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The Conversation
The Conversation
Politics
Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin

Trump’s second assassination attempt is shocking, but attempts on presidents’ lives are not rare in US history

President Ronald Reagan smiles and waves shortly before he is shot outside the Washington Hilton hotel in March 1981. Corbis via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump survived his second assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024, marking the latest chapter in a long history book. Presidential assassination attempts, whether successful or not, are fairly commonplace in American history.

There have been 45 men elected president since the country’s founding. And 40% of them have experienced known attempts on their lives. Four presidents – Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy – have been assassinated.

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