at the White House during Barack Obama’s presidency are well-known.
But there have been other attacks on the lives of past Presidents that many Americans have forgotten about.
Here are four infamous attacks that made headlines at the time… but you may have forgotten about.
1912 – Theodore Roosevelt
During a campaign stop in Milwaukee while running for a third term as president, Roosevelt was shot in the chest but went to the hospital only after delivering an 84-minute speech with a round from a .38 revolver lodged in the cavity of his chest.
Blood seeped from Roosevelt’s body and soaked his white shirt with a large crimson stain as he spoke.
1974 – Richard Nixon
Samuel Joseph Byck shot and killed a cop and the co-pilot as he attempted to hijack Delta Airlines Flight 523 on the ground at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
It was part of a suspected plot to kill then-President Richard Nixon by crashing the DC-9 passenger jet into the White House. Byck carried an incendiary device on the plane — and shot and wounded the pilot.
1994 & 1996 – Bill Clinton
Clinton was the target of multiple assassination attempts.
Frank Eugene Corder stole a Cessna 150L single-engine prop plane on the night of Sept. 11, 1994, and the next day attempted to crash it into the White House to kill the president. Corder was killed instead when he crashed into South Lawn.
Two years later, Clinton along with then-first lady Hillary Clinton, were just about to land in the Philippines when Secret Service agents discovered an explosive device on the planned motorcade route through Manila.
The agents quickly changed the route of the presidential procession, saving the president and first lady from a suspected al-Qaeda assassination attempt.