Letters from Readers
July editorial in Khabar hits the right note
Taking the views from across the spectrum, I believe that the July 2024 editorial in Khabar (“Jai Shree Ram”) checked all the boxes of how an editorial should be written, leaning in on both sides yet firmly at the center of dividing commentary. Pooja Garg’s editorial is not an apogee of a single voice but a spotlight on words that decipher the voices of many. Her commentary echoes the merit of a successful democracy and the largest one at that.
Sarika Jaswani
by email
Assassination attempts are often unsuccessful
Ever since the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria got credit for being a key event leading to World War I, assassinations of national leaders have become triggers for high anxiety worldwide. Add live television and social media to the mix and we have all the ingredients to imagine American Civil War II and World War III, just around the corner. And yet, as we review the history of prominent assassinations, a very different narrative emerges.
The first attempted presidential assassination in America was in 1835. A troubled, unemployed house painter named Richard Lawrence armed himself with two pistols and hid behind a pillar in the U.S. Capitol to ambush President Andrew Jackson. Both pistols misfired. Jackson defended himself with his cane. The assailant, found to be insane and declared not guilty, was institutionalized. Thus began our history of assassinations, with a comic mix of incompetent assassins and invincible presidents. Thirty years later, in 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. This time, the assassin, a Southern sympathizer, was well motivated. He succeeded and fled before being captured and killed by federal troopers.
In 1881, once again, incompetence resurfaced. Charles Guiteau, a supporter of President James Garfield, claimed that he had written a speech in support of the president and deserved appointment to a high political position. In fact, Guiteau had badly mangled the speech, sometimes incorrectly referring to the president’s opponent, Grant, instead of Garfield. Disappointed with no reward, Guiteau became resentful and shot President Garfield at a railroad station in Baltimore. He might have survived but his doctors seemed to have bungled his treatment, leading to Garfield’s death a few months after the shooting.
In 1901, President William McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz. McKinley died a few days later. In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee for a nonconsecutive third term in office when he was shot by a mentally ill bar owner from New York City named John Schrank. But the bullet was slowed by a thick copy of his speech, which Roosevelt was about to deliver, and an eyeglass case he had in his pocket. Roosevelt, though stunned, was not gravely injured, and he went on to give his speech that night. The bullet stayed in his body for the rest of his life. Schrank died in a mental institution in 1943.
In 1933, an assassin nearly killed President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at a rally in Miami. An unemployed bricklayer, Guiseppe Zangara, who said he hated officials and rich people, fired five times. Roosevelt was unharmed, but the bullets wounded four people and killed Chicago’s mayor, Anton Cermak. In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at Blair House, where the president was staying in D.C. One of the gunmen was killed, along with a White House policeman. Truman, who remained inside, was unhurt.
John F. Kennedy was shot dead by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, but the circumstances of this assassination have continued to intrigue investigators and the public. In 1968, Robert Kennedy, a presidential candidate, was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles. In 1972, George C. Wallace, another presidential candidate and the segregationist governor of Alabama, was shot. Arthur Herman Bremer, the 21-year-old assailant from Milwaukee, was said to be working alone. Wallace was partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. Bremer served 35 years in prison and was released in 2007.
In 1975, President Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts in the same month. On September 5, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a member of the Charles Manson cult, tried to shoot Ford outside the California Capitol in Sacramento. She was an arm’s length away, but her gun had no bullets when she pulled the trigger. On September 25, Sara Jane Moore, a self-described radical, fired a gun at Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, but missed. Six years later, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley Jr., a mentally disturbed man. Though injured, Reagan survived. There have been 14 such incidents, including the recent one involving former President Donald Trump, who was shot while campaigning to be elected again after his defeat in 2020. This time, incompetence, or worse, is suspected in the Secret Service Department.
Interestingly, over a period of 235 years, only five assassins succeeded in killing their presidential targets!
Elsewhere, when we look at the world’s largest democracy, India, the record of assassinations shows more efficiency. In its 75 years as an independent nation, India has had three major assassination attempts with a 100% success rate! Shortly after India’s independence in 1947, its founding leader, Mahatma Gandhi, was assassinated by a fellow Hindu who resented Gandhi’s nonviolent, peaceful approach towards Muslims. Then, in 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed by her own bodyguards. In 1991, Indira Gandhi’s son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, a former prime minister who was campaigning for reelection, was killed by a suicide bomber. These assassinations led to more violence and the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.
Also in South Asia, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Bangladesh had its founding prime minister killed and Sri Lanka had two of its leaders assassinated. South Asian nations, with their stringent gun control laws, have a minuscule number of guns compared to America. Go figure. Indeed, headline-grabbing events like assassinations have had more to do with insanity, revenge, and the anger of incompetent citizens than political plots with national or international consequence. These statistics are not necessarily helpful in predicting the future, but the history of assassination attempts of national leaders shows that they are generally unsuccessful in killing the targets, let alone destroying their nations. That can be done only by us, we, the people.
John Laxmi
Sandy Springs, Georgia
Political reform vs. economic and social reforms
With reference to the Q & A with Dr. Jagdish Sheth (July issue), J. Trevor Williams writes that Mr. Gorbachev “unfortunately” (?) chose the wrong model by pursuing political reform as opposed to economic and social reforms. The world should be thankful to Mr. Gorbachev for doing this. Because of his efforts, the USSR (aka Soviet Union) disintegrated into smaller, freer nations (like Ukraine) and the Berlin Wall came down, leading to the unification of East Germany and West Germany. It brought immense prosperity and happiness to the people, making Germany a major industrial power. Thus, political reform often leads to economic and social reforms. If I had to choose between chaotic India (politically free) and authoritative China (economically strong only), I would choose India anytime.
P. Swamy
by email
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