Part II: Previous Assassinations

Assassinations from the history of the United States are consequential to understanding the rich beginnings of the people who have molded and bent this country to the way it truly is today. A valuable question is why would any of these assassinations happen and why do people even feel such strong emotion, or perhaps no emotion at all to take someones life? However, the most substantial question would be what do these assassins and their killings tell us about the history of the U.S? There are several particular assassinations that have occurred that expose the true meaning behind these assassins discontent with the people they target. As despicable as assassinations are, they open up an entire new window of knowledge that reveal the tensions in this countrys history. When looking at the case as a whole, it is far more valuable having the knowledge of the occurrences during the time period, and the background behind the people who were involved, rather than knowing where the assassination or attempts took place. In reflecting and examining the history of each assassin and their target, one can find the magnitude of the act. What we see most often in our present history is a sugar coated version of reality, which is not extremely surprising that with far less technology and the ease of communication concurrent with todays world, past dramatic happenings involving U.S government were incredibly harder to decipher by the public. That is what makes the upcoming explanations of assassinations so fascinating. These assassins had as much in common as did they in their differences. Despite that lack of some actual victorious assassins for haphazard reasons, they all collectively were very involved in following what was going on in their government more than the average person which caused them to harbor discontent with the presidents of the time. As deranged as some of these assassins were they were brilliantly connected to people who gave them the knowledge they needed to know about our government, and were for the most part involved in it in some way or another. It is important to know that many Americans in the past, parallel with people living at the same time, did see and acknowledge the actions of their presidents and paramount figures in society. Yet similarly to today, the public people were hidden from the legitimate reasoning behind their actions. To understand the severity of the peoples mind from reality, we have to examine the obvious case of the crippled FRD. This president was able to portray flawless attributes in his daily life; unbeknownst to the public he was paralyzed from the waist down due to a contraction of what doctors at the time thought was Polio. This life-style changing disease made it impossible for FDR to walk without assistance, yet the public had not an ounce of knowledge what was present behind closed doors even with the help of newer technology to expose his secret. Imagine in the past years from the 1860s to the early 1900s when technology and documentation was not as advanced. Bosses, rapists and murderers could have gotten away with murder and no one would have look twice. This shows that scandals would have easily taken place in the time period after the Civil War well into Theodore

Roosevelts presidency. This example of a concealed government secret supports the fact that normal everyday people did not possess knowledge past what they heard in the under-developed media, compared to the assassins. These people on the other hand needed to possess some sort of extra knowledge in order to build up a personal animosity against the President resulting in his murder. The year of 1881 was the last running year for President Garfield when his life was taken by the notorious Charles Guiteau, an anarchist compelled by a plethora of his ideologies he had been awaiting to act upon since he became passionate. Guiteaus mindset was fixed and James A. Garfield was bound to feel his wrath. Perhaps the most significant of his details was his status as a dark horse candidate. This title was iconic for those candidates who were little to unknown before becoming nominated, or was less famously known than the other candidates from the other political parties. As a dark horse, Garfields popularity inclined rapidly. With the publics sparse knowledge of the soon to be president and the time periods tensions, the popularity went to the candidate who did not advocate for extremities on any specific subject. As a result of this smart tactic, the Dark Horse rarely had to defend his stance and encountered the least conflict. Another tactic Garfield cleverly used to his advantage which ultimately sealed his presidency was when he waved the Bloody Shirt. This secured northern votes due to the fact it highlighted the tensions between the Confederate South and the Union North. Garfield seemed like the man of no problem, a strong and steady presidency seemed plausible in the near future, but what soon came into the picture was an action made upon the spoils system that created an unthinkable amount of tension. Otherwise known as patronage, the spoils system gave jobs to those who voted for the victorious candidate. It was a combination of an incentive to keep working for the party as well as a reward for voting. This system was intensified during this election, making the winning a big deal for voters. Jobs were important and came along with status, honor, privileges, and most of all an increased salary. Without a doubt these were better jobs that granted more rewards. In this way the spoils system was unruly and was as unfair as it seemed, although this traditional outcome could be traced far before Garfields Presidency. On the day the assassination was scheduled, Anarchist Charles Guiteau took the place he had been planning. With his rage, and deliberate stalking of the president, he shot Garfield twice at a train station in Baltimore. Following the attack, he famously shouted, I am a Stalwart! Despite the blatancy of Guiteaus anger, he was certain with the presidents death there would be justice for those who did not take part in the patronage of the Garfields election, as well as give justice to the Stalwarts. During trial the assassin struggled to justify the assault by describing that the compensation of Garfields death for his unjust actions now left a beneficial future to those who were omitted from the patronage reward. Guiteau was tried and found guilty. One aspect this assassination represents the greatest is the amount of discontent the society holds because of what the person of powers actions involve. In this case the problem is seemingly patronage and we can see how Guiteau responds to that. It is also important to note that not only is this assassin involved but connected to this problem

in a contradictory fashion. When Garfield wins the presidency he was nominated by the faction of half-breeds while the opposing side, the faction Guiteau is associated with, is the Stalwarts. Opposition in ideas and status is a common theme that revolves around the reasoning as to why a person would think to murder another. It is rarely found that the desire for murder originates from having the same opinion as the targeted subject. Just as previously stated, Guiteau was personally affected by Garfields act of patronage and this fact alone is what involved him in the scandal and played an influential factor in his reasoning to murder the president. Garfields assassin was closely following this president in a way that makes historians believe he was not completely sane. Specifically we see Garfield so fixed on his mindset and action plan. He is fixed on his idea that if Garfield is dead, so will be the death of the job positions the Half-Breeds received as a result of the winning candidate. Generally this theme of a fixed mindset seems to be the result of legitimate assassinations and it is a plausible explanation as to why these actions were carried out. One must be fixated on their target. An honest example of a non-fixated assassin attempt is George Atzerodts. Alongside John Wilkes Booth, he was supposed to and was scheduled to assassinate Vice-President Andrew Johnson. It was all a part of Booths master plan. In spite of the fact Atzerodt accepted to join Booth initially, he could not gather the courage to actually kill Johnson. Instead he got drunk that same night because he was not fixated in his mindset like Booth. Booth was an extremely fixated and sane assassin who had a distinct plan to kill President Lincoln because he thought his death would bring justice to the southern citizens. To begin to illustrate Booths significance, in the midst of the war, he refrained from his acting career and began a new pursuit. John Wilkes Booth had finally decided to react to the war. He was a southern sympathizer and supported the death of John Brown, a powerful abolitionist. His initial goal was to kidnap Lincoln but his intensions were unclear. Booth was so opposed of Lincoln because, being the die-hard confederate supporter he was, he had insightful acumen as to why Lincoln was detrimental to the Souths future. Booth not only believed President Lincoln was going to overthrow the constitution but he believed he was out to destroy the South. It is imaginable as to why Booth would believe so. The nation was a country of white people and doing anything that would remove this platform against society would disrupt life as he knew it. Just by looking at the war this idea actually already had, but Booth believed with all that Lincoln had done already, he needed to be stopped. As the president, Lincoln had a very powerful voice over the federal government and his influences with his ideologies were authoritative. Booths intentions were intelligently planned; however this arrangement did not play out the way he had expected. He had planned on murdering many other important government officials but because his accomplices left Booths planning to waste because of a chain of events including injuries and canceling the assassination attempts that left Booth to himself. However, Booths successful strategy prevailed and this action forever would shake American hearts.

Booths motives were congruous to another assassin named Alexander Berkman. Berkman, like Booth had intelligently planned his assassination towards his target. Henry Clay Frick was the man and was famously known as notorious in the Industrial Era for his actions involving American business. Berkman trailed after Booth as society became surrounded by a surplus of monopolies and poor farmers. Fricks role in society was incredibly involved, but in a way that was detrimental to the American people struggling the most. By being involved in big business Fricks influences dealt with the Carnegie Steel Company, along with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and Reading Company. His relationship with Carnegie became the biggest impact Frick had power in reining over this steel monopoly. As chairman he fostered a close relationship with Carnegie, well enough that when the massive labor strike hit Homestead Pennsylvania, he was put in charge of handling it. By using forces from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, this best demonstrates Fricks completely pro-business and anti-unionist ideologies. It led to a confrontation murdering 14 people. This was so extreme for even Carnegies unjust monopoly that Frick was actually fired from his job at the company. All of Fricks actions towards his position in aiding American business resemble the important yet prominent explanation for Berkmans fury. Berkman believed and was committed to the idea of personal equality. With closely examining each assassination, it is collectively seen that each is constructed around a detailed plan, although not all result in total success. One example of this is the fate that resulted from Booths entire plan but the assassinations were prescriptively detailed. Just like Booth, Guietau had to have known the exact time and location of Garfields whereabouts in order to successfully kill him. While careful planning is necessary to carry out a deed with such magnitude, one of the biggest differences seen throughout assassinations is arguing the persons state of mind. By analyzing each person and how they approached their assassinations its easier to explain why they assassinated their targets pushing aside the political and social context. When looking at Booth again, his initial motives were to only kidnap the president. By kidnaping him it would threaten and allow the north to remove Conservative prisoners. Booth was very thoughtful in his planning which deemed him as a sane case where as Berkmans plan consisted of murder right off the bat. Although his words never completely justified the true person Berkman was, his actions shed brighter light on his sacrificial personality. Berkman knew exactly where this assassination would leave him but went on with it anyway because of his beliefs as an anarchist, justifying his action as one of sanity as a whole. Now, while Guietau still had a plan, its peculiarity can be explained by his strange initial reason for first coming into politics. That reason was he believed he was meant for a higher purpose after surviving a steamboat collision crash. Guietau also was known for his strange family with their shady business practices as well as his odd thought-process. He almost killed his sister with an ax he was using to chop wood, for no apparent reason. This example aids the demonstration between the two main differences in an assassination; that is the assassins state of mind.

Similarly to Guietau, Leon Czolgosz was also deemed crazy during McKinleys time in office because he felt it was his moral obligation to eradicate the president based on the reasoning that he would help the American population and gain recognition for himself. McKinleys presidency revolved around the period of laissezfaire government and a rise to power of monopolies. This is important because during this time period businesses had complete authority over the government and had a dominating effect on the people. Seeing this negative and dominating effect throughout America, the anarchist Leon Czolgosz felt it was his responsibility to prove himself worthy of respect from other anarchists and also put an end to this. He passionately believed it was his responsibility to remove McKinley from his office by the action of murder. His overwhelming resentment fueled his scheme for assassination. This rage resembles the inclusively exaggerated feeling of frustration throughout American society, which was majorly found within crowded homes of American industrial workers. With no aid from the government, workers were subjected to horrible working conditions, long strenuous hours, and a pay that could barely feed the mouth of one. With the government failing to come to their aid, people by the hundreds started to grow infuriated and grouped together. Anarchist groups had more followers and of them was Leon Czolgosz. It was through his interactions with other anarchists where he started to develop the passion and saw President McKinley as the symbol of oppression. With this justification he saw the only way to solve the sufferings of all the workers was to eliminate the root of the problem. Once again, it is seen that the reason the assassination took place was because the assassin was trying to alleviate the person he/ she saw most as the creator of the problem. Czolgosz saw that by removing the president from his office and ultimately off of the face of the earth, it would have undeniably put Theodore Roosevelt in office, who was known at that time to be progressive in nature. In conclusion, Booth in his original plan thought kidnapping the president would help the southerners by releasing the southern captives. With similar motives, Guietau believed by killing Garfield it would open up jobs for the opposing faction. Plus, Berkmans final proposal of Fricks murder was initiated to end the suffering of thousands of people. Each assassin, despite knowing the their actions were deleterious, were in their minds really going to benefit other people, whether it be the farmers, confederates, or Stalwarts.

