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When news cycles are dominated by reports of security breaches and thwarted plots, it is easy to view these incidents in isolation. However, they are part of a grim statistical pattern that has plagued the executive branch since the founding of the republic. Of the forty-five men who have served as President, nearly forty percent have faced serious threats or direct attempts on their lives. Four were fatally struck down: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. For every name etched in the history books as a martyr, there are dozens of others who were spared only by the narrowest of margins—a jammed pistol, a misplaced step, or the heroic intervention of a bystander. These moments are not just personal tragedies or near-misses; they are seismic shocks to the national psyche that force the country to confront the fragility of its leadership.
