A Brief History
On February 22, 1974, US Army veteran Samuel Byck failed miserably in his attempt to assassinate President Richard Nixon, when he was unable to successfully hijack a DC-9 jetliner in order to crash it into the White House.
Digging Deeper
Byck first stole a .22 caliber pistol and used it to hijack a jet at the BWI airport, shooting a police officer and both pilots in the process. Eventually, Byck was wounded by a police officer shooting through a window in the jet, and Byck then shot himself.
Another notable bungled presidential assassination was the first ever attempted murder of a US president in 1835, when the assassin’s pistol misfired, and President Andrew Jackson beat the assassin senseless with a cane!
The attempt to kill former President Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 left TR with a bullet in his chest, but the Bull Moose went ahead and delivered his 90 minute speech anyway!
Question for students (and subscribers): What was the worst bungled assassination attempt? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Vulich, Nicholas. Killing the Presidents: Presidential Assassinations and Assassination Attempts. history-bytes, 2013.
Watkins, Gary. Presidential Assassinations and Assassination Attempts: Assassinations and the American Presidency. CreateSpace, 2014.
The featured image in this article, an etching of the 1835 assassination attempt of Andrew Jackson, is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1929, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
