Creators Syndicate
July 16, 2024
Our country suffered a horrific tragedy in Butler,
Pennsylvania. A former president, and current candidate for president, narrowly
escaped assassination. A husband and father in the crowd lost his life, and two
others were seriously wounded.
There is no question our country is in the midst of
unsettling political strife. Americans are clearly divided, but violence should
play no role in our elections and our governance.
We would be naive to think we are living in an era of
unprecedented political violence. It has been 43 years since the last attempt
on the life of a president or presidential candidate in the United States.
A brief review of history shows us that by today's
standards, politics, at times, has been extremely volatile. Between 1865 and
1901, three presidents were killed while in office.
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln had to be secreted into Washington
D.C. for his inauguration due to threats on his life. In 1865, Lincoln was
assassinated in Ford's Theatre. There was a conspiracy to not only assassinate
President Lincoln but to also murder Vice President Andrew Johnson and
Secretary of State William Seward at the same time. Johnson's would-be
assassin, George Atzerodt, backed out at the last minute, and Secretary Seward
received serious injuries at the hands of Lewis Payne.
Lincoln's successor, Johnson, was later impeached as a
result of his disregard for black civil rights, which emboldened white mobs to
wage increasingly violent terror campaigns against black people throughout the
South. The increasing political vitriol was a by-product of Johnson's failure
to condemn the violence and his willingness to pardon thousands of
secessionists.
Immediately after the presidential election of 1876, between
Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden, it became clear that the outcome of the
race hinged largely on disputed election returns from Florida, Louisiana and
South Carolina — sound familiar?
Tilden won the popular vote by 250,000. On the first count
of the Electoral College, Tilden led 184 to 165. The three Southern states'
electors were in dispute. A congressional commission was created and debated
over the outcome of the election well into the year 1877.
In clandestine meetings between Republican candidate Hayes
and Southern Democrats, a deal was made to make Hayes president and to end
reconstruction in the South. Although Tilden won the popular vote, and probably
the Electoral College, Hayes became president.
President James Garfield was shot while boarding a train at
the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881.
He died from his wounds 11 weeks later on Sept. 19.
On Sept. 6, 1901, William McKinley was shot by an assassin
at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died eight days later.
Garfield's vice president and successor was Theodore Roosevelt.
After completing Garfield's term, Roosevelt was elected to a
full term as president of the United States. He retired and William Howard Taft
was elected president. Roosevelt, disenchanted with the direction of the
country, decided to run against Taft and Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the same
position as Donald Trump — a former president, running for president — Theodore
Roosevelt was shot in the chest before giving a campaign speech. His life was
saved by the bullet only slightly penetrating his folded 50-page speech, which
he carried in his breast pocket. He then proceeded, bloody and injured, to
deliver his speech to the raucous crowd.
Twenty years later, in February of 1933, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, having been elected but not yet taken the oath of office, was
attacked by a would-be assassin while driving in a motorcade in Miami, Florida.
Although FDR was unharmed, a passenger in his vehicle, Chicago Mayor Anton
Cermak, was killed.
Our current political unrest is enhanced by the
unprecedented ability of candidates, and their supporters, to publish their
thoughts and opinions in real time; an insatiable appetite for the 24-hour news
cycle; and the pre-occupation, of some, with conspiracy theories.
As we try to make sense of what we see and hear, we would do
well to look back at history to understand that our problems are not
necessarily unique, and certainly not beyond our ability to solve.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett,
Kelly & George P.C. His book "The Executioner's Toll, 2010" was
released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and
follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino.
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