Andrew Jackson, would go down in history, as the first American president to survive an assassination attempt, twice! The date was January 30, 1835. The scene of the attempt was the House chamber of the Capitol building in Washington. The President had just left a congressional funeral there, when Richard Lawrence shot at him, however the gun misfired.

As you might imagine, President Jackson was furious and beat his attacker several times with his walking cane. While all this was going on, Lawrence pulled out a second loaded gun and pulled the trigger, but it too misfired.

Eventually, the President's aides came to his rescue and got Lawrence away from the him. The good news: Jackson was unharmed but very angry and from that day forward, quite paranoid. Go figure!

As for his attacker, Richard Lawrence was arrested and during a criminal investigation, was found to be insane and sent to a mental prison.

At this time in our nation, there was no Secret Service Agency assigned to protect the President. Things would remain that way until 30 years later, when President Abraham Lincoln, would become the first U.S. president to be assassinated.

 

 

More From 97.5 KGKL