Assassinations That Shook the World (Part I)

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. Abraham Lincoln -SPEECH, 1865

TODAY NOVEMBER 22 MARKS 53th ANNIVERSARY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
By Elizabeth H. Elys:

That death stunned the world and caused an outpouring of public grief unprecedented in modern history of USA.

Some even say that the killing of the 35^th president altered the course of history, and the USA would not have become embroiled in the Vietnam world had he lived.

In January of 1961, J.F. Kennedy, became the 35^th president of US he was sworn in at the young age of 43, becoming the youngest man elected to office and the first of the Roman Catholic Faith.

Kennedy, distinguished man of confidence, was known for his good looks, irresistible personality, and oratory skills.

Kennedy is said to have “brought to public life not only the hard assets of leadership, but the rarest capacity to illuminate ideas by the grace of his personality and the clarity of his speech.”

Lee Harvey Oswald was a former marine who the US government claims was responsible for the assassination of J.F.K. Oswald was himself assassinated two days after the fatal shooting of the president in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner with links to organized crime. Oswald was shot in November 24, 1963 and died that evening, age 24.

But J.F.K isn’t the only leader to have died by another’s hands. He joins a long list of leaders who were murderer for political reasons.

Leaders will always have rebels. Some oppose their views while the rest oppose their acts. It is never easy being a leader, when you are under the spotlights and judged for every single step you take.

US Senator Robert F. Kennedy was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy. He was shot on June 5^th 1968 by a man named Sirhan Sirhan, he was Palestinian terrorist seeking revenge for the US support of Israel in the Six Day’s War of 1967.

Assassinations are tragic, but inescapable, part of history. When political figure is murdered, it impacts not only their loved ones, but also the lives of thousands of citizens. Usually in cases of assassinations there is clear motive-jealousy, political or religious idealism, contract killing, revenge, etc.

Going deep to history to Roman Empire we can speak about Roman Tragedy, stabbing of Julius Caesar, who lived more than 2.000 years ago and he remains one of the most famous leaders to have met a brutal end. The “dictator in perpetuity” of the Roman Empire died on Ides of March in 44B.C.

Et To Brute! (Famous quote)

Senators Brutus and Cassius led gang of senators called the Liberators and stabbed the leader to death outside the Theater of Pompey. The name Julius Caesar summons imagery of an assassination that was so momentous that it has been immortalized by William Shakespeare. Caesar was more than the victim of a conspiratorial group; he was a politician, military commander and dictator. This was a key moment in the history of Rome that began the transference from Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

Shakespeare identifies three reasons for Caesar’s assassination in speech delivered by Brutus: “Not I Loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves, than Caesar were death, to live all freemen?...as he was valiant, I honour him, but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.

Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics. It dates back at list as far as recorded history.

Abraham Lincoln, hailed by many historians as American greatest president, was at the high point in 1865 when he was murdered. He had ended slavery, preserved the Union through the Civil War, and was embarking on the long road to reconstruction.

The president was attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C, when actor J. Wilkes Booth slipped into the president’s booth and shot him in the head on Good Friday, April 14, 1865. Booth then leapt onto the stage wielding a knife and said, “Sic Semper Tyrannis” or ”Thus Always to Tyrants” a famous line attributed to Brutus at Caesar assassinations.

Nicholas II and Family

He was last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland and claimed the title of king of Poland. He ruled from 1894 until his abdication on March 15, 1917. On July 1918 Nicholas II, his wife, his son, and his four daughters were taken into a room and killed by firing squad. The squad was composed of seven Communist soldiers from Central Europe, in three local Bolsheviks, all under the command Bolshevik officer Yakov Yurovsky.

The assassins made sure to assemble a quick demise of the Russian Romanov Dynasty.
In 1981 Nicholas and his family were recognized as martyred saints by the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia.

On August 14, 2000, they were canonized by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church as passion bearers.

An assassination is a murder of an individual, who is usually a famous celebrity, politician, religious figure, activist or royal.

Next: follow the part II…