Has there ever been an assassination of a major right-wing figure in the USA?

I can't think of one offhand.

Every major political assassination that comes to mind is of a major left-leaning figure, or at least a person that today's left feels some affinity toward.

John F. Kennedy.

Robert Kennedy.

Martin Luther King.

John Lennon.

Okay, I didn't forget about the attempted hits on Ronald Reagan and George Wallace. But I consider those special cases.

Ronald Reagan had defeated George H. W. Bush for the Republican nomination, and presented an obstacle in the path between Bush and the Oval Office, an obstacle between the Bush family and ultimate power.

And George Wallace wasn't a right winger. He wasn't even really a racist. Wallace was a left-wing populist who cynically pandered to what was then a predominantly racist electorate in his state. Still, he was a credible threat to the wealthy and powerful establishment.

(I hit "post" before I meant to.)

Just think of the political assassinations in this country, and the attempted ones too. Aren't they almost all against left-leaning mega-stars that were going to dramatically change the borders of debate in this country?

nashville, and two other students, were driving back to nashville from memphis where we had gone to see OTHELLO when we heard the news on the radio. I don't think anyone of us ever thought of wallace as a, "left wing populist who cynically pandered to what was then a predominantly racist electorate in the state." we thought of him as, "a racist."

p.s. (did you forget to include paul wellstone in your list of assassinated left wing leaning public officials?)


p.p.s. o, and i had never stopped to consider that ronald reagan was a stumbling block in GHWB's quest for the white house as a motive for anyone to attempt on reagan's life, but boy,doesn't that just fit the bush pattern of handling things?! it just does. to a tee!

But I chose not to include him because it's never been shown that his death was sabotage. Though I think it probably was.

What I say about Wallace is true. And I'm certainly not defending Wallace. But read the history. Wallace wasn't racist at his core, but he let ambition blind him. If he had played to his better angels, he would be regarded as a great man today. But he let ambition get the better of him, so he will go down in history as a villain, and deservedly so.

"Wallace went to remarkable lengths to turn Alabama into the closet thing to a police state that has been achieved in the twentieth century within the jurisdiction of the United States. He established a seven-man Sovereignty Commission to protect Alabama from encroachment by the Federal government and by civil-rights organizations. This was a secret tribunal with powers to hire staff 'to make and conduct special inquiry, investigation, and examination for the Governor,' including examining witnesses. It was expressely exempted from the obligation to record its proceedings. He also beefed up the State Highway Patrol, under tough Al Lingo, who has close ties to the Ku Klux Klan, as a tough private police force, answerable to the Governor. ... we learned of enough instances to be satisfied that both physical and economic intimidation have been regular parts of Wallace's system. ...

"One argument for caution in opposing Wallace in Alabama is his link to the Klan. ... one of his first acts on coming into office was to parole, before they had served the legal minimum term for their offense, a group of Klansmen who had been convicted of castrating a Negro. .... He is a segregationistsecond, a demogogue first."
-- An American Melodrama: The Presidential Campaign of 1968; Chester, Hodgson, & Page; pages 268-9

Wallace was absolutely a racist, although after being shot he changed. He should be given credit for making those changes, yet it is impossible to do so without recognizing that he had been a brutal, racist politician.

That's one...;)

Good one!

I guess Libertarians are closest to anarchists. You know, they make a lot of sense on a lot of things, but then they hit me with that other stuff and I tell them "Why have you wasted my time like this?"

:hi:

They believe, mistakenly, that a market is a community.

"Just think of the political assassinations in this country, and the attempted ones too. Aren't they almost all against left-leaning mega-stars that were going to dramatically change the borders of debate in this country?"

And when you mix fanaticism, conservatism, and firearms, you often get a volatile mixture.

Each of the Democratic candidates this time is running a big risk.

--p!

Ya don't think he'd fit in with the GOOP?

he came before the MIC. Since the advent of the MIC, the "enemy" has been anybody who attempts to have the country run as the democracy it is intended to be, it seems.

As for RayGun--that was SO fake. And I read somewhere that the failed assassin was also a Bush family friend, and I believe Bush's Daddy was having dinner with the guy's family around the time of the attempt?

This is from a contemporary AP wire story from March 31, 1981:


"The newspaper said in a copyright story, Scott Hinckley, brother of John W. Hinckley Jr., who allegedly shot Reagan, was to have dined tonight in Denver at the home of Neil Bush, one of the vice president's sons."

This is also interesting:

"Sharon Bush said she did not know the suspect.

''They (the Hinckleys) are a nice family ... and have given a lot of money to the Bush campaign,'' she said. ''I understand he (John Hinckley) was just the renegade brother in the family. They must feel awful.''

Another of the vice president's sons, George W. Bush, lived in Lubbock in 1978 and ran unsuccessfully for Congress. Police have said John Hinckley Jr. lived in Lubbock at that time and once attended Texas Tech University.

