The Most Famous Political Assassination In History?

[naomi24]

Mary Beard in her documentary on the history of Rome said that the assassination of Julius Caesar is the most famous political assassination in history. I’m not so sure. Lincoln was the first that sprang to mind, but then Gandhi…. Kennedy…. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria?
What would you say?

[Prudie]

Jackdaw I also saw that documentary and ever since have thought it was the most plausible explanation for the fatal shot.

[-Talbot-]

Because everyone on here is an old fart ;0p I asked my 18 year old son this Q.
Most famous first.

JFK
MLK
Franz
Abe

[jno]

three Americans out of four? That might well reflect the interests of the young.

[Mamyalynne]

Spencer Perceval.


Anniversary of his assassination today.
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/spencer-perceval-assassinated

[Bathsheba]

I immediately thought JFK.
Liking Jackdaw's theory.
Sick joke....Did Rose Kennedy have a black dress?

Baths
x x x

[Jackdaw33]

Re Perceval, the astonishing thing is that it took only a week between the crime, trial and his execution.

[Mamyalynne]

Some going that.

[Ken4155]

I was an 8 year old when JFK was assassinated and it had quite an effect on me. So much so that i became quite fascinated by the whole story and read everything i could on the subject - and i certainly wasn't short of reading material. I gained a CSE Grade A using the Kennedy Assassination as my main work and i still read lots of any 'new' stuff that comes to light. I believe that the JFK assassination may be the most famous political of all time, especially in the western world, because it was the first of the television era. Ask people of a certain age where they were when they heard the news and many will be able to reply honestly. Must admit, i can't remember where i was when Robert Kennedy was killed.

[Bathsheba]

I remember clearly the day the news came about JFK...I was in the living room and it was announced on the TV. I went and told my Mum in the kitchen and she told me off for making it up. I remember she wept when she found out it was true.

x x

[Ken4155]

For some reason, Baths, i cried too. Looking back i think it may have been because, even at 8, i was intelligent enough to know what a powerful man he was and the thought that he could be killed like that was quite scary.

[Bathsheba]

Yep Ken. My friend and I were remembering a time when we overheard my Mum saying "this could be serious", and we were trying to think what the occasion was, and we decided it was Bay of Pigs.

[mushroom25]

JFK was certainly a political figure, but can it be said that his assassination was politically motivated? what political point was oswald making?

[naomi24]

I'd guess it was politically motivated - but only by virtue of the fact that he was the president.

[retrocop]

JFK because it is a more recent event and the question is still oft asked,
"Can you remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news of his assassination?"

[Prudie]

I can it was kid's film night at the Astra, the base cinema at RAF Lyneham, the parent picking us up told us in the car. I remember it quite clearly.

[mushroom25]

//I'd guess it was politically motivated - but only by virtue of the fact that he was the president //

when president, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, who was fixated with Jodie Foster and shot Reagan to impress her. whilst the president is a political figure, I'm not sure you could call this a political shooting.

[naomi24]

Mushroom, Really? I didn't know that. Maybe not then.

[jno]

Hinckley was found not guilty on grounds of insanity and has been in care ever since. I don't think it's ever been suggested that Lee Harvey Oswald was mentally ill, even though nobody's ever come up with a clear motive.

[Hypognosis]

@jno

//I don't think it's ever been suggested that Lee Harvey Oswald was mentally ill, even though nobody's ever come up with a clear motive. //

A clear motive for LH Oswald or a clear motive for A N Other?

I've not worked out whether Bobby Kennedy was bumped off for being Attorney General, with the power to instigate an anti-Mafia crackdown, or whether it was because of his Presidential campaign and the Republicants feared he would walk it (popular family, plus sympathy vote).

[jno]

well, they had Oswald, so they could have asked him what he was up to; but somehow they were a little careless. I don't know if that points to conspiracy or just incompetence.

Sirhan Sirhan's reasons were openly stated: he's a Palestinian who thought (no doubt correctly) RFK was pro-Israel. I can't see any obvious reason to disbelieve him. He's in jail for life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan