Top 10 Most Impactful

Assassinations in US History
10. John Lennon
Killer
Mark Chapman
Assassination
• On December 8, 1980, at 5 pm, Mark David Chapman approached John Lennon so
that he could give him his autograph. After giving him his autograph, Lennon left
to go to the recording studio. He returned home to his apartment building at around
10:30 pm with his wife Yoko Ono. After he entered the building, Chapman, who
was waiting for him, shot him five times but only four shots made contact, two in
the back and two in the shoulder. Chapman had been planning to kill Lennon for
months. He decided that he was going to kill him when he heard Lennon’s
antireligious comments. He also hated that Lennon would preach peace and love
but would have millions of dollars. After the shooting, Chapman waited at the
scene until the cops came and arrested him. When the first responders arrived, they
saw how severe Lennon's wounds were, so they took him right away to the hospital
without waiting for an ambulance. He was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15 pm
at Roosevelt Hospital.
Impact
• John Lennon was a peace activist and as he was assassinated in a
brutal act of violence this only helped his cause grow. John Lennon
was known worldwide but he affected the United States because the
world peace (hippie) movement was biggest in the United States. This
movement was during the Vietnam War and John Lennon was a
follower of this movement, so his death helped make this movement
bigger and more important.
9. Qasem Soleimani
Killer
US government
Assassination
• On January 3rd, 2020, Qasem Soleimani was in Baghdad International
Airport having arrived in Iraq from Lebanon, when 3 American UAVs
type MQ-9 Reaper, took off from Ain al-Assad, an Iraqi Armed forces
and United States Armed forces base located in western Iraq, and
carried out the assassination. According to the Trump administration
they carried out this assassination to protect Americans from attacks in
the future as they claimed that he was plotting attacks on Americans.
Impact
• The United States and Iran have been enemies for a long time and
Qasem Soleimani was the highest-ranking military officer in Iran and
was considered to be the second most powerful person in Iran only
behind the Supreme Leader. The United States government
assassinated him and almost completely severed any remaining
relations between Iran and the US. This assassination also supposedly
helped protect many American lives as Soleimani was allegedly
planning an attack.
8. William Mckinley
Killer

• Leon Czolgosz
Assassination
• On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was in Buffalo, New York for
the Pan-American Exposition. McKinley was supposed to give a speech at the
Temple of Music in Buffalo. Many people formed lines to greet the president. Leon
Czolgosz was one of them. Due to the intense heat many people carried
handkerchiefs, so Czolgosz concealed a gun with his handkerchief. When Czolgosz
approached McKinley the two shaked hands and when this happened, at 4:07 pm,
Czolgosz fired two shots into McKinley’s abdomen. One bullet hit one of his
buttons, so it didn’t penetrate him, but the other was inside his abdomen. McKinley
was treated for his wounds and his condition started to improve. However, on
September 13 his condition started to deteriorate quickly as the doctors could not
find the second bullet. He spent the whole day slipping in and out of consciousness
and on September 14 at 2:15 am, President William McKinley died.
Impact
• President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901 by an anarchist.
Two years later the Immigration Act of 1903 also called the Anarchist
Exclusion Act was created as a direct consequence of President
McKinley’s assassination. This law regulates immigration and
prohibits anarchists, people with epilepsy, beggars, and importers of
prostitutes from migrating to the country. This law helped control who
get into the United States.
7. Malcom X
Killer

