# Why do American Presidents get so many assassination attempts compared to other world leaders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092 "2017-01-14T03:21:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/41 "2017-01-15T20:44:51Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > how about, the US president is more accessible and approachable than some other countries leaders? You mean, the ones who travel on public transport, and don’t have dozens of bodyguards? Those leaders? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/42 "2017-01-15T22:03:49Z")
One factor might be simple demographics. Heads of state tend to get assassinated by one of their own citizens. Canada, to use a random example, has about 33,000,000 people. The United States has about 325,000,000. If you assume one person out of a million is a potential assassin, then there are 325 people thinking about killing the American President and only 33 people thinking about killing the Canadian Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/43 "2017-01-15T22:11:45Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > how about, the US president is more accessible and approachable than some other countries leaders? How is Angela Merkel walking down the street LESS accessible than the POTUS? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/44 "2017-01-15T22:58:49Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > . When I was a kid in the 50s Downing Street was completely accessible, you could walk up and down it and even snap a photo of yourself at the door of No. 10 (there was a bobby there but it was totally cool to approach the door unless the PM or other politicians were going in and out). Everything changed in the 70s when the IRA assassinated top Conservative Airey Neave. Suddenly there were huge security gates at the entrance to Downing St and the public couldn’t get anywhere near it. And the security probably would have been upgraded for that reason. But as I understand the historical record, Downing Street was closed off after a political protest jammed it up and harrassed people trying to go in and out. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/45 "2017-01-15T23:03:59Z")
My theory has alwasy been (apart from the gun thing and Americans just killing more Americans that way), that Americans are heavily influenced by the history of revolution. Americans tend to think that armed revolt is an ordinary and valid political expression, because they learn that is how the country was formed. Arguably, Lincoln was an “honour killing”, which is a different thing, but if so, perhaps that was an outlier. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/46 "2017-01-15T23:11:09Z")
Wow … I was surprised to find the name Pierre Basile … the fella that assassinated Richard I of England … infamy sure does endure … ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/47 "2017-01-15T23:28:05Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > How is Angela Merkel walking down the street LESS accessible than the POTUS? When Angela Merkel was in Brisbane for G20 about two years ago, she famously went to a local bar for drinks. As in, wandered into a bar like a normal person and had a drink, like a normal person, with the other normal people one might find in Brisbane bar. Not as a publicity stunt or anything, but because she wanted to have a drink. Obviously she had a minder or two discreetly with her, but the fundamental point was the chancellor of a major first world country could quite safely have a drink in a pub in another major first world country on a whim because she felt like it. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/48 "2017-01-15T23:32:24Z")
I believe the all-time leader in assassination attempts was Charles deGaulle of France. [This article says he was targeted “two dozen” times.](http://www.hoover.org/research/audacity-de-gaulle) [This article says 31.](http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-lessons-of-history-in-1966-president-de-gaulle-said-no-to-us-nato/5386501) I’m guessing some of those were from World War II, when deGaulle was a symbol but not an actual leader. But at least two attempts were at the hand of Algerian separatists. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/49 "2017-01-16T00:11:41Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Did you do any per population evaluation in this. That was one of my first thoughts and I am surprised it took to post 35 to mention it. The US is the third most populous country in the world. We’ve got many more potential assassins per head of state than every other country except China and India. China has a stronger internal security posture in general, not just around their head of state, and India has seen successful modern assassinations. It’s hard to tell from the raw data if we really are more prone to assassination attempts. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/50 "2017-01-16T00:13:18Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I believe the all-time leader in assassination attempts was Charles deGaulle of France. [This article says he was targeted “two dozen” times.](http://www.hoover.org/research/audacity-de-gaulle) [This article says 31.](http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-lessons-of-history-in-1966-president-de-gaulle-said-no-to-us-nato/5386501) Castro’s got to be in the running as well. And I believe it was Josip Broz Tito who escaped so many hapless attempts on his life on behalf of Stalin, he eventually sent the latter a telegram saying something along the lines of “that’s the 5th guy you send this month. If there’s a 6th, rest assured I’ll send one too - and\*\* I \*\*won’t need another.” ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/51 "2017-01-16T01:25:33Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I don’t see Oliver Stone lining up to make a movie about [Leon Czolgosz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz) of McKinley assassination fame any time soon. While not a Oliver Stone film, will a [Stephen Sondheim musical](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb1fWW17bnY) do. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/52 "2017-01-16T04:47:17Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > While not a Oliver Stone film, will a [Stephen Sondheim musical](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb1fWW17bnY) do. There’s a [short](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1956567/combined) too which actually sounds kinda fun! > [@](#): > > After president William McKinley is gunned down by a Polish anarchist in 1901, doctors utilize new technology to preserve his brain. Now he’s out for revenge against his assassin, Leon Czolgosz. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/53 "2017-01-16T04:54:57Z")
