The Attempted Assassination of Teddy Roosevelt
On the evening of October 14, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt prepared to give a speech in Milwaukee. He was trying to regain the presidency as a candidate for the newly formed Bull Moose Party. He was exhausted from the long and brutal campaign and his voice was nearly gone. Against the advice of his doctor, he insisted on keeping a promise to speak to the voters of Wisconsin. He attended a banquet in his honor at the Gilpatrick Hotel then waited for a car to drive him to the auditorium where he would speak.
Thousands of supporters cheered his name as he approached the car. At that moment, a saloon keeper named John Schrank approached Roosevelt and aimed a large pistol from point-blank range. The gun fired and a .32-caliber bullet hit the right side of Roosevelt’s chest. Roosevelt collapsed into the car. As Schrank prepared to take a second shot, Roosevelt’s stenographer Elbert Martin, a former football player, tackled the shooter and began to strangle him. “I wasn’t trying to take him prisoner,” Martin later said. “I was trying to kill him.”
Despite his wound, Roosevelt rose to his feet and yelled, “Bring him here. Don’t hurt him.” He stared directly into his would-be assassin’s eyes and asked why he did it. Schrank said nothing. Police arrested the man and Roosevelt collapsed into the car. He urged the chauffeur to drive straight to the…
