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Hunting the President: Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts--From FDR to Obama
In American history, four U.S. Presidents have been murdered at the hands of an assassin. In each case the assassinations changed the course of American history.
But most historians have overlooked or downplayed the many threats modern presidents have faced, and survived. Author Mel Ayton sets the record straight in his new book Hunting the Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts—From FDR to Obama , telling the sensational story of largely forgotten—or never-before revealed—malicious attempts to slay America’s leaders.
Supported by court records, newspaper archives, government reports, FBI files, and transcripts of interviews from presidential libraries, Hunting the President
Hunting the President opens the vault of stories about how many of our recent Presidents have come within a hair’s breadth of assassination, leaving America’s fate in the balance. Most of these stories have remained buried—until now. Includes glossy photo signature of historic pictures and documents
But most historians have overlooked or downplayed the many threats modern presidents have faced, and survived. Author Mel Ayton sets the record straight in his new book Hunting the Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts—From FDR to Obama , telling the sensational story of largely forgotten—or never-before revealed—malicious attempts to slay America’s leaders.
Supported by court records, newspaper archives, government reports, FBI files, and transcripts of interviews from presidential libraries, Hunting the President
Hunting the President opens the vault of stories about how many of our recent Presidents have come within a hair’s breadth of assassination, leaving America’s fate in the balance. Most of these stories have remained buried—until now. Includes glossy photo signature of historic pictures and documents
304 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2014
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137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 28, 2021
Sadly, this book is very boring. He takes an interesting subject, but presents everything as a list rather than any sort of narrative, and it just really dries it out.
June 17, 2021
Very neat book. Goes over a wide variety of assassination attempts on US presidents throughout history. I do wish they went into more detail about some of the plots, at some points the author just briefly mentions an attempt that seemed close to being successful, and then moves on.
November 29, 2017
Mel Ayton is perhaps the worst source to read if you want to learn about political assassinations. He goes beyond supporting the official stories and forces the "lone nut" theory to explain all American assassins, whether the facts fit or not. Here is what he wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece:
“Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. But the motivations that drove his assassin were unfortunately not unique. Understanding the nature of those who want to kill a president goes considerably further toward explaining assassinations than looking to fanciful conspiracy theories...Booth’s desire for fame and recognition is a common theme among assassins. In researching a book on presidential killers and would-be killers, I found that they tended to share certain personality traits. While some had been treated for mental illness, an even more predominant characteristic is that many of them were disillusioned with and resentful of American society after a lifetime of failure. And most of them also had a burning desire for notoriety. Killing an American president, most would-be assassins believed, would win them a place in history, making a ‘somebody’ out of a ‘nobody.’”
This is ludicrous. John Wilkes Booth was not a disturbed loner. He was a popular, famous, handsome, well-paid actor who was popular with women, and he certainly did not act alone. Even the US government's official story acknowledges that he had co-conspirators, four of whom were executed by hanging, while others were imprisoned! Private researchers have made a good case that there were people in the Union government who aided and possibly controlled Booth's little group of Confederate sympathizers.
“Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. But the motivations that drove his assassin were unfortunately not unique. Understanding the nature of those who want to kill a president goes considerably further toward explaining assassinations than looking to fanciful conspiracy theories...Booth’s desire for fame and recognition is a common theme among assassins. In researching a book on presidential killers and would-be killers, I found that they tended to share certain personality traits. While some had been treated for mental illness, an even more predominant characteristic is that many of them were disillusioned with and resentful of American society after a lifetime of failure. And most of them also had a burning desire for notoriety. Killing an American president, most would-be assassins believed, would win them a place in history, making a ‘somebody’ out of a ‘nobody.’”
This is ludicrous. John Wilkes Booth was not a disturbed loner. He was a popular, famous, handsome, well-paid actor who was popular with women, and he certainly did not act alone. Even the US government's official story acknowledges that he had co-conspirators, four of whom were executed by hanging, while others were imprisoned! Private researchers have made a good case that there were people in the Union government who aided and possibly controlled Booth's little group of Confederate sympathizers.
