US president Donald Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln after what he believes was another assassination attempt following a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. A man allegedly carrying guns and knives attempted to rush past security inside the Washington hotel where Trump was about to speak. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was taken into custody.
In October 2024, Vem Miller, 49, was arrested after trying to enter a Trump rally with a shotgun, loaded handgun, and large amounts of ammunition. Police called it the third assassination attempt on Trump's life. Miller was charged with two misdemeanor weapons offenses and released on $5,000 bail; no federal charges were filed. In September 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with attempting to assassinate the Republican candidate after Secret Service agents found him with a rifle near Trump's golf course in Palm Beach. In July 2024, Trump was shot at during a rally in Pennsylvania. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire, hitting Trump in the ear before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
Trump joined a list of 13 other US presidents and candidates who have suffered assassination attempts over the past 160 years, five of them fatal. Here is a history of those attempts.
Andrew Jackson, 1835
The first US president targeted was Andrew Jackson on January 30, 1835, while leaving the Capitol building in Washington, DC. Unemployed house painter Richard Lawrence aimed a pistol at Jackson, but the gun jammed. Jackson hit Lawrence with his walking stick. Lawrence produced a second pistol, which also misfired before he was subdued. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.
Abraham Lincoln, 1865
Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, while attending a Washington, DC theatre with his wife. He sustained a gunshot wound to the back of the head and died the next morning. The gunman, stage actor and Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth, was found 12 days later in a Virginia barn and shot dead by Union soldiers.
James Garfield, 1881
James Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, at Sixth Street Station in Washington, DC by Charles Guiteau, an aspiring political opponent with a suspected psychological condition. Guiteau shot Garfield twice; the president died several weeks later. Guiteau was executed the following year.
William McKinley, 1901
William McKinley was shot twice in the chest on June 13, 1901, while shaking hands at an exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died in September from gangrene. Leon Czolgosz, a reclusive anarchist, was apprehended and executed by electric chair.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1912
Theodore Roosevelt was shot while getting into a car in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912. A bundle of folded papers and a glasses case in his pocket may have saved his life. John Schrank, a tavern owner, was found insane and institutionalised.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt survived a February 1933 shooting in Miami that killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. Giuseppe Zangara, an unemployed bricklayer, was convicted and executed; experts believe he had mental health issues.
Harry S. Truman, 1950
Harry S. Truman was staying at Blair House in November 1950 when two gunmen broke in. Truman was unhurt, but a police officer and one assailant were killed, and two officers injured. The surviving gunman, Oscar Callazo, was sentenced to death, but Truman commuted it to life; he was released by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
John F. Kennedy, 1963
John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested hours later but shot dead two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Conspiracy theories persist.
Robert F. Kennedy, 1968
Robert F. Kennedy was killed outside a Los Angeles hotel after winning the California primary. Sirhan Sirhan, 24, was the gunman. Kennedy's son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is challenging Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
George C. Wallace, 1972
George C. Wallace was shot on May 15, 1972, during a campaign event in Maryland by Arthur Bremer, a mentally unstable career criminal. Wallace survived but was confined to a wheelchair.
Gerald Ford, 1975
Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts in 1975. In September, Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, a Manson Family member, tried to draw a pistol on him in Sacramento. Seventeen days later, Sara Jane Moore fired a shot that missed in San Francisco. Both served decades in prison.
Ronald Reagan, 1981
Ronald Reagan was shot and injured by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981, in Washington, DC. Reagan recovered, but press secretary James Brady was partially paralysed. Hinckley was sent to a mental institution and released in 2022.
George W. Bush, 2005
George W. Bush was targeted during a trip to the Republic of Georgia when Vladimir Arutyunian threw a hand grenade. Bush was behind bulletproof glass, and the grenade failed to detonate. Arutyunian is serving life in prison.
Barack Obama, 2011
In November 2011, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez fired at least eight rounds at the White House with a semi-automatic assault rifle. The Obama family was not home. The charge of attempted assassination was dropped; Ortega-Hernandez pleaded guilty to terrorism and weapons offenses and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
