7 US presidents who survived assassination attempts: From Andrew Jackson to Donald Trump
4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt — Feb. 15, 1933
Shortly before he was sworn in for his first term, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Florida and delivered a speech at Bayfront Park in Miami while seated in an open car.
While speaking, an unemployed bricklayer named Giuseppe Zangara opened fire on the vehicle, shooting six rounds at a group of people. While Roosevelt escaped unscathed, five other people were hit, including Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who later died of his wound.
“Several men tackled the assailant and might have beaten him to death if Roosevelt had not intervened, telling the crowd to leave justice to the authorities,” according to History.com.
“[R]eports of Roosevelt’s composure during the assassination attempt filled the following day’s newspapers and did much to enforce Roosevelt’s public image as a strong leader.”
Zangara later said that “I hate all officials and anyone who is rich” and added that because “my stomach hurt I want to make even with the capitalists by kill the president.”
Zangara was convicted of murder for Cermak’s death and was executed just over a month after the shooting.
