Four. That is the heavy, unsettling number. Out of 46 presidencies, four men who held the highest office in the land didn’t make it out alive because someone decided to pull a trigger. It’s a statistic that feels higher than it should be and lower than you might fear, given how many people have actually tried to take a shot at the White House.
Honestly, when we talk about how many US presidents have been assassinated, we’re not just talking about a body count. We’re looking at four massive ruptures in American history that changed everything from how we treat infections to how the Secret Service operates. You’ve got Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. Each death was a unique brand of chaos.
The Four Names: How Many US Presidents Have Been Assassinated?
It started with a play and ended (most recently) with a motorcade. Between 1865 and 1963, the American presidency was a surprisingly dangerous job.
Abraham Lincoln (1865)
The first one is the one everyone knows. April 14, 1865. The Civil War was basically over. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox just five days earlier. Lincoln was at Ford’s Theatre watching Our American Cousin. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor who didn't even need to sneak in because everyone knew his face, walked into the state box and fired a single .44-caliber lead ball into the back of Lincoln’s head.
Lincoln didn't die immediately. He was carried across the street to a boarding house and laid diagonally across a bed because he was too tall for it. He died the next morning. It’s wild to think that Booth’s original plan was actually to kidnap Lincoln, not kill him. He only pivoted to murder after hearing Lincoln talk about voting rights for Black men.
James A. Garfield (1881)
Garfield is the assassination that really breaks your heart because, technically, the bullet didn't kill him. Charles Guiteau, a guy who was legitimately delusional and thought he was responsible for Garfield’s election, shot him at a train station in D.C. on July 2, 1881.
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One bullet grazed his arm. The other lodged in his back.
Garfield lived for 80 more days. He suffered through a summer of literal torture as doctors—who didn't really believe in "germs" yet—poked their unwashed fingers and dirty metal tools into the wound trying to find the bullet. They turned a small hole into a massive, infected mess. Alexander Graham Bell even showed up with a primitive metal detector to find the slug, but it failed because Garfield was lying on a bed with metal springs. He eventually died of massive infection and septic poisoning.
William McKinley (1901)
September 6, 1901. Buffalo, New York. McKinley was at the Pan-American Exposition, shaking hands with a long line of people. Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, had a revolver wrapped in a handkerchief, making it look like his hand was bandaged.
He shot McKinley twice at point-blank range.
Again, modern medicine probably would have saved him. But in 1901, gangrene set in. McKinley seemed to be getting better for a few days, then he just... crashed. His death is the reason the Secret Service was officially tasked with protecting the president. Before this, they were mostly just chasing down counterfeiters.
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John F. Kennedy (1963)
The one that launched a thousand documentaries. November 22, 1963, in Dallas. Kennedy was in an open-top limo when Lee Harvey Oswald fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.
It was the first assassination of the television age. The country watched the aftermath in real-time. Unlike Garfield or McKinley, there was no "lingering." It was over in an instant. This is the one that still fuels the most debate, mostly because Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby before he could ever stand trial.
Why These Four Are Different From the "Close Calls"
If we’re counting people who tried to kill the president, that number is way higher. Andrew Jackson had a guy try to shoot him with two different pistols in 1835—both misfired. Jackson, who was about 67 at the time, proceeded to beat the guy with his cane.
Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest in 1912 while campaigning. The bullet was slowed down by his steel eyeglass case and a 50-page speech he had tucked in his pocket. He finished the speech before going to the hospital. He literally told the crowd, "It takes more than one shot to kill a Bull Moose."
Then you’ve got Ronald Reagan, who came incredibly close in 1981. A bullet from John Hinckley Jr. ricocheted off the limo and hit Reagan in the chest, puncturing a lung and causing internal bleeding. He survived, but it was a "inches away from death" situation.
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The Weird Patterns
It's kinda spooky when you look at the timing.
- Lincoln and Kennedy: Both were shot on a Friday. Both were shot in the head. Both were succeeded by men named Johnson.
- The "Zero" Curse: For a long time, people talked about the "Curse of Tippecanoe," where presidents elected in years ending in zero died in office (Harrison 1840, Lincoln 1860, Garfield 1880, McKinley 1900, Harding 1920, Roosevelt 1940, Kennedy 1960). Reagan (1980) broke the streak by surviving his attempt.
What This Means for Today
Security is a different beast now. The "bubble" around the president is so thick it's hard to imagine someone getting as close as Guiteau or Czolgosz did just by standing in a line. But the history of how many US presidents have been assassinated serves as a constant reminder of how fragile the transfer of power can be.
Each of these events didn't just end a life; they shifted the trajectory of the country. Lincoln's death arguably botched Reconstruction. McKinley's death brought the progressive era of Teddy Roosevelt to the forefront. Kennedy's death paved the way for the Great Society and the Vietnam War's escalation.
If you want to understand American history, don't just look at who won the elections. Look at who was taken out of the seat before their time was up.
Next Steps for the History Buff:
- Visit Ford's Theatre: If you're ever in D.C., the museum in the basement is surprisingly thorough and has the actual derringer Booth used.
- Read "Destiny of the Republic": Candice Millard’s book on James Garfield is a masterpiece that reads like a thriller. It’ll make you realize how much of a tragedy his medical care actually was.
- Check the National Archives: They have the digital records of the Warren Commission (for JFK) and the trial of the Lincoln conspirators if you want to see the raw evidence.
The number is four. Let's hope it stays that way.