Half of America’s Presidential Assassinations Were Committed By Michiganders

Michigan has only produced one President of the United States, but in any other major form, we have created some of the best of the best. Astronauts, Politicians, Athletes, pilots, and war heroes.

But, we have a dark political past as well, and come to find out, of the four successful Presidential assassinations in America, half of them were perpetrated by Michiganders.

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Our only contribution to giving the country a President was Gerald Ford, and even he wasn't exactly elected to the position. You can thank Richard Nixon for his spot in Presidential history. Nonetheless, he is in the archives.

But maybe even stranger news from Michigan, is that we've taken twice as many Presidential lives as we gave. Two of the four successful Presidential assassinations were carried out by Michigan residents.

Of course, the two most famous assassinations would be Abraham Lincoln, who was killed by John Wilkes Booth from Maryland, and John F. Kennedy who was presumably killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, though, though, conspiracies abound with that one.

There are two other Presidents who have been killed, though: James Garfield and William McKinley.

James Garfield's Killer Was From Ann Arbor

Charles J. Guiteau was born in Illinois, but got all of his proper education in Michigan. He attended Ann Arbor High School, and was a Stalwart member of the Democratic Party, though he had aspirations of any position alongside anyone from another party if need be.

At one time, Guiteau pushed to appoint him as the consul in Paris, despite not speaking a word of French. However, Garfield's cabinet saw him as unqualified, even after one senator resigned, he was again told he would not receive the position he sought.

This is where things took a turn, and Guiteau believed he was not appointed because he was a Stalwart, and decided the only way to end the Republican Party's "interncine warfare" was for Garfield to die, despite not having any personal grievance against the man.

While in conversation with his Secretary of State, James Blaine, at a train station in Baltimore, Guiteau, who had concealed himself near the ladies restroom, turned, pulled out his revolver, and fired twice on Garfield, hitting him in the back and arm.

Garfield didn't die right away, and in fact received excellent treatment that kept him alive for several weeks. However, he took a turn for the worse, and more than a month after the shooting, he died due to pneumonia and sepsis from his wound.

Guiteau was charged, and taken to a federal prison in Washington D.C. where he was eventually hung for his crimes.

William McKinley's Killer Was Born in Detroit

Leon F. Czolgosz was born in a Polish-American family in Detroit in 1873, and through his lifetime, he and his family all struggled to make ends meet. They moved a lot, looking for labor jobs, but multiple times, he would lose his job due to economic crashes, and job cuts.

Eventually, Leon was connected with the Knights of the Golden Eagle that initially formed to help members find work, and aid them when they were unemployed.

Though, the group was also part of many violent labor strikes, and through his time participating, Czolgosz came to believe that the enemy was old rich men, making money off the backs of poor laborers.

And right at the heart of it was President William McKinley, whom he called, "The enemy of good working people."

Czolgosz actually had a chance to shoot McKinley in September of 1901 in Buffalo. He had bought a revolver to do the deed during one of his speeches, but decided against it.

Instead, he opted to wait for the following day during a meet-and-greet event where he reached out his hand to shake McKinley's hand, and instead, shot him twice. One bullet struck a button on his clothing and only grazed him, but the second hit its mark.

The crowd surrounding McKinley immediately pounced on Leon but stood down after McKinley himself told them to go easy on him.

Doctors believed the second bullet had traveled through McKinley's body into his back, and had lodged itself in muscle tissue. But, we know now it pierced several organs, and within a week, he was gone.

Czolgosz was charged with murder, and sentenced to die a month and a half after McKinley's death, and was buried unceremoniously on the prison grounds, with a headstone that only read "For Hill Remains," and his coffin filled with sulfuric acid.