The Attempted Assassination of FDR in Bayfront Park

[malaise]

http://miami-history.com/attempted-assassination-of-fdr-in-bayfront-park/
<snip>
After completing his speech, Roosevelt handed the microphone back to Mayor Gautier. The president-elect then shifted his attention to the dignitaries that came down from the stage to greet him. One of those dignitaries was Anton Cermak, the Mayor of Chicago. FDR and Cermak had a very good relationship. Cermak had some important Chicago business to discuss with Roosevelt, which is why he traveled all the way from Chicago to meet with him. Roosevelt suggested that they talk on the train a little later in the evening. Cermak agreed, nodded and then walked to the back of the car, which put him between the president-elect and ultimately in Zangara’s line of fire.

As Cermak was moving away from the car, A.B. Willis, the Dade County Democratic executive committeeman, was being ushered to Roosevelt to present him a six-foot long welcome telegram, signed by 2,800 citizens of Miami. At that moment five shots rang out. Some described the noise as that of a motorcycle backfiring. Miami looked on and listened in shock over the open microphone from Fred Mizner’s WQAM broadcast. In all count, there were a total of five shots that were fired.

Immediately there was a fury of bodies charging to the area where the gun shots erupted. It didn’t take very long, but several people had pinned Zangara to the ground. It was reported that one of the policemen began striking Zangara with his blackjack. Some in the crowd began chanting the sentiment of a typical lynch mob. By the time Zangara was completely subdued, he had lost his much of his clothes, was handcuffed and then taken to the Miami Police Station for booking. Zangara was transported to the jail tied to a trunk rack on one of the cars in the president’s procession.
Plenty of Casualties

Zangara fired his weapon while standing on a wobbly folding chair. In addition, as soon as he pulled out his gun, it was said that those around him immediately grabbed or moved his arm to keep him from hitting Roosevelt. Lastly, considering Zangara’s size, he had to attempt to shoot over people standing in front of him to hit his intended target. Therefore, it is quite amazing that five shots were fired and five people had been hit. One of the first casualties to be noticed was Mabel Gill, the wife of the president of the power company, who had taken a bullet in the abdomen. Although she would recover from her wound, she was near death for weeks following the shooting.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. President-Elect Roosevelt was nearly killed in the attempt...

Thanks, my friend, for posting this! A bit of forgotten history!

[malaise]

2. We forget history at our peril

[Eleanors38]

3. Did your sources deal with the hypothesis that Mayor Cermark

was the intended target all along? This idea was floated some years back.

[cascadiance]

4. Guess when I started reading this thread with Roosevelt named in it, I was thinking of Teddy...

... and how he got shot running in the Bull Moose Party after he as a Republican with some sanity had left it for the Bull Moose Party and was running because he wasn't very happy with Taft taking over his spot afterward... Apparently the thickness of the speech papers he was carrying probably saved his life then...

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-speech-that-saved-teddy-roosevelts-life-83479091/?no-ist

Yes, the PTB want to control things, and step out of line at your own risk... We have to find a way to get a good progressive candidate for 2016, and find ways of organizing that movement to protect that person from ill-begotten actions like that.

[ReRe]

5. The author asks at the end of essay...

... What would have happened had FDR been assassinated that day? "How drastically different would the course of US History have changed?"

Well, I don't know, but I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to find out soon. Because we're pretty much at the same kind of brink right now that the country was at when FDR took office in 1933. The rest of the story will depend on who the Democratic Party nominates for President in 2016.