# List of assassinated American politicians

Assassinations carried out against American politicians occurred as early as the 19th century, the earliest of which is believed to have been carried out against David Ramsay in 1815. Since then, several American politicians have been assassinated while being elected or appointed to office, or were candidates for public office. Out of these, four were president of the United States, the earliest of which being Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and the most recent being John F. Kennedy in 1963. There are 61 assassinated American politicians listed. The most common method of homicide was with one or more gunshots.

## Federal offices
### Presidents of the United States

| Politician | Party | Year | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| Abraham Lincoln | Republican | April 14, 1865 (incident)April 15, 1865 (death) | Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C. | John Wilkes Booth | Lincoln's defeat of the Confederate States of America |
| James A. Garfield | Republican | July 2, 1881 (incident)September 19, 1881 (death) | Washington, D.C. | Charles J. Guiteau | Assailant was refused a patronage appointment |
| William McKinley | Republican | September 6, 1901 (incident)September 14, 1901 (death) | Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York | Leon Czolgosz | Anarchism |
| John F. Kennedy | Democratic | November 22, 1963 | Dallas, Texas | Lee Harvey Oswald | Unknown |

### Members of the United States Congress

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| Thomas C. Hindman | Democratic | 27 September, 1868 (incident)28 September, 1868 (death) | Former U.S. Representative from Arkansas's 1st district | Helena, Arkansas | Unknown assailants | Disputed motive |
| James M. Hinds | Republican | October 22, 1868 | U.S. Representative from Arkansas's 2nd district | Monroe County, Arkansas | George W. Clark | Hinds' support for Reconstruction policies |
| Thomas Haughey | Republican | July 31, 1869 (incident)August 5, 1869 (death) | Former U.S. representative from Alabama's 6th district | Courtland, Alabama | Collins (first name unknown) | Assassin supported Haughey's opponent |
| Edward Dexter Holbrook | Democratic | June 18, 1870 (incident)June 19, 1870 (death) | Former Congressional delegate from the Idaho Territory's at-large district | Idaho City, Idaho | Charles Douglass | Argument |
| John M. Clayton | Republican | January 29, 1889 | U.S. Representative-elect from from Arkansas's 2nd district | Plumerville, Arkansas | Unknown assailant | Unknown motive |
| José Francisco Chaves | Republican | November 26, 1904 | Former Congressional delegate from the New Mexico Territory's at-large district | Pinos Wells, New Mexico | Unknown assailant | Unknown motive |
| John M. Pinckney | Democratic | April 24, 1905 | U.S. representative from Texas's 8th district | Hempstead, Texas | J. N. Brown | Pinckney's support for Prohibitionism |
| Huey Long | Democratic | September 9, 1935 (incident)September 10, 1935 (death) | U.S. Senator from Louisiana;Former Governor of Louisiana | Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Carl Weiss | Disputed motive |
| Robert F. Kennedy | Democratic | June 5, 1968 (incident)June 6, 1968 (death) | U.S. Senator from New York;Presidential candidate;Former attorney general | Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California | Sirhan Sirhan | Opposition to Kennedy's support for Israel |
| Leo Ryan | Democratic | November 18, 1978 | U.S. representative from California's 11th district | An airport tarmac in Port Kaituma, Guyana | Members of the People's Temple | Ryan's investigation of Jonestown |
| Allard K. Lowenstein | Democratic | March 14, 1980 | U.S. representative from New York's 5th district (former) | New York City, New York | Dennis Sweeney | Schizophrenia-induced belief that Lowenstein was the leader of an international Jewish conspiracy |

### Federal judges

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| John H. Wood, Jr. | | May 29, 1979 | Judge of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas | San Antonio, Texas | Charles Harrelson | Contract killing ordered by Jamiel Chagra as he was set to be tried by Wood |
| Richard J. Daronco | | May 21, 1988 | Judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York | Pelham, New York | Charles Koster | Assailant was the father of a plaintiff whose harassment suit was dismissed by Daronco |
| Robert Smith Vance | Democratic | December 16, 1989 | Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | Mountain Brook, Alabama | Walter Moody | Killed after the court refused to expunge a previous conviction for explosives possession from the assailant's record |

