the president has been shot killing
these famous figures wouldn’t be as easy
as their would-be assassins first
thought welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top ten people who survived
assassination attempts
for this list we’re looking at the most
significant failed assassinations in
history in these terms as quickly as the
assailant got off six shots there’s not
really all that much you can do to
qualify however the target has to have
been directly involved in the attempt
and under immediate danger because of it
it’s a very special kind of map in that
it shows the position of the gunman and
shows the position of the four men who
were hit we are not including
assassination plots that were foiled or
that failed before any action of
consequence was carried out it’s
unfortunately what happened to me is it
my life sort of turned into a thriller
you know it’s have turned into a spy
novel and suddenly I had men with guns
in the kitchen number 10 Franklin Delano
Roosevelt Andrew Jackson was the seventh
president of the United States and the
first that anybody tried to kill while
Abraham Lincoln was also targeted four
years prior to his actual assassination
but Franklin D Roosevelt takes our tenth
spot in February 1933 FDR was shot at by
disgruntled bricklayer Giuseppe Zangara
during an impromptu speech in Miami
Florida the woman standing next to him
saw what was happening and in her mind
she said my god he’s going to kill
Franklin Roosevelt the attack during
which the mayor of Chicago was fatally
wounded happened less than a month
before Roosevelt assumed his historic
presidency number nine Gamal Abdel
Nasser the second president of Egypt
Gamal Abdel Nasser fell under fire
during a publicly broadcast radio
address held on October 26th 1954 eight
shots were fired at him by a member of
the opposition group the Muslim
Brotherhood but they all missed its
support the new government didn’t last
long however and in 1954 the group was
famed for failed attempt to assassinate
the vehm president an event that might
have ended Nasser’s life it actually
proved a pivotal moment on the road to
his presidency following the attacks he
administered an ultra hard line against
centers arresting thousands dismissing
hundreds and executing extreme cases
until he became egypt’s undisputed
leader Ali abullah stop let out the heck
Camilla Saudi number eight Benito
Mussolini the fascist ruler of Italy for
over 20 years the early stages of Benito
Mussolini’s term were littered with
assassination attempts resigned any unit
up to it let’s react but make sure that
but none of them is in a position to
harm he survived the first on April 7th
1926 delivered by violet Gibson and also
emerged unscathed after Italian
anarchist Gino Liu Chetty
threw a bomb at his car in Rome in
September of that same year
Mussolini’s popularity now faltered
between 1925 and 1926 he escaped three
attempts on his life perhaps the most
notorious attempt on Mussolini’s life
came on October 31st of 1926 however
when fifteen-year-old and Te’o zamboni
shot at him in Bologna and was lynched
on the spot number seven Malala
yousufzai and I believe that even death
is supporting the cause of Education
even dead does not want to kill me an
activist for female education in
Pakistan from an early age Malala
yousufzai was subject to an
assassination attempt when she was just
15 years old she first gained attention
via a BBC blog written under a pen name
detailing school life under the
influence of the Taliban Malala was only
11 when she first spoke out for girls
rights to go to school and gradually her
voice became more and more prominent too
prominent for the Taliban who shot her
in the head while she rode the bus home
from an exam Malala was shot in the head
deliberately targeted by the extremists
miraculously yousufzai recovered and is
now one of the world’s most influential
human rights campaigners they have
already threatened me when I was in Swat
and then later on they attacked me
but the thing is that now I’m living a
second life
number six Vladimir Lenin the survivor
of two assassination attempts it’s
widely suggested that the second stunt
against Lenin’s life actually did
contribute to his eventual death the
Russian leader was first targeted in
January 1918 when his car was ambushed
in Petrograd unhurt from that episode he
was shot at three times by socialist
revolutionary Vanya Kaplan who
considered him a quote traitor to the
revolution Lenin’s would-be assassin was
a woman named Fanny Kaplan a young
member of the social Revolutionary Party
that party was the leading contender for
influence among the Bolsheviks
constituencies workers peasants soldiers
Lenin survived but it’s believed that
the bullet wounds massively contributed
to his later strokes which eventually
killed him number five Ronald Reagan and
I don’t think there was a better
demonstration of how that training
worked then the the assassination
attempt against President Reagan our
highest-ranking American to survive
assassination Ronald Reagan was shot by
John Hinckley jr. just 69 days into his
presidency
he suffered a wound to his right arm a
punctured lung and severe internal
bleeding but reportedly remained in good
spirits while on the operating table I
heard a noise and we came out of the
hotel and headed for the limousine and I
heard some noise and I thought it was
firecrackers Hinckley had been
psychotically obsessed with actress
Jodie Foster and had carried out the
would-be killing in an attempt to earn
her attention in his opinion it was
quote the greatest love offering in the
history of the world there’s no evidence
that he had any particular political
motivation what seem to have come out
was that he wanted to impress the movie
star Jodie Foster who he had a obsession
with number four Fidel Castro Fidel
Castro himself once quipped quote if
surviving assassination attempts were an
Olympic event I would win the gold medal
and he was right
during the 60s especially the Cuban
leader was a primary target for the
American foreign intelligence services
known as the CIA and therefore under
constant threat the list of potential
assassination plots and methods read
like a James Bond script exploding
cigars booby-trapped sea shells
hypodermic syringes disguised as
ballpoint pens but Castro evaded all of
that and hundreds more he was hunted at
an unprecedented level number three
Charl degaulle the shouts of de Gaulle
to power were now de Gaulle to the
gallows another world leader who worked
under constant threat the most famous
attempt on French president Charles de
Gaulle’s life was lodged on August 22nd
1962 targeted by extremists because he
had allowed Algerian independence de
Gaulle and his wife were showered with
machine-gun fire while driving through
Paris
the pair ducked out of immediate harm’s
way but were further saved because of
the superior suspension system on the
seat row NDS car they were riding in
their driver maneuvered out of a
potentially catastrophic 70
mile-per-hour skid and chauffeured the
de gaulle’s to safety
number two Pope John Paul the second
suddenly the Pope’s Jeep was hurtling
out of the crowd the guards running
ahead and at its side unlike many of
today’s would-be assassins the man who
targeted Pope John Paul the second in
1981 was actually very accurate mehmet
ali akka had already successfully
murdered one turkish left-wing
journalist in 1979 before he fired
multiple bullets at the pope causing the
religious leader near-fatal injuries
he’s been identified as mehmet ali haka
a convicted assassin who would escape
from a prison in turkey
the pontiff did recover however and
would remain pope for close to another
quarter of a century
john paul ii even forgave his assassin
when he met with him two years later
while echo was serving his prison
sentence two years later he met a giant
jail and forgave him Ajay was extradited
to his native Turkey in 2000 he’s been
in jail there ever since for crimes
including the murder of a newspaper
editor in 1979 before we unveil our
number one pick here are some honorable
mentions and seconds after these
pictures were taken on January 8th a man
aimed a Glock 19 at her head and three
feet away pulled the trigger
at an election campaign event a
psychologically disturbed man fired
three shots at Vulcan Shaolin who was
then German interior minister those
shots irrevocably changed the
politicians life intelligence reached
the British Secret Service that
something big was up a plot was being
hatched to assassinate the Queen as the
Great and the good gathered in
Westminster Abbey to celebrate her
golden jubilee news just coming in from
Pakistan Pakistan former dictator pervez
musharraf has survived an assassination
attempt a powerful explosion took place
number 1 Adolf Hitler 60 years earlier
Adolf Hitler came close to being blown
to pieces just how close no one has been
able to say while it’s a relief that
some of our assassin escapees went
unharmed that cannot be said for today’s
top choice throughout his career Adolf
Hitler held off numerous attempts on his
life some dating as far back as 1930
before the Nazi leader had even assumed
power in Germany in June he narrowly
escapes attempt number two unarmed
ambush mr. Olsen one month later his
head is graze during attempt number
three operation Valkyrie and the 20 July
plot picked up majority attention
despite their failure falling quite late
in Hitler’s history in 1944 that’s what
you’re saying isn’t it how else you
gonna convince people the SS are trying
to seize power we have to kill Hitler
in contrast the austere conspiracy of
1938 never really got off the ground if
only it had how different would the
world be then do you agree with our list
which failed assassination did we forget
for more top 10s that aren’t a threat to
your life published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com amongst the
cheering and the peal of bells
announcing the arrival of the Pope they
heard gunfire and saw the Pope turn pale
and collapse bloody into the arms of his
age
you
