# Ever been an attempt on the life of a non-incumbent US presidential candidate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804 "2004-11-20T05:43:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/1 "2004-11-20T05:43:21Z")
The title saya it – attempts against a sitting president don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/2 "2004-11-20T05:49:27Z")
Yes. Someone took a shot at Roosevelt during the campaign for the 1932 election and killed Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago who was on the platform. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/3 "2004-11-20T05:53:15Z")
Actually I was slightly wrong. [Roosevelt had been elected](http://www.graveyards.com/bohemian/cermak.html) by not yet sworn in and was President-elect when the incident happened. ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/4 "2004-11-20T05:55:38Z")
RFK? Or was that during primaries and he wasn’t quite the chosen candidate yet? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/5 "2004-11-20T06:42:08Z")
Bobby Kennedy and George Wallace were both shot while running for president. Neither was his party’s nominee yet, although Kennedy was almost certain to get the Democratic Party nomination when he was murdered in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/6 "2004-11-20T09:53:19Z")
There was also the plot to kill Bush I in 1993. This is what [c-span](http://www.c-span.org/iraq/history.asp) (not noted for their tin-foil hattery) says > [@](#): > > On April 13, 1993, several Iraqi nationals were arrested in Kuwait and charged with plotting an assassination attempt against former President Bush as he visited Kuwait that month. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/7 "2004-11-20T10:04:41Z")
Going through the biographies at [whitehouse.gov](http://whitehouse.gov), I can’t find any presidents that died through violence except the ones assassinated in office. There aren’t any mentions of post-administration attacks, though an Iraqi plot against Bush41 sounds plausible. I’m sure the Secret Service intercepts all kinds of nastiness aimed at former presidents that we never hear about. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/8 "2004-11-20T10:13:33Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > Bobby Kennedy and George Wallace were both shot while running for president. Neither was his party’s nominee yet, although Kennedy was almost certain to get the Democratic Party nomination when he was murdered in 1968. I’m pretty sure Kennedy was killed the day he won the California primary, which basically clinched the nomination for him. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/9 "2004-11-20T12:17:05Z")
Theodore Roosevelt was shot while campaigning in 1912 as the Progressive (or “Bull Moose”) Party’s candidate for President. He finished the speech that he was going to deliver before he sought medical attention. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/10 "2004-11-20T16:00:01Z")
Huey Long was a non-candidate in name only. Someone of note said the only way he was not going to run was if someone killed him. And someone did. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/11 "2004-11-20T16:52:48Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m pretty sure Kennedy was killed the day he won the California primary, which basically clinched the nomination for him. He hadn’t. The majority of the votes at the 1968 Democratic convention were controlled by party bosses, and were not decided in primaries. Odds are, even if Kennedy hadn’t been assasinated, these bosses still wouldn’t have given Kennedy their votes, and Humphrey still would have won the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/12 "2004-11-20T16:56:06Z")
Bobby Kennedy entered the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination very late in the game, only AFTER Lyndon Johnson withdrew. Kennedy had very, very little chance of winning the nomination, as even his closest friends and advisors (like Dick Goodwin) admit. Indeed, Eugene McCarthy resented the hell out of Kennedy for lacking the cojones to make a stand against LBJ until after McCarthy had shown Johnson’s vulnerability. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/13 "2004-11-20T19:08:20Z")
Was Larry Flynt running for office when he got shot? I can’t remember what he was up to at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/14 "2004-11-21T01:41:37Z")
There have been three assassination attempts against major, serious, declared, non-incumbent presidential candidates: Theodore Roosevelt, 1912 (slightly wounded) Bobby Kennedy, 1968 (killed) George Wallace, 1972 (seriously wounded) Franklin Roosevelt was shot at and missed as President-elect in 1933. Huey Long was shot and killed in 1935, and was a _possible_ presidential candidate in 1936, but he would have faced an uphill battle against an incumbent of his own party. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-an-attempt-on-the-life-of-a-non-incumbent-us-presidential-candidate/275804/15 "2004-11-21T10:01:49Z")
Darn, I must’ve skipped the Teddy bio. Shoddy research on my part.