### Diplomats

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| John Gordon Mein | | August 28, 1968 | United States Ambassador to Guatemala | Guatemala City, Guatemala | Rebel Armed Forces | botched hostage negotiation |
| George Curtis Moore | | March 2, 1973 | United States Chargé d'affaires for Sudan | Khartoum, Sudan | Black September Organization | Palestinian nationalism |
| Cleo A. Noel Jr. | | March 2, 1973 | United States Ambassador to Sudan | Khartoum, Sudan | Black September Organization | Palestinian nationalism |
| John Patterson | | March 22, 1974 (disappearance) | United States Vice Consul | Hermosillo, Mexico | Bobby Joe Keesee | Ransom |
| Rodger Davies | | August 19, 1974 | United States Ambassador to Cyprus | Nicosia, Cyprus | Unknown | Unknown motive - suspected Anti-American sentiment |
| Francis E. Meloy Jr. | | June 16, 1976 | United States Ambassador to Lebanon | Beirut, Lebanon | Unknown | Unknown- suspected Palestinian nationalism |
| Adolph Dubs | | February 14, 1979 | United States Ambassador to Afghanistan | Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan | Unknown | Botched hostage rescue |
| J. Christopher Stevens | Democratic | September 11, 2012 | Ambassador to Libya | Benghazi, Libya | Disputed | Unknown motive |

## State offices
### Governors

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| Charles Bent | Independent | January 19, 1847 | Governor of the New Mexico Territory | Taos, New Mexico | Tomás Romero; Pablo Montoya | Part of the Taos Revolt; opposition to American presence in New Mexico |
| Edwin Stanton McCook | Republican | September 11, 1873 | Acting governor of the Dakota Territory | Yankton, Dakota Territory | Peter Wintermute | Argument |
| William Goebel | Democratic | January 30, 1900 (incident)February 3, 1900 (death) | Governor of Kentucky | Frankfort, Kentucky | Unknown assailant | Unknown motive |
| Frank Steunenberg | Democratic | December 30, 1905 | Former Governor of Idaho | Caldwell, Idaho | Albert Horsley | Opposition to Steunenberg's labor policy |

### State legislators

| Politician | Party | Year | Office | Location | Assassin | Suspected motive |
| David Ramsay | | May 6, 1815 (incident)May 8, 1815 (death) | Former president of the South Carolina Senate | Charleston, South Carolina | William Linnen | Assailant retaliated after Ramsay deemed him insane |
| Charles C. P. Arndt | Whig | February 11, 1842 | Member of the Council of the Wisconsin Territory | Madison, Wisconsin | James Russell Vineyard | Argument |
| James Strang | Democratic | June 16, 1856 (incident)July 9, 1856 (death) | Member of the Michigan House of Representatives | Beaver Island, Michigan | Hezekiah McCulloch, Thomas Bedford, and Alexander Wentworth | Opposition to Strang's religious leadership |
| John W. Stephens | Republican | May 21, 1870 | Member of the North Carolina Senate | Yanceyville, North Carolina | Caswell County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan | Attacks on Republicans |
| Elisha G. Johnson | Republican | July 21, 1875 | Member of the Florida Senate | Lake City, Florida | Unknown | Unknown |
| Charles Caldwell | Republican | December 30, 1875 | Member of the Mississippi State Senate | Clinton, Mississippi | Several assailants | Racism |
| Louis Cardis | Republican | October 10, 1877 | Member of the Texas House of Representatives | El Paso, Texas | Charles Howard | Argument during the San Elizario Salt War |
| W. H. H. Tison | Democratic | December 4, 1882 | Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives | Baldwyn, Mississippi | J. Edward Sanders | Retaliation for an attack |
| Samuel Newitt Wood | Republican | June 23, 1891 | Member of the Kansas Senate | Hugoton, Kansas | James Brennan | Unknown |
| Leon Jordan | Democratic | July 15, 1970 | Member of the Missouri House of Representatives | Kansas City, Missouri | Unknown | Unknown |
| Tommy Burks | Democratic | October 19, 1998 | Member of the Tennessee Senate | Monterey, Tennessee | Byron Looper | Election |
| Clementa C. Pinckney | Democratic | June 17, 2015 | Member of the South Carolina Senate | Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina | Dylann Roof | White supremacy |

