The Assassinated Presidents

<p>Until April 14 1865 John Wilkes Booth was one of the most famous actors of his time and President Abraham Lincoln had even watched him perform. But his most significant performance at a theater did not take place on the stage. That night Booth became one of history’s most infamous assassins when he assassinated President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.</p><p>In 1880 Garfield ran as a Republican for president and one of his supporters was a man named Charles Guiteau who wrote and circulated a speech called “Garfield vs. Hancock” that aimed to rally support for the Republican candidate. Though few knew it Guiteau’s family had already deemed him insane and attempted to keep him committed in an asylum only to have him manage an escape from confinement.</p><p>Although he is often overlooked in American history today few presidents marked a turning point for the country quite like William McKinley. As the last president to have served in the Civil War he represented the end of an era while at the same time his pro-business policies set in motion the Progressive Era a period almost universally associated with Theodore Roosevelt.</p><p>Of course the reason that period is aligned with Roosevelt is because McKinley had the unfortunate distinction of being one of only four presidents to be assassinated. In September 1901 the city of Buffalo was full of celebration. The Pan-American Exposition was ongoing and it brought notable figures to northern New York including President McKinley who had been reelected less than a year earlier. But also in Buffalo was Leon Czolgosz a young man who had turned to anarchy years earlier after losing his job Embracing his philosophy wholeheartedly Czolgosz believed it was his mission to take down a powerful leader he considered oppressive and McKinley’s attendance gave him the chance.</p><p>In many ways John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his young family were the perfect embodiment of the ‘60s. The decade began with a sense of idealism personified by the attractive Kennedy his beautiful and fashionable wife Jackie and his young children. Months into his presidency Kennedy exhorted the country to reach for the stars calling upon the nation to send a man to the Moon and back by the end of the decade. In 1961 Kennedy made it seem like anything was possible and Americans were eager to believe him. The Kennedy years were fondly and famously labeled “Camelot” by Jackie herself suggesting an almost mythical quality about the young President and his family.</p><p>As it turned out the ‘60s closely reflected the glossy idealistic portrayal of John F. Kennedy as well as the uglier truths. The country would achieve Kennedy’s goal of a manned moon mission and the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 finally guaranteed minorities their civil rights and restored equality ensuring that the country “would live out the true meaning of its creed.” But the idealism and optimism of the decade was quickly shattered starting with Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. The ‘60s were permanently marred by the Vietnam War and by the time Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated in 1968 the country was irreversibly jaded. The events of the decade produced protests and countercultures unlike anything the country had seen before as young people came of age more quickly than ever.</p>