these famous figures wouldn’t be as easy
as their would-be assassins first
thought welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top ten people who survived
assassination attempts
for this list we’re looking at the most
significant failed assassinations in
history in these terms as quickly as the
assailant got off six shots there’s not
really all that much you can do to
qualify however the target has to have
been directly involved in the attempt
and under immediate danger because of it
it’s a very special kind of map in that
it shows the position of the gunman and
shows the position of the four men who
were hit we are not including
assassination plots that were foiled or
that failed before any action of
consequence was carried out it’s
unfortunately what happened to me is it
my life sort of turned into a thriller
you know it’s have turned into a spy
novel and suddenly I had men with guns
in the kitchen number 10 Franklin Delano
Roosevelt Andrew Jackson was the seventh
president of the United States and the
first that anybody tried to kill while
Abraham Lincoln was also targeted four
years prior to his actual assassination
but Franklin D Roosevelt takes our tenth
spot in February 1933 FDR was shot at by
disgruntled bricklayer Giuseppe Zangara
during an impromptu speech in Miami
Florida the woman standing next to him
saw what was happening and in her mind
she said my god he’s going to kill
Franklin Roosevelt the attack during
which the mayor of Chicago was fatally
wounded happened less than a month
before Roosevelt assumed his historic
presidency number nine Gamal Abdel
Nasser the second president of Egypt
Gamal Abdel Nasser fell under fire
during a publicly broadcast radio
address held on October 26th 1954 eight
shots were fired at him by a member of
the opposition group the Muslim
Brotherhood but they all missed its
support the new government didn’t last
long however and in 1954 the group was
famed for failed attempt to assassinate
the vehm president an event that might
have ended Nasser’s life it actually
proved a pivotal moment on the road to
his presidency following the attacks he
administered an ultra hard line against
centers arresting thousands dismissing
hundreds and executing extreme cases
until he became egypt’s undisputed
leader Ali abullah stop let out the heck
Camilla Saudi number eight Benito
Mussolini the fascist ruler of Italy for
over 20 years the early stages of Benito
Mussolini’s term were littered with
assassination attempts resigned any unit
up to it let’s react but make sure that
but none of them is in a position to
harm he survived the first on April 7th
1926 delivered by violet Gibson and also
emerged unscathed after Italian
anarchist Gino Liu Chetty
threw a bomb at his car in Rome in
September of that same year
Mussolini’s popularity now faltered
between 1925 and 1926 he escaped three
attempts on his life perhaps the most
notorious attempt on Mussolini’s life
came on October 31st of 1926 however
when fifteen-year-old and Te’o zamboni
shot at him in Bologna and was lynched
on the spot number seven Malala
yousufzai and I believe that even death
is supporting the cause of Education
even dead does not want to kill me an
activist for female education in
Pakistan from an early age Malala
yousufzai was subject to an
assassination attempt when she was just
15 years old she first gained attention
via a BBC blog written under a pen name
detailing school life under the
influence of the Taliban Malala was only
11 when she first spoke out for girls
rights to go to school and gradually her
voice became more and more prominent too
prominent for the Taliban who shot her
in the head while she rode the bus home
from an exam Malala was shot in the head
deliberately targeted by the extremists
miraculously yousufzai recovered and is
now one of the world’s most influential
human rights campaigners they have
already threatened me when I was in Swat
and then later on they attacked me
but the thing is that now I’m living a
second life
number six Vladimir Lenin the survivor
of two assassination attempts it’s
widely suggested that the second stunt
against Lenin’s life actually did
contribute to his eventual death the
Russian leader was first targeted in
January 1918 when his car was ambushed
in Petrograd unhurt from that episode he
was shot at three times by socialist
revolutionary Vanya Kaplan who
considered him a quote traitor to the
revolution Lenin’s would-be assassin was
a woman named Fanny Kaplan a young
member of the social Revolutionary Party
that party was the leading contender for
influence among the Bolsheviks
constituencies workers peasants soldiers
Lenin survived but it’s believed that
the bullet wounds massively contributed
to his later strokes which eventually
killed him number five Ronald Reagan and
I don’t think there was a better
demonstration of how that training
worked then the the assassination
attempt against President Reagan our
highest-ranking American to survive
assassination Ronald Reagan was shot by
John Hinckley jr. just 69 days into his