Part III: Possible motivations

When taking into account the years before TR was president up until 1912, along with the opposing social and political standpoints of the time, it becomes clear to see that tension was brewing under the surface, and serves as the reasoning as to why someone would want to assassinate the president. This is important because with the events that took place during 1912, such as the struggles over new Progressive reform that Roosevelt argued for, the opposing ideas of reforming and foreign policy between TR and his opposer Taft, the new regulations being enforced such as trust busting, and the mindsets of the civilians during the time, all had a dramatic surge of new influence on American society in 1912. The previous presidents before the year 1901 had an extensive laissez-faire government that allowed business to run amuck with little control over their wrongdoings, such as subjugating the people and creating trusts worth billions of dollars apiece, because the people were still in a state of mourning after the Civil War. The people of the union states struggled greatly because of this government policy, making those people furious enough to perhaps kill. However, the entire role of the government changed in 1901 with the initial power of Theodore Roosevelt in office as president. This is important to note because for the years previous to 1901, the government officials and Plutocrats of the time were not used to a strict government. They recklessly played with the money they made, as a result of having such a laissezfaire government dominated by industrialists who overwhelming took advantage of the American people and their ignorance. It is without a doubt that the United States grief had set in and the people were weary from war. Despite the mutual feelings after the war and Lincolns death that trembled at the American people's hearts, the period of mourning was long gone by the time business had completely overpowered the government, and left the American people helpless to seek the reform they desperately needed. Theodore Roosevelt was revolutionary in his mindset for change in the government. This change was in no way miniscule, and with that, threats appeared inevitable. Moreover, now holding the power with his steel head and perspective on reform, he was more than ready to initiate change. We can see that on his first day as president Teddy was on the job, ready to bust trusts and work. This also set him apart from his predecessors; he was not known as a president to have fun before work needed to done. Theodore Roosevelt was the only hope in a time full of injustice for the country and his dull-minded people who appointed him as vice-president were foolish to think he couldnt change the bigoted society they worshiped. The transformation of America began when McKinley died on September 14, 1901, and with this, the Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency, embodying the Progressive Movement in every action although his Progressive ideas were supposed to die without him ever having a public face. This consequence followed anyone who was given the title as Vice President. Soon enough though, McKinleys death ended the period of lost presidents and led way to a time where the U.S experienced major changes in a short amount of time. The 15th of September marked the day that Trusts were in trouble for at the least then, the rest of Roosevelts presidency. Famously known as the trust buster Roosevelt went on to help farmers and workers the most. Throughout the rise of industrial America after the civil war one of the most common scenes throughout American society between the time of 1865 and 1900 was a common discontent with the life of the lower class. Sure the cities grew, populations grew, and businesses flourished but that left farmers

and workers in an aggravated mood. First of all the farmers were in debt and these agrarians were ready to angrily blame the first people that came to their minds. Then came the rise of the Populists, following a plethora of unions and other groups searching for reform. Strikes against the railroad companies, steel plant were recorded in this nations history because they were such a big deal. The discontent came from the industry because of unfair wages, child labor, and monopolies. The cruelty of working conditions and absurd amounts of money that were unfairly distributed was a result of most names like Carnegie, Frick, Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan. In this way, once Roosevelt settled in with his big stick or otherwise known as his strict authority, these industrialists who used to be making millions off of their monopolies were attacked and their business became trampled. With a single doubt it is obvious that these are the kind of people who have complete justification to be upset with Roosevelt. The government also shifted because there were industrialists controlling the senate as well. What TR did next was, he actually took some control in regulating the ratio of power between boss and worker, where one would not be more beneficial and power hungry than the other. His reputation over dramatized his actual actions because, while he did bust a considerable amount of trusts like the Northern Securities Company, he still allowed some monopolies because he did not see the harm in their business because the company was still allowing competition between the natural resources, healthy in Teddys mind for the economy. The best action that exemplifies this is the creation of the Square Deal. In not removing the business of a coal mine, Roosevelt only sought to improve the workers conditions but in doing so he had to threaten the coal company with US troops. The action was successful. Accordingly, TR did not rid of the company but rather reformed it which really highlighted his progressiveness. This does not undermine the envy companies had towards Roosevelt though. As the president, he had to have been on citizens hit lists because even changes like workers reforms means less money for the companys greedy owners. However, all this trust busting was not the only changes Roosevelt acted upon in his presidency. His actions occurring after his terms in office provided greater explanation as to why anyone would want to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt. After finishing McKinley's term and a re-election term in office, Teddy Roosevelt vowed to step down, even though technically Roosevelt could have run the election again. But instead of taking the title once more, he elected a Supreme Court judge named William Howard Taft to be his substitute. Taft won the popular vote because Roosevelt advocated him, and he was put in office more importantly to be a complete reflection of Roosevelts ideas. Hence, the people who disliked Roosevelt to begin with didnt like how the former president was advocating Taft and ensuring his vote in office as well. Surprisingly in the years followed, Roosevelts discontent with Taft became almost as great as the industrialists who resented any progressives. He soon discovered that the only person who would be able to do the job right and exactly how he wanted, was himself. While Theodor Roosevelt was in office in 1901-1904, not only were there radical changes occurring in the United States, but its involvement with other countries increased at a larger rate when compared to before. This caused stressful relationships between the leaders and Theodor Roosevelt. Specifically his Big Stick Diplomacy aggravated the tensions that started to develop during this time period. These conflicts could have played an influential part in why the killer pinpointed Roosevelt as his target. Unlike the other presidents of the time, Theodore Roosevelt had a unique outlook of the foreign people of the world compared to how they mentally faired with the ones who resided in the United States. When looking outwards, past

the land that he had presidential rule over, Roosevelt belittled foreigners and categorized them uncivilized creatures that needed help due to the fact they could not make rational decisions on their own. These thoughts were seen through a completely a nationalistic perspective, and as a result Roosevelt had no problem viewing the immigrants in the United States as being an actual human being, thus treating them better than the lands he imperialized and took over. Although there were other predecessors before him who imperialized other countries, such as McKinley during the Spanish-American war, the newfound ideologies TR embraced that manifested in his Big Stick Diplomacy illustrates how radical his positions were when imperializing other countries. His diplomacy was centered on the idea in which force would intimidate other smaller countries and that power along with the brutality of the U.S army and the intimidation of the Great White Fleet would ultimately cause their surrender. Although many understand the concept and performances of the army, many are blind to the occurrences that were brought along by the Great White Fleet. This fleets development originated from the influence of Alfred Thayer Mahans book, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, which began and fortified the argument that a strong navy was crucial to the development of a countrys power. This is important because without this nudge, the United States might have taken a different approach to becoming a world power, or would have started the development of a naval fleet farther into the future. One situation where Theodor Roosevelt displayed his naval power was during the time period 1907-1909 when he sent the Great White Fleet (a fleet of battle ships) on an expedition around the world to demonstrate his ascendancy to the foreign nations of the world. This act ties into his loyalty to the Big Stick Diplomacy because without the surge of force displayed by the naval fleet, he would have not put such an emphasis on displaying his possessions. Another example of when the diplomacy was enforced came along with TRs involvement in Panama and when he took it through force. Before TRs presidency, the United States had always longed and dreamed for a way to establish an isthmian canal in order to create a smoother transaction from one end of the world to the other as a way to make trading and interactions between other