Do you know how many presidents have been assassinated? If you said two, then you are wrong because there have actually been four! They all did a lot to help get our country where it is now, and I think that you will enjoy hearing about these presidents!

#4 Abraham Lincoln, 16th President

Abraham Lincoln is from Kentucky. He grew up on the frontier and started to enter the political side of life when he was elected as a Representative of Illinois in 1846. He eventually was elected president in 1861. He is most well known for ending slavery in the United States by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation stating that all slaves in the United and Confederate States of America would, “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free”. He was assassinated on April 15, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theater, located in Washington D.C. He was shot, on the 14th, but didn’t die until the next day. For more details on his assassination visit this LINK. For more details on his life, visit this LINK.

#3 James Garfield, 20th President

James Garfield was elected president in March of 1881. He was only in office for a little over 7 months before his unfortunate death. He was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881, and the doctors did more harm than help. You see, they stuck their fingers in his wound trying to find the bullet. The only issue was that they didn’t have rubber gloves and didn’t wash their hands, causing him to partially die of infection. He lived for a dreadful 79 days before actually dying. Garfield died on September 19, 1881 in New Jersey. He didn’t die from infection (though it did contribute) but actually of an aneurysm in his heart.

#2 William McKinley, 25th President

William McKinley was born on January 29, 1843 in Niles Ohio. He started his term as president on March 4, 1897 as a republican. He was assassinated 6 months into his second term by Leon Czolgosz. He was shot twice in the stomach at the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music, in Buffalo, New York. At first, it seemed that McKinley was recovering, until he took a sudden turn for the worse. He got something called gangrene, which is dead tissue caused by infection or lack of blood flow. He eventually died on September 13, 1901, and was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt. For more reading, visit this LINK.

#1 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President

When he was elected in 1960, he was the youngest man to ever be elected president, as well as the only Roman Catholic. His family growing up was large and rich. Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy during WWII, and got the highest honor for his actions when his boat was shot down. He survived and helped others survive too. He was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. There are many conspiracy theories behind all this, but not all of them are true. For more reading about Kennedy visit this link, LINK. For more reading on the conspiracy theories, visit this LINK.

I think that all of these presidents helped America get where it is today. They died unfairly, and some of them would still be here today. I found all of this very interesting and hope you did too! Happy reading!