Attempts on presidents: from the “Tecumseh curse” to lone psychos. Attempts and assassinations of US presidents

  • 02.02.2024
Home -> Encyclopedia ->

How many US presidents have been assassinated?

Mirmur, not so few out of 43 - 4, that’s almost 10%, should I announce the whole list? Please:

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). One of the organizers of the Republican Party who opposed slavery. During the Civil War of 1861-1865, unleashed by the planters of the South, Lincoln's government carried out a number of revolutionary democratic reforms, in particular, it adopted laws on homesteads, the abolition of slavery and switched to revolutionary methods of warfare, which ensured the military defeat of slave owners. Killed by an agent of the planters.

James Abram Garfield (1831-1881). During the Civil War of 1861-1865, one of the commanders of the army of the North. Mortally wounded in an assassination attempt. Presidential term: 1881

William McKinley (1843-1901). Member of Congress since 1877, initiator of the law on increasing the customs tariff in 1890. The McKinley government unleashed the Spanish-American War of 1898 and proclaimed the “open door” doctrine in China (1899). Killed by an anarchist.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963). In 1941-1945, a naval officer. In 1947-1961 in the US Congress. As president, he put forward a program of limited socio-economic reforms. He advocated strengthening military blocs and the US armed forces. At the same time, he leaned toward a more realistic course in relations with the USSR, which provoked attacks from extremely reactionary circles in the United States. Killed in Dallas, Texas.

Since 1840, every US president elected in a year ending in zero was either assassinated, died on the job, or was seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Each of these cases occurred in an odd year and on an even day of the month.

American police have arrested a Los Angeles man on charges of threatening to kill US President George W. Bush.

The first American president to be assassinated was Andrew Jackson. On January 30, 1835, in the Capitol building, 35-year-old painter Richard Lawrence approached him and, grabbing a pistol, tried to shoot twice, but the pistol misfired. The criminal was captured and stated that he was taking revenge on Jackson for being unemployed. The president himself claimed that the assassin was sent by his political opponents.

On April 14, 1865, the president was mortally wounded in a theater box in Washington and died the next day. Abraham Lincoln. US Secretary of State William Seward, who was sitting next to him, was wounded but survived. The killer was an actor, a supporter of the defeated Confederacy.

On July 2, 1881, at the Washington Station, the failed far-right politician Charles Guatier (Guiteau), suffering from a nervous breakdown, shot the president at point-blank range. James Garfield. On September 19, 1881, he died from general blood poisoning.

On September 6, 1911, the President was seriously wounded during the opening ceremony of the Pan-American Exposition in Chicago. William McKinley. Died on September 14. His killer was 28-year-old anarchist Leon Spolgots.

On October 14, 1912, an assassination attempt was made during a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Theodore Roosevelt. Despite being wounded in the chest, the president did not leave the podium and completed his speech to voters and only after that turned to the doctors. The attacker, John Schrank, was declared insane.

On February 15, 1933, shortly after winning the election but before his inauguration, an assassination attempt was made on Franklin. Delano Roosevelt. In Miami, Florida, he was shot by anarchist Giuseppe Zangarra. A woman standing nearby managed to hit the criminal in the hand at the time of the shot. Zangarra missed Roosevelt, but fatally wounded Chicago Mayor Anthony Cermak.

On November 1, 1950, an attempt was made to assassinate the President. Harry Truman at his residence on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Two Puerto Rican nationalists made an attempt on his life. There was a three-minute shootout between the guards and the attackers, as a result of which the guard and one of the attackers were killed, and the second attacker was arrested.

On November 22, 1963, the US President was assassinated in Dallas. John Kennedy. According to the official version, the lone killer was former paratrooper Lee Harvey Oswald, who lived for several years in the capital of Belarus, Minsk. Two days later, Oswald was shot and killed in Dallas police custody by Jack Ruby as he was being taken to federal prison. This assassination attempt still remains one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century.

On February 22, 1974, an assassination attempt was made in Baltimore Richard Nixon. A gunman armed with a pistol stormed a Delta Airlines plane flying to Atlanta and, threatening to blow up the plane with all the passengers, ordered the pilots to fly towards the White House. He said he was going to kill President Nixon. After a shootout with the FBI special forces, the criminal shot himself. A homemade bomb was found in his briefcase.

