Assassinations
How a Wrong Turn Started World War I
As the summer of 1914 approached, the balance of power in Europe looked shaky at best. It would take only a single crisis—the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie Chotek by a young Bosnian Serb nationalist in ...read more
How Presidential Assassinations Changed U.S. Politics
Four U.S. presidents have been murdered while in office – all were brought down by gunfire. And each of these presidential assassinations helped usher in a wave of important reforms and a new political era. Abraham Lincoln’s assassination dramatically changed the Reconstruction ...read more
What Physics Reveals About the JFK Assassination
When dressmaker Abraham Zapruder brought his camera to see President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade pass through Dealey Plaza in Dallas on November 22, 1963, he could never have suspected that he’d witness anassassination—or that his home movie would become one of the most watched ...read more
Did Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination Cause World War I?
The causes of World War I, also known as the Great War, have been debated since it ended. Officially, Germany shouldered much of the blame for the conflict, which caused four years of unprecedented slaughter. But a series of complicated factors caused the war, including a brutal ...read more
Mary Todd Lincoln Became a Laughingstock After Her Husband’s Assassination
Mary Todd Lincoln paced the parlor alone. Hours before, she had witnessed the point-blank assassination of her husband Abraham Lincoln at the nearby Ford’s Theatre; now, she had been banished from the president’s bedside by a furious Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who kicked her ...read more
Why Martin Luther King’s Family Believes James Earl Ray Was Not His Killer
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. An hour later, he was declared dead. For nearly 50 years, the federal government has maintained that James Earl Ray was the gunman who assassinated ...read more
The Revolution That Was 1968
Two assassinations, a bloody war, violent protests, racial unrest, colorful hippies, a celebration of sex and rebellion, and John Lennon’s countercultural anthem, “Revolution”—1968 had them all. It was the year that shattered the fragile consensus that had shaped American society ...read more
Why the Public Stopped Believing the Government about JFK’s Murder
The media frenzy over the release of documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy highlights the ongoing public fascination with JFK and his death. Do the documents add to our understanding of the assassination, the motives of the assassin, or the ...read more
8 Times Queen Victoria Survived Attempted Assassinations
1. Edward Oxford — June 10, 1840 Four months after their royal wedding, newlyweds Queen Victoria and Prince Albert departed Buckingham Palace in an open carriage for their regular ride through Hyde Park. Just 100 yards outside the palace gates, Albert noticed “a little ...read more
6 Infamous Political Conspiracies
1. The Catiline Conspiracy One of ancient Rome’s most scandalous conspiracies unfolded in 63 B.C., when the senator Catiline attempted to mount an uprising against the Republic. Frustrated by a stagnating political career—he had twice failed to be elected consul—Catiline formed ...read more
6 Lesser-Known US Political Assassinations
1. Governor Charles Bent (1847): Scalped by Mexican rebels and Indians Bent, a frontiersman who built a trading empire across the West and was named the first civilian governor of New Mexico when it came under American rule, was attacked and scalped by a group of Hispanic and ...read more
Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto assassinated
On December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto, a former Pakistani prime minister and the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country, is assassinated at age 54 in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. A polarizing figure at home and abroad, Bhutto had spent three decades ...read more
Revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata assassinated in Mexico
Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, is ambushed and shot to death in Morelos by government forces. Born a peasant in 1879, Zapata was forced into the Mexican army in 1908 following his attempt to recover village lands taken ...read more
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme sentenced to life for assassination attempt
A federal jury in Sacramento, California, sentences Lynette Alice Fromme, also known as “Squeaky” Fromme, to life in prison for her attempted assassination of President Gerald R. Ford. On September 5, a Secret Service agent wrested a semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol from Fromme, ...read more
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin assassinated
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is fatally shot after attending a peace rally held in Tel Aviv’s Kings Square in Israel. Rabin later died in surgery at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The 73-year-old prime minister was walking to his car when he was shot in the arm and the ...read more
Italian American assassinates Italian king
In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I is shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in America before returning to his homeland to murder the king. Crowned in 1878, King Umberto became increasingly authoritarian in the late 19th century. He enacted a program ...read more
John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, found not guilty
John W. Hinckley, Jr., who on March 30, 1981, shot President Ronald Reagan and three others outside a Washington, D.C., hotel, was found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity. In the trial, Hinckley’s defense attorneys argued that their client was ill with ...read more
British prime minister Spencer Perceval assassinated
In London, Spencer Perceval, prime minister of Britain since 1809, is shot to death by deranged businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. Bellingham, who was inflamed by his failure to obtain government compensation for war debts incurred in Russia, gave ...read more
Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is found dead
On May 9, 1978, the body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is found, riddled by bullets, in the back of a car in the center of historic Rome. He was kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists on March 16 after a bloody shoot-out near his suburban home. The Italian government ...read more
President McKinley dies of infection from gunshot wounds
U.S. President William McKinley dies after being shot by a deranged anarchist during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York on September 14, 1901. McKinley won his first Congressional seat at the age of 34 and spent 14 years in the House, becoming known as the leading ...read more
James Earl Ray, suspect in Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination, is arrested
James Earl Ray, an escaped American convict, is arrested in London, England, and charged with the assassination of African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, King was fatally wounded by a sniper’s bullet while standing on the ...read more
The prime minister of India is assassinated
Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, is assassinated in New Delhi by two of her own bodyguards. Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, both Sikhs, emptied their guns into Gandhi as she walked to her office from an adjoining bungalow. Although the two assailants immediately ...read more
The president of Egypt is assassinated
Islamic extremists assassinate Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, as he reviews troops on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Led by Khaled el Islambouli, a lieutenant in the Egyptian army with connections to the terrorist group Takfir Wal-Hajira, the terrorists, all wearing ...read more
Sirhan Sirhan receives death penalty for assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
On April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to the death penalty after being convicted in the assassination of politician Robert F. Kennedy. In 1972, Sirhan’s sentence was commuted to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty. In the early morning hours of ...read more