### State judges

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| John P. Slough | Democratic | December 15, 1867 (incident)December 17, 1867 (death) | Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court;Former member of the Ohio House of Representatives | Santa Fe, New Mexico | William Logan Rynerson | Argument |
| John Milton Elliott | Democratic | March 26, 1879 | Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals | Frankfort, Kentucky | Thomas Buford | Retaliation for a court ruling |

### Miscellaneous state offices

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| Solomon P. Sharp | Democratic-Republican | November 7, 1825 | Kentucky Attorney General;Member-elect of the Kentucky Senate | Frankfort, Kentucky | Jereboam O. Beauchamp | Sharp being a former lover of Beauchamp's wife; disputed political motives |
| George LeBreton | | March 4, 1844 (incident) | Recorder of the Provisional Government of Oregon | Oregon City, Oregon | Cockstock | Killed by a native as part of Native American resistance to white settlement in the area |
| Albert Patterson | Democratic | June 18, 1954 | Candidate for Attorney General of Alabama;Member of the Alabama Senate | Phenix City, Alabama | Unknown | Patterson's campaign against organized crime |

## Local offices
### Mayors

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Motive |
| Joseph Smith | Reform | June 27, 1844 | Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois;presidential candidate | Carthage, Illinois | The Carthage Greys | Anti-Mormonism |
| Carter Harrison III | Democratic | October 28, 1893 | Mayor of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois | Patrick Eugene Prendergast | Assailant was rejected for appointment to a patronage post as corporation counsel |
| Hale Johnson | Prohibition | November 4, 1902 | Mayor of Newton, Illinois; vice presidential candidate | Bogota, Illinois | Harry Harris | Killed while attempting to collect a debt owed to him by Harris |
| Anton Cermak | Democratic | February 15, 1933 (incident)March 6, 1933 (death) | Mayor of Chicago | Miami, Florida | Giuseppe Zangara | Anti-capitalism; intended attack on Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Louis F. Edwards | Democratic | November 15, 1939 | Mayor of Long Beach, New York | Long Beach, New York | Alvin Dooley | Retaliation for disciplinary action and losing reelection |
| George Moscone | Democratic | November 27, 1978 | Mayor of San Francisco | San Francisco, California | Dan White | Moscone's refusal to reinstate White |
| Russell G. Lloyd Sr. | Republican | March 19, 1980 (incident)March 21, 1980 (death) | Former Mayor of Evansville, Indiana | Evansville, Indiana | Julia Van Orden | Mental illness, hostility toward the city |
| Mike Swoboda | | February 7, 2008 (incident)September 6, 2008 (death) | Mayor of Kirkwood, Missouri | Kirkwood, Missouri | Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton | Retaliation for municipal fines |

### City council members

| Politician | Party | Date | Office | Location | Assassin | Suspected motive |
| Harvey Milk | Democratic | November 27, 1978 | City Supervisor of San Francisco | San Francisco, California | Dan White | Milk's objection to White's reinstatement |
| James E. Davis | Democratic | July 23, 2003 | New York City Councilman | New York City | Othniel Askew | Assailant was a prospective electoral challenger |

## Non-officeholding politicians

| Politician | Portrait | Party | Date | Location | Assassin | Motive | Ref |
| George Lincoln Rockwell | | American Nazi | August 25, 1967 | Arlington, Virginia | John Patler | Retaliation for the assailant's expulsion from the Nazi Party | |