Four presidents were killed while in office:

• Abraham Lincoln (1865)

Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre just days after the Civil War effectively ended. The timing alone makes it feel like history couldn’t wait to pivot.

• James A. Garfield (1881)

Shot by Charles J. Guiteau. Garfield didn’t die immediately. He lingered for weeks, and many historians believe poor medical treatment contributed to his death as much as the bullet did.

• William McKinley (1901)

Shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition. Another delayed death, another moment where medicine lagged behind the crisis.

• John F. Kennedy (1963)

Shot in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. This is the one that never really settled into history. It still hums in the background of American culture like an unresolved chord.

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Presidents Who Survived Assassination Attempts

A longer list, and in some ways, a more revealing one.

• Andrew Jackson (1835)

The first attempted assassination of a sitting president. The attacker’s guns misfired. Jackson reportedly responded by beating the man with his cane. Not exactly a Secret Service moment.

• Theodore Roosevelt (1912, while campaigning)

Shot in the chest, then delivered a speech anyway. The bullet was slowed by a folded speech manuscript and a glasses case in his pocket. A literal case of paperwork saving a life.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933, president-elect)

Shot at in Miami. He wasn’t hit, but Chicago mayor Anton Cermak was killed. A reminder that these events rarely stay contained.

• Harry S. Truman (1950)

Puerto Rican nationalists attacked Blair House, where Truman was staying. A White House police officer was killed in the firefight.

• Gerald Ford (1975, twice in one month)

Two separate attempts in California, both by women, both failing. Statistically bizarre, historically overlooked.

• Ronald Reagan (1981)

Shot by John Hinckley Jr.. Reagan survived, but the bullet came terrifyingly close to killing him. The incident reshaped modern presidential security.

• Bill Clinton (1994)

Shots fired at the White House by Francisco Martin Duran. Clinton wasn’t harmed.

• George W. Bush (2005)

A grenade was thrown during a speech in Georgia (the country). It failed to detonate. One of those moments where history hinges on a mechanical malfunction.

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