Political Assassinations and Attempts in US History: The Lasting Effects of Gun Violence Against American Political Leaders

by J. Michael Martinez

The long, dark history of political violence in the United States

Violence has been employed to achieve political objectives throughout history. Taking the life of a perceived enemy is as old as mankind. Antiquity is filled with examples of political murders, such as when Julius Caesar was felled by assassins in 44 BCE.

While assassinations and assassination attempts are not unique to the American way of life, denizens of other nations sometimes look upon the US as populated by reckless cowboys owing to a “Wild West” attitude about violence, especially episodes involving guns.

In this book, J. Michael Martinez focuses on assassinations and attempts in the American republic. Nine American presidents—Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan—have been the targets of assassins. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt was also a target shortly before he was sworn into office in 1933. Moreover, three presidential candidates—Theodore Roosevelt, Robert F. Kennedy, and George Wallace—were shot by assailants. In addition to presidents and candidates for the presidency, eight governors, seven U.S. senators, nine U.S. House members, eleven mayors, seventeen state legislators, and eleven judges have been victims of political violence.

Not all political assassinations involve elected officials. Some of those targeted, such as Joseph Smith, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., were public figures who influenced political issues. But their cases are instructive because of their connection to, and influence on, the political process.

No other nation with a population of over 50 million people has witnessed as many political assassinations or attempts. These violent episodes trigger a series of important questions. First, why has the United States—a country constructed on a bedrock of the rule of law and firmly committed to due process—been so susceptible to political violence? Martinez addresses these questions as he examines twenty-five instances of violence against elected officials and public figures in American history.

Genres: American History

456 pages, Hardcover

Published November 14, 2017

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

J. Michael Martinez began his career in the private practice of law. He later earned a Ph.D. in political science and a second Ph.D. in public administration. Martinez’s scholarly work has appeared in numerous academic publications, including Administration & Society; The American Review of Public Administration; The Georgia Historical Quarterly; The Journal of Environment & Development; The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy; The Journal of Policy History; Nonprofit Management & Leadership; Politics & Policy; and The South Dakota Law Review, among others. He also has co-edited and contributed chapters to three academic texts: Ethics and Character: The Pursuit of Democratic Virtues (Carolina Academic Press, 1998); Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South (University Press of Florida, 2000); and The Leviathan’s Choice: Capital Punishment in the Twenty-first Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). He has written three books on Southern history: Life and Death in Civil War Prisons (Rutledge Hill Press, 2004), a selection of the History Book Club; Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction ( Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); and Coming for to Carry Me Home: Race in America from Abolitionism to Jim Crow (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). His other books include Administrative Ethics in the Twenty-first Century (with William D. Richardson; Peter Lang Publishers, 2008), Public Administration Ethics for the Twenty-first Century (Praeger, 2009), and Terrorist Attacks on American Soil: From the Civil War Era to the Present (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).

Since 1992, Martinez has worked in the Government Affairs & Environment Department at Dart Container Corporation, a leading manufacturer of disposable foodservice products. During the 1990s, he taught political science at Georgia State University and environmental law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. He now teaches political science, criminal justice, and public administration courses as a part-time faculty member at Kennesaw State University, the University of South Dakota, and the University of Georgia, respectively. From 1988 until 1992, he was on the staff of the Southern States Energy Board, a non-profit interstate compact organization that researches energy and environmental laws and regulations.

Reviews

[W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite topics to read and learn about, but there aren’t many books out there about it outside of those about Lincoln and Kennedy (one exception is Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic, which is an amazing novel that I recommend to anyone interested in presidential assassinations). This book expertly and succinctly covers many different incidents, using many excellent sources and succinctly telling the story of what happened in one chapter. The acts of violence are not limited just to US presidents, as the book also covers other government officials and significant figures in US history. Overall, this is THE book for assassinations and attempts-no other book goes so in-depth or covers these events quite as well.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting analysis of Political Assassinations throughout history. The information is well presented and not the most uplifting subject. It does make you think on how if someone would have interrupted any of the assassins how history would have been different or if the bullet was a 1/16" either way how many would not have lived.