I watched “Swordfish” again this weekend, and I remembered that it raised a question for me the first time I saw it, but I got distracted and never posted it.
SPOILER SPACE
When Gabriel shoots the senator, he says, “Thomas Jefferson once shot a man on the White House lawn for treason.”
Now, I thought I’d heard most of the interesting stories about old TJ (a hero of mine for most of my life), but I somehow missed this one. Anybody care to verify/tank this and maybe provide a little background if it’s true?
It’s false.
Andy Jackson was in several duels, and while president he thoroughly thrashed a would-be assassin to whose gun had misfired with his cane. Thomas Jefferson did not shoot anyone on the white house lawn (or anywhere else that I am aware).
The story shows up in GQ about once a month, or so, it seems, I’m not sure why. For more information on the stories, do a search in General Questions
This link, Did Jefferson shoot a traitor on the White House lawn? also denies it and has a further link going back earlier.
Thanks, tomndebb. I would have imagined coming across that story in one of the bios if it had been true.
I was familiar with the Jackson information. He was definitely not a man to be triffled with, at least not on personal terms.
I had run a GQ search before posting. Can’t see how I missed it. Thanks again for the refutation and the links. I appreciate it.