Almost Assassinated

“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers.” [Acts 7:52]

Assassinations of presidents are a tragedy for a nation. The injustice of one person changing the course of the country is felt by millions. People have wondered, “What if Lincoln had not died? Would the nation’s Civil War wounds have healed faster?” Interestingly, four U.S. Presidents have been assassinated while in office (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy), but there have actually been at least a dozen failed assassination attempts on either sitting or past United States Presidents.

Did you know that President Harry Truman was almost assassinated while he temporarily was staying at the Blair House, while the White House was undergoing renovations? On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, tried to shoot Truman from the street outside the residence. A White House policeman was mortally wounded, but Leslie Coffelt shot and killed Torresola before dying. Collazo was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, but Truman commuted his sentence to life in prison. The president was actually taking a nap when he heard shooting and jumped up to look out his bedroom window to see what was happening.

Three years before Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas, the president-elect was almost a victim of an assassination plan by a retired postal worker. The family was vacationing in Florida in December 1960 when Richard Paul Pavlick loaded his car with dynamite. He intended to ram the president-elect’s limousine. But when Pavlick saw Kennedy’s wife and two children, he changed his mind. Secret Service agents, who had been investigating Pavlick’s strange behavior, arrested him a couple days later.

The Bible actually records several instances of people being assassinated, often rulers or kings. For instance, Eglon (king of Moab) was assassinated by Ehud, a deliverer raised up by the Lord during the time of the Judges (see Judges 3:15-22). King Joash was assassinated by his servants (see 2.Kings 12:20). And Amnon was assassinated at the command of his brother Absalom (see 2.Samuel 13:28,29). Of course, the greatest murder of a King was when the Jewish leaders unjustly condemned Christ to death on a cross.