# How many US Presidents have killed someone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429 "2007-02-01T17:17:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/1 "2007-02-01T17:17:03Z")
For instance, George Washington more than likely killed a few folks during war time I assume, but I could be wrong. How many other Presidents have taken the life of someone else, who are those Presidents and what were the circumstances? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/2 "2007-02-01T17:26:09Z")
George Bush Sr. was a fighter pilot in WW2. He probably killed people somewhere along the line. Grant was a general in the Civil War, and I think other presidents have been veterans of other wars, although I can’t remember which ones right now. Has any president ever killed someone in a non-military situation? ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/3 "2007-02-01T17:36:47Z")
[The Master’s Column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041029.html) on this exact question. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/4 "2007-02-01T17:39:47Z")
Wow, cool, thanks MikeS ! ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/5 "2007-02-01T17:40:35Z")
Most have given direct orders that resulted in the deaths of specific indivuduals. Would [Saddam’s](http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/22/sprj.irq.sons/) sons count? How about the cruise missile [attacks](http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.htm) on al Qaeda camps by Clinton? Being a killer sort of goes along with the job anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/6 "2007-02-01T17:47:39Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] Most have given direct orders that resulted in the deaths of specific indivuduals. [/QUOTE] And several would have given direct orders involving the deaths of hundreds of thousands of nonspecific individuals, including Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/7 "2007-02-01T17:53:20Z")
There’s definitely another thread on this from a while back. I couldn’t find it on a quick search, maybe you’ll have better luck. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/8 "2007-02-01T17:58:22Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] There’s definitely another thread on this from a while back. I couldn’t find it on a quick search, maybe you’ll have better luck. [/QUOTE] Here. Searching on “Grover Cleveland” works pretty well: > **[Killer Presidents](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=11827)** > > When reading about future First-Frat Boy G.W. Bush’s “Please don’t kill me!” routine as he did just that to Karla Faye Tucker, I wondered (again) how many US presidents have personally taken another life. Guv. Dubya wouldn’t count, nor would his dad... ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/9 "2007-02-01T18:31:32Z")
I don’t think that Mr. G.W. Bush has ever personally killed anyone, but as a teenager, Mrs. Bush ran a stop sign and hit another car. The driver of the other car (and coincidently her former boyfriend) was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/10 "2007-02-01T18:43:11Z")
**Awon Buhh!** ---
**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:** [February 1, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/11 "2007-02-01T18:45:30Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] **Awon Buhh!** [/QUOTE] Ummm…yah. That’s…_good!_ . . . . . _Reeeeeeal_ good. **Ludovic** , are you…_medicated?_ ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/12 "2007-02-01T18:47:14Z")
No, he just don’t got milk. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/13 "2007-02-01T18:50:18Z")
Some people still question the Clinton’s involvement in Vince Foster’s “suiicide.” ---
**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:** [February 1, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/14 "2007-02-01T19:03:21Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Some people still question the Clinton’s involvement in Vince Foster’s “suiicide.” [/QUOTE] Please tell me this is irony. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/15 "2007-02-01T19:04:48Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] For instance, George Washington more than likely killed a few folks during war time I assume, but I could be wrong. [/QUOTE] It is not known how many people Indian Hater Jackson killed or ordered massacred in his ethnic cleansing campaigns before taking his throne in Washington. But most estimates place it in the tens of thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/16 "2007-02-01T19:12:21Z")
> [@](#): > > It is not known how many people Indian Hater Jackson killed or ordered massacred in his ethnic cleansing campaigns before taking his throne in Washington. But most estimates place it in the tens of thousands. Presumably the “tens of thousands” estimate means “killed under his orders”. Did he personally kill any? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/17 "2007-02-01T19:36:39Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Presumably the “tens of thousands” estimate means “killed under his orders”. Did he personally kill any? [/QUOTE] It isn’t clear from his writings whether he fought personally in his battles or just gave coward’s orders to his conscripts. When he wrote about murdering a thousand Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend — “For two hours a brisk galling fire of cannon and musketry, a hail of iron shot and lead balls splintered the bark of the logs, but the balls passed thro the works without shaking the wall… Notwithstanding every shot penetrated and carried with it death… still such was the strength of the wall that it never shook” — who can say whether he himself manned a cannon or held a musket? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/18 "2007-02-01T19:42:26Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Some people still question the Clinton’s involvement in Vince Foster’s “suiicide.” [/QUOTE] I think he and Hillary have been cleared. He was busy on the moon landing hoax and she was in Dallas shooting JFK. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/19 "2007-02-01T19:56:07Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] It is not known how many people Indian Hater Jackson killed or ordered massacred in his ethnic cleansing campaigns before taking his throne in Washington. But most estimates place it in the tens of thousands. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, but that’s just not true. I can’t see any way that could be made true. General Jackson commanded US forces three times before becoming president, during the Creek War, during the Battle of New Orleans, and during the First Seminole war, and even if you consider Jackson singly responsible for all the Creeks, British, Spanish, and Seminoles killed in the fighting, that’s still way too high. In the Creek War, about 1900 Red Sticks were killed in the fighting. At the Battle of New Orleans, about 385 British were killed. The deaths resulting from the first Seminole War is harder to determine, but they wouldn’t add up to tens of thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429/20 "2007-02-01T20:02:34Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Please tell me this is irony. [/QUOTE] Not for the [conspiracy theorists](http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/FOSTER_COVERUP/foster.html) a/k/a nutjobs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-us-presidents-have-killed-someone/390429.md?page=2)