| Attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt | |
|---|---|
 Roosevelt speaks from a car shortly before being shot | |
| Location | Outside the Gilpatrick Hotel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 43°02′27″N 87°54′53″W / 43.04083°N 87.91472°W |
| Date | October 14, 1912 |
| Target | Theodore Roosevelt |
Attack type | Attempted assassination by shooting |
| Weapon | .38-caliber Colt Police Positive Special revolver |
| Deaths | None[a] |
| Injured | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Perpetrator | John Schrank |
| Motive | Mental illness |
| Verdict | Not guilty by reason of insanity |
| Charges | Attempted murder
|
| Sentence | Institutionalization |
On October 14, 1912, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt by John Schrank, a former saloonkeeper, while campaigning for the presidency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Schrank's bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating Roosevelt's steel eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page-thick (single-folded) copy of his speech titled "Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual", which he was carrying in his jacket pocket. Schrank was immediately disarmed and captured; he might have been lynched had Roosevelt not shouted for Schrank to remain unharmed. Roosevelt assured the crowd that he was alright, then instructed the police to take charge of Schrank and ensure he was not harmed.
As an experienced hunter and anatomist, Roosevelt correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung; he declined suggestions to go to the hospital immediately. Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot—but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."[1]
Afterwards, probes and an x-ray showed that the bullet had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the pleura. Since doctors concluded that it would be less dangerous to leave it in place than to attempt to remove it, Roosevelt carried the bullet with him for the rest of his life.
Both President Taft and Democratic nominee Wilson suspended their campaigning until Roosevelt recovered and resumed his own. When asked if the shooting would affect his election campaign, he said to the reporter "I'm fit as a Bull Moose." The Bull Moose had become a symbol of both Roosevelt and the Progressive Party, often referred to as simply the Bull Moose Party, after Roosevelt boasted that he felt "strong as a bull moose" after losing the Republican nomination in June 1912.[2] He spent two weeks recuperating before returning to the campaign trail. He later wrote to a friend about the bullet inside of his body: "I do not mind it any more than if it were in my waistcoat pocket."
The shooter, John Schrank, initially pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted murder, but the trial judge, unconvinced of Schrank's sanity, declined his plea and the case was brought to trial. Schrank was found not guilty by reason of insanity by the jury and was committed to indefinite institutionalization.[3][4]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Magazine, Smithsonian. "The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelt's Life". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- ^ Morris, Edmund. Colonel Roosevelt. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. pp. 215, 646.
- ^ "Kingston Daily Freeman, Volume XLII, Number 22, 12 November 1912". Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- ^ "Schrank Adjudged Insane on Real Expert Testimony". JAMA. 308 (7): 652. 2012. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.9533. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2022.