presidency
he suffered a wound to his right arm a
punctured lung and severe internal
bleeding but reportedly remained in good
spirits while on the operating table I
heard a noise and we came out of the
hotel and headed for the limousine and I
heard some noise and I thought it was
firecrackers Hinckley had been
psychotically obsessed with actress
Jodie Foster and had carried out the
would-be killing in an attempt to earn
her attention in his opinion it was
quote the greatest love offering in the
history of the world there’s no evidence
that he had any particular political
motivation what seem to have come out
was that he wanted to impress the movie
star Jodie Foster who he had a obsession
with number four Fidel Castro Fidel
Castro himself once quipped quote if
surviving assassination attempts were an
Olympic event I would win the gold medal
and he was right
during the 60s especially the Cuban
leader was a primary target for the
American foreign intelligence services
known as the CIA and therefore under
constant threat the list of potential
assassination plots and methods read
like a James Bond script exploding
cigars booby-trapped sea shells
hypodermic syringes disguised as
ballpoint pens but Castro evaded all of
that and hundreds more he was hunted at
an unprecedented level number three
Charl degaulle the shouts of de Gaulle
to power were now de Gaulle to the
gallows another world leader who worked
under constant threat the most famous
attempt on French president Charles de
Gaulle’s life was lodged on August 22nd
1962 targeted by extremists because he
had allowed Algerian independence de
Gaulle and his wife were showered with
machine-gun fire while driving through
Paris
the pair ducked out of immediate harm’s
way but were further saved because of
the superior suspension system on the
seat row NDS car they were riding in
their driver maneuvered out of a
potentially catastrophic 70
mile-per-hour skid and chauffeured the
de gaulle’s to safety
number two Pope John Paul the second
suddenly the Pope’s Jeep was hurtling
out of the crowd the guards running
ahead and at its side unlike many of
today’s would-be assassins the man who
targeted Pope John Paul the second in
1981 was actually very accurate mehmet
ali akka had already successfully
murdered one turkish left-wing
journalist in 1979 before he fired
multiple bullets at the pope causing the
religious leader near-fatal injuries
he’s been identified as mehmet ali haka
a convicted assassin who would escape
from a prison in turkey
the pontiff did recover however and
would remain pope for close to another
quarter of a century
john paul ii even forgave his assassin
when he met with him two years later
while echo was serving his prison
sentence two years later he met a giant
jail and forgave him Ajay was extradited
to his native Turkey in 2000 he’s been
in jail there ever since for crimes
including the murder of a newspaper
editor in 1979 before we unveil our
number one pick here are some honorable
mentions and seconds after these
pictures were taken on January 8th a man
aimed a Glock 19 at her head and three
feet away pulled the trigger
at an election campaign event a
psychologically disturbed man fired
three shots at Vulcan Shaolin who was
then German interior minister those
shots irrevocably changed the
politicians life intelligence reached
the British Secret Service that
something big was up a plot was being
hatched to assassinate the Queen as the
Great and the good gathered in
Westminster Abbey to celebrate her
golden jubilee news just coming in from
Pakistan Pakistan former dictator pervez
musharraf has survived an assassination
attempt a powerful explosion took place
number 1 Adolf Hitler 60 years earlier
Adolf Hitler came close to being blown
to pieces just how close no one has been
able to say while it’s a relief that
some of our assassin escapees went
unharmed that cannot be said for today’s
top choice throughout his career Adolf
Hitler held off numerous attempts on his
life some dating as far back as 1930
before the Nazi leader had even assumed
power in Germany in June he narrowly
escapes attempt number two unarmed
ambush mr. Olsen one month later his
head is graze during attempt number
three operation Valkyrie and the 20 July
plot picked up majority attention
despite their failure falling quite late
in Hitler’s history in 1944 that’s what
you’re saying isn’t it how else you
gonna convince people the SS are trying
to seize power we have to kill Hitler
in contrast the austere conspiracy of
1938 never really got off the ground if
only it had how different would the
world be then do you agree with our list
which failed assassination did we forget
for more top 10s that aren’t a threat to
your life published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com amongst the
cheering and the peal of bells
announcing the arrival of the Pope they
heard gunfire and saw the Pope turn pale
and collapse bloody into the arms of his
age
you
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