Special Sub-Topic: Three Name Assassins Authored by: arsenalvcc Sub-topic of: Assassinations

This actor used his middle name professionally, until he shot Lincoln.

Wilkes. John Wilkes Booth, who was a very popular actor at the time, actually attended Lincoln’s second inauguration as the invited guest of Lucy Hale, his secret fiancée. On April 14, 1865, Booth managed to sneak into Lincoln’s booth at Ford’s Theatre and shot him in the back of the head with his .44 caliber Derringer pistol. After breaking his leg jumping onto the stage, Booth was pursued by Union soldiers and was killed in the tobacco barn at Garrett’s farm. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

Leon Czolgosz shot President William McKinley. What was his middle name?

Frank. On September 6, 1901, Leon Frank Czolgoz went to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where President McKinley was greeting the public. Concealing his pistol in a bandaged hand, he shot McKinley twice at point blank range. Found guilty after a short trial, Czolgosz was executed on October 31st by electrocution. His last words were “I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime.” Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

"Magic Bullet Theory" or not, the Warren Commission declares that he shot President John F. Kennedy.

Harvey. According to the Warren Commission, Lee Harvey Oswald (who could have an entire quiz category devoted to him) shot Kennedy from the sixth floor window of Texas School Book Depository. He then walked out of the building, past Marrion Baker, a policeman, because Roy Trudy, Oswald’s boss, identified Oswald as an employee. Only four blocks from a Greyhound station which would have taken him to Mexico, Oswald was confronted by patrolman J.D. Tippit, who his shot with his .38 revolver. After hiding in a shoe store, and then ducking into a theater, Oswald was surrounded by police who arrested him for the murder of J.D. Tippit. While he was going to be charged with the assassination, the arraignment hearing was disrupted, so he was never officially charged with Kennedy’s murder. Two days later, while being transferred to county jail, Oswald was shot by Texas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

In the end, Paul wasn't dead; it was John Lennon who was killed by a deranged fan, Mark ______ Chapman.

David. On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman had shaken hands with Sean Lennon, John’s son, and had secured an autograph from John. After waiting several hours, Chapman shot Lennon four times outside his home at the Dakota Building. While he was expected to plead insanity, Chapman pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years to life. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

Gavrillo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and started World War I, but what was his middle name?

He did not have one. Pricip, who had no middle name, was one of seven members of the Black Hand group who lined the route of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Each man was instructed to kill Ferdinand as he past, but after Nedjelko Cabrinovic’s bomb exploded behind Ferdinand’s car; his driver quickly drove on to the reception at City Hall. It was after this reception that Ferdinand made the decision to visit those injured by the earlier bomb blast at the hospital. No one told driver Franz Urban that he was to avoid the city centre, so he turned right onto Franz Joseph Street. It was here that, as the driver attempted to reverse after being told of his mistake, Princip was able to step forward and shoot Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Incidentally, Austro-Hungarian law did not allow for capital punishment to be imposed on anyone under the age of 20, and as Princip was 28 days shy of 20 when the assassination took place, he was sentenced to the maximum 20 years. He died in prison of tuberculosis on April 28, 1918. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

In the second attempt on his life in less than a month, Gerald Ford dodged the bullet fired by a Sarah with this middle name.

Jane. Outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Sarah Jane Moore, a former FBI informant trying to reconnect with her radical friends, attempted to shoot President Ford. A former marine, Oliver Sipple, grabbed the gun and wrestled it away from Moore. Moore received a life sentence for the attempt. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was staying in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, was shot and killed by James Ray. What was Ray's middle name?

Earl. On April 4, 1968, while King was preparing to lead a march in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ union, James Earl Ray shot King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Ray was arrested, pled guilty, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Three days after his conviction, Ray recanted his confession, claiming that it was a conspiracy, and that he wasn’t involved. Ray died in prison in 1998 from kidney disease. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

In one of the strangest motives for a Presidential Assassination, Charles Guiteau shot James Garfield. While Guiteau's middle name is seldom used, his middle initial is, what is it?

J.. During the Presidential election of 1880, Charles Julius Guiteau, a self proclaimed lawyer and theologian with a history of mental illness, made several unsolicited campaign speeches. When James Garfield emerged victorious, Guiteau felt that he should be rewarded for his loyalty with a political appointment. When the White House ignored him, he believed that God commanded him to kill the president, On July 2, 1881, Guiteau shot Garfield in the back as he was boarding a train in Washington D.C. Guiteau was found guilty on January 23, 1882, and was hanged on June 30th 1882. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

Gov. George Wallace wasn't killed by Arthur Bremer's attack, but he never walked again. What was Bremer's middle name?

Herman. Wearing a Wallace campaign button, and patriotically dressed in red, white and blue, Arthur Herman Bremer opened fire at a rally in Laurel, Maryland on May 15, 1972. While Wallace was shot four times, he did not die, but he was paralyzed, and never walked again. Bremer, in his diary published after his arrest, admits that the assassination attempt was not politically motivated, but was simply a desire to become famous. His 53-year sentence is up in 2025. Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com

His first name and last name are the same, but his middle name was different when he shot Robert F. Kennedy.

Bishara. It is commonly thought that Sirhan was a Muslim, but even though he was born in Jerusalem to Palestinian parents, he was raised as a Christian. Sirhan was quickly arrested following the June 5, 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Believing that he had been betrayed by Kennedy’s support for Israel in 1967 Six-Day War, Sirhan waited in the Ambassador Hotel kitchen, where Kennedy was taken after a speech to supporters in the hotel’s main ballroom. He fired a .22 caliber revolver eight times into the crowd, hitting Kennedy three times. Sirhan was sentenced to death, but had his sentence commuted to life in prison in 1972. He was denied parole for the 12th time at his last parole hearing in 2003.Information from brainyencyclopedia.com, wikopedia.org, and answers.com