In September 1975, two assassination attempts were made on the president. Gerald Ford. On September 5, in Sacramento, California, the president was shot by Lynette Fromme, a member of the Charles Manson terrorist gang. The gun was loaded, but it misfired. On September 21, as President Ford left his hotel in Los Angeles, he was shot by left-wing activist Sarah Jane Moore. A bullet fired from a 38-caliber pistol flew a meter from the president.

On March 30, 1981, in Washington, twenty-five-year-old disc jockey John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan, released after speaking at a construction union convention from the Washington Hilton Hotel. The bullet, having pierced the chest, passed one and a half centimeters from the president’s heart and lodged in the lung. It was only possible to remove it after a four-hour operation. In addition to Reagan, the White House press secretary, a Secret Service agent and a police officer were seriously injured. A forensic medical examination found Hinckley insane and sent him for compulsory treatment.

In April 1993, it became known about an assassination attempt planned on George H. W. Bush. American intelligence services uncovered a plot according to which the car of the then ex-president of America was to be blown up during a visit to Kuwait.

In the entire history of independent America, no president has had as many assassination attempts made as his Bill Clinton. Four attacks on the president’s life occurred only within 8 months (from September 12, 1993 to May 23, 1994). According to some sources, attempts were made on Clinton's life about 30 times; More than 80 people were detained on suspicion of attempted murder, most of them mentally ill.

Repeated assassination attempts were made on the current president George W. Bush.

On May 10, 2005, during Bush's speech on Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgian citizen Vladimir Harutyunyan threw a grenade towards the stage. It didn't explode by accident.

In March 2007, Jordanian military prosecutors announced the discovery of a plot to assassinate US President George W. Bush during his visit to the kingdom in November 2006. Three Jordanians intended to blow up the US and Danish embassies in Amman at a time when the American president would be in one of them.

In March 2007, Colombian intelligence services announced that they had information about an impending assassination attempt on George W. Bush during his visit to this country.

In June 2007, Bulgarian intelligence services reported a planned assassination attempt on the American president during his visit to the Bulgarian capital.

American police have arrested a Los Angeles man on charges of threatening to kill US President George W. Bush.

The first American president to be assassinated was Andrew Jackson. On January 30, 1835, in the Capitol building, 35-year-old painter Richard Lawrence approached him and, grabbing a pistol, tried to shoot twice, but the pistol misfired. The criminal was captured and stated that he was taking revenge on Jackson for being unemployed. The president himself claimed that the assassin was sent by his political opponents.

On April 14, 1865, the president was mortally wounded in a theater box in Washington and died the next day. Abraham Lincoln. US Secretary of State William Seward, who was sitting next to him, was wounded but survived. The killer was an actor, a supporter of the defeated Confederacy.

On July 2, 1881, at the Washington Station, the failed far-right politician Charles Guatier (Guiteau), suffering from a nervous breakdown, shot the president at point-blank range. James Garfield. On September 19, 1881, he died from general blood poisoning.

On September 6, 1911, the President was seriously wounded during the opening ceremony of the Pan-American Exposition in Chicago. William McKinley. Died on September 14. His killer was 28-year-old anarchist Leon Spolgots.

On October 14, 1912, an assassination attempt was made during a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Theodore Roosevelt. Despite being wounded in the chest, the president did not leave the podium and completed his speech to voters and only after that turned to the doctors. The attacker, John Schrank, was declared insane.

On February 15, 1933, shortly after winning the election but before his inauguration, an assassination attempt was made on Franklin. Delano Roosevelt. In Miami, Florida, he was shot by anarchist Giuseppe Zangarra. A woman standing nearby managed to hit the criminal in the hand at the time of the shot. Zangarra missed Roosevelt, but fatally wounded Chicago Mayor Anthony Cermak.

On November 1, 1950, an attempt was made to assassinate the President. Harry Truman at his residence on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Two Puerto Rican nationalists made an attempt on his life. There was a three-minute shootout between the guards and the attackers, as a result of which the guard and one of the attackers were killed, and the second attacker was arrested.

On November 22, 1963, the US President was assassinated in Dallas. John Kennedy. According to the official version, the lone killer was former paratrooper Lee Harvey Oswald, who lived for several years in the capital of Belarus, Minsk. Two days later, Oswald was shot and killed in Dallas police custody by Jack Ruby as he was being taken to federal prison. This assassination attempt still remains one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century.

On February 22, 1974, an assassination attempt was made in Baltimore Richard Nixon. A gunman armed with a pistol stormed a Delta Airlines plane flying to Atlanta and, threatening to blow up the plane with all the passengers, ordered the pilots to fly towards the White House. He said he was going to kill President Nixon. After a shootout with the FBI special forces, the criminal shot himself. A homemade bomb was found in his briefcase.

In September 1975, two assassination attempts were made on the president. Gerald Ford. On September 5, in Sacramento, California, the president was shot by Lynette Fromme, a member of the Charles Manson terrorist gang. The gun was loaded, but it misfired. On September 21, as President Ford left his hotel in Los Angeles, he was shot by left-wing activist Sarah Jane Moore. A bullet fired from a 38-caliber pistol flew a meter from the president.

On March 30, 1981, in Washington, twenty-five-year-old disc jockey John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan, released after speaking at a construction union convention from the Washington Hilton Hotel. The bullet, having pierced the chest, passed one and a half centimeters from the president’s heart and lodged in the lung. It was only possible to remove it after a four-hour operation. In addition to Reagan, the White House press secretary, a Secret Service agent and a police officer were seriously injured. A forensic medical examination found Hinckley insane and sent him for compulsory treatment.

In April 1993, it became known about an assassination attempt planned on George H. W. Bush. American intelligence services uncovered a plot according to which the car of the then ex-president of America was to be blown up during a visit to Kuwait.

In the entire history of independent America, no president has had as many assassination attempts made as his Bill Clinton. Four attacks on the president’s life occurred only within 8 months (from September 12, 1993 to May 23, 1994). According to some sources, attempts were made on Clinton's life about 30 times; More than 80 people were detained on suspicion of attempted murder, most of them mentally ill.

Repeated assassination attempts were made on the current president George W. Bush.

On May 10, 2005, during Bush's speech on Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgian citizen Vladimir Harutyunyan threw a grenade towards the stage. It didn't explode by accident.

In March 2007, Jordanian military prosecutors announced the discovery of a plot to assassinate US President George W. Bush during his visit to the kingdom in November 2006. Three Jordanians intended to blow up the US and Danish embassies in Amman at a time when the American president would be in one of them.

In March 2007, Colombian intelligence services announced that they had information about an impending assassination attempt on George W. Bush during his visit to this country.

In June 2007, Bulgarian intelligence services reported a planned assassination attempt on the American president during his visit to the Bulgarian capital.

There is a legend about the “curse of US presidents”, which the leader of the Shawnee tribe Tecumseh imposed on the whites because they deceived him. According to it, every president elected or re-elected in a year divisible by 20 will die or be assassinated before the end of his term. They say that the curse lasts until the seventh generation and then weakens. Allegedly, starting with the first generation, William Henry Harrison, elected in 1840, everything came true. Harrison was known as an active participant in the wars against indigenous tribes; he took more than 12,000 km² of land from the Indians. After his inauguration he lived only a month.

Shawnee Chief Tecumseh

Abraham Lincoln (elected 1860) was assassinated, James Garfield (1880) was shot, William McKinley (1900) was shot, Warren Harding (1920) died of a stroke just 3 years after his election, Franklin Roosevelt (re-elected 1940) died of a cerebral hemorrhage, and the representative of the seventh generation, John Kennedy (1960), was shot in Dallas in 1963. The first person to “break” the curse was Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980. He managed to survive the assassination attempt and died 15 years after the end of his powers.


Assassination of Andrew Jackson

Be that as it may, assassination attempts on US presidents began much earlier than the “Tecumseh curse” began to “come true.” The first was an attack on Andrew Jackson, re-elected to a second term in 1834. On January 30, 1835, he was approached by 35-year-old painter Richard Lawrence in the Capitol building. He pointed a gun at the president and tried to shoot, but by luck the weapon misfired. The attacker was immediately captured. He accused the president of losing his job because of him. However, Jackson himself did not believe this, and thought that the criminal was sent by his political opponents.