• Talmadge Hayer
Assassination
• Malcolm X had been receiving many death threats from the nation of
Islam for more than a year and they were not just threats as they were
actually trying to kill him. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was in
Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom getting ready to address the
Organization of Afro-American Unity when a man in the audience
shouted “Ni***r! Get your hand outta my pocket!” In the middle of all
the confusion and trying to find out what had happened, Nation of
Islam member, Talmadge Hayer came out of the crowd and shot
Malcolm X in the chest with a shotgun. He was pronounced dead at
3:30 pm.
Impact
• Malcolm X was an equal rights activist. He fought against racism and
inequality and fought for equal rights for African Americans. His death
helped popularize his ideas and beliefs and made more people aware
of what he was doing and what he hoped would happen. After he was
assassinated, his autobiography became a lot more popular and
popularized his ideas and the Black Power Movement. Malcolm X
denounced white supremacy and his death only made his message
stronger.
6. Martin Luther
King Jr.
Killer
James Earl Ray
Assassination
• On March 29, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis,
Tennessee to support black sanitary public workers. He was staying in
room 306 in the Lorraine Motel. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King
Jr. was standing on the second-floor balcony of the motel when he was
shot by James Earl Ray. King was taken to St. Joseph’s hospital for
emergency surgery where he died at 7:05 pm.
Impact
• Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist that fought against racism and
discrimination and fought for equality. His assassination only helped
his cause as it made more people understand what he was saying and
agree with it. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death caused more people to
become more politically active and aware and inspired more people to
fight for their rights. Many riots and strikes happened as a result of his
death as people realized that they cannot just trust countries to do right
by them, they have to stand up and fight for their rights.
5. Archduke Franz
Ferdinand
Killer
Gavrilo Princip
Assassination
• On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina inspecting the imperial armed
forces. Early in the day the Archduke was in a car, and he was victim
of a failed assassination attempt. Nedeljko Čabrinović threw a grenade
at his car but it exploded behind him injuring the people on the car
behind him. After this Ferdinand and his wife went to the Governor’s
residence. After they stayed at the Governor’s residence for a little
while they wanted to go see the wounded. On their way to the local
hospital Gavrilo Princip fired two shots, one hit Sophie, Ferdinand’s
wife, in the abdomen and the other hit the Archduke in the neck. They
both died because of their wounds.
Impact
• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is said to be the main
cause of World War I. The US saw itself greatly affected by WWI in
many ways and since Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination was
the main cause of the war his assassination directly affected the US.
Because of World War I, women were granted the right to vote in the
Nineteenth amendment, American economy suffered because they
used a lot of their money in supplies for soldiers and since the men
were off fighting the war the women had to take a bigger role and
society and this is why they were granted the right to vote.
4. Abraham Lincoln
Killer
John Wilkes Booth
Assassination
• On the evening of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was
attending the Ford’s Theatre. He was sitting in a special box when
John Wilkes Booth, an actor and confederate spy, came up from
behind him and shot him in the back of the head. Lincoln was given
medical care by Doctor Charles Leale on the theater and was then
taken to Petersen house where he spent eight hours in a coma and died
on April 15 at 7:22 am. Booth decided to assassinate the president
when he heard a speech by Lincoln where he promoted voting rights
for African Americans.
Impact
• President Abraham Lincoln’s death slowed down reconstruction in a
very big way. The civil war had ended and very soon after Lincoln was
assassinated. Many of the ideas that Lincoln had for his presidency
could not be carried out. Lincoln had said his idea about how he
wanted to allow blacks to vote. After his death, did not happen and it
happened five years later when the fifteenth amendment was ratified in
1870.
3. Osama Bin Laden
Killer
US government
Assassination
• Osama Bin Laden had been living in a compound in Abbottabad,
Pakistan. On May 2, 2011 shortly after 1:00 am the United States’
military special operations unit mounted an assault against the
compound in an operation named Operation Neptune Spear. It was
ordered by President Barack Obama and was carried out by a team of
Navy SEALs with support from CIA operatives. The raid was
launched from Afghanistan. There are many theories as to what
actually happened and who fired the shots that killed Bin Laden but he
was shot and killed.
Impact
• The events of September 11, 2001, may be one of the most horrific
events in American history. They were terrorist attacks carried out by
terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden was the leader of this
group. When he was assassinated, it was a huge step towards battling
terrorism. Also it helped some people find closure as they were able to
assassinate the person responsible for the attacks. The assassination of
Osama Bin Laden was one of the first steps towards dismantling Al-
Qaeda and stopping another massive attack from happening again.
2. John F. Kennedy
Killer
Lee Harvey Oswald
Assassination
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was in Dallas Texas
attending a political trip with the intention of smoothing over
relationships between the liberals Ralph Yarborough and Don
Yarborough and conservative John Connally. He was travelling in a
presidential motorcade through downtown when he was shot by Lee
Harvey Oswald two times, once in the back and once in the head.
Kennedy was then taken to Parkland Hospital where he was pronounced
dead at 1:00 pm, thirty minutes after the shooting. There are many
theories and conspiracies as to what happened when Kennedy died but
none have been proved.
Impact
• President John F. Kennedy’s death led to the creation of the 25th
amendment. Before Kennedy’s assassination there was no law or rule
in the constitution that stated how the vice president would become
president if something happened to the president. After Kennedy’s
assassination, the 25th amendment was created, and it stated exactly
what would happen if the president could not continue doing his job.
This amendment helps bring order to a time of panic in the country. It
helps organize the country and at the same time helps control panic
and hysteria. Without Kennedy’s assassination this would not have
been possible.
1. Robert F.
Kennedy
Killer
Sirhan Sirhan
Assassination
• On June 5th, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was addressing his supporters in
a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. After he finished
his speech, he planned to go through the kitchen to the press room. As
he was going through the kitchen and he was greeting everyone in the
kitchen, 24-year-old, Sirhan Sirhan opened fire against Kennedy. He
was hit three times but was fatally wounded when he was shot in the
head. He was first taken to the Los Angeles' Central Receiving
Hospital and then to the Good Samaritan Hospital. There he
faced extensive neurosurgery to remove bullet and bone
fragments from his brain, but it failed, and he was pronounced
dead on June 6th at 1:44 am.
Impact
• Robert Kennedy was assassinated two months after Martin Luther
King was. This made many Americans lose hope as they realized that
violence was a very real and serious problem. Both Robert Kennedy
and Martin Luther King Jr. were trying to change the system and they
were killed for it. After Robert Kennedy’s death, the United States
went into a very dark period because many everyone was divided.
They would be divided by race, wealth, age, gender, ideas et al.
Something positive that came out of Robert Kennedy’s death was that
the United States Congress allowed for the protection of major
presidential and vice-presidential candidates and nominees.