25 Things You Never Knew About the History of Assassination

1.

In 1948 the Nobel Committee did not award the Nobel Peace Prize on the grounds that “there was no suitable living candidate”, implying that Mahatma Gandhi would have received it if it were not for his assassination earlier that year.

2.

TIL Female Jesters existed. One of the most noted was Mathurine de Vallois, who served the 1500s French Court. She wore a flamboyant Amazon Warrior outfit and was famed for her sharp wit and when she managed to capture Henri IV's would-be assassin as the man tried to flee the scene of the crime.

3.

Bob Marley survived an assassination attempt on his life which was an "Attempt to halt the "politically progressive" music of Marley"

4.

The CIA recruited one of Fidel Castro's mistresses to kill him in 1960, giving her poison pills, but he found out. Handing her his gun, he dared her to shoot, but her nerves failed and they had sex instead.

5.

The motel where MLK was assassinated is now the National Civil Rights Museum.

6.

After Booth assassinated Lincoln by shooting him the back of the head, the largest manhunt in US history, involving thousands of troops and countless civilians, tracked him down to a barn. As he attempted escape, Sergeant Boston Corbett killed Booth by shooting him in the back of the head.

7.

The only U.S. Secret Service officer killed protecting a president is Leslie Coffelt. Shot three times in the abdomen, he fired one round and hit Truman's attempted assassin in the back of the head from 31 feet away with his revolver.

8.

TIL after the Reagan assassination attempt, the top aides didn’t have the briefcase containing the codes for launching nuclear missiles, the Veep was unavailable, & no-one knew what to do. A Soviet sub then moved closer than usual to the US.

9.

Today I learned that President Andrew Jackson not only survived the first Presidential assassination attempt due to BOTH of The would-be killers guns misfiring, he beat him mercilessly with his own cane.

10.

Caroline Kennedy, JFK's daughter, almost became the third Kennedy to be assassinated; an IRA bomb blew up a car she would have been in if not for the British MP hosting her being delayed by a phone call from another MP

11.

In 1979, the US House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that John F. Kennedy was assassinated probably as result of a conspiracy, and ruled out the gov’ts of the USSR, Cuba, and also ruled out the mob, but stated that individuals of these or other groups could have played roles.

12.

A Japanese politician (Inejirō Asanuma) was assassinated on live television by a 17-year-old ultra-nationalist (Otoya Yamaguchi) with a samurai sword in 1960, and a photo taken of the incident was given the Pulitzer Prize for photography.

13.

Robert Neighbors was a Texas Indian Agent who - unusually for the time - lived among the Indians and learned their languages. He was assassinated by angry settlers after safely guiding Indians to Oklahoma to protect them from further violence.

14.

Charles Guiteau, who assassinated President Garfield, dropped out of high school, was generally rejected from the Oneida Community, ran a failed newspaper, plagiarized most of his book, and planned to run for president after he believed he would be exonerated for the assassination.

15.

Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901 upon the assassination death of William McKinley. But he was at Mount Marcy in the High Peaks of New York State. He had to be found in the middle of nowhere and brought to civilization to be sworn in. It became known as Roosevelt’s midnight ride.

16.

Dexter King, Martin Luther King's son, publicly supported James Earl Ray's efforts for a retrial as MLK's family did not believe Ray to be responsible for his death, they instead believed the US Government conspired to assassinate MLK.

17.

The first episode of Dr. Who, one of television’s longest-running shows, debuted 23 Nov. 1963. However, only a small number of people were aware of it. Why? The then President of the USA, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated while touring Dallas, Texas, just hours before the show was set to debut.

18.

A 25-barrel gun was used in an assassination attempt on the King of France in 1835. It fired over 400 projectiles at once and killed 18 people. The assassin was badly injured by exploding barrels, and tracked down by the trail of blood.

19.

Rostislav Romanov, a Russian artist and prince who is descended from the Romanov family that was assassinated during the Russian revolution in 1918. It is a common misconception that the line died with them. His wife and friends refer to him as “the artist formally known as Prince.”

20.

In 1901, the assassin of President William McKinley was tried, convicted AND executed only 45 days after McKinley’s death

21.

U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower ordered Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba to be assassinated by poisoning his toothpaste

22.

Archduke Ferdinand survived an initial assassination attempt on the day he was killed when a grenade bounced off his convertible. He escaped unharmed, but later wanted to visit the wounded and that is when his car stalled next to one of the assassins, who happened to be nearby.

23.

Not long after Julius Caesar was assassinated, a comet shone for seven successive days. This signified Julius Caesar's ascension to Godhood, and propaganda for Caesar's nephew. The comet was described as: "To make that soul a star that burns forever, Above the Forum and the gates of Rome."

24.

On the day he was assassinated by revolutionary nihilists, Alexander II of Russia had signed a ukaz establishing elected positions for commoners in the Tsardom. This edict was immediately dissolved by his son, who went on to consolidate and expand the Tsar's power in Russia.

25.

The secret service successfully foiled US President assassination by Al-Qaeda in 1996 because they overheard the words “wedding” and “bridge” on the radio. Later they found a bomb under a bridge.