So I guess everyone’s agreed that John Kerry personally blew away a VC in ‘Nam 35 years ago. My question is, have we ever had a killer for president? I’m not talking about generals like Grant and Eisenhower, who were indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Confederates and Germans, or combatants using long-distance weapons like a Kennedy torpedo or a Bush Sr. bomb. I’m wondering about somebody getting whacked face to face, mano a mano, up close and personal, with a gun, knife, club, or pointy stick. Washington in the French and Indian War? Garfield in the Civil War? Didn’t Andy Jackson fight a duel or two? –Gavin Anderson, Salt Lake City
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No offense, Gavin, but you sound like one of those guys who slows down to ogle car wrecks. However, now that you bring it up, the question does hold a certain grim fascination. Given the 250-year time span and the impossibility of counting undetected homicides, I don’t claim the following list is complete. Still, I know of three U.S. presidents who killed people at close range, and one more accused of murder:
Teddy Roosevelt. During his famous charge with the Rough Riders up Cuba’s San Juan Hill in 1898, Teddy was among the first to reach the enemy trenches as the Spanish were retreating. Two men shot at him; Teddy fired back, and one died. At least one historian doubts that in the chaos of battle anybody could know for certain who had fired the fatal shot, but Teddy was sure he had done it and the Medal of Honor citation he received 102 years later (long story) credits him with the death.
