3 Presidential Close Calls

[Music] sometimes what almost happens in history is really as interesting as what did happen or maybe what didn't there's good reason to question the great man theory of history the idea that single individuals drove historical events but certainly there were individuals whose personalities or actions were important if they hadn't been there well history might have might have turned out differently many times in history national leaders have narrowly escaped death and in a few of those instances it might have ended say an important presidency before it even began leaving us to wonder what if it's history that deserves to be remembered in september of 1902 theodore roosevelt had been president for only a year after the assassination of william mckinley at the pan american exposition in 1901 the tragedy of one loss president was serious but only a year later the nation very nearly lost a second president in less than 12 months after mckinley's assassination congress informally requested that protection for the president be provided by the united states secret service which had been established by legislation president lincoln signed on the day he was assassinated not to protect presidents but to deal with rampant counterfeit currency the secret service was one of only a handful of federal law enforcement agencies which led to the service doing work outside of its initial assignment investigating all manner of crimes in 1894 the secret service did begin providing part-time informal protection of president cleveland and continued until congress asked them to protect president roosevelt full time among the very first agents assigned to protect roosevelt was william craig craig was born in 1855 in glasgow scotland spent 12 years in the royal house guards of the british army he provided protection for queen victoria served with the british army in egypt for a time he was discharged at age 38 and migrated to chicago where he performed athletic feats and top fencing and boxing he was a noted fighter with a broadsword in 1896 the chicago tribune wrote that no other swordsman in the country has ever attempted the startling feats with some professor performs with his broadsword he joined the secret service in 1900 and in his initial service he hunted down counterfeiters in birmingham alabama craig had actually been assigned to protect mckinley as the secret service provided some protection when the president traveled out of washington he was present when mckinley was shot concerned about his safety mckinley's personal secretary george cortalio had tried to cancel a public reception at the exposition but when mckinley insisted cortelli arranged for more protection since october of 1901 craig had been assigned to roosevelt and was a constant companion the vancouver daily world of vancouver british columbia said that at receptions reviews churches pink teaser strolls through the white house grounds craig was never more than ten feet from the president the constant protection of the secret service actually annoyed roosevelt who managed to slip craig's guard at least once still craig had become close with roosevelt's family biographer edmund morris noted that craig was friends with theodore's young son quentin they read comics together in the fall of 1902 roosevelt left washington to do a barnstorming tour to support candidates for the midterm elections on september 1st 1902 william craig gave an interview to a member of the worcester telegram too much caution cannot be taken to keep the crowds back from teams in the president craig said he also said that whenever he stood near the president he kept one hand on his revolver constantly vigilant but craig couldn't protect roosevelt from everything on the morning of september 3rd roosevelt massachusetts governor winthrop crane personal secretary george cortellio craig and a driver got into a barouche four-wheeled carriage pulled by four horses roosevelt had just given a speech at the city park and was traveling to give another at the country club pittsfield had a trolley system run by the pittsfield electric street railway the secret service had ordered the trolley system closed but the top brass of the railway company planned on reaching the club by riding one of the trolleys some of the riders were late which put the trolley behind by 15 minutes the carriage approached the trolley crossing when the party heard a rumble the evening star of washington dc describes what happened next an electric car was heard coming along at a great speed apparently trying to pass ahead of the procession craig appreciated the danger and arose beside the driver and turning around signaled the motorman to hold back the warning was disregarded and in the next instance in the view of hundreds of people the electric car crashed diagonally across the carriage causing the wheels to collapse splintering the side and running down the near horse of the wheel team killing it instantly the riders were thrown from the carriage the president landed on his face but escaped with bruises and a cut governor crane was essentially unhurt while cortelio seemed concussed craig had been crushed under the trolley and was killed how my children will feel roosevelt said craig was remembered well the washington post reported that everywhere yesterday were heard expressions of sorrow with the fate of william craig scores of officials whose business takes him frequently to the white house had a kind word to say of the officer secretary of state john haye thought that roosevelt had only escaped death by two inches and even so the incident still almost killed the president he was hurt enough to have to use a wheelchair for a time and three weeks later was hospitalized in indianapolis where a doctor did an emergency surgery to prevent blood poisoning which could have killed him just as easily as the crash roosevelt later quipped if you're set on risking your life go to pittsfield massachusetts and take a trolley ride the leg injury ailed him again after another accident while exploring in the amazon in 1914 and the old accident once again brought the by then former president near to death 12 years after it occurred william craig was the first of as of the making of this video just 37 secret service agents to have died on assignment roosevelt later said of him the man who was killed was someone of whom i was fond whom i greatly prized for his loyalty and faithfulness the driver of the trolley who was rushing because he was late and his passengers were anxious to get to the president's speech served six months in jail for manslaughter there's no way to know how history might have been different if theodore roosevelt had died that day he was for example at the time personally acting as a neutral arbiter in the coal strike of 1902 a watershed event in u.s labor history and at least his death would have been problematic as he had replaced the assassinated william mckinley there was no vice president in 1902 years earlier president-elect franklin pierce experienced another close call before he was even inaugurated widely considered one of america's worst presidents he was also a man who suffered great tragedy before he was elected in 1852 pierce and his wife jane had lost two boys one in infancy and another at age four their last surviving son was benjamin pierce called benny weeks after his election in january 1853 pearce and his family were returning to their home in new