# Has there ever been a serious threat agains a former President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351 "2015-04-23T11:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/1 "2015-04-23T11:34:53Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/2 "2015-04-23T13:19:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/3 "2015-04-24T02:15:05Z")
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 > **[A Plot to Steal Lincoln's Body](https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2007/06/24/a-plot-to-steal-lincolns-body)** > > A posthumous kidnapping attempt shaped the Secret Service. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/4 "2015-04-24T03:00:16Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > (have there been other seriously close calls?) 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/5 "2015-04-24T03:02:51Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/6 "2015-04-24T06:14:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > 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?). ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/7 "2015-04-24T10:38:50Z")
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_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/8 "2015-04-24T21:52:27Z")
This article claims that [Jimmy Carter was the target of “two or three” attempts](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/book-jimmy-carter-targeted-by-us-and-foreign-assassins/article/2533425) after he left the White House, although I sort doubt its credibility. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/9 "2015-04-24T21:56:16Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > This article claims that [Jimmy Carter was the target of “two or three” attempts](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/book-jimmy-carter-targeted-by-us-and-foreign-assassins/article/2533425) after he left the White House, although I sort doubt its credibility. Those swamp rabbits really bear a grudge. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-serious-threat-agains-a-former-president/718351/10 "2015-04-25T00:47:07Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest while making a speech during the campaign of 1912. He was running for president at the time.\ …and he then went on with the 90 minute speech with the bullet lodged in his chest. GWB got a [grenade thrown at him](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Arutyunian) (while in office) while visiting Georgia (the country).