{"id":100121,"date":"2024-08-12T10:49:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T14:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100121"},"modified":"2024-08-13T11:49:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:49:32","slug":"former-president-theodore-roosevelt-shot-while-campaigning-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/former-president-theodore-roosevelt-shot-while-campaigning-for-president.html","title":{"rendered":"Former President Theodore Roosevelt Shot While Campaigning for President"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: The recent shooting of former President Donald Trump reminded historian Jane Hampton Cook of another attempted assassination of a former president campaigning to return to the White House: Theodore Roosevelt, on 14 October 1912. Jane is a presidential historian and author of \u201cMy Country \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d for children. Her works can be found at Janecook.com<\/a>. She is also the host of Red, White, Blue and You<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

During the 1912 presidential election, Americans opened their newspapers in mid-October and discovered shocking news. Former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was running for president again, was shot on October 14 by a would-be assassin in Milwaukie, Wisconsin, while on his way to deliver a campaign speech.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Theodore Roosevelt speaking from a car in Milwaukee on 14 October 1912, shortly before a gunman shot and wounded him in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel. Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For years Roosevelt had been a larger-than-life personality in various positions as New York state assembly man, New York City police commissioner, assistant secretary of the Navy, and governor of New York. Because he was the center of gravity wherever he went, Roosevelt\u2019s daughter Alice once quipped that he was \u201cthe bride at every wedding<\/a> and the corpse at every funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n

The October 1912 assassination attempt did not kill Teddy Roosevelt.<\/p>\n

\u201cBullet of an Assassin Wounds Col. Roosevelt,\u201d the Boston Journal<\/em> reported of his injury. \u201cCol. Theodore Roosevelt \u2013 shot in the right breast as he left his hotel to speak at the auditorium \u2013 miraculously escaped assassination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Roosevelt had served as president of the United States from 1901 to 1909, newspaper editors still referred to him as colonel, a nod to his military service and heroism during the Spanish-American War.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Journal (Boston, Massachusetts), 15 October 1912, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Astoundingly, Roosevelt had placed his steel eyeglass case and his 50-page speech in the right breast pocket of his jacket \u2013 precisely where the bullet landed. The two objects slowed the bullet\u2019s impact, and it lodged in Roosevelt\u2019s chest muscle without penetrating his lung.<\/p>\n

\u201cColonel Roosevelt Shot by Assassin \u2013 Manuscript Shields Teddy from Bullet\u201d the Aberdeen Daily American<\/em> ran as their headline.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Aberdeen Daily American (Aberdeen, South Dakota), 15 October 1912, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

A positive statement that Roosevelt is not seriously injured was made by Dr. Frederick Stratton of Milwaukee, who examined the colonel and declared there was no cause for alarm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wound is a superficial one,\u201d said\u00a0the physician.\u00a0\u201cThe bullet embedded in the muscular tissue. The bullet positively didn\u2019t reach the lung and there is no truth in the reports that he is dangerously hurt.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The shooter was John Schrank, a German immigrant who lived in New York but had traveled to Wisconsin.\u00a0When the police searched Schrank at the police station,\u00a0they found notes in his pocket declaring that he had been visited by the spirit of President William McKinley.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: John Schrank. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roosevelt was elected vice president for President William McKinley\u2019s second term in 1900. When McKinley attended the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on 6 September 1901, he was shot twice in the abdomen by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz. McKinley died a few days later. Becoming president, Roosevelt completed McKinley\u2019s term and won a second term in 1904.<\/p>\n

Although he wanted to run for president again in 1908 and the law permitted it, Roosevelt didn\u2019t think the American people would approve of his decision to break the two-term tradition started by President George Washington.<\/p>\n

Instead, Roosevelt convinced his war secretary, William Howard Taft, to run as the Republican nominee in 1908. Taft won. Roosevelt, however, wasn\u2019t satisfied with his chosen successor. Unhappy with Taft\u2019s policies, Roosevelt ran for president again in 1912 against both Taft and Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate. Roosevelt represented the Bull Moose Party when he ran for a third term.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, Roosevelt\u2019s would-be assassin, Schrank, was upset that Roosevelt was running for a third term. Schrank claimed that McKinley had come to him in a vision and told him that Roosevelt had killed him. \u201cThis is my murderer. Avenge my death,\u201d Schrank had written in his notes. He confessed to firing a shot against Roosevelt and declared that \u201cany man looking for a third term ought to be shot,\u201d as the Aberdeen Daily American<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

Some politicians, however, blamed newspapers for Schrank\u2019s delusions.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 16 October 1912, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attempted assassination of Colonel Roosevelt was a great shock to me,\u201d said [West Virginia] Gov. William E. Glasscock tonight, \u201cas it was to the people of this country; it is another crime to be laid at the door of yellow journalism. As long as the press of this country spends as much time and devotes as much space as it has in the past few years in inflaming the minds of the weak and the views against public men who may entertain views contrary to the owners and editors of such papers and have the courage to stand up for their convictions, just so long will the lives of public men be endangered. It is time for such things to stop.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coined as a term in the 1890s<\/a>, \u201cyellow journalism\u201d was sensationalized news printed in newspapers to attract readers and boost sales. Yellow journalism was born out of a competition between two New York City newspapers: the World<\/em> and the Journal<\/em>. Glasscock was not a fan of yellow journalism.<\/p>\n

Glasscock concluded that Roosevelt and his cause would not be deterred.<\/p>\n

As the newspapers reported, Roosevelt showed in the moments immediately following the shooting that the assassination attempt had not shaken him. Because Schrank was arrested right after firing his shot and the former president\u2019s wound was superficial, Roosevelt insisted on delivering his speech before going to the hospital. Once there, doctors concluded it was safer to leave the bullet where it was than try to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the bullet lodged in his chest muscle for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

\"Photos:
Photos: Theodore Roosevelt\u2019s blood-stained shirt. Credit: \u201cThe Attempted Assassination of Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt\u201d; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With blood seeping into his shirt, Roosevelt traveled to the auditorium and spoke to the crowd for 50 minutes. His opening words were:<\/p>\n

\u201cLadies and gentlemen, I don\u2019t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Within three weeks, Republicans split their votes between Roosevelt and Taft in the 1912 presidential election. Woodrow Wilson won. Roosevelt died a few years later in 1919 of a coronary embolism.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> President Theodore Roosevelt, 1904. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/p>\n

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