hampshire from a funeral in boston shortly after boarding at 1 15 pm the train less than three miles from the station it left in andover massachusetts derailed there came a violent jolt followed by sudden wrenching and frightful jerking the car's axle had broken and it came off the tracks sliding down an embankment at 40 miles an hour 60 people were in the car with the pierces when it crashed the hunting globe reported the car was crushed to atoms while the new york times reported the car broke into pieces like a cigar box several people were injured but only one person was killed benjamin pierce who was nearly decapitated by the wreckage he had been standing at the time of the accident looking out the window the passing scenery the accident affected the president and his wife terribly his wife was unable to attend his inauguration two months later and she remained in mourning not attending public events for the first two years of pierce's presidency pierce was a doughboy politically meaning he was a northerner with southern sympathies and his actions such as the kansas-nebraska act and his enforcement of the fugitive slave act drove the country nearer to civil war it has been suggested that the trauma of the accident caused depression or even ptsd which may have affected his performance as president had he died in the train accident however a unique problem may have faced the nation pierce served without a vice president as his running mate william rufus king had become sick in cuba king was unable to attend the inauguration because of his illness and is the only executive official to have taken the oath of office on foreign soil he died of tuberculosis 45 days into his term other events that could have changed history if they happened differently weren't accidents but failed assassinations many viewers like to remember the attempt to assassinate president reagan in 1981 and teddy roosevelt was famously shot before a speech while running for president for the progressive party in 1912 which he proceeded to give anyway in 1835 a would-be assassin attempted to shoot andrew jackson but both of his pistols misfired and jackson beat the man with his cane a less remembered attempt occurred in february of 1933 against then president-elect franklin roosevelt roosevelt had beat incumbent herbert hoover by a landslide the previous fall was in miami after a fishing trip since contracting polio roosevelt often gave speeches directly from the back of the car sitting on the trunk instead of walking to a stage he spoke on february 15th at 9 pm from a green buick convertible as he slid back into a seat and the car prepared to leave he saw anton cermak the mayor of chicago cermak had opposed roosevelt's nomination until they did the convention and roosevelt called him over to shake his hand possibly as a peace gesture the crowd around the car surged as well hoping to get a look at the new president when roosevelt heard what i thought was a firecracker then several more as he later described it in the crowd was giuseppe zangara a bricklayer who had bought a pistol from a pawn shop a few days earlier he was too short to see over the crowds and stood on a metal chair he was looking over the hat of a woman in front of him 49 year old lillian cross as he fired lillian cross grabbed his hand pushed it up in the air then called for help another man tom armor according to cross then helped grab him and shortly the whole crowd was taking him down as police fought their way to the assailant there were shouts of kill him but roosevelt personally called for zangara to be brought in by the authorities roosevelt was unhurt zingar had fired five or six times and he'd hit five people mayor cermak was hit most grievously hitting the lung mrs joseph gill was also seriously injured while three others were hit and suffered minor injuries secret service agents jumped on the president-elect protecting him from further harm roosevelt saw cermak doubled over on the ground despite the secret service yelling to get him out of the crowd he insisted on pulling cermak into the car taking him to the hospital he was a lie but i was afraid we might lose him roosevelt said i held him all the way to the hospital once at the hospital cermak reportedly told roosevelt i'm glad it was me and not you while there's no proof he actually said those words they were nonetheless inscribed on his tomb the secret service threw zengar over a trunk rack of a service car while several held onto the bumper when asked if he was targeting roosevelt the assassin said yes and i would be glad if i killed the president-elect his motive was less clear he said that he personally liked roosevelt but that he didn't like presidents i killed kings and presidents first and next all capitalists he announced from the jail despite declaring bolshevism all right he also insisted that he was not associated with any group and worked alone he did so on the part of working people believing that hoover and then roosevelt were only hurting the lower class he also blamed long-term stomach pain and what caused him to act he was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the four injuries to which he responded don't be stingy give me a hundred years when cermak died on march 6th the charge was up to murder and on march 20th zangara was put to death in the electric chair called old sparky at florida state prison in rayford his last words were go ahead push the button it's hard to know what may have happened if roosevelt had been killed in 1933 only weeks before his inauguration the country has never faced such a crisis and roosevelt would define much of the american experience after 1933 when he began the first of his four successive presidencies and that the country threw both the great depression and the second world war roosevelt's vice president in 1933 was former speaker of the house texan john nance cactus jack garner a traditional democrat who opposed many of roosevelt's new deal politics the era of the depression and second world war might have been different in the us if garner whom a colleague described as a labor-baiting poker playing whiskey drinking evil old man taken office the novel the man in the high castle by philip k deck which postulates an alternative history where the axis powers win the second world war diverts from the timeline but assuming roosevelt was killed by zangara among historians these historical what-ifs are called counter factuals which the 2007 book studying history describes as the idea of conjuring on what did not happen or what might have happened to understand what did happen it's really impossible to say what would have happened if any of these events had turned out differently if there had been a different leader or a question of leadership at these critical moments in history maybe things would have been much different or maybe not as historical events are larger than any single person but in any case these particular events are not particularly well remembered because they didn't change history and had the president died as a result of any of them at very least we know that they would not have been nearly so forgotten almost history that deserves to be remembered i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 121,642

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, POTUS, Theodore Roosevelt, franklin pierce, franklin roosevelt, us history

Id: pJVQS_IOJ-8

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021