And its freely available on the [director’s site.](http://www.campusmoviefest.com/movies/8517-mckinley) (5 minutes long.) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/54 "2017-01-16T05:20:09Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > That’s right. > > Not really. There was no President of the Soviet Union or President of Russia until shortly before the USSR dissolved. Prior to that, there were heads of state, but they weren’t called “presidents”. > > Well, that’s a bit too much of a blanket claim; things worked differently at different times. For much of the Brezhnev era, for instance, the USSR practised collective leadership, with the heads of state and of government exercising enough real power that Brezhnev (who himself held no important government office, but was only leader of the party) couldn’t act unilaterally. Nonetheless it was probably Brezhnev, being the public face of the USSR, who got the tightest security. (And there was indeed [an assassination attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brezhnev_assassination_attempt) against him in 1969.) I always understood it to be that there were de jure heads of state (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet) and of government (Premier of the Soviet Union), but that Stalin had managed to consolidate all real power in the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party. Stalin’s successors all held the General Secretary position. It’s vaguely analogous to the way that say… Texas’ Governor is very weak, but the Lieutenant Governor is extremely powerful; in theory the Lt. Governor is the #2 guy, but in practice, he’s the heaviest hitter in state government because his position holds nearly absolute authority over the legislative calendar. In other words, he controls the scheduling of when bills are discussed and voted upon in the Legislature. From what I understand, the General Secretary position’s power ended up being somewhat similar in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/55 "2017-01-16T11:39:52Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > It does? News to me. > > [At present, out of the world’s nearly 200 constitutions, three still include a right to bear arms: Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States; of these three, only the last does not include explicit restrictive conditions.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_keep_and_bear_arms) I did not say it existed as a _constitutional_ right. I said it existed, and it does. It’s simply in another part of the legal code. I don’t think there’s any country that has a constitutional right to drive cars. That doesn’t mean no country’s citizens have a right to drive. Different countries organize their laws differently, news at 9. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/56 "2017-01-16T12:02:23Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > How well have efforts to stuff drug dealers by restricting the sale and supply of cold pills worked? Except cause shortages of actual medicine. Speaking as someone who lives in an area that regularly had garages, sheds, hotel rooms, car trunks, and other locations blowing up due to fumbled chemistry performed by addled meth-heads attempting to cook more meth from cold pills… the new restrictions haven’t eliminated meth heads but it HAS resulted in fewer exploding garages, sheds, hotels rooms, and cars driving down the road. I don’t know about you, but a neighborhood with less explodium is preferable to one where things go **\>boom!\<** in the middle of the night. Or the middle of the afternoon. So, the new regs don’t make things paradise or perfect, but does reduce the local fire hazard so, on the balance, there has been a benefit for at least some non-addicts. You can’t make the world perfect, but risk reduction is a real thing. Also, post-Timothy McVeigh/Oklahoma City there are controls on purchasing fertilizer. Again, not perfect, but it does make it harder to pull off something like that again. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/57 "2017-01-16T17:02:45Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > how about, the US president is more accessible and approachable than some other countries leaders? I was interested in this comment, but didn’t want to derail this thread, so I’ve started another one in IMHO: [Worldwide Dopers: How Accessible is your Head of State/Head of Government?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=816466) ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/58 "2017-05-09T03:17:00Z")
I think a lot of the problem falls under the fastest gun in the west scenario. When you’re the best every two bit gun slinger wants to challenge you. The same reason that North Korea makes very few threats towards Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/59 "2017-05-09T03:32:49Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Now we can’t all be a historical superstar like John Wilkes Booth or Lee Harvey Oswald. It seems to help to have three decent names just for starters. > > I don’t see Oliver Stone lining up to make a movie about [Leon Czolgosz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz) of McKinley assassination fame any time soon. Seriously? Leon something? Good luck to any school kids trying to spell that one on a quiz. If he wanted to make the big-time, he should have switched to a stage name. To be fair McKinley is kind of irrelevant as far as US presidents go. So it makes sense that his killer is too. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One factor might be simple demographics. Heads of state tend to get assassinated by one of their own citizens. > > Canada, to use a random example, has about 33,000,000 people. The United States has about 325,000,000. If you assume one person out of a million is a potential assassin, then there are 325 people thinking about killing the American President and only 33 people thinking about killing the Canadian Prime Minister. But has the US always been so drastically more populous compared to other nations? Serious question. Half (I think) of successful assasination attempts occurred in the 19th century. I’m sure there were just as many failed attempts back then as there have been with recent presidents. And most countries haven’t always had tight regulations on gun ownership, if anything the whole world was even in that regard in the 19th and early 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092/60 "2017-05-10T02:23:54Z")
The USA might have a lot of would-be assassins and all sorts of guns available, but just remember, at the present time we have five living ex-presidents. Jimmie Carter G.H.W. Bush Bill Clinton G.W. Bush Barack Obama And if Ronald Reagan hadn’t wimped out at age 83, we’d have six. Not too bad a record. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-american-presidents-get-so-many-assassination-attempts-compared-to-other-world-leaders/777092.md?page=4)