Well, once again in the world of politics, we've had an assassination.

Just this week, it was the murder of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

But despite all the shock and awe, this kind of thing is nothing new in American political history.

I'm Patty Steele.

Settling differences with assassinations, duels, and beatdowns on the floor of Congress. That's next on the

backstory. This is an I-Heart podcast. The backstory is back story. It's a stressful time in politics,

and it feels like there's been unprecedented violence for the last few years.

This week, of course, there was the murder of 31-year-old right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

Just this past June, two Minnesota politicians and their spouses were shot, leaving two of them dead and two others wounded.

Others have been targeted, including President Trump, who was shot in the ear while on the campaign

trail in 2024. And every time something happens, folks say, what's happened to this country

and to our political system? This isn't who we are. But you know what? It's actually

exactly who we are and have been. What's happening now is not a whole lot different than it's ever

been. We just hear and see more of it because of media. TV and cell phones are always on the

scene to capture it all and share it with us in real time.

But let's take a look back at some of the violent events that came about because of angry politics.

First of all, in U.S. history, four presidents have been assassinated, pretty much always over politics,

including Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881,

William McKinley in 1901, and John F. Kennedy in 1963. Now on top of that, in 1968,

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated late at night following a campaign speech in Los Angeles. Plus, there were at least nine attempted assassinations on the lives of presidents or candidates in our history. One of those left the victim badly wounded. That happened back in 1972.

George Wallace, an old-schooled Southern Democrat, was running for president when he was shot during a campaign stop in Maryland.

He was left paralyzed from the waist down.

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