# Officially honored assassins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115 "2019-06-06T13:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/21 "2019-06-08T06:11:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > From what I can see, none of these were paid professional assassins, but men (and women) who did what they thought was right- for the most part. Is that a problem? I don’t think the OP was asking specifically about professional hit-men. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/22 "2019-06-08T07:49:59Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Is that a problem? I don’t think the OP was asking specifically about professional hit-men. I didnt say the Op was. But one definition of assassin is hired killer, someone who will kill anyone for the right price. Despite film TV and books, they are actually quite rare except for a the cheap thugs who will try anything for a buck. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/23 "2019-06-08T09:33:41Z")
I can’t think of a single political assassination that was done by hired killers. And the OP was explicitly asking for political killings. Also, note that John Brown was not an assassin. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/24 "2019-06-08T21:10:37Z")
In the mid 1850’s there were two main factions in Kansas: one liked blacks and wanted to be able to buy and sell them. The other faction hated blacks and wanted Kansas to be free of them. The blacks in Missouri could be sent back to Africa for that matter. These forces fought against each other in ‘Bleeding Kansas.’ One tactic the pro-slavery forces used was election fraud(!) to acquire political hold in Kansas, e.g. Judge Cato. A small minority in Bloody Kansas were the Abolitionists. These were generally despised by both the Pro-Slavery and Free-State parties. Even many of the Abolitionists didn’t feel blacks should have full rights. John Brown of Ossawatomie was an exception to this. > [@dtilque](#): > > Also, note that John Brown was not an assassin. Hmmm. Let’s consider specifically the Pottawatomie Massacre May 24-25, 1856. John Brown’s forces executed five men believed to be involved with the earlier murders of anti-slavery forces. If not assassin, what was he? Executioner? Cold-blooded murderer? Terrorist? > [@](#): > > as·sas·sin > /əˈsasn/ > > noun > noun: assassin; plural noun: assassins > > ``` > a murderer of an important person in a surprise attack for political or religious reasons. > synonyms: murderer, killer, executioner, gunman, butcher, slaughterer, liquidator, exterminator, terminator ... > "his presidency was cut short by an assassin's bullet" > > ``` These were surprise attacks for political or religious reasons, so at issue appears to be whether Doyle, Sherman, and Wilkinson were “important.” What’s the threshold? These were prominent among the pro-slavery ruffians. Allen Wilkinson had served as D.A. in the pro-slavery Cato court that issued a warrant for the arrest of Brown, charged with … preaching Abolitionism. If Brown had shot Judge Cato himself, instead of just the D.A., would he qualify as “assassin”? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/25 "2019-06-08T23:23:09Z")
Whether someone murdered is important enough to call their murderer an assassin is mostly up to contemporaries. Importance is a relative quality that we may not have as good a view of at a much later date. Was John Brown called an assassin at the time? Fairly sure he was not. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/26 "2019-06-09T06:25:49Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > The Rainbow Warrior bombers were paid agents of the French secret service. I don’t think they particularly felt what they were doing was “right”; they were acting on orders from their superiors. That the ship was going to disrupt French nuclear tests was probably none of their concern; it was much more a concern of higher-ups who wanted the military benefits of conducting the test along with only minimal civilian damage by sinking the ship when it was still in port. > > However, they didn’t intend to kill anyone, and specifically set the charges to minimize the likelihood they would. Instead of the first charge causing people to evacuate the ship like they hoped, it caused a photographer to go somewhere he wasn’t able to escape from when the second charge blew. If I accidently kill someone while stealing cigarettes, is that murder? I’f I’m trying to steal $100 and get $100,000 how much did I steal? I know it’s a small stretch, but if I’m doing politically motivated crime, and death is a foreseable result of that crime, is the death a political crime or an accident? If it’s a lucky accident (disrupting the protest even more effectively than intended), does it become a non-crime because it has the opposite political result to that intended? I count it as a death resulting from a deliberate criminal political act: The killing of one of their polical openents by a deliberate criminal act, and the following promotionas as an indication that the delberate criminal act was not repudiated by the state: to my mind that makes it legally and post-facto an assasination. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/27 "2019-06-09T06:40:42Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I can’t think of a single political assassination that was done by hired killers. And the OP was explicitly asking for political killings. Refer to the definition of “assassination.” The definition does not require that the act be committed by a professional killer. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/28 "2019-06-09T09:46:52Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Refer to the definition of “assassination.” The definition does not require that the act be committed by a professional killer. You apparently missed the point of my post. Someone else brought up hired killers and I was pointing out that none of the political assassinations I am aware of were done by them. They’re pretty much totally irrelevant to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/29 "2019-06-09T12:17:59Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > You apparently missed the point of my post. Someone else brought up hired killers and I was pointing out that none of the political assassinations I am aware of were done by them. They’re pretty much totally irrelevant to this thread. It wasn’t clear what your intention was, if you were agreeing with them or not. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/30 "2019-06-09T16:04:54Z")
Does Juval Aviv count? He was paid, in the sense that he was a soldier, under the employ of the government (sort of). They made a movie after him, so that seems like some sort of award. Granted, no one knows if the story is true. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/31 "2019-06-09T16:43:11Z")
Does Chiun and the entire House of Sinanju count? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/32 "2019-06-09T18:02:15Z")
[In April 1973](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Israeli_raid_on_Lebanon) several teams of Israel commandos landed in Beirut and killed three top members of the PLO, including the man third in line after Yasser Arafat. While the man who commanded the raid has not had any streets named after him yet - he’s still alive - he probably will have at some point, seeing as he was later elected [Prime Minister.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/33 "2019-06-09T19:05:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [In April 1973](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Israeli_raid_on_Lebanon) several teams of Israel commandos landed in Beirut and killed three top members of the PLO, including the man third in line after Yasser Arafat. While the man who commanded the raid has not had any streets named after him yet - he’s still alive - he probably will have at some point, seeing as he was later elected [Prime Minister.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak) [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak#/media/File:Ehud_Barak_military.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak#/media/File:Ehud_Barak_military.jpg) Not quite the face I would expect for a cold-blooded assassin. He looks more like someone you would see playing the part of the engineer best friend of the main commander in some sitcom military base TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/34 "2019-06-09T20:52:59Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > [Ehud Barak - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak#/media/File:Ehud_Barak_military.jpg) > > Not quite the face I would expect for a cold-blooded assassin. He looks more like someone you would see playing the part of the engineer best friend of the main commander in some sitcom military base TV show. And [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy#/media/File:Audie_Murphy.jpg)looks like the eager young rookie who gets killed at the end of the second act of the movie in order to motivate the heroes. Faces lie. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/35 "2019-06-09T21:02:37Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Refer to the definition of “assassination.” The definition does not require that the act be committed by a professional killer. I asked a _side but related question_. Yes, there are several definitions of “assassin”. I was asking about hired, professional FT killers for hire, which mostly exist in film and other media. None of these so honored fit those parameters. Yes, Booth was a “assassin” too, of course. I certainly hope he is never honored. I dont think John Brown or the French Military who sank Rainbow warrior count, but it’s debatable. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/36 "2019-06-10T07:45:39Z")
I heard Lyndon Johnson was made President, and from what I’ve read on the Interwebby thing… ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/37 "2019-06-10T10:02:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I asked a _side but related question_. Yes, there are several definitions of “assassin”. I was asking about hired, professional FT killers for hire, which mostly exist in film and other media. None of these so honored fit those parameters. Let’s look at that post. > [@DrDeth](#): > > From what I can see, none of these were paid professional assassins, but men (and women) who did what they thought was right- for the most part. You have a different definition of “ask” than anyone else. A question would be a IMHO a silly question because there haven’t been any, but your statement is framed as if it is replying to a question which no one had asked. You introduced a strawman and pointed out the absurdity of it all by yourself. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115/38 "2019-06-10T16:10:33Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > [John Brown was a murderer who is commemorated in song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSSn3NddwFQ) I don’t know if he’s been “officially” honored, but there are monuments to him in Kansas, Ohio, New York, West Virginia and other states. An avenue in Haiti’s capital is named after him. > > Some claim that the Emancipation of America’s slaves is itself a monument to Captain John Brown. ([Orson Wells reads the words Brown spoke when he was sentenced to hang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxvwi-M3LTM).) The John Brown in the song is not the famed abolitionist. There was a cadet at West Point that shared the name. After the abolitionist was hanged, his fellow cadets would tease him by saying he was dead whenever anyone asked about him. The teasing was set to a popular camp hymn and the result was John Brown’s Body. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-honored-assassins/835115.md?page=1)