Understanding Assassinations
Let's talk about it, if we must
Welcome back to the This Day In Esoteric Political History newsletter. Each week, a member of our team (or a friend of the show) gathers together bits of America’s past and attempts to find a throughline that might add a little understanding to our current moment.
Here’s what happened over the week ahead in American political history…
December 12
1870: South Carolina’s Joseph Rainey is sworn in as the first African-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1887: Former Confederate soldier Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar is nominated for the Supreme Court to replace a deceased justice from the South.
1941: The US Congress provides an overwhelming vote in support of war. Jeanette Rankin of Montana was the lone dissenter.
1952: Jimmy Carter, then a a U.S. Navy lieutenant, helps prevent a nuclear disaster at Chalk River, in Ontario
1975: Sara Jane Moore admits to trying to kill President Gerald Ford
December 13
1998: A majority of Puerto Rican voters select “none of the above” when given a referendum on potential statehood or independence.
2003: Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. soldiers who found him hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit
2011: Donald Trump wrote a letter announcing that he was bowing out of moderating a Newsmax presidential debate
December 14
1780: Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.
1819: Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.
2012: 26 people, including 20 children, are killed in the Sandy Hook shooting
2008: At a press conference in Baghdad, an Iraqi journalist flings his shoes at George W. Bush
December 15
1791: The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly, marking Bill of Rights Day.
1871: William “Boss” Tweed is arrested in Manhattan while returning to the city to, reportedly, see the Christmas lights.
1933: The 21st amendment becomes effective, repealing the 18th amendment that prohibited the sale of alcohol.
1960: Richard Pavlick is arrested for plotting to assassinate President-Elect John F. Kennedy
December 16
1773: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
1860 : Union General Ulysses Grant issued Order Number 11, which expelled Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
1971: Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Natives Settlement Act, which established a new set of treaties and financial structures for Alaskan tribes — unlike any other arrangement in the so-called “lower 48”
1978: Cleveland becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression.
1989: U.S. Appeals Court Judge Robert Smith Vance is assassinated by a mail bomb sent by Walter Leroy Moody, Jr.
December 17
1777: France formally recognizes the United States
1900: Ellis Island Opens
1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright take turns piloting and monitoring their flying machine in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Orville piloted the first flight that lasted just 12 seconds and covered 120 feet
1978: Holiday travelers are flying around the country under a regulatory system that was about to come to an end. The next year, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 would kick in
December 18
1860: Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden proposes an amendment to prevent national emancipation
1865: Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA
1972: President Richard Nixon initiates a series of ‘Christmas bombings’ after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam
2019: The United States House of Representatives votes in support of the impeachment of Donald Trump
In which we take the above collection of events and find themes, throughlines, rabbit holes and more. This week it’s Kellie Carter Jackson’s turn at the typewriter.
This week in connecting the dots I am, somewhat unwillingly, led to the theme of assassinations.
Pretty heavy right before the holidays... My apologies.
But, just this week, Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arrested in Pennsylvania. Thompson was gunned down in broad daylight in the middle of New York City. Thompson’s death prompted mixed emotions on behalf of the public. For some, his assassination felt like street justice for a broken and unjust health care system. For others, it’s a tragedy that should have never happened to anyone.
Throughout history assassinations do not always make sense. In 1960, Richard Pavlick was arrested for plotting to assassinate President-Elect John F. Kennedy after he defeated Nixon in a close election. He tried to blow him up using his car and dynamite, but only had a change of heart when he spotted Kennedy with his wife and two children. As we know, Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963, but not by Pavlick. To this day, all of the details and facts regarding Kennedy’s assassination remain unclear.
In 1975, Sara Jane Moore admitted to trying to kill President Ford. She believed that her radical political views could spark a violent revolution to change America from its brokenness. She failed and served 32 years in prison.
Presidents are not the only targets of assassinations. In 1989, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Robert Smith Vance was assassinated by a mail bomb sent by Walter Leroy Moody, Jr. It was not clear what Mood’s motivation was; some speculate that he wanted to seek revenge regarding his criminal record. Moody mailed several bombs in retaliation killing the Judge, injury his wife, and killing Robert E. Robinson, a Black Civil Rights Attorney. After receiving several life sentences, he was sent to death row and died by lethal injection at the age of 83. There was no justice in any of these assassinations or attempted assassinations. And yet, time and time again, someone will employ lethal violence for personal or political agendas. When it comes to assassinations, we often don’t have all the answers, and even when we do, it’s not satisfying because nothing is satisfactory regarding murder.
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