Abraham Lincoln's Last Hours

One of the most famous in history was the assassination attempt on the 16th President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, he went to Ford's Theater in Washington for the premiere of the play Our American Nephew. Somehow, the actor and supporter of the southerners, John Wilkes Booth, managed to get into the box where Lincoln and US Secretary of State William Seward were. Booth shot Lincoln in the head, and Seward received a non-fatal wound. The next morning, the US President died without regaining consciousness.


Assassination of James Garfield

James Garfield was president for only six months when, on September 19, 1881, Charles Guiteau made an attempt on his life. At the Washington train station, he approached the president and shot him in the back with a revolver. "My God! What is this?" — was all the president had time to exclaim. Guiteau was a mentally unstable person. He said that it was not he who killed the president, but poor treatment. Indeed, Garfield survived the shot, and the bullet was not close to vital organs, but the doctors who tried to find it in the president’s body did so without gloves or disinfection. As a result, Garfield developed severe purulent inflammation and his heart could not stand it. The bullet was found in the body only after the death of the president.


Assassination of William McKinley

September 6, 1901 25th President of the United States William McKinley participated in the opening of the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo. American anarchist Leon Frank Czolgosz managed to approach the head of state and, being only a meter away, shot him. The first bullet hit the button of the presidential tuxedo and bounced off, and the second bullet hit the stomach. It damaged internal organs and became lodged in McKinley's back. Seeing how the guards were beating the attacker, the president only had time to say: “Go easy on him, guys.” The president was quickly operated on and even began to recover, but just a week later McKinley died from complications of a wound infection. His death came as a shock to the public; Czolgosz was compared to Brutus. The anarchist was soon executed in the electric chair. His last words were: “I killed the President because he was the enemy of good people—good, hard-working people. I am not ashamed of my crime..."


Theodore Roosevelt's bullet-riddled manuscript and glasses case

After McKinley's death, the country was led by a vice president. Theodore Roosevelt. On October 14, 1912, he was also assassinated during a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was about to give a speech to the assembled crowd when he was shot by John Schrank. The bullet entered the chest, piercing a glasses case and a 50-page speech manuscript. Roosevelt, despite being wounded, decided to continue his speech and did not leave the podium. His speech took 90 minutes. He began by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know if you realize I just got shot, but you can’t kill a Moose that easily.” The moose was the symbol of his party. Doctors later came to the conclusion that the bullet did not penetrate the pleura, and trying to remove it would be much more dangerous than leaving it as is. So Roosevelt lived with a bullet in his chest for the rest of his life.


Giuseppe Zangara

On February 15, 1933, already elected president but not yet inaugurated, Franklin Roosevelt gave an impromptu speech at Bayfront Park in Miami, Florida. Anarchist Giuseppe Zangara did odd jobs in the area to support himself. For $8, he bought a .32 caliber revolver from a pawn shop and joined the crowd of spectators. To see his target, he stood on a metal folding chair. A woman standing nearby managed to hit him on the arm. He fired four shots, wounding several people, including Chicago Mayor Anthony Cermak, who was standing next to the president. Roosevelt was unharmed. Cermak died from his injuries. Zangara was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the assassination attempt, but died of peritonitis just 2 days after Roosevelt's inauguration.


Truman Residence

On November 1, 1950, an attempt was made to assassinate the President. Harry Truman. Two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to break into the president's home on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. A shootout ensued between the criminals and the guards, as a result of which one guard and one attacker were killed, and the second criminal was detained. One of the agents noticed that Truman walked up to the window and shouted: “Get back, Mr. President!” Truman walked deeper into the room. Soon a police patrol arrived at the scene. This was the first time there was an attempt on the life of a president in his own residence. However, Truman did not attach much importance to this occasion and a few hours later spoke at the opening of the monument on Arlington.


Assassination of John Kennedy

One of the most mysterious murders of the twentieth century occurred on November 22, 1963. The president John Kennedy was on a visit to Dallas. The presidential motorcade was moving through the city at the moment when former paratrooper Lee Harvey Oswald fired several shots from his rifle. The first bullet hit Kennedy in the back, the second hit the head, making a fist-sized hole in it. Doctors tried to save the president, but to no avail. Two days later, Oswald was shot and killed in Dallas police custody by Jack Ruby while being transported to a federal prison. Until now, many Americans do not believe in the conclusion of the Kennedy assassination commission and build conspiracy theories.


Moore's assassination attempt on Gerald Ford

In September 1975, two attempts were made on the president's life. Gerald Ford. On September 5, Charles Manson follower Lynette Fromme shot Ford in Sacramento. She pointed a gun at him, but before she could fire, she was immediately grabbed by a Secret Service officer. And seventeen days later, on September 22, Sarah Jane Moore, known for her radical views, shot at Ford in San Francisco, but missed. A bullet from a 38-caliber revolver passed just a meter from the president. She was then disarmed by retired Marine Oliver Sipple.


Assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan

On March 30, 1981, an assassination attempt was made on the president in Washington. Ronald Reagan. After speaking at a construction union convention, he was leaving the Hilton Hotel. At that moment, 25-year-old DJ John Hinckley shot Reagan. The bullet pierced the chest and passed just a couple of centimeters from the president's heart, lodged in the lung. After a four-hour operation, she was removed. A White House press secretary, a Secret Service agent and a police officer were also seriously injured in the attack. Hinckley was declared insane and sent for compulsory treatment.


Detention of Francisco Duran

The record holder for the number of planned attacks on life can be called the President Bill Clinton. Once, in 8 months, 4 attempts were made on his life, and in total there are about 30 attempts to kill the president. More than 80 people were detained, most of whom were considered mentally ill. One of the high-profile cases was the shooting of the White House on October 29, 1994. Francisco Martin Duran fired more than 30 shots at the north façade of the building from an automatic rifle. None of the White House employees were injured, and Clinton was actually in the other wing of the building watching football. It is not clear what Durant was counting on when he fired in front of passers-by from a great distance at the White House. As a result, he received 40 years in prison.


50 years ago, on November 22, 1963 at 12.30, a murder occurred in the city of Dallas that changed the course of world history - the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, died, who did everything to prevent the spread of the Cold War and the global nuclear apocalypse. It is worth noting that many government leaders were subject to assassination attempts, regardless of whether they were dictators or promoted the ideas of equality and humanism.

More than 100 pieces of shrapnel were removed from Adolf Hitler after the assassination attempt

The central figure of the Nazi Party simply could not help but attract the attention of the assassins. This man somehow mystically managed to avoid violent death. According to statistics, there were about 20 assassination attempts on Hitler, and at least two of them were carried out by the USSR during World War II.
The first known attempt on Hitler's life occurred on March 1, 1932. Then, not far from Munich, four unknown persons fired at the train in which Hitler was traveling to give a speech to his supporters. The future Fuhrer was not injured.



The most famous assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler is the plot of July 20, 1944. The purpose of the conspiracy is to kill Hitler and sign peace with the Allied forces. An explosion occurred at Hitler's headquarters, located in the Görlitz forest near Rastenburg. The conspirators Keitel and Stauffenberg brought a briefcase containing an explosive device to a meeting attended by 23 people, which they placed under the table. The explosion occurred at 12.42. Four of those present were killed and some were injured. Hitler survived. About a hundred fragments were removed from him, he was temporarily deaf in one ear, he had a dislocated arm and the hair on the back of his head was singed. During the day the Fuhrer could not stand on his feet. On his orders, the execution of the conspirators was turned into humiliating torture and a film was made, which Hitler watched personally.

Joseph Stalin was always saved by security

Several major assassination attempts were prepared on Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. But none of them even ended with the wounding of the father of all nations - the leader’s security was at a very high level. So, in 1939, an assassination attempt was organized on Stalin in his homeland, in the Georgian city of Gori, where Stalin came on vacation. The security exposed the conspiracy of the Georgian Bolsheviks, who believed that Joseph Stalin had betrayed Lenin’s cause.
It is known that in 1939 Germany decided to put an end to the head of the Soviet state by blowing up the Mausoleum. But the terrorists abandoned on the territory of the USSR disappeared into oblivion, and their fate is unknown today.



