The most famous assault on the life of an incumbent in the world is, of course, the assassination of the 35th US President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas, Texas on Friday, November 22, 1963. On suspicion of this crime, Lee Harvey Oswald was detained on the same day, who completely denied his guilt. However, no investigative actions could be carried out with him, since on November 24, when leaving the police station under escort, Oswald was shot dead by the owner of the nightclub Jack Ruby. But he, in turn, also died in prison under unclear circumstances.
The tragedy of American presidents
The shot at John F. Kennedy is far from the only physical elimination of the head of the United States of America in the entire history of this country. Over the 230 years of the existence of the United States, 45 presidents have been in power, of whom four have been killed, and an attempt has been made or was being prepared on the life of every second of the rest. The first victim of the killer was the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln. In the theater of the city of Washington on April 14, 1865, he was shot at by actor John Wilkes Booth, who managed to escape from the scene. But on April 26, 1865, the police still tracked down the killer. Booth tried to shoot back and was killed during the arrest.
The next in the tragic chain was the 20th President of the United States, James Garfield, who on July 2, 1881 was seriously wounded by a shot in the back by a certain Charles Guiteau, a supporter of the ultra-right movement. Doctors could not remove the bullet, but they brought an infection into the body, from which the president died on September 19, 1881. And Gito was hanged in prison on June 30, 1882.
Another tragedy occurred on September 6, 1901, when at the World Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo, anarchist Leon Cholgosh fired two pistols at the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley. The offender was immediately detained, and the president was seriously wounded and died on September 14. Czolgosh was executed by electric chair on October 29 of the same year.
John F. Kennedy became the fourth head of the United States to be killed during his presidency. This murder is considered one of the most mysterious crimes of the 20th century, since most experts conclude that the aforementioned Lee Harvey Oswald could not have shot Kennedy. But Oswald was killed, and therefore the court was unable to prove or refute his guilt. The other suspects in this case were never identified.
Promotional video:
60 years before the collapse
King of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karageorgievich was shot dead on October 9, 1934, because until the last day of his life he resisted the division of his country into separate states. Several years earlier, the Croatian separatists, in order to show the impotence of the royal power, carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Belgrade. In response, Alexander dissolved parliament in January 1929 and banned all parties based on religious and ethnic principles. The leaders of the Croatian nationalists were forced to flee to Italy and Hungary. The radicals who united in the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) fled after them. The Constitution of Yugoslavia, approved by the king in 1931, established a regime unique to Europe: the military-monarchical Orthodox dictatorship.
The nationalists took revenge on Alexander when he arrived in Marseille on the cruiser Dubrovnik to negotiate a military alliance. French Defense Minister Bartou and the King of Yugoslavia were driving in a limousine through the city, and then a VMRO militant Vlado Chernozemsky unexpectedly ran out of the crowd. He jumped on the step of the car and fired several times with a pistol at the king and the minister. The police returned fire, and Chernozemsky was killed on the spot. The king was transferred to the building of the prefecture, where he died, having only managed to whisper: "Keep Yugoslavia!" A few hours later, Bartu died in the hospital.
Egyptian secrets
Egyptian President Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was killed during a military parade in Cairo on October 6, 1981. At the same time, security measures at the parade were strictest: the police blocked all approaches to the square in advance, and even the guests of honor invited to the podium were searched. But shortly after the start of the parade, one of the vehicles participating in it suddenly separated from the column and turned to the podium, where Sadat and the Egyptian leadership were. Senior Lieutenant Khaled Islambuli jumped out of the cab of the car, threw a grenade at the podium, and then opened fire from a large-caliber machine gun. The lieutenant's accomplices also began to throw grenades and shoot at the podium with machine guns. Sadat was killed by several bullets piercing his neck and chest and affecting the pulmonary artery. The shooters tried to escape, but were caught on the spot, and one of them - three days later. The investigation found out that the conspirators were part of the organization "Al-Jihad al-Jadid" ("New Holy War"), which aimed at the implementation of the Islamic revolution. The liquidation of the Ca-date was its first act. On April 15, 1982, three civilian conspirators were hanged, and former military men Islambuli and Abbas Ali were shot. But the investigation did not establish how the militants, despite tight control, brought weapons to the parade, and why Sadat's bodyguards left their posts around the rostrum a few seconds before the attack. Since Sadat's death, Egypt has been led by former Vice President Hosni Mubarak for 30 years. On April 15, 1982, three civilian conspirators were hanged, and former military men Islambuli and Abbas Ali were shot. But the investigation did not establish how the militants, despite tight control, brought weapons to the parade, and why Sadat's bodyguards left their posts around the rostrum a few seconds before the attack. Since Sadat's death, Egypt has been led by former Vice President Hosni Mubarak for 30 years. On April 15, 1982, three civilian conspirators were hanged, and former military men Islambuli and Abbas Ali were shot. But the investigation did not establish how the militants, despite tight control, brought weapons to the parade, and why Sadat's bodyguards left their posts around the rostrum a few seconds before the attack. Since Sadat's death, Egypt has been led by former Vice President Hosni Mubarak for 30 years.
East is a delicate matter
The assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 was caused by the revenge of the Sikhs for the elimination of their separatist base in the state of Punjab. From the very beginning of that year, extremists who demanded the separation of Punjab from India, brought weapons and ammunition to the premises of the main shrine of the Sikhs - the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar. However, on the day they especially revered, June 5, 1984, Gandhi authorized an assault on the Golden Temple, which was destroyed by fire from tank guns. All the leaders of the group and several hundreds of peaceful pilgrims were killed. This action outraged 18 million Sikhs living in India, who vowed to take revenge on the Prime Minister.
Despite the warnings of her relatives, Gandhi did not dismiss members of this religious-ethnic group from her protection. Moreover, on the fateful day for her, while going to a television interview, she refused to even wear a bulletproof vest under her dress. The Sikh guards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, who knew about this, who were at one of the posts along the path along which Gandhi was walking, opened fire on it from a pistol and a machine gun. Other guards began shooting at the killers. Beant Singh was shot dead on the spot, while Satwant Singh was badly wounded and died soon after. Doctors operated on Indira Gandhi for four hours, but she died without regaining consciousness. After the death of Gandhi, a massive slaughter of the Sikhs began in India. In a few days, more than 3 thousand people died, dozens of Sikh temples were burned. The civil war was stoppedonly when Gandhi's son Rajiv on the radio called on the population to give up revenge.
Swedish blow
All of Europe was shocked when the Prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, was killed by two pistol shots on 28 February 1986 in central Stockholm. That evening, Olof and his wife Lis-bet were returning from the Grand Cinema on Sveavegen Street. They had no bodyguards, since Palme liked to walk around the city without protection. When the couple approached the intersection with Tunnelgatan Street, a man approached them and fired twice at the premier with a Smith-Wesson-Magnum revolver, after which he disappeared.
The main suspect in this murder for a long time was 41-year-old Christer Pettersson, an unbalanced person with no specific occupation, suffering from alcoholism, who was seen using drugs and more than once said that he hated Olof Palme. By that time, there were already 63 crimes on Pettersson's account, including murder, he was sentenced 18 times to various prison terms. But at the same time, experts did not find traces of gunpowder on his clothes after his arrest. In addition, the police were never able to find the murder weapon anywhere, and the version of the Smith-Wesson-Magnum pistol was based only on indirect evidence. But Lis-bet Palme identified Pettersson as the murderer of her husband, and therefore, combined with other evidence, the court found him guilty of this crime, sentencing him to life imprisonment. However, the court of cassation in 1989 overturned this sentence for lack of evidence and released Pettersson from custody. In 1998, Attorney General Klas Bergenstrand attempted to re-institute proceedings against Pettersson for the murder of Olof Palme, but the Supreme Court denied him due to the lack of any new evidence in the case. But on September 29, 2004, Pettersson died under unclear circumstances from a head injury, so further investigation against him became problematic. But on September 29, 2004, Pettersson died under unclear circumstances from a head injury, so further investigation against him became problematic. But on September 29, 2004, Pettersson died under unclear circumstances from a head injury, so further investigation against him became problematic.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №23. Author: Valery Erofeev