Today in POTUStory - JFK 50th 1963-2013

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #38 - "California Love For a '75 Ford or Female Assassins vs. the POTUS"

Since the Secret Service officially began protecting presidents with the 26th, Theodore Roosevelt, after the assassination of William McKinley, the 25th, in September of 1901, the organization has only lost one president in 1963 with John F. Kennedy, the 35th. In 1975 Gerald Ford, the 38th and first appointed POTUS, was targeted twice by two different assassins. The first time a POTUS was targeted by a females. And both attempts took place in California.

President Gerald Ford in Sacramento's Capitol Park.

First at a park in Sacramento, his assassin wannabe, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme pointed a hand-gun at President Ford. She wanted to bring attention to the California Redwoods. A Secret Service agent grabbed the gun and prevented it from firing. As after any breech of security, procedures are reviewed, more precaution on future presidential outings.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, after failed attempt at assassinating President Gerald Ford.

Like the one three weeks later in San Francisco, he was leaving the St. Francis Hotel when Sara Jane Moore aimed her gun at Ford from a crowd of people wanting a glimpse of the POTUS from across the street. Moore, like the first wannabe presidential assassin Richard Lawrence in 1835 attempted two shots, first shot missed and just as she was about to shoot another bullet the shot is deflect and misses nearly hitting the president in the head, but the bullet, now ricochet, wounds a taxi driver.

Ford, the Secret Service, the press and everybody react to the shots fired at the president.


Sara Jane Moore after her arrest.

Both wannabe-assassins were sentenced to life in prison, however Moore was paroled in 2007 and Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, was paroled in 2009. Richard Lawrence is still dead.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #35 - "Lincoln, Kennedy and Monroe"

There are many coincidences throughout history and even within a country's own history, like the United States. Now the internets have been passing misinformation around big time, including on the legend of the connections between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The inaccuracies forced me to write this piece based off of simple coinkydinks that occurred during the Lincoln and Kennedy presidencies, starting with some accurate non-coinkydinks events in presidential history.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 and John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917. No similarity there between the two. Lincoln was elected the 16th POTUS while Kennedy became the 35th POTUS. Still nothing coincidental about those facts.

Abraham Lincoln. 16th POTUS. Illinois. Republican.

Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846 and JFK was elected in 1946. Exactly (well in years) one hundred years apart Lincoln and Kennedy were elected to the House of Representatives. Representative Lincoln served only one term in the House after being a part of the Whig Party's opposition to President James K. Polk and the Democratic Party's war win against Mexico, making the United States a continental power. Representative Kennedy on the other hand went on to win reelection to his House seat two more times and then in 1952 wins the race for Massachusetts' open senate seat in the U.S. Senate, the other house of Congress.

John F. Kennedy. 35th POTUS. Massachusetts. Democrat.

Senator Kennedy went from the Senate to the White House in 1960, whereas Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860 without having served in elected politics since he left the House in 1849, when Polk was leaving office and Zachary Taylor was entering office. One hundred years apart both became president of the United States. They were both challenged by an incumbent, and youthful, vice president in the General Election, John C. Breckinridge in 1860 and Richard M. Nixon in 1960, both would announce their loss to Lincoln and Kennedy, respectively, to a Joint-Session of Congress.

President Lincoln had to deal with States in rebellion from the start of his term and his goal was first and foremost to preserve the Union of States before the Civil War took on the responsibility of freeing the enslaved blacks in the South. He was president during the Civil War, while JFK was a president that served during the Cold War, another "C"-"W" initialed event. His hundred year counterpart would become associated with Civil Rights as well and his death would help push Civil Rights legislation through the Congress by his successor one hundred years after the Civil War ended. Essentially the Civil Rights that Lincoln began fighting for don't come to until almost one hundred years after his death.

As president, they both had young children in the White House, or during Lincoln's time, the Executive Mansion. Their wives also lost a child while living in the presidential mansion. Mary Todd Lincoln, and the president, lost their youngest William to an illness at the age of 11, where Jack and Jackie Kennedy lost their child, Patrick, two days after being born. The two died one hundred and one years apart.

Both presidents had secretaries named after the other. President Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy and President Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln.

But there's more connections.

John Wilkes Booth shoots President Lincoln while he, his wife and the Rathbones (such a 19th Century-sounding name) watch "Our American Cousin" from box seats at Ford's Theater. Why the sketch artist just sketched and didn't help is one of history's greatest unsolved mysteries so says the ghost of Robert Stack.

Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 and Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, almost one hundred years. Almost. But they were both shot on a Friday while sitting next to their wives. Both were shot in the head. They were with another couple. The Lincolns went to Ford's Theater with the Rathbones and the Kennedys rode with the Connallys in an automobile named Lincoln. Both males that were with the president when they were shot were both injured and survived the attacks. The presidents were shot by men from the South. One was born in 1838 and the other born in 1939. The assassins were known by their full name, three names made up of 15 letters, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald. Booth fled a theater for an abandoned warehouse, whereas Oswald did the opposite, he went from a warehouse to a theater. Both Booth and Oswald were shot and killed before their trial.

"Oswald!" yelled Jack Ruby as he shot Lee Harvey Oswald on LIVE television.

Both presidents were succeeded by Southerners who were their vice presidents. Both vice presidents were named Johnson and born one hundred years apart, 1808 and 1908 Tennessee's Andrew Johnson was loyal to the Union and put on the Union Party ticket with President Lincoln in 1864, a ticket made up of a Republican and a Democrat. Johnson became the 17th POTUS the day after Lincoln was shot and three hours after he died. Texas' Lyndon Johnson ran with Kennedy in 1960 and was sworn in as the 36th POTUS the day JFK was shot and killed in Dallas. Johnson-17 would go on to become the first impeached POTUS but survived the trial in the Senate by one vote in a battle to control Reconstruction of the South. His impeachment would weaken the executive branch, which was strong during Lincoln's terms, for the rest of the 19th Century. Johnson-36 would go on to win a landslide election of his own in 1964 but while he had success with Civil Rights and hoped for a great society, Johnson-36 eventually lost favor with the American people and his party as reelection in 1968 seemed impossible thanks to the longevity of the Vietnam War and his mishandling of the Cold War's proxy hot war.

A ticket to the Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson in the Senate in 1868.

Lyndon B. Johnson. 36th POTUS. 37th VPOTUS. Texas. Democrat.

The punchline of the fact sheet from the pre-Internet days ends with Lincoln being in Monroe, Maryland a week before his assassination setting up Kennedy to be in Marilyn Monroe a week before his. There is no Monroe, Maryland and Marilyn Monroe died in 1962...all according to Google.

All of this is nothing but historical coincidences. Nothing more. These comparisons between the two American presidents has been going on since the mid-1960s, more than likely.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #34 - "The Last Time Lincoln Was in a Theater"

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln went to Ford's Theater to watch "Our American Cousin". Now while the 16th President of the United States wanted to relax at the theater as the Civil War came to an end, an individual with so much opposition to the central government's involvement in freeing the enslaved black man wanted nothing more than to topple the U.S. government on the night of the 14th. John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators planned to kill Lincoln, the loyal Southern Democrat from Tennessee and the recently sworn-in vice president, Andrew Johnson, and the Secretary of State, William Seward. Lincoln and Johnson ran on the Union Party ticket, dumping his vice president Hannibal Hamlin for the loyal southerner of the opposition party. Seward had been the nation's chief diplomat since the start of Lincoln's first term and prior to that had challenged Lincoln for the Republican nomination in 1860 and was expected to win it. Booth was a southern sympathizer from a famous family of actors, he was not unknown like his future fellow presidential assassins like Charles Guiteau, Leon Czolgosz, or Lee Harvey Oswald (and his conspirators???).

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States. Republican from Illinois.

The guy that was to kill Vice President Johnson chickened out and Johnson had no clue about an attempt. Although Booth did try to make a connection between himself and the vice president, but nothing came of it.

Lewis Powell, one of Booth's co-conspirators, had the responsibility of killing Secretary Seward. Powell made it into the secretary's home and fought off his son before stabbing him. What saved Seward was a neck-brace he wore after being in a carriage accident. Powell fled the scene and was later caught.

Lewis Powell

The only one successful that night was Booth. He had scoped out Ford's Theater and planned out his moves. He knew the play's funniest line, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap." And that was when he was going to strike. Booth shot Lincoln with a derringer. After he shot Lincoln in the back of the head, Booth fought off Major Henry Rathbone, he and his wife shared the theater box with the First Couple, after bigger names like Grant and Sherman turned the play down. Booth slashed away at Rathbone, but the attack threw Booth off his game. Booth jumped from the box to the stage and his spur got caught in the flag. He broke his leg but before rushing off the stage yelled something to the audience. Two things were reported said, "Sic semper tyrannis!" which is the motto of Virginia and translates to "Thus always to tyrants." The line heard was "The South is avenged!"