There is also an attempt to assassinate Stalin by a Soviet citizen. On November 6, 1942, at 14.30, a motorcade of government vehicles left the Kremlin. When the cortege reached Lobnoye Mesto, shots were fired. The security officers returned fire, and the Execution Ground was bombarded with grenades. The terrorist was wounded and surrendered. It turned out to be 33-year-old Savely Dmitriev, a corporal anti-aircraft gunner.

Abraham Lincoln was let down by his love of theater

The sixteenth President of the United States, leader of the Republican Party and liberator of slaves, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. It happened in the guest box of the Ford Theater in Washington. During the play “My American Cousin,” John Wilkis Booth entered the presidential box and said, “Death to tyrants!” shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a pistol.



Thus the life of one of the greatest US presidents was tragically cut short. The President died the next day, and Booth shot himself to avoid falling into the hands of the police. All participants in the conspiracy were arrested and hanged.
It is worth noting that in memory of the great politician, fans annually hold a convention of the Lincoln Presenters Association in Ohio, where they gather.

Mahatma Gandhi, dying, forgave his killer

Mahatma Gandhi, an adherent of the theory of non-violence, happily survived the first assassination attempt and died from the second. On January 30, 1948, Nathuram Godse, a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, sneaked up to Gandhi during a traditional prayer in a crowd of pilgrims and fired three shots.



Two bullets passed through the abdominal cavity, and the third lodged in Gandhi’s heart, damaging his lung. Already dying, Gandhi managed to show with a gesture that he forgives the murderer.

Lenin left the bandits with a bottle of milk in his hands

Officially, there are at least three attempts on the life of leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The most famous is the assassination attempt that occurred on August 30, 1918 at the Michelson plant, when Fanny Kaplan fired three shots at the leader from a revolver. Doctors saved Lenin, but for a long time there was an opinion that the leader was poisoned.



On January 6, 1919, perhaps the most ridiculous assassination attempt took place. Koshelkov’s gang quite accidentally robbed the car in which Lenin was traveling to Sokolniki for the Yolka, organized at the Forest School. According to the recollections of witnesses, one of the attackers pulled out a pistol with the words: “Trick or treat!” Vladimir Ilyich showed his ID and said: “I am Ulyanov-Lenin.” But the bandits repeated the same phrase: “Trick or treat!” Ilyich had no money, so he took off his coat, got out of the car and continued on foot with a bottle of milk for his wife in his hands.

Theodore Roosevelt was saved from a bullet by his speech

American presidents have been attacked by assassins with enviable regularity. So, on October 14, 1912, there was one of several attempts on the life of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. The president was shot with a pistol by John Schrank during his speech in Milwaukee. The assassin shot the president in the chest, but the bullet, having pierced his glasses case, fortunately got stuck in the president's speech, written on 50 sheets.



The President always put the sheets of speech under his jacket so as not to forget them or lose them anywhere. For this quite ordinary habit of Roosevelt, many of his acquaintances often condemned and made fun of the president. The President shocked everyone when, while seriously wounded, he insisted on finishing his speech before going to the hospital.

Reagan hit by ricochet

Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States and a politician from God, was assassinated on January 30, 1981. Today it is impossible to imagine how an armed, mentally unstable person passed through 2 rings of security and came close to the American president. John Hinckley succeeded. He called out to Ronald Reagan, who was leaving the hotel to get into a limousine, and managed to shoot him with a Colt .22 caliber 6 times almost point-blank.



True, one of the bullets ricocheted off the armored glass of the car and hit the president in the chest. Despite his impressive age and difficult surgery, Reagan quickly recovered and returned to his duties as president.

John Kennedy: the death that ended the curse

On November 22, 1963, John Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States and the first president of this country born in the 20th century, was shot dead. This happened in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald fired his M91/38 6.5 mm Carcano carbine twice, hitting him twice in the head. One bullet hit the back of the head, the second - the president's throat. Kennedy died on the spot. John Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, and an eternal flame was lit in his memory.



There is a legend regarding the assassinations of American presidents. Allegedly, the dying leader of the Shawnee tribe, Tecumseh, uttered a curse according to which every US president who took office in a year evenly divisible by 20 would die before the end of his term. The tribal leader cursed the US presidents for violating the agreement between the newcomers and the natives by the “white” man. US presidents were cursed to the seventh generation. John Kennedy became the seventh president of this country to be assassinated.