Prompted by news that Bush#41’s security system was inoperative for several months…
Four U.S. Presidents have been shot and killed while in office. In my lifetime, Ford & Reagan have come close (have there been other seriously close calls?).
However, once they leave office, are they really in jeopardy?
Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest while making a speech during the campaign of 1912. He was running for president at the time.
Iraqi agents targeted former President Bush with a car bomb a couple of month after he left office and was touring Kuwait.
One a somewhat different note, in 1876 there was a plot to steal Abraham Lincoln’s corpse for ransom and to help release a counterfeiter. It could have worked if the two men hadn’t selected an informant for a grave robber
The attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists to kill Truman, the attack against FDR which resulted in the killing of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, a gunman who got within a few feet of William Howard Taft, an 1864 attempted shooting of Lincoln (the bullet passed through his hat), and the attempt against Andrew Jackson which ended with Jackson beating the would-be assassin with his cane.
Other attempts may or may not be described as “seriously close.”
The OP asked about threats to *former *presidents.
Also asked about close calls against sitting Presidents: "Four U.S. Presidents have been shot and killed while in office. … (have there been other seriously close calls?).
Former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow, in February this year. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described Mr Nemtsov as a “bridge between Ukraine and Russia”. Fortunately President Putin assumed “personal control” of the investigation sarcastic thumbs up.
This article claims that Jimmy Carter was the target of “two or three” attempts after he left the White House, although I sort doubt its credibility.
Those swamp rabbits really bear a grudge.
…and he then went on with the 90 minute speech with the bullet lodged in his chest.
GWB got a grenade thrown at him (while in office) while visiting Georgia (the country).