A shooting at former US President Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday (local time) has sparked concerns about political violence and increased awareness of past attacks and assassination attempts against presidents and candidates, CBS News reported. There have been multiple instances of past attacks on US presidents, former presidents, and major-party presidential candidates. Direct attacks targeting US Presidents, Presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on 15 occasions, with five causing death, CBS News reported, citing a 2008 report compiled by the Congressional Research Service.
Of the 46 individuals serving as US President, 13 have been subject to actual or attempted assassinations, the number does not mention the Pennsylvania shooting incident involving Trump. At least seven of the past nine presidents have faced assaults, attacks, or assassination attempts. According to the Congressional Research Service report, presidents who survived attacks include Gerald R Ford (twice in 1975), Ronald W Reagan (a near-fatal shooting in 1981), Bill Clinton (when the White House was fired upon in 1994), and George W Bush (when an attacker threw a grenade that did not explode towards him and the president of Georgia during an event in Tbilisi in 2005), according to CBS News report.
There have been attack attempts on US President Joe Biden and former US Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the latest Congressional Research Service report said, citing .