ON Saturday, July 13, the former President of the United States (US) and Republican candidate in the upcoming elections, Donald Trump, escaped an assassination attempt.

Trump was shot in his right ear during a political rally in Pennsylvania. He was rushed off stage by the Secret Service after the shooting.

The FBI later identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania after being killed by law enforcement.

The incident led to the death of two persons – the gunman and an attendee, Corey Comperatore, leaving Trump and two other spectators wounded.

Timelines of assassination plots

Trump is not the only ex-president or presidential candidate to have faced an attempted assassination. In the history of America’s presidency, about ten presidents and presidential candidates have either been assassinated or experienced an attempt.

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was the 16th president of America and the first to be assassinated. He was shot in the back of his head on April 16, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth during a special performance of the comedy “Our American Cousin” which he attended with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.

After the incident, he was rushed to a house across the street from the theatre for medical treatment but died the following morning. He was succeeded by the vice president, Andrew Johnson. However, his killer, Booth was shot and killed on April 26, 1865, after he was found hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.

James Garfield

James Garfield was the second US president to be assassinated. He was the US’ 20th president and was shot four months after taking the oath of office on July 2, 1881, while walking through a train station in Washington to catch a train to New England.

Shot by Charles Guiteau, Garfield was laid at the White House for several weeks. However, he died in September holding office for just six months. Guiteau was eventually caught by the police and executed in 1882 while Chester Arthur, the vice, took over as the 21st president of the United States.

William McKinley

McKinley was the 25th president of the United States. He was shot twice in his chest while shaking hands with people passing through a receiving line after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901. He died on September 14 of the same year, barely six months after the beginning of his second term in office. He was succeeded by his vice, Theodore Roosevelt.

A 28-year-old Detroit resident, Leon F. Czolgosz admitted to the shooting and was found guilty at trial. He was executed in an electric chair on October 29, 1901.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt was the 32nd president and longest-serving U.S. president. He is the only president to have served more than two terms. As the president-elect in February 1933, Roosevelt had just given a speech in Miami Guiseppe when Zangara fired five shots at him but missed his target and instead killed the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermark. Zangara was however convicted and sentenced to death.

Harry S. Truman

Harry Truman, the 33rd president escaped an attempted assassination in November 1950 after two gunmen broke into Blair House, across the street from the White House. The incident led to the death of a White House policeman and one of the assailants during an exchange of gunfire, leaving two other White House policemen wounded.

The remaining assailant, Oscar Callazo was arrested and sentenced to death. In 1952, Truman commuted the sentence to life in prison. He was however released from prison in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.

John F. Kennedy

The 35th president, John Kennedy, was shot by a hidden assassin in November 1963. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where he died.

He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was sworn into office in a conference room aboard Air Force One, the only president to take the oath of office on an aeroplane.

Gerald Ford

The 38th US president, Gerald Ford faced two assassination attempts in 1975 but was not hurt in any of the incidents.

On the first attempt, Ford was travelling to Sacramento for a meeting with the governor of California when Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, squeezed up and through a mob on the street, pulled out a semi-automatic pistol, and aimed it at the president.

But the gun was not fired. Fromme was then sentenced to prison and released in 2009.

Seventeen days after the first attempt, another woman, Sara Jane Moore, fired a shot at Ford while he was outside a hotel in San Francisco.

She missed the first shot and was caught on her second attempt. Moore was sent to prison and released in 2007.

Ronald Reagan 

In March 1981, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. after delivering a speech in Washington, D.C. He was shot alongside three other people, including his press secretary, James Brady, who was partially paralysed as a result. Reagan eventually recovered from the shooting.

However, after a jury declared Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting Reagan, he was taken into custody and placed in a mental health facility.

A judge then declared that he was “no longer a danger to himself or others,” which resulted in his release from court supervision. Reagan was the USA’s 40th president.

George W. Bush

In 2005, George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, was attacked with a hand grenade while he and the Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili were attending a rally in Tbilisi.

The cloth-wrapped bomb fell about 100 feet from the two men, who were protected by a bulletproof barrier. However, nobody was harmed, and the grenade did not explode.

Presidential candidates that were assassinated/faced attempted assassination

Theodore Roosevelt 

Theodore Roosevelt, who served as the 26th president was shot while he was campaigning to return to the White House in 1912. He was not seriously hurt.

Robert F. Kennedy

In 1968, Robert Kennedy, who was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, was assassinated just after he delivered his victory speech for winning the California primary. The shooting also left five other people injured.

George C. Wallace

In 1972, presidential candidate, George Wallace was shot during a campaign in Maryland while he was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He became paralysed from the waist down after the incident.

Arthur Bremer, the person who fired the gun was convicted and sentenced to prison but was released in 2007.