Devin Jacobs
Imagine surviving one attempt on your life, then facing another. These ten American presidents lived that nightmare repeatedly, dodging danger throughout their careers. Some got lucky, others benefited from quick-thinking protection. Each story shows how thin the line between life and death is in politics.
Gerald Ford
Two California assassination attempts within 17 days shook September 1975. Charles Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, wearing a Little Red Riding Hood outfit, drew her pistol but couldn’t fire. After the second attempt, Secret Service agents smothered Ford in his limousine until he protested.
William Howard Taft
America’s heaviest president faced death in El Paso during a historic 1909 border meeting with Mexico’s leader. Basically, a gunman named Julius Bergerson attempted to assassinate him. Taft was the heaviest president in U.S. history at over 300 pounds, making him an easy target.
Abraham Lincoln
Before John Wilkes Booth succeeded, Lincoln survived the Baltimore Plot during his inaugural journey and a 1864 bullet through his stovepipe hat. Traveling disguised through Baltimore sparked ridicule and accusations of cowardice. Lincoln dismissed the hat incident as a hunting accident, fearing the spread of rumors.
Barack Obama
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired seven rounds at the White House in 2011, breaking windows. The terrorist group FEAR literally spent around $87,000 on the required materials. Denver white supremacists also planned convention sniping, with Ricin letters threatening worse violence ahead.
Andrew Jackson
History’s first presidential assassination attempt nearly killed the leader in 1835. Richard Lawrence’s dual pistols misfired in the Capitol rotunda—odds calculated at 125,000 to 1. Jackson was luckily saved due to the moisture in the air, being 67 years old at the time.
Theodore Roosevelt
Campaign bullets couldn’t stop the Bull Moose. Shot in Milwaukee while seeking a third term, Roosevelt’s speech manuscript and eyeglass case slowed the shooter’s shot. Knowing the wound wasn’t fatal, he delivered an 84-minute speech before seeking medical attention. The pellet remained in his body permanently.
George W. Bush
A Georgian grenade landed 61 feet from Bush during his 2005 Tbilisi speech, but the handkerchief wrapping prevented detonation despite the pulled pin. Years later, Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab conducted surveillance at Bush’s Dallas home, plotting a murder before FBI informants thwarted him.
Bill Clinton
It is said that Francisco Martin Duran’s White House rifle attack marked the beginning of danger. Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden masterminded two separate plots against Clinton. Additionally, on November 24, 1996, his motorcade was rerouted in Manila after authorities detected an explosive underneath a bridge.
Harry S. Truman
Puerto Rican nationalists stormed Blair House while Truman napped upstairs during White House renovations. The 38-minute gun fight killed attacker Griselio Torresola and heroic Secret Service agent Leslie Coffelt. Fortunately, Oscar Collazo survived the brutality, serving 29 years before President Carter’s commutation.
Richard Milhous Nixon
Samuel Byck’s desperate February 1974 plan involved hijacking a DC-9 to crash into the White House. The Weather Underground gang simultaneously plotted multiple attacks on the administration. Bremer later shot Governor George Wallace; Byck attacked officers before police ended his rampage.