Booth got on a horse, which he asked someone to hold, although they didn't know why, and he rode out of town. The Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, issued a manhunt for Booth and his accomplices. Booth sought help for his leg and eventually made his way to Garrett's farm and stayed in the barn until Federal troops circled the barn with fire. A soldier shot Booth and he died shortly afterward. His conspirators were tried and hung for the crime. Among those executed on July 7, 1865, was the first female, Mary Surratt.

John Wilkes Booth

But on the night of April 14th, doctors in Ford's Theater tried to save the president's life. Fearful that President Lincoln would not survive the bumpy road back to the Executive Mansion, they moved the president across the street. Lincoln died the next morning. It is said that Stanton said, "now he belongs to the angels" and later he changed his quote to "now he belongs to the ages."

Johnson was sworn-in as the 17th president of the United States. Lincoln's plans for Reconstruction of the South would never come to light and a political power struggle between President Johnson and the Radical Republicans would harm Reconstruction and Civil Rights for about 100 years until after another assassinated president is succeeded by another Vice President Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States. Democrat from Tennessee.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #2 - "The Ripples in the Presidency"

The U.S. Presidency under the current Constitution has existed since George Washington took the oath on April 30, 1789. Every four years the people are given the chance to elect a new leader to administer the executive branch and represent the nation. Each man connected by his predecessor can unite the present to the past. But there are moments when the presidency is altered, not by the people but by removal from office through impeachment (which has yet to happen, although we have come close), resignation, and death, either natural or by an assassin.

For 52 years, 14 presidential elections, and 9 presidents, elections occurred keeping or changing the occupant in (the time-before-)the-Oval-Office, from Washington to William Henry Harrison. That all came crashing down on April 4, 1841, one month after Harrison took the oath of office. The Constitution was hardly clear on the matter of succession with words like “the same shall devolve on the Vice President.” Was the vice president a temporary and acting-president until a new election as some saw it? Vice President John Tyler saw it differently and established the precedent of the vice president assuming the duties of the office of president by taking the oath. His Accidency, a nickname given by his opponents, but to every one else he was Mr. President. The longest uninterrupted period for the office of the presidency was from Washington to Harrison, but it would be followed by the shortest period starting with President Tyler.

No caption needed.

It would only be 9 years, 2 presidential elections, and 3 presidents until another death took a president. President Zachary Taylor died due to some kind of gastro problem July 9, 1850. Following the precedent established by Tyler, Millard Fillmore took the oath of office becoming the 13th president. The next length of time, Fillmore to Abraham Lincoln, would help establish the average of 22 years between non-election changes in the presidency.

President Zachary Taylor on his death bed in July of 1850.

John Wilkes Booth’s bullet would put an end to 15 years and four presidents from Fillmore to Lincoln. The first assassination would be followed by two more. Andrew Johnson would start 16 undisturbed years until three presidents later James Garfield was killed by Charles Guiteau, with Johnson’s acquittal saving him from being the shortest disruption and the first to be removed by impeachment. Chester Arthur all the way through to William McKinley’s assassination by Leon Czolgosz would be 20 years with 5 presidents and just 4 men serving.

The first 3 Dead Presidential Assassins: John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, and Leon Czolgosz.

The Roosevelt cousins bookend the next two undisturbed periods. Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency after McKinley and even won an election in his own right in 1904, something no 19th Century vice president following in Tyler’s footsteps was able to accomplish, also none of them were given an opportunity by a political party to even try, except for Fillmore four years later when the Know-Nothings nominated him to run for the presidency in 1856 coming in 3rd with Electoral College votes. Tyler could have run as an independent in 1844 but reconsidered. So for 22 years and just four presidents, Roosevelt to Warren Harding, the presidency was uninterrupted. Harding’s death ended this run, a mid-point between the Roosevelt cousins. Calvin Coolidge succeeded Harding becoming the 30th president. From Coolidge to Franklin Roosevelt, 22 years would also pass until FDR’s death ended the period with only 3 presidents.

Vice President Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd POTUS following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.

Harry Truman through to John Kennedy would be a period of 18 years, but only 3 presidents with Kennedy’s assassination, the last of a form of death while in office. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon span the next 11 years ending with Nixon’s resignation, the first and only of a president. This was the second shortest period before a disruption and with the next period nicely bookends with the first two periods.

Vice President Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th POTUS following the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.

Since Gerald Ford took over the presidency in 1974 as the 38th president the presidency has not been disrupted making the 36 years since 1974 the longest period second only to the Washington to Harrison 9 period. Both the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton could have disrupted the presidency, but thankfully they did not and just 16 years to beat the streak of 1789 to 1841.