Politics in America has always been a contact sport. Honestly, sometimes it’s a blood sport. When you start asking how many American presidents have been shot, the answer depends entirely on how you define "shot." Are we talking about successful assassinations? Attempted murders where a bullet actually hit flesh? Or does the count include those terrifying moments where a trigger was pulled, but the aim was off?
History books usually give you the "Big Four." Those are the men who died. But the list of presidents who have looked down the barrel of a gun and felt the sting of lead is longer than most people realize. It’s a violent thread that runs from the 1860s straight through to the modern era.
The Four Who Didn't Make It
Four. That is the number of sitting U.S. presidents who were shot and killed. It’s a staggering statistic when you think about it. Basically, about 9% of all U.S. presidents have been murdered in office.
Abraham Lincoln was the first. Everyone knows the story of Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, snuck into the presidential box. He used a single-shot .44-caliber Derringer. One bullet to the back of the head was all it took to change the course of Reconstruction. Lincoln didn't die instantly, but he never regained consciousness.
Then came James A. Garfield in 1881. This one was arguably avoidable. Charles Guiteau shot him at a train station in Washington, D.C., because he felt he was owed a federal job. But here’s the kicker: the bullet didn't kill him. The doctors did. They poked and prodded his wound with unwashed fingers and dirty tools, trying to find the slug. Garfield lingered for 80 days in absolute agony before sepsis finally took him.
William McKinley was next in 1901. Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, wrapped a gun in a handkerchief and shot McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Like Garfield, McKinley survived the initial shots. He actually seemed to be recovering, but gangrene set in. He died eight days later. His death is the reason the Secret Service was officially tasked with protecting the president.
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The most analyzed, debated, and filmed death in American history is, of course, John F. Kennedy. November 22, 1963. Dealey Plaza. Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren Commission said one thing; the public has believed a dozen others for decades. Regardless of the conspiracy theories, JFK was the last sitting president to be assassinated.
Surviving the Lead: The Men Who Got Lucky
When you dig into how many American presidents have been shot and survived, the stories get even weirder.
Take Theodore Roosevelt. In 1912, he was campaigning as a third-party candidate. A man named John Schrank shot him in the chest at point-blank range outside a hotel in Milwaukee. Most men would have collapsed. Not Teddy. The bullet passed through a steel eyeglasses case and a thick, 50-page manuscript of his speech. It lodged in his rib. Roosevelt, realizing he wasn't coughing up blood (which meant his lung wasn't punctured), decided to go ahead and deliver the speech. He talked for nearly 90 minutes with a hole in his chest. "It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose," he told the stunned crowd.
Ronald Reagan is the other major survivor. In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots outside the Washington Hilton. A ricochet hit the presidential limo and then struck Reagan under the left arm. It hit a rib and lodged in his lung, barely an inch from his heart. Reagan was nearly 70 years old. He walked into the hospital under his own power before collapsing. He joked with the surgeons, "I hope you are all Republicans." His survival was a testament to modern trauma medicine and a very lucky ricochet angle.
The Close Calls and Failed Attempts
Some presidents were shot at, but not hit. Others were the targets of elaborate plots that failed at the last second.
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Andrew Jackson faced the first real assassination attempt in 1835. Richard Lawrence approached him with two pistols. Both misfired. Jackson, who was 67 and leaning on a cane, proceeded to beat the man with said cane until bystanders pulled him off. It was later determined that the humidity had dampened the gunpowder in both pistols. Statistically, the odds of both guns misfiring were astronomical.
Gerald Ford had two women try to shoot him in the span of three weeks in 1975. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pulled a gun on him in Sacramento. The gun didn't have a round in the chamber. Then, Sara Jane Moore fired a shot at him in San Francisco. A bystander, Oliver Sipple, grabbed her arm, causing the bullet to miss Ford by feet.
And then there is the most recent high-profile incident involving Donald Trump in July 2024. During a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop. A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear. Had he not turned his head at that exact microsecond to look at a chart on a screen, the outcome would have been fundamentally different. It was a stark reminder that the threat hasn't vanished with time or better technology.
Why Does This Keep Happening?
Psychologists and historians have spent lifetimes trying to categorize the people who pull the trigger. They aren't all the same. Some are political zealots, like Booth. Others are mentally ill individuals seeking fame or a twisted kind of "love," like Hinckley.
But there is a pattern. Most of these incidents happen during periods of extreme national polarization. 1865 was the end of the Civil War. 1963 was the height of the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement. The 1970s were a mess of post-Watergate cynicism.
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The Secret Service has evolved, obviously. They use "concentric circles" of security now. They have snipers, electronic jamming equipment, and sophisticated intelligence-gathering tools. Yet, as we saw in 2024, the system isn't foolproof. Human error and the sheer openness of American political campaigning make the president a perpetual target.
Summary of Presidential Shootings
If you need a quick mental tally, here is how the numbers break down in reality:
- Died from gunshot wounds: 4 (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, JFK).
- Wounded but survived: 2 (Reagan, Trump—Roosevelt was an ex-president at the time of his shooting, though he was actively campaigning).
- Shot at but not hit: This list is much longer and includes figures like Franklin D. Roosevelt (where the mayor of Chicago was killed instead) and Bill Clinton (when Francisco Martin Duran fired at the White House).
The reality is that being the American president is one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. The Secret Service is great, but they have to be right every single time. A transition of power or a change in the political landscape can be triggered by a single person with a cheap firearm and a clear line of sight.
To better understand the security measures that protect the presidency today, it is worth looking into the history of the Secret Service’s protective mission. You can also research the specific medical advancements that saved Reagan in 1981 compared to the rudimentary care that failed Garfield in 1881. Understanding the intersection of ballistics, medicine, and political history gives a much clearer picture of why the answer to how many American presidents have been shot is so vital to the American story.
Check the official National Archives or the Secret Service history page for deep dives into specific forensic reports from these events. Examining the trial transcripts of people like Charles Guiteau provides a chilling look into the motives behind these attacks. Stay informed by looking at non-partisan historical records rather than sensationalized documentaries.