June 10, 2017
Knew I didn't want to hear any more from this author once I finished the chapter on the attempts on Kennedy. Ayton is just another mouthpiece for the official government sanctioned narrative and takes it upon himself to flat out state that there is no evidence of conspiracy and he believes the conclusion of the Warren Commission has been proven time and again. I have no time for that kind of dribble.
The rest of the book is mildly interesting. Nowhere near enough to redeem the author for his bootlicker stance on the Kennedy assassination.
The rest of the book is mildly interesting. Nowhere near enough to redeem the author for his bootlicker stance on the Kennedy assassination.
June 9, 2016
This book is very interesting but I feel that it jumps around too much, it almost seems like it should've had more bullet points so you can separate the stories. It was very interesting though and I did learn a lot from reading it.
October 7, 2017
Amazing book, well done, very detailed.
October 20, 2016
A pretty good book about all of the assassination attempts you didn't hear about. And there is a lot. It's a pretty easy read and it's good nightime or plane reading material. However, it gets a little repetitive and it fails to give detail about some of the more major attempts.
September 28, 2016
Hunting the President by Mel Ayton is a book that tells of behind-the-scene stories of the Secret Service from President F. Roosevelt to President Obama. This book promises to deliver to the reader a comprehensive review and analysis of many credible, and quite a few uncredible threats to the lives of modern day presidents. Mr. Ayton’s book tells of stories of assassination attempts, some of which are being released to the public for the first time, others are portrayed through the eyes of the Secret Service agents who were there at the time of the attacks. Examples like these make it possible for Mel Ayton to show these attacks from a unique perspective, a way that few, if any, have been able to see these attacks before. It sets out to inform the people in a way that has rarely been used to inform the people in a way that has been rarely used before, in a way that holds nothing back. This book does exactly what it says it will do, teaching people about assassination attempts both old and new, and explaining to the populace what each one really caused.
Mel Ayton was well qualified to write this book, as he has a Bachelor's degree in politics and history and a Masters from Durham University. He has also written and begun the process of writing many other books on history, specializing in assassinations such as Beyond Reasonable Doubt, which pertains to The Warren Commission's Report on the JFK assassination, and Justice Denied, in which the assassinations of Bermuda’s Police Chief and Governor are examined. Hunting the President does not display a tone that is easy to read, unless you are an academic specializing in politics and history. While this book is exciting, it is basically a resuscitation of the facts of the Secret Service reports on the attempts, with a little imagination on the part of the author about the backgrounds of the suspects of these attempts. This book is near impossible to relate to unless you were a Secret Service agent or were the target of an assassination attempt.
My favourite part of the book was probably the fifth chapter titled “Volunteer”. I liked this chapter a lot because of the sometimes funny, even comedic situations between President Johnson and the Presidential Protection Detail (PPD). I really didn't have a least favourite part of the book, but if I could add one thing to this book I would have added a section on presidential candidates, and talked about attacks and assassination attempts on them, such as George Wallace in 1972. In this book there are very few photographs and the ones they have don’t really advance the plot of the book much, it is just a section of photos of certain historical events, and vehicles that presidents used.
I would definitely recommend this book, but not to everyone. This book is basically a textbook on assassinations and assassination attempts, so very few people would have the stamina to read through this entire book. To read this book it would be very tough and you would also have to understand a high degree of protocol from the Secret Service and the police. I would recommend this book because it is a well written book, that goes into very specific detail and because it is just an all around interesting book. This work is quite good in general and it is able to teach those who may have been uneducated on this topic beforehand.
Mel Ayton was well qualified to write this book, as he has a Bachelor's degree in politics and history and a Masters from Durham University. He has also written and begun the process of writing many other books on history, specializing in assassinations such as Beyond Reasonable Doubt, which pertains to The Warren Commission's Report on the JFK assassination, and Justice Denied, in which the assassinations of Bermuda’s Police Chief and Governor are examined. Hunting the President does not display a tone that is easy to read, unless you are an academic specializing in politics and history. While this book is exciting, it is basically a resuscitation of the facts of the Secret Service reports on the attempts, with a little imagination on the part of the author about the backgrounds of the suspects of these attempts. This book is near impossible to relate to unless you were a Secret Service agent or were the target of an assassination attempt.