countries more efficient. This desire lunged TR into a negotiation between Panama and sought to try and obtain the land in order to benefit the American desire to gain the title as a World Power. In 1902, and with Roosevelt in power, he sought to captivate the canal that intrigued President Ulysses S. Grant who had sponsored seven expeditions to Central America to understand the feasibility of such work. Eager and with the power invested in his big stick Roosevelt initiated this. This year marked the starting point in which Roosevelt began the conquest to obtain Panama and build his very own canal. Compared to the Filipinos he subjugated, the Cubans did not put up much resistance to the United States involvement. In 1903, TR very happily received the news that the Senate approved the Hay-Herran Treaty, where the U.S. would offer the Columbian Government $10 million dollars, along with an annual payment of $250,000 in order to sweeten the deal, hopefully locking in the future gateway to the canal. While that deal caught the Colombian Governments eye, they pushed their luck by demanding $25 million dollars from Roosevelt and made it clear that they would not budge or sign the treaty if their demands were not met. Not liking his buttons pushed, Roosevelt refused to acquiesce to their requirements and secretly helped the Panamas revolt against their Cuban dictators. Although TR denies any involvement in helping the Panamas successfully revolt against the Cubans, on November 3, 1903 the opposing force successfully led a bloodless revolution, which could have been stopped by the Colombian troops, but the collection of U.S Marines from the gunboat Nashville

favored the resulting forces. These boats created a blockade against the Cubans, not allowing them to bring in troops to exterminate the uprising. Because of this, TR had a direct relation to the Panamanians revolt, although he would beg to differ. This revolt is important, because with the Cubans unable to determine the future of Panama, and to his joy the original treaty was ratified and in 1904, TR began constructing the isthmian canal. All these occurrences caused major tension between the Americans and Cubans, as well as the other countries America dominated. Examples of this are the annexation of the Philippines. This fortifies the argument that TRs Big Stick Diplomacy rubbed a few foreign nations and countries the wrong way. Although TR felt justified in his actions to alienate the Western Hemisphere for himself because he felt he was helping the less fortunate countries it is known that his actions only angered the natives and caused resentment. An example of his dominance was when he issued the Corollary to the Monroe Doctorn in 1904. This Corollary stated that the U.S would intervene with any Latin American country that fell heavily in debt to European Nations, and take matters into their own hands to pay back the aggressive world power. In Roosevelts mind this was keeping a conflict at bay, as well as giving him an opportunity to become involved in the government of the countries he later dominated. With this Corollary, the president could also send gun boats to occupy the countries major ports to manage the collection of taxes produced by the custom taxes, to provide to the European Nations. While this seemed like a fair trade, the president in the latter years abused this power and used the Corollary to justify reasoning to send troops into countries such as Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. These actions created major discontent with the foreign people in relation to the U.S because Roosevelt contorted the true use of the document. This action made the people skeptical of his true intentions and left a bad taste in their mouth every time they uttered his name. As a result of his Big Stick Diplomacy and the way Roosevelt used force to dominate the countries he captured, created much tension and would have been another factor in the reasoning as to why the assassin would pick Teddy Roosevelt as the unfortunate target. Throughout the entire course of his presidency, President Theodore Roosevelts new ideas, actions, and foreign policy all slated the perfect road for certain people to criticize his wrong doings. With a generation of lost presidents before him who allowed business and monopolies to control the country, there was a different atmosphere when TR took the reins and started busting trusts. As a result, he turned off the Plutocrats and alleviated some of the struggles workers and farmers faced. Not only did he embody the Progressive Movement and create a strained relationship between government and businesses owners in the US, but he also created strained relations with countries abroad with the Big Stick Diplomacy. The use of force implemented with this foreign policy, along with Theodore Roosevelts desire to be a world power, pushed him to seek dominance of all the smaller countries he subjugated. This exacerbated the prevalent tensions that were amidst between the natives and the president. All the occurrences, whether it be in the US or among other countries, all could have fed the killers desire to assassinate President Roosevelt.