From Lincoln to Reagan, here are the stories of eight major US political figures killed or threatened on the job
Donald Trump joins a long line of US presidents and candidates for the White House who have faced attempts on their lives over more than 150 years.
Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be killed while in office, when he was shot in the head from behind while attending a theatre in Washington, in 1865. Lincoln died the next day.
His murderer was John Wilkes Booth, a former actor and fervent supporter of the pro-slavery Confederate side in the US civil war, which was ongoing at the time.
Sixteen years later, in July 1881, James Garfield, who had been a civil war general, was assassinated after serving just six months in office. He was shot while walking through a station in Washington and died of complications a few weeks later.
Garfield’s killer, Charles Guiteau, who had been turned down for a diplomatic posting, had been stalking the president for weeks. He was later hanged for the crime.
President William McKinley, who had also fought in the civil war, was shot in the chest at point blank range in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901 and died a few days later of gangrene caused by the wounds.