My favourite part of the book was probably the fifth chapter titled “Volunteer”. I liked this chapter a lot because of the sometimes funny, even comedic situations between President Johnson and the Presidential Protection Detail (PPD). I really didn't have a least favourite part of the book, but if I could add one thing to this book I would have added a section on presidential candidates, and talked about attacks and assassination attempts on them, such as George Wallace in 1972. In this book there are very few photographs and the ones they have don’t really advance the plot of the book much, it is just a section of photos of certain historical events, and vehicles that presidents used.
I would definitely recommend this book, but not to everyone. This book is basically a textbook on assassinations and assassination attempts, so very few people would have the stamina to read through this entire book. To read this book it would be very tough and you would also have to understand a high degree of protocol from the Secret Service and the police. I would recommend this book because it is a well written book, that goes into very specific detail and because it is just an all around interesting book. This work is quite good in general and it is able to teach those who may have been uneducated on this topic beforehand.
March 2, 2017
This book, while technically interesting was dry and at times dull.
January 3, 2015
Hunting the President: Threats, Plots, and Assassination Attempts--From FDR to Obama is an interesting look at the attempts on the lives of Presidents from the mid-20th century to the modern day and the jobs of their Secret Service agents. It also gives readers a view of those who were considered a threat to the safety of the President. Some were angry with how the country was being run, some blamed their hardships and failures on the government, and others were outright insane. Many of these threats were covered up so they wouldn't inspire "copycat" threats, and others were simply people saying that they would kill the President. As a result, most people will not have known of many of these attempts on the President's life. This book primarily discusses the facts and details of these threats. It is an easy read and I would recommend it to anyone.
March 23, 2015
This was very interesting!
I don't know why I am surprised, but I am simply amazed by the number of whack jobs in this country who think that stalking / killing the president will make them famous or because they're mad about a war or policy that said president introduced or perhaps they blame the president for a problem that he inherited. Whatever, they're still nuts!
While reading this, we get to learn a bit about each president (for example, I learned FDR's girlfriend was with him when he died), first lady, how the Secret Service operates, and how they have developed with each president.
I don't know why I am surprised, but I am simply amazed by the number of whack jobs in this country who think that stalking / killing the president will make them famous or because they're mad about a war or policy that said president introduced or perhaps they blame the president for a problem that he inherited. Whatever, they're still nuts!
While reading this, we get to learn a bit about each president (for example, I learned FDR's girlfriend was with him when he died), first lady, how the Secret Service operates, and how they have developed with each president.
May 5, 2014
What was most interesting was how the Presidents treated the Secret Service agents protecting them. Ike and the Bushes treated the agents the most kindly. Reagan too. As you can guess one President, and his wife more so, were awful in treating agents. Many attempts, threats, and rumors make the life of the agent tough. Recently some agent's shenanigans have given the Secret Service agents a bad name. Does the present administration bear any responsibility ?
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November 17, 2015A fairly decent recap of assassination attempts and threats of presidents in modern history. In a nutshell, they are all mentally ill failures in their own lives. Mentally ill doesn't necessarily mean they're protected by claims of insanity and almost never by freedom of speech. It is shocking how many people pick up the phone, write a letter, or even simply walk into a secret service off and claim they want to kill the president.
August 24, 2014
Little known stories about would-be presidential assassins and the secret service agents who thwarted their attacks. The insight secret service agents had into the personalities and quirks of presidents and their wives gives this book an added layer. My only criticism of this book is that sometimes information about what happened to the would-be assassins isn't included (I.e.: if criminal charges followed, and if not, why they weren't pursued).
January 19, 2019
a very very interesting history book
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews