# Could Bill Gates have the President killed, if he really wanted to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2007, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167 "2007-11-20T09:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/1 "2007-11-20T09:18:20Z")
For some reason, Bill Gates decides that he wants George Bush dead. He’s willing to use up to $50 billion to accomplish this task. Could he, with no current spy/assassin knowledge and contacts, assemble the manpower/intelligence/resources he needs to kill the President? Would his team be able to succeed? Would he be able to keep this scheme quiet until the deed is done? Finally, would he be able to get away with it? I know nothing about the world of assassination beyond what I’ve seen in movies, so I am quite curious as to how even the richest person on Earth could go about it. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/2 "2007-11-20T09:47:42Z")
I’d say he could relatively easily. One guy with a rifle killed Kennedy, and some crazy guy almost got Reagan. Luckily for the President the intersection of people that are crazy enough to want to kill him, and those that are sane and intelligent enough to do so is very small. Gates is certainly a smart guy, and there is little doubt that he could get it done. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/3 "2007-11-20T13:56:35Z")
Kill the president himself, or simply have it done for him? The former, 50/50; the latter, easily. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/4 "2007-11-20T13:59:19Z")
Well, theoretically he could – but how do you go about lining up an assassin without word of what you’re up to getting out? He may be within six degrees of separation of a hired killer – but might not one of those six degrees say something about the fact that he’s looking? ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/5 "2007-11-20T14:19:46Z")
I’d say that Bill Gates trolling for competent hitmen would be less likely to succeed than the average psycho who gets himself a gun or a homemade bomb. Unless Gates already has connections to those circles of criminals (and I don’t think he does), he’d have to develop them. And the government has many ears listening to those channels. He’d likely get found out and caught before ever finding someone willing to take the contract. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/6 "2007-11-20T14:21:48Z")
Here’s my $0.02, carefully stolen from “Minority Report” the film. Find some terminally ill guy who has no life insurance and has spent most of his family’s savings on medical care. Ask him to kill the President on the promise that his family would be financially looked after when he’s gone. Gates could offer him plastic surgery so he wouldn’t be identified (and his family traumatised after his death) and then discretely pay up into a bank account with the odd wad of cash here and there. Also based on a drunken idea that death scenes in films could be acted out for real using terminally ill patients, but that one wasn’t mine either. ---
**Author:** ![yelimS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/54ee81/32.png) [@yelimS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelimS)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/7 "2007-11-20T15:01:14Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Also based on a drunken idea that death scenes in films could be acted out for real using terminally ill patients, but that one wasn’t mine either. [/QUOTE] What? You want your grandmother die like some bird in hospital room. Her translucent skin so thin you can see her last heartbeat works its way down her blue veins. Or do you want her to meet Chuck Norris? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/8 "2007-11-20T15:34:00Z")
And here I was going to say that he could hire some poor and corrupt country to stage a sharp, but small-scale and temporary, invasion of Washington that would just happen to catch the President in its clutches… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/9 "2007-11-20T15:50:05Z")
Bill Gates doesn’t have people killed. He “buys them out”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Maltese\_Bippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@The\_Maltese\_Bippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Maltese_Bippy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/10 "2007-11-20T15:58:04Z")
The main drawback, as Jack Kennedy found out with Castro, to hired guns is that they can a) not complete the job and b) make you a retribution target. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/11 "2007-11-20T16:31:31Z")
My first instinct is no, as there are already plenty of people out there with the will and large resources at their disposal (albeit not 50 billion). The Secret Service gears up for these sorts of things, and keeps an eye out already. But how many of them can arrange a meeting with the Prez? I daresay that if Billy _really_ wanted to arrange a meet (for nefarious reasons or not), he could do it with a minimum of phone calls. Privy to the details of the meeting, it would be much simpler to arrange an “accident” or some such non-traceable event. That is, simpler than starting from scratch with the President as your target. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/12 "2007-11-20T16:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Also based on a drunken idea that death scenes in films could be acted out for real using terminally ill patients, but that one wasn’t mine either. [/QUOTE] When I was a kid, I used to wonder if dangerous movie stunts were performed by death row inmates. “Okay, Ted, you have a choice between sitting in the electric chair, inhaling lethal gas, or appearing in the new Clint Eastwood movie by driving this Corvette off a cliff and exploding.” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/13 "2007-11-20T17:39:48Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] When I was a kid, I used to wonder if dangerous movie stunts were performed by death row inmates. “Okay, Ted, you have a choice between sitting in the electric chair, inhaling lethal gas, or appearing in the new Clint Eastwood movie by driving this Corvette off a cliff and exploding.” [/QUOTE] There was a CBS radio Mystery Theater similar to this that took place “in the future.” Criminals were sentenced to a certain amount of time in the movies. They’d be cast as soldiers in war flicks mostly, given weapons and told to fight. The ones who did really well and survived would get better weapons or situations in their next film. Eventually, if you lived long enough, you’d get your freedom. As for the OP, Bill could probably do it and I have a few ideas how but damned if I am going to make a permanent record of it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/14 "2007-11-20T17:46:07Z")
He could program a subliminal command to chow down on pretzels into Dubya’s laptop screensaver. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/15 "2007-11-20T17:56:30Z")
I’m not sure how long this is going to be in GQ, but anyway. Anybody as rich and powerful as Gates has contacts. That’s a big part of what power is. I’ve got no doubt he can call up somebody who can put him in touch with somebody who can put him in touch with somebody who can put together a team of former SAS commandos who could get through the Secret Service and get the job done. What I can’t believe is that he could guarantee everybody would keep quiet once all investigations started. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/16 "2007-11-20T18:21:33Z")
[QUOTE=Windwalker] Could he … assemble the … resources he needs to kill the President? [/QUOTE] His greatest resource is not his wealth but the fact that almost all computers use his software without disclosing it’s source code. For instance, he could plant subliminal messages into Solitaire to “kill the president.” Or he could have Outlook notify him if it found an assassin. Or he could do what he does now and have Windows keep him abreast of all governmental and business secrets. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/17 "2007-11-20T18:29:27Z")
Air traffic control computers. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/18 "2007-11-20T18:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] For instance, he could plant subliminal messages into Solitaire to “kill the president.” [/QUOTE] That only works on Raymond Shaw. What constitutes “getting away with it”? Gates could undoubtedly accomplish the task of getting anyone he wants killed and has the resources to leave the United States and reside permanently in a country without extradition laws. Does living free in another country for the rest of his life count as “getting away with it”? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/19 "2007-11-20T19:04:45Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] Anybody as rich and powerful as Gates has contacts. [/QUOTE] Nah, it’s much more fun to imagine Gates calling up the White House (because you know a guy at his level has some direct-dial power), arranging to drop by the Oval Office (because Bush can’t ignore a meeting request), walking in, extending his grip for a handshake, and then suddenly shanking him with like a sharpened toothbrush or something. Way more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167/20 "2007-11-20T19:07:32Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] There was a CBS radio Mystery Theater similar to this that took place “in the future.” Criminals were sentenced to a certain amount of time in the movies. They’d be cast as soldiers in war flicks mostly, given weapons and told to fight. The ones who did really well and survived would get better weapons or situations in their next film. Eventually, if you lived long enough, you’d get your freedom. [/QUOTE] Of course, your average convict might or might not have the acting ability one would demand even of an extra or walk-on. Applying the concept to a [reality show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_running_man) would work better. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-gates-have-the-president-killed-if-he-really-wanted-to/427167.md?page=2)