Young George Bush did not recall meeting the suspect.

''It's certainly conceivable that I met him or might have been introduced to him,'' he said. ''I don't recognize his face from the brief, kind of distorted thing they had on TV and the name doesn't ring any bells.

''I know he wasn't on our staff. I could check our volunteer rolls.'' "

http://www.voxfux.com/features/hinckley_bush_connection.html

Lots of archived news articles from the time at the link.

I'm sure a lot of people had the bin Laden family investing in their business ventures...but how many were future presidents?

Funny how GWB, John Hinckley and Osama Bin Laden were all renegade brothers in their families.

EVIL LEADERS LIVE ON FOREVER!

The case can also be made for Garfield--and attempts on Ford & Daddy Bush.

The Republican party was the left back then.

-Hoot

Ergo, no right-wingers. The only reason they tried to take-out Reagan was because he was in the way of Poppy Bush's
ascension to the throne. Wallace was a special case, and the only one, and just as in the other case, the conservative
always recovered while the progressives died.

I remember a website that outlined various high profile deaths that were possibly attributable to the Bushites, aside from the lives taken in acts of state sponsored terror/aggression. Given all the establishment pull his son has had over the past several yrs it wouldn't surprise me.

No getting around it. Had Bush Sr been a commoner like you and me, he'd have been #1 suspect in Reagan's assassination
attempt.

Unbelievable.

Makes you wonder.

but generally it's the left wing that get shot by the right wing whackos.

Both parties have switched sides.

When first organized, the Republican Party was for freeing the slaves, having the government grant land to the states for colleges, and for giving land free to farmers who would agree to homestead it for a certain number of years.

I think the point was that someone had put down that Lincoln was a right winger when he was assassinated, just because he was a Republican. Actually, at the time Lincoln would have been considered liberal--again, for his time.

Mark David Chapman was just a lunatic.

Of the U.S. govt that were actively seeking to have him intimidated/monitored/deported. Guess his death was likely considered convenient by those forces.

I think it was limited to that, though. He was the money behind a large segment of the vocal conspiracy left. I don't think
he was truly a viable political figure any longer, despite Ono's pretensions.

The Reagan/Bush cabal murders with impunity. They've killed researchers for a lot less. And we've got Chapman's copy of
"Catcher in the Rye" as one of those "things that make you go hmm".

And,yes, he was a racist. And your ridiculous attempt to rehabilitate his reputation is either ignorant or twisted.

As governor, Wallace, of course, uttered these famous words. "In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." With regard to efforts to desegreate his state, he said:"The President wants us to surrender this state to Martin Luther King and his group of pro-Communists who have instituted these demonstrations."

Sound "left wing" to you?

And his campaigns for governor and president were not populist: in 1968 he ran for president on a law and order, pro-Vietnam war, anti-civil rights platform. He lambasted "hippies" and "liberalss."
Even in the 1970s, when he ran (and won) another term as governor, he used blatantly racist ads. You may think this was just an act, but that's crap. Sure, much later in his life he apologiezed for his earlier segregationist views, but its easier to see that as political expediency than his earlier, consistent take on things. Even towards the end of his life, he still used the "n" word to describe African Americans on occasion.

So spare us your tripe.

McKinley was assasinated by an anarchist.
Wood (aka Maximum John for his sentencing practices) was appointed to the bench by Richard Nixon.

all Drug Warriors deserve to reap the violence they sow.

Whether just because right wingers have a higher propensity to violence, or the powers that be simply don't like leftist ideas.

>>>And George Wallace wasn't a right winger. He wasn't even really a racist.<<<<

I'm speechless.

and the international suppression of democracy by corporate interests backed by US government officials.

There are exceptions to the rule but I think you struck a note here that rings true - people who seek to end poverty, fight for justice and equity on the streets and in business are targets of the most brutal kind. These killers are the kind of reprobates we are dealing with.

The ironic justice is that these right-wing fascists will tear their own house down fighting to protect their own selfishness. It seems that there aren't enough people who have yet realized that we are all in this together, sink or swim. Well there are other species that hold promise too.

Thank you for pointing this truth out, about the assassinations. I'm angry about it. And I would guess that the greatest fear of the killers and their enablers is Justice. Inevitable Justice.

Used to be a website that covered this theme. (Was it bush body count?) In any case I recall reading that there's about a 2-to-1 ration between left and right "mysterious" deaths. Mysterious = bullets in the brain, funky plane crashes, jumped from bridges never to be found, that kind of thing.

Millions of people really hate George Bush*, but who ever hated Gerald Ford?!:shrug:

He was a likable guy and did what he felt was best for the country, right or wrong, at the expense of his political career. I always liked